Day 81 - 21st April - All good things must come to an end

'He may be movin' slow but that don't mean he ain't goin' nowhere' - Norah Jones

The end in sight, that's Larnaca around the bay!

Amazingly, after 6,000 km I get my first puncture in the final 10km. It's the rear wheel but it's a slow one and a couple of pump ups get's me to the hotel.......I'll fix it when I get home.

Final stats -

6056 km through 11 countries

400 hours in the saddle

332,706 calories

One puncture in the last 10 km!

Fuel consumption -
20 km/SNICKERS BAR or if running on bio-fuel, 15 km/BANANA

St Lazurus Church - Larnaca

It's a lash-up, not elegant - but well padded!

Patroun -  Lebanon. 34deg C............ideal spot for post-tour rehabilitation

........was it all a dream?

Day 80 - 20th April - Famagusta to Ayia Napa

I stayed in Famagusta's own version of 'Fawlty Towers' last night. No hot water for a shower on arrival. "No worries sir, I'll switch it on now and it will soon be warm". But it's 9pm and I need a kebab. In the morning, again, no hot water for the second attempt at a shower. "Well sir, it will be later, I've switched it on... see." (pointing to immersion heater switch above reception desk). "Its just that you are up a bit early (I'm there for a pre-arranged 8am breakfast), our guests usually come down later". !!!!!

I cross into Greek Cyprus at the Eastern Sovereign Base Area of Ayios Nikolias. Very strange to be riding right through the middle of a British Army base. The football pitch is the nicest piece of turf I've seen on the island.

I've got 90 km left to go to Larnaca. I decide to have my last night nights camping on the beach a few kilometre east of Ayia Napa. It's fitting that it turns out to be probably the best campsite of the whole trip. I've got my own personal little sandy beach. I pitch the tent and spend the afternoon sun bathing.

Leaving Famagusta

I stop to dry the tent out

Entering the Eastern Sovereign Base Area

The camera hasn't captured the intensity of the the colours.........so vivid they hurt the eyes

I find the perfect site for my last night of camping - time for a bit of panic tanning

Well it was perfect until the pirates arrived!

The sun sets at the end of a lazy day

Day 79 - April 19th - Mud glorious mud!

Today I'm heading back towards Famagusta. There was a thunderstorm overnight and it is still raining as I pack away in the morning. Everything left outside overnight is sodden and to be frank.....a bloody mess, but it gets worse. Yesterday I'd travelled over a 5km stretch of new road building which had a temporary compacted earth surface. This morning it's a quagmire and there is no way to go around it.

Suicidal snails - they head out onto the wet road in their thousands - and perish within minutes of the sun coming out.

The start of my woes

Both wheels jammed completely solid

Passing cars added insult to injury by spattering me with mud

The only way to move is to drag the bike to a puddle and splash the bike to turn the sticky clay into the equivalent of potters slip

Thankfully a teacher from the local village stops his 4WD and asks if I need help. Yes I do! At the rate I was moving it would take me all day to cover the 5 km. Bert is tossed in the back of the pickup.

You wouldn't believe this but as we are just about there the wheel comes off the pick-up!

This guy, my hero, waits for help himself. I told him he was lucky he stopped to pick me up as he could have had a nasty accident if the wheel had come off at speed on tarmac. I'm not sure he was convinced. Sorry but I can't remember your name - but thanks!!

The rain is back

In between downpours I stop to clean up in a puddle - this stuff sticks!

My boots have been full of water for  about 3 hours

Canseu and Musa in Kuruoua village take pity on me and invite me into their shop for a Nescafe. (Two actually!) More lovely hospitality

Here we go again

I worry about getting hit by lightning and take shelter in a bus stop - wimp!

Very glad to see Famagusta later that afternoon. Surprisingly I managed to clock up 100km today - no stopping for picnics!

Day 78 - April 18th - I cross to the south side on my way up the panhandle (Karpaz peninsular) 75 km

The scenery is much better today and the sea is crystal clear. Very few people about.
In the afternoon there are some heavy showers about and I stop 12km short of the eastern tip of the island as I find a great place to camp next to the sea, probably the best so far.

A natural swimming pool - but I wasn't tempted

This is new road - nice tarmac but a bit soul-less and very little traffic. When I can find a bit of the old road still open I take it. It winds around along the coast.

I wave down a 'Mr Whippy' van. Embarassingly, I can't find my Turkish money and he is left holding a rapidly melting ice-cream. In the end He accepts euros.

This spot will do for the night

The view from my tent. Not bad!

Cooling off the feet with a cup of tea and chocolate cake - heaven!

These rock formations look like the waves that carved them

I play boy scout and light a fire for the evening

Day 77 - April 17th - Girne (Kyrenia) to 'half-way up the pan handle' 47 km.

Once off the ferry Bert and I pass through passport control........ yes, both of us. It was a tight squeeze past the passport booth but we made it after some shoving and pushing.

Girne harbour - A tug-boat comes out to nudge the ferry into the berth

I'm feeling a bit washed out after an uncomfortable night on the ferry and I'm a bit slow to realise that they drive on the left in Northern Cyprus. This is not the only evidence of Brit influence here, the first shop I see is 'Fish and Chips' and soon after I'm irresistably drawn into the 'Upper Crust - British Bakery and Cafeteria'. It is full of typical WI cake fair produce. I give the cornish pasties a miss and go for a strawberry tart with cream and a mug of tea. The enterprise was in the control of Elaine, one of 3 Elaine's that work there, which must be confusing. I was prevaricating about whether to fill my bar bag with a helping of the coffee and walnut cake, when the charming Elaine offered me a complimentary slice, all neatly packaged to go. Excellent!

Ah Ha! This is civilisation!

The charming Elaine packages my coffee and walnut cake - with icing! Thanks Elaine - it was as good as it looked!

Heading east up the pan-handle

For the first 50km or so the villa developments (finished and unfinished/abandoned) are an eyesore. In fact, the area seemed to be struggling as a holiday venue and appeared desolate.

I pitch the tent quickly as the afternoon thunder clouds quickly develop

It's a muddy departure in the morning

A Greek Orthodox church preserved as an ancient monument

Day 76 - Bye bye Turkey! - A great friendly country for cycle touring.

I'm catching the midnight passenger ferry (30 euros - bike free) to Girne (Kyrenia) tonight. I have 4 days left to tour Cyprus before I have to be in Larnaca and start preparing the bike for it's trip back to Portugal.........courtesy of Easyjet.

I'm going to head out to the eastern-most tip of Cyprus (the 'panhandle') along the north coast and then back to Larnaca along the southern coast via Famagusta and Ayia Napa. My outbound route. My inbound route

........or follow my route on the satellite tracker

Replacing the calories in Tasucu........ferry ticket to hand. Amusingly, the waiter sticks a vase of plastic flowers on the table......to enhance the beauty of my photo.

Using public transport, be it train, boat, plane, with a fully laden bike, always has an edginess to it........you never quite know what to expect. I've dealt with rail platform underpasses and got my bike jammed in an airport oversize baggage scanner but a ferry was a first.

The passenger ferry is due to sail at midnight. I arrived at the ferry office in town at the appointed hour of 10pm. There are school minibuses outside the office that seem to be picking up passengers. The buses pull out as I arrive. The clerk sees me and dashes out into the street to wave down the last bus. I'm thinking there is no way my bike is going to fit on that bus. I receive my instructions "Follow that bus to the port, it's only 2km". Quite exciting really, choking on the diesel fumes and avoiding the potholes while trying to keep up.

At the port a security gate is raised to admit the bus. I sense trouble. As I try and sneak through as close behind the bus as possible a security guard stops me. In Turkish he explains "Wrong ferry, this is a passenger ferry, you need the vehicle ferry". Several minutes pass while various people discuss my fate. I'm OK, I'm on the right ferry. As I said, there's always an edginess.
At 'check-in' I have to strip all the luggage off the bike to be scanned but the bike is walked through.

The ferry was an ancient rust bucket, dirty and smelly , not at all what I was expecting. So very little sleep overnight and a painful back in the morning.

Follow that bus!

Waiting for the ferry