Category: Around Europe
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Day 109: random beach somewhere to Spille
It gets dark around 5 now, so I’ve tried writing the blog in my long evenings, but I keep falling asleep at around 8 o’clock. Normally we fight the seasons, stay indoors longer and longer as it gets darker and colder outside, become disconnected from the world around us. Living outside I feel so connected…
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Day 108: Mouth of the river Vjosë to random beach somewhere
I woke up at first light with a fisherman zooming past my tent on his motorbike, the beach around here is the road. Paddling the river Vjosë would be a great trip, but paddling against the current was very slow and I quickly gave up, heading out to sea instead. It was a hard day.…
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Day 107: Vlorë to mouth of the river Vjosë
I spent the morning in the museum of independence. The seeds of Albanian national identity were planted in the mid-15th century when for 25 years George Skanderbeg successfully led a military alliance of feudal lords against the invading Ottoman empire. After Skanderbeg’s death the Ottomans took control but the national identity never died and from…
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Day 106: Orikum to Vlorë
A heavily pregnant stray dog ran around the beach barking all night, clearly distressed, and my sleep was somewhat disturbed. I half expected to hear a hotel window creak open, followed by a gunshot and then silence. Once the morning sun had burnt the dew from my tent I set off for Vlorë, aiming to…
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Day 105: Grama Bay to Orikum
On the water paddling by 8:30, early by my recent standards, a mission on my mind – get around the Karaburun peninsula and to a source of water and food. I felt a bit anxious about this bit, it was going to be a quite a big day and the last 10kms are continuous sharp…
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Day 104: Παραλία Βότσαλο to Grama Bay
The Czech family kept an eye on my boat as I went for a walk in the morning along a dirt track to Jala, a seaside town full of nothing but beach bars and restaurants boarded up for winter. They kindly gave me a bowl of delicious pasta for lunch and filled my bottles with…
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Day 103: the rainbow gathering to Παραλία Βότσαλο
Everyday at the rainbow gathering I said ‘I’ll leave tomorrow’ and never did. Sitting by the fire one night, Emilio told me he’d been thinking of leaving too, but questioned that thought. Why the desire to move? I’d started to crave some solitude. I’d had many new thoughts, now I needed time to process them.…
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Four nights at the rainbow gathering
‘Food circle, NOW’. The cries came from the forest beyond the beach, and were echoed by others along the shore. Torch lights began to emerge from the trees and people gathered around the fire, linking hands in a big circle. I joined, seeing for the first time the faces of the rainbow people illuminated by…
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Day 102: Vouvalomantria Beach to the Rainbow Gathering
So many people have warned me to ‘be careful in Albania’, ‘watch out there’, ‘look after your stuff in that country’. So I felt apprehensive as I embarked on this next chapter of the adventure. Across to Albania I paddled, keeping an eye out for ferries but only crossing paths with an old rusty trawler,…
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Day 101: Porto Timino to Vouvalomantria Beach
A dive in to the sea to the sea to open the eyes to the new day, coffee and porridge brewed, my kit packed up – my morning went like this. Damn I’m lucky to wake up in such a place in such a way. Albania beckoned, and I set off across the glassy flat…