Thursday, 06 January, 2011 --- Day 06

Stats
Start at SFAX End at GABES
Day dist: 135.00 kms
Riding time: 6:48
Avg speed: 19.8
Max speed: 34.5
Beg day odo: 343.3 kms
End day odo: 484.4kms

Was up at 9:00 finished the work on the computer that I was too tired to do yesterday and then walked into the city. A pleasant place to be.




I then headed for the Madina.






Walked it up and down. If I had more time I could easily spend an entire morning there.

I walked back to the hotel


I took my stuff loaded Spithas and headed out. Before leaving though I wanted to have a peak at the port.




I then hit the road (12:00)


My old acquaintance really insisted on staying w/ me and kept me company for most of the ride. I’ve been riding for three years. I wonder why when there is wind it is always in my face. I cannot recall a single time where the wind was on my back. If you have an explanation please let me know.

On top of that the road pavement was rough rather than smooth asphalt which made it more difficult to ride. Be that as it may I rode on and enjoyed it


The never ending road


I forgot to mention that yesterday at the hotel I felt the skin of my face irritated. I had not been using sunscreen or covered it, thinking that this is the winter and I do not need to do any of that. Nonetheless I was wrong. So today I took all precaution

My new face


I had bought this face cover to use it in the summer, but it came in handy at this trip too.

I rode on. The road was slightly climbing up till 40 kms after I started. When I hit Mahares it leveled off. It appears that for the rest of the trip I would be riding the highlands. I do mind the wind. I do not mind uphills. I know that when I ride an uphill I will be paid back later when I will be tired. When it comes to the wind, you are never paid back.


This country has a lot olive trees, fragkosuka, and lots of sheep!!!


At 65 kms I passed through Hachichina and at 75 through Chibani.


Typical restaurant of the country side


I had already starting descending when I decided to have lunch. I stopped near a town called El Akarit. It was 18:20, I had been 5 and a half hours on Spithas, I felt hungry, and it was already dark. I stopped right next to a small bridge and as I was eating, a young man riding his bike approached me, greeted me, and told me that it would be better/safer to have lunch a little further down. I was almost done, I only had the dessert (dates) left, so I packed up and biked a little further down at a cross road. The two cops that were controlling it came up to me introduced themselves and started questioning me. They were friendly.

After that I continued to ride. There were 30 kms left. It has always been the case that when I have to ride the last few miles in the dark it is always easier. My theory is that this will happen to me when I have a long ride which ends at a big city/hub and typically hubs are built in the lowlands so that the last leg of such a ride is downhill. That makes the ride easier. So, the ride is easier and I am also reinvigorated by the ease of the ride itself.

I rode in the dark and finally at 19:20 I entered Gabes.


I started looking for the town center and a hotel. Following the directions of a cop I went into a certain directions looking to find a four star hotel. I ended up in a dump for 10DT ($7) which ended up a lot better that it looked. It was 21:00 and went to be almost immediately. The name of the hotel was Mourad hotel.



CARTAGO DELENDA EST

Wednesday, 05 January, 2011 --- Day 05

Stats
Start at MEHDI End at SFAX
Day dist: 110.59 kms
Riding time: 5:2
Avg speed: 19.7
Max speed: 36.3
Beg day odo: 232.7 kms
End day odo: 343.3 kms

Up at 9:00, left at 10:00 rode along the coast in the opposite direction to Sfax towards the old Mehdi. The old village became interesting and I stopped when I arrived at the end of the promontory where the lighthouse were


View of town from promontory


It was time to hit the road. I turned around and followed the road from inside the town. I asked a cabbie for directions. Cabbies in my experience are the best source for directions. Following the cabbie’s directions I ended up on the road to Sfax


The scenery was OK nothing special though. I passed through several small towns like Rejiche, and Ksour Assaf where I decided to buy a bottle of lemonade. I stopped at a small store on the road and the store keeper was thrilled to have me as his customer. He did not speak any French but sign language did wonders. After I bought the lemonade, to show his appreciation he took a handful of candies and offered them to me w/o taking any money. He really did insist and I took them. Later on when I was sucking on them I decided that this is a good idea for increased energy. As I left I had a picture taken w/ the very hospitable store keeper and I quote it below


The landscape became barren






I took a 15 minute rest at the place where the last picture was taken and drove on

Local lady (some pictures are taken w/ a hidden camera hence this one is not upright)


Went through more towns Chasbna, Chebba, and Ouled Bousmir among them. The landscape changed into one of olive groves


Olive branches seem to be very popular to ferry around


The never ending road


Apart from the olive groves what is in abundance are the (cactus like w/ a delicious fruit, fragkosuka in Greek)


Went through Mellouleche and Jebeniana and finally it was time for a lunch break. I had already covered 80 kms and it was 14:15Went through Mellouleche and Jebeniana and finally it was time for a lunch break. I had already covered 80 kms and it was 14:15


The place where I stopped looked good. The unexpected thing was that it was a passage. Lots of school kids passed by and they were a real annoyance. My scheduled nap was cancelled because of them. I left at 15:20 and biked on.

I went through a couple of small towns like Essaadi and Bedarna and fighting against my old acquaintance, the wind that decided to stop by and say hi, I biked on. The wind does hurt the morale of the troops it is true but I had no choice but to continue.

Finally I arrived in Sfax


I biked to the town center and lodged at hotel Alexandre at Rue Alexandre Dumas.

Went out to vicutalize and had a burger and retired to the hotel and went to bed early. As I was walking down a street a man from the barber store approached me and asked me if I needed a haircut or shave. I had not shaved in three days and this intervention made it clear that I needed to shave. I decided to shave tomorrow. I declined his offer and then he asked me where I came from. When I told him he asked me if I were a mariner. I suppose there must be lots of Greek ships docking at Sfax.


CARTAGO DELENDA EST

Tuesday, 04 January, 2011 --- Day 04

Stats
Start at SOUSSE End at MEHDI
Day dist: 73.44 kms
Riding time:
Avg speed:
Max speed:
Beg day odo: 159.3 kms
End day odo: 232.7 kms

Woke up at around 8:30. Did on the computer all the work I should have done yesterday had I not fallen asleep. Was down at the reception at 10:15 where I found out that as it was after 10:00 breakfast was not longer served. I went out and victualized, took a picture of the hotel


returned to my room packed up and took Spithas down. I asked the receptionist for info. He said that I could ride to Sfax directly (the shorter way) or go via Monastir (the picturesque way.) Evidently, the Monastir way was the longer one. I decided to go via Monastir for two reasons. First going along the coast would be beautiful and second and more important, how could I skip a town that had a Greek name. For the rest of the day when there was a conflict of direction I always took the longest road. It was as if I were asking the locals “which is the LONGEST way to xxx”

I left at 11:00. I rode following the receptionist’s directions which led me to downtown Soussa first.









I rode around the port and the Medina


Finally, after asking a couple of cops for directions I hit the road to Monastir at 12:00.



It was a pleasant ride


Monastir was upscale and beautiful, as a Greek name would suggest!!!
It appears to have a lot of tourism and many beautiful parts. I would easily spend a few days there.


A Beautiful mosque




Near the mosque


After biking around for about one hour I decided it was time to head out and L at 13:40. The odometer had marked 192.5. I rode in the direction of Khenis

The coastal road


The never ending road


I went through a number of small coastal towns among which were Lamta, Sayada, Tebulbla, etc. At some point I stopped to ask a cop to make sure I was on the right track. He was very helpful and polite. He told me that the there were two ways to Sfax, my destination. Naturally, I asked him, which was the longest one. He gave me precise directions and added that it was too late to hope to make it Sfax today. My best bet would be to spend the night at Mehdi. After that he asked me if I were French, already knowing that I was not. I told him that I was Greek upon which he started telling me a story about the Greek friends he has who now live in Nice, France, and started asking me questions about Greece, the weather, the economy, etc. After the questioning was over I thanked him and rode on.

At 13:30 (221 kms) Spithas and I took our lunch break. The food tasted horribly, the bread, the olives, everything was barely edible. I promised myself that I’ll never shop from that deli in Sousse again (I have a feeling I’ll keep this promise.)

Finally I arrived at Mehdi


Spithas


After passing from the Tourist Zone I entered into the town itself and lodged at the first hotel I found on my way, Hotel Corniche


After I settled in I went out to victualize, go on the internet, and finally to grab a bite. I went to a small restaurant and ordered a portion of chicken. I said very clearly “une portion de poullet s’il vous plait.” Somehow someway the waiter came back w/ an ENTIRE chicken. I was astounded and told him “how can I possibly eat the whole thing? Did you take me for JT.” He took it back and returned w/ half a chicken. I ate as much as I could and just to give you an idea of what the prices are like, The cost of this meal was $3.
I walked back to the hotel and did some work on the computer and by 22:00 I was in bed.

CARTAGO DELENDA EST

Monday, 03 January, 2011 --- Day 03

ET PRAETERAE CENCEO CARTAGO DELENDA EST

Stats
Start at TUNIS End at SOUSSE
Day dist: 143.51 kms
Riding time: 6:38
Avg speed: 21.6 kms
Max speed: 40.5 kms
Beg day odo: 15.7 kms
End day odo: 159.3 kms

Was up by 8:00 went downstairs for breakfast and then played on the internet. As you very well know, having access to wifi is a temptation. After that I tidied up my stuff in the panniers, left a few things I wouldn’t need at the hotel for safekeeping, and hit the road. It was 10:30.

I had printed internet instructions on how to drive to Sousse but as I realized, these instructions were meant for a car and were using the highway, which I couldn’t and shouldn’t take. I soon found out that what I needed was GP1 the old highway that was almost running parallel to P1, the official highway. That would mean extra miles, but this is what I’m here for. Besides GP1 goes through towns and I would have access to whatever I needed.

Locating GP1 was not that difficult. My first new intermediate destination would be Hamam Lif.

On GP1, exiting Tunis


The road out was not pleasant at all, w/ some exceptions, of course.


As you may have noticed on the picture above, the clouds are heavy. I was running a constant risk of being soaked to the bone as there were no places to take cover.

One cannot deny that some people around here are artistic.


At 17.5 kms, I arrived at Hamam Lif and drove through town


I started feeling raindrops falling on my helmet. I made a quick decision. I would ride on and hope that it would not rain, if it did, then I would decide how to deal w/ it when it came. As it turned out, my good luck was that the rain was ahead of me and moving faster than I was riding and I could not catch up w/ it. That was the case through out the day. There are advantages to driving a bike and not a motorcycle.

I went through another town, Gombalia, and rode on. After Grombalia I stopped to refresh myself w/ tangerines.


The seller quoted a price and then when I gave him money, he returned a little less (the equivalent of 50 cents.) I did not make an issue, took the tangerines and started eating them on the side. It appears that the tangerine seller felt bad for what he had done so that he approached me as I was peeling the tangerines and offered me a big orange saying that this was a gift. I thanked him and put it away, to eat it later.

Finally I arrived at Bir Bourekha, my first intermediate destination


where I stopped for lunch at the exact spot you see above. I had covered 60 kms already and the question raised was: should I consider this to be enough for the first day of biking after 4 months and call it quits, or forge ahead? If I did continue, the next stop would have to be Sousse. I proceeded into town and asked at a gas station how far Sousse was and was told that it was 60 kms away. It was still before 15:00 and the die was cast. I would continue.

The never ending road


Sheep on the side of GP1


I kept biking but on the side of the road I noticed the milestones indicating different distance than what I had in mind. I ignored them in my mind and decided that people know better than inanimate things. After, however, I had ridden 20 kms and was crossing a small town I stopped and asked the authorities, that is, a policeman, who told me that Sousse was 65 km away. Unfortunately, this quotation was in agreement w/ what the milestones indicated. The cop went on to welcome me to Tunisia and exhorted me to be careful of the drivers on GP1 that can be craze at times. He was a very polite man. I rode on.

The never ending road


I rode on, but as I had started feeling tired I took frequent stops. In one of those stops I just lied against a tree trunk. As I was resting a car stopped and the driver addressed me in Italian. Even after I told him I was not Italian he went on in Italian. Fortunately my Italian was enough to understand what he was saying. Apparently he had lived in Italy for a number of years. He told me that he bikes himself and asked me if everything was OK. I assured him that I was fine. He insisted saying that if I needed water or food he could provide. I thanked him and told him that I had everything I needed. After wishing me good luck, he repeated what the policeman had advised me, that is, to be careful of the drivers, said goodbye and left.

I rode on. As the night was falling I felt reinvigorated and rode faster. Probably the fact that the slight uphill had turned into slight downhill contributed to that change of mood. About 18 kms before Sousse I got off Spithas and looked for the torch I had and the blinking lights. I readily installed both, who, hopefully, made me visible to the other drivers, and rode on.

Finally I arrived at Sousse at approximately 19:00. As I had seen no signs indicating that I had entered the city, when it seemed that I was in a big town which had to be Sousse, I asked a passer by and he confirmed that I was at Sousse. I started looking for the town center and a hotel. I ended up asking a guy, whose name was Mohamed, who drew the directions on the sand that was on the floor, but since it was still difficult to understand he walked me in the direction of the center. He also offered to put me up for the night. I politely declined. When we arrived at point where he could clearly instruct me how to proceed, he pointed the direction and said I would have to ride for about 2 kms and I would be at a strip full of hotels. I thanked him and rode on. I lodged at “Hotel des Palmiers,” literally the first hotel I encountered.

After I paid at the reception I started carrying Spithas to my room. I was halfway on the staircase when the receptionist caught up w/ me and started sticking his hands into the panniers. I asked him “what do you thing you are doing.” “I must do that” he said, “I must make sure that there is no bomb in the pannier.” I told him that he must be out of his mind. Finally I opened the panniers myself and let him take a look.

After settling in the room and taking a shower, I went out, had a hamburger and a chocolate and then returned to my room. I was deadbeat. I went to bed and was sound asleep w/in minutes.