Day 58: Patras, August 28th.

I think I woke up early as Nik’s dad got ready for work or something, but I pretended to be asleep, and then I was.

Up properly at 11. I wrote a little of this journal, had some granola with Nik, then went to check my bike. The problem was obvious. One of the spokes had snapped clean off, and the back axel was a little bent.

We walked 5 mins to a bike shop, and he said he could fix it for 28 euros. Not bad. We returned to the flat and found Andrew up. After some Mango we walked 10/15 mins to a beach and Nik went for a run as Andrew and I swam in the shallow sea. It was nice, but towards the end fish started biting at my shin wound and I bolted from the water.

We all walked back to a bakery where I got a lovely chicken sandwich and Andrew got a steak bake. The guy also gave us some Ouzo cookies for free. He spoke good English and was v friendly. He said he wanted to visit Scotland because of Braveheart. When back at the flat we ate more. I had some bean and carrot soup Nik’s mum had made. It was good. Tasted like lentils. Andrew was persuaded to have “a little”, which ended up being a full portion. Of course he did not finish.

I spent the next few hours attempting (mostly successfully) to clean out the mould from my camelback. It is now bleachy however…

At 6 the bike shop called to say it was done. I think he did a great job, new axel, new spoke, clean chain, adjusted brakes etc. As I paid he went into an enthusiastic ten minute rant in Greek about the value of hard work and showed me a 20 euro note he had started his business with. He had Nik translate this all to me. It was funny. Nik got a coffee and we went back. I spent the next few hours chilling, and as Nik went to crossfit, I wrote this.

***

When Nik got back we went bowling. We picked up the others; Natalia, Vivian, Illyas, Dimitrius, from the mini market, and drove out to a Hollywood bowl type place. I bowled pretty well until the end when, after a strike, I bottled it. Andrew was winning the whole game but Dimitrius brought it back at the end. Nik came last.

After that we picked up some booze and snacks, and headed up to a hill to drink and look at the late night view. It was a good chill night to end it on for me. As I ran out of conversation I told the girls about my famous relatives. Always a good go to. We said goodbye to Adonis and Illyas who sped off. The rest of us crowded into Nik’s car. Vivian was on top of Natalia and Andrew. At the end of the night I said goodbye to them all and said they were all welcome in Bristol. I liked them.

We went up to Nik’s and I went to sleep.

Video of this day (and others)