Tuesday 19 November 2013

Sum up up to Canarias

In short: I left UK in early September hitchhiking through Lille, where I had good times with Sarah, Bruno and kids - skateboarding and antique hunting experience. From there, after leaving my phone at their home and jumping my way back to the city, I took a bus to Berlin. A half a day visit including a climbing break at Der Kegel and a night spent with Mrs Gepardine. Surprisingly uneasy hitch from Berlin after almost 5 hours a ride to Dresden, managed to get to Brno just before midnight meeting another bunch of beloved friends, drinking lots of lovely Czech micro beer. Next day I decided to chill in Brno, meeting a strong climber Tomas(super dinner at U Karla). I stayed so I could join Ondrik and Brigitka on their way to Heroin's and Lujza's wedding in Valasska, party on! And finally reaching home. There Ado was waiting for my hands to help him with a foundation for their tiny bungalow. I've never thought I could have so much fun laying them foundation (20kg) bricks… Thank you Adrian. Apart from visiting my own blood family I also managed to celebrate Brainscan's second release called Reflections at the 77 Music Club in Banska Bystrica(with my little sister and many other siblings). That was a great opportunity to kill my neck after a while, mighty 'eadbangin' is such a stress releaser, and yes, it took me a whole week to recover the overstretched trapezius. Shouldn't I forget to self praise, I also built a future home for Veronika's hens at her new home in Horne Mladonice. A masterpiece! And so I was ready to leave, kissed my fellow men and got back on the road. First night spent in Bratislava with Petko and Monika, after a potent session at a local climbing centre. Easy lift from Zlate Piesky, 300km southwards brought my hopes up high. The same day I got a little further, then pitched my bivi. Next day, next petrol station and a new record, 21 hours at the spot (including 7 hours sleep) fixing my patience well. Mercedes S500 was an answer to my struggle, taking me across the boarder to Italy, where I spent a night in a small village. Next day I reached a petrol station just ouside Milano, it seemed to take a long time to follow on an appropriate highway south towards Genova therefore I accepted a ride to the centre of Milan where, what else, I visited another climbing centre. It was a nice one too but the staff wanted to charge me 27e for a single session because I needed to register and get a member's card??? 15 minutes it took me to convince them and pay as little as 10e, still not very cheap. There must be something about the karma of this up-tight city... Anyway another spot proved efficient taking me to a small village near Genova where I tried some exotic bears, ate freshly stonebaked and gifted pizza-base and later I tested my bivi(thank you Cheerko) during a rainy night. It's waterproof but it seems uneasy task to keep the water from streaming in. I survived. Little wet. I took a train(I had to argue about a fine of 5e for not validating my ticket(I didn't know about this obligation) after being threatened by a train-lady that she would call police? I didn't pay it of course) to nice little town near ITA/FRA boarder called Ventimiglia, few tourist but still very nice place, I can recommend. Further I took another train towards Nice and then Marseille. There I tried to find a climbing spot, which I failed but the sight was worth all the blisters. I will come back to you, Marseille! Hitching to Barca, day and 1/2, overnight sleeper train to Madrid - indoor Salamandra Boulder Cafe - cool place to chill and climb, nice people and atmosphere. From there I continued with an overnight train to Lisbon, next day afternoon reaching south of Portugal and meeting Anicka. There we spent few days lazying around the beautiful beaches, eating great local cuisine - fish, oh grilled fish everywhere, very hard to resist its aroma. Little efforts to find a boat, but visited a few marinas, Portimao and Lagos mainly but now I know that I could have tried harder. Tasty Pakistani chocolate made our few days more interesting. And people in Portugal, so very chilled-out and friendly and helpful, I'm in love with Portugal. After Anicka left me, I kept searching but no luck in either finding boat or CouchSurfing host. After it started to rain and forecast didn't seem to predict anything else for following days, I decided to leave to Sevilla where I booked a flight to Las Palmas. So couple of days freestyle, I experienced homelessness in a streets of large Spanish city, which was good fun also thanks to Mattias and his dog and other interesting people I met. I had few more days before flying so I went down to El Chorro, oh El Chorro I love you so! Great place, where I met the craziest guy in the village, Cmoud(read ch(e)moud), a Czech guy who lives with his employees and help them run a little tourist accommodation business. He lives with a very little but has a lot to give, definitely a positive energy. 2 days, flashed a 6c+ and happily waited for a train, which never came. Transportation may get obstaculous if Spanish people decide to strike... But kind people still exist and so are Cmoud's hosts who drove me 40km from where I could catch a bus instead. By midnight I found a humble shelter in a garage ruins not very far from Las Palmas Aeropuerto...

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