1. intro
2. week 29
3. i've crossed europe
4. touring plans for the coming year
5. the tortoise and the hare
6. getting ready for new year's eve

After crossing into Greece from Albania, I did some touring grinding alongside a streak of bad weather in Greece. My goal was to reach Athens before my birthday on 7th December. Reaching Athens also means I have crossed Europe which is an achievement for me. From Athens I took the ferry to Crete which will be my winter retreat before I head onwards with my bike touring up north again to North Macedonia via Meteora in Greece. My plan is to stay in a small village outside of Heraklion over New Year's and stay put for a month's time.

It is New Year's Eve. A year is coming to its end. Tonight the champagne corks will pop into the air in a futile attempt to challenge the mini-rockets on sticks which will soar from the ground and colour the black canvass of the sky. People will jump from chairs and tables into the new year with fresh goals, ambitions and promises. As traditions dictates, I will tune into the Queen of Denmark's New Year's speech and also try to catch other messages from guiding stars around the world to ignite an inspirational flame and boost my hopes for an adventurous year. Although many, including me, will not 'party like it's 1999', it will be a night to remember - and a night for reminiscing. A night to remember because it will be my first New Year as a nomad. A night to reminisce because it's been a remarkable year turning my life upside down.

Neil Armstrong once famously said: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Neil took a step for the history books. My small, humble and careful step out of the door and onto my bike one sunny day in June, will not enter any legendary tale, but it was a gigantic leap for my way of life. Last year I was sitting in a rented apartment in a suburban town outside of Copenhagen waiting out lock-down restrictions. I was in the process of getting rid of my stuff and killing time by doing long walks in snowy weather with a dreaming mind set on distant lands. Now I am almost done travelling Europe on a bike.

After crossing the borders from Albania to Greece, I did a quick process of the route all the way to Athens. These were days with wild camping on deserted beaches, with pitching tent in olive groves, with majestic views of the largest fully suspended bridge from the ferry of Antirrio. Days cruising along the 'Gulf of Corinth' and mingling with intense traffic in Athens. Visiting Greece in the month of December is remarkable in a strange way. You clearly see how big tourism is in this country if you follow the coastline. Clusters of holiday houses emerges everywhere. Since this is low season you hardly ever see any people living here. The beaches are empty. Restaurants and fast food places are closed. Cafés and bars have stacked their chairs and tables in a big pile barricading their entrance doors. The stalls selling trinkets and beach wear are nowhere to be seen. Even supermarkets are closed. If you are lucky, you can ring the bell and hope that the landlady in the upper floor will open the shop for you to buy some crackers and sweets. Coming into towns like this, I picture myself as a lonesome cowboy slowly riding down a deserted main street with tumble weeds bouncing across the road ahead of me. Wild western theme music plays out in the back of my mind. Almost expecting, any minute now, to be challenged to a showdown at midday against a tobacco chewing bandit known far and wide for his fast draw. You can even enter Athens and walk around Acropolis on your own! I've been such places before at high season and that's why the contrast is so stark. It is an interesting observation and experience. I like it. Having these scenic places for yourself is not a bad thing. I'm enjoying myself.

At the moment, I am kicking it back on Crete, reading books on beaches and mapping out touring plans for the year to come. And oh boy, do I got an exciting country line-up with some extraordinary touring highlights. It goes something like this:

For a full year, it is a modest and conservative plan distance wise!

My touring days in Greece all passed by with a snap of the fingers. I felt like a migratory bird rushing towards a winter retreat. The idea of heading to Crete, where I will be taking some time of the winter clock, came quite suddenly and I had plenty of road hours to think about why this idea sits so well with me. I guess I believe in perseverance.

As a kid I was very fond of Aesop's fable about the 'The Tortoise and the Hare'. To quickly recap the fable; The slow-moving Tortoise challenges the Hare to a race being tired of the Hare's arrogant behaviour and constant ridicule. Being foolishly over-confident, the Hare naps midway through the race and awakes to the Tortoise slowly but steadily crossing the finishing line ahead. I look at the Tortoise as a wise and humble being, well aware of own limitations but confident in own abilities, with a can-do attitude and a will to keep going despite the odds for success being ever so low. Perhaps the Tortoise never cared much about winning. Perhaps it was important just to enter the race and complete the challenge regardless of winning or loosing. For me the most important lesson being that perseverance is key to accomplish your goals and overcome challenges.

I recently passed my 6 months travel anniversary and it has been some months with a huge amount of impressions, many physically endeavours and days very different from what previously has been normal. My threshold for overload is far ahead and I am in no way burned out. Both my physical and mental energy reserves is abundant but as a former long distance runner, I know well enough the importance of pacing myself physically and mentally. Charging ahead in short bursts above own abilities faces a big risk of self-inflicted burnouts. Physically I know my boundaries very well so that is an easy one. Pacing myself mentally is another difficult thing all entirely. I don't think I have nailed this one yet, but my strategy so far is to mix things up. For the time being I got some weeks with mediation and yoga. Meditation for me is like doing mental weight lifting and mind cleaning at the same time. Yoga, I am pretty sure, will add some much needed flexibility and mobility to joints and muscles. Although my body does not bend the right way nor does it bend nearly enough, I am confident yoga is beneficial – at least it makes me feel loose and refreshed. Behind my little coast village on Crete, where I am right now as I am typing this up, there are gorgeous snow capped mountains shooting up from the ocean. Going to add some mountain walks into the mix as well. This will do me good and load up energies of old sorts to the max. This is my way of fuelling perseverance. This is me fighting off and preventing burnouts. This how I make sure I go far and wide.

So yeah, next year's plan is a modest and conservative one but I took guidance from the wise Tortoise. There will be plenty of opportunities to mix in different elements, take breaks and progress slowly towards my next goal and journey milestone – New Year's in Baku 2022. There will be plenty of time to do some physical and mental burnout prevention. Perseverance wins in the end and I am in it for the long run.

With all that written, said and done, I will put the Champagne on ice, ready up the food and wish all of you the very best for the year to come. Happy New Year to all of you wonderful and lovable beings out there in the world.

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