Video #7
Diary Entry
"Got the times wrong for the 10pm ferry from Brindisi to Ighoumenista – the internet said ten but actually it was 9pm – the bloke at the gate said it was Italian time – and if their driving is anything to go by I can believe it. The route from Baris to the port is a race track – every biker wants to be Rossi and every car driver needs therapy. I mean what is the point of riding up someone’s bumper – are they retentive about something? Fair play to the Iti’s, they were phenomenally warm and hospitable. Once they slow down they are so likeable, just that when they get behind a steering wheel smoke comes out of their head and arse and there’s no stopping them. Anyway I got into the port with 15 minutes before the ferry left, got my ticket, lobbed my bike on board and found a space to kip underneath a lifeboat (if their car driving is bad, you should see how they sail!) I slept fantastically quite well but was by the engine. When we docked the engine doesn’t get turned off, the boat goes loads up again and goes back. So I carried on sleeping when suddenly I heard lorries being loaded. The damn thing was about to sail back to Greece and I was still on board, so I pulled my pants on and dashed down to the car deck just as some forth mate was about to press the button to raise the deck door. I pleaded with him to let me off and in 1 minute flat I was on the quayside. That was a bit close. I’d have been well pissed off if I’d woken up in Brindisi. 
So I rode out of Igoumenitsa, up the new motorway to Ioannina, found a hotspot, took a couple of photos and sent it as we write. Next stop Istanbul".
Editors note...we catch up with Nick half way through his stop in Istanbul and it seems like he's has a wee bit of trouble with the bike and so the Hein Gericke mechanics took a look....
"The sub frame was repaired by Caner, one of the guys working for Bahadir at the Hein Gericke store. Suleyman couldn’t detect a gearbox fault and neither could Kubilay, the road tester from 2Teker bike mag. I was also talking to Ozdem, the owner of MotorON mag and Selim, his Moto GP and feature writer, who told me about his views about biking in Turkey. That interview forms todays podcast and was shot with the Bosphorous in the background. Driving is a bit of a nightmare in Istanbul – it’s kind of India on speed – and wealth is such that motorists have good cars that are capable of rushing around a city that is 75kms across housing 16 million people. In the heat of the traffic, Turks are a pushy lot. You slip a bad gear at the lights and 400 cars starting horning you a milli-second later. Out of the cars, the hospitality I have received in Turkey has been special. I haven’t paid a penny for food – not allowed – I am a guest in their country and that means a lot. Needed to get the bike sorted, it got sorted. Tyres from Continental arrived with the manager himself wanting to meet me and we’re looking at dubbing the next film and translating Parallel World into Turkish. Cool, but I am now back in the road and riding to Cappadocia, an amazing part of central Turkey with houses carved out of rock".
