A mixed week of highs and lows, which has seen the end of the tailwinds and I’ve also been thinking of home a lot.

I seriously thought of flying home Warsaw or to keep a bit of dignity and pedal across Germany and Holland to catch a ferry bound for England. It wouldn’t be fair to Lee to quit now, so I battled with my mind and the winds hoping for a change of fortune come Warsaw.

We left behind Lithuania and entered Poland where we had views of some of the most beautiful countryside, which had a hint of Britishness about it’s beauty. We found a lakeside campsite, grabbed a couple of Tyskie beer’s each and rented a row boat. We spent a couple of hours swimming, drinking and generally relaxing and came away with a much needed morale boost.

30 degree heat and hills was the theme to Warsaw. We had two dog’s chase us up one of the hill’s. My immediate thought being to get in front of Lee, so he could take the bite that never came. Good fun.

Warsaw was a refreshing change from all the other Polish towns we had passed through and I booked a flight home from Istanbul for August 31st. No turning back now.

The road out of Warsaw was utter gridlock for about 10 miles, reason being an annual 250km pilgrimage consisting of up to 8000 walkers was taking place. Talk about timing. The same day saw my rear tyre split at the sidewall and I had no spare or way of fixing it.

This could of been bad. Before we even had time to consider our options, help arrived in the form of a Polish baker, who looked a little like Ned Flanders I might add. He has a friend who owns a bike shop and offers to drive me and my wheel there. I took about half an hour in total and on the drive back, he pulls into his driveway to fetch me 2 bottles of water and a huge bag of cakes.

He dropped me off back where he found me and after a chorus of thank yous from the both of us he left me to it. Just as I had got the wheel back on, he returns with another bag of cakes bigger than the first. Absolute legend.

People like him make a trip like this all the more worthwhile. It’s often the people you meet on the road you remember more than the places you go.