Monday 23 September 2013

Quad Biking

I am lucky enough that I managed to get another point crossed off of mu Bucket List..... wohooo and I was not even expecting it.

I have recently been to Corfu, Greece for a week of holiday with my partner. We wanted a refreshing, energetic and relaxing holiday all at the same time so we had chilling days, boat trips and nice long walks and also managed to hire a Quad Bike for 3 days. It is really surprising how popular it is to rent a scooter or a quad bike in Corfu. Even most of the locals drive a scooter from a really young age. We originally wanted to rent a scooter as well  - it was cheaper (10.00€ per day) - but turned out that they don`t really give it to you unless you have some experience with riding them so they offered us a quad bike (25.00€ per day) instead.

Riding on the Quad Bike
We have faced many challenges before we got the quad bike as I was stupid enough to leave my driving license in the UK after talking about renting something to drive for weeks before we went onto the holiday. At our hotel we`ve been informed that for scooters and quad bikes they usually accept a photocopy/print out of your license as well. So we contacted out awesome housemate to have my driving license faxed or emailed over. Within 24 hours we had a print out of the driving license and ready to hit the streets and rent a scooter. At the first place - where we talked with a seller before - we were told that they won`t allow us to hire anything out from them - even-though we were told yes previously. On our way to the second place we went into a car rental place on our way to ask for pricing and whether they allow us to rent, need to say no more they did not and the price was horrific (65€ per day). At the second place there was an elderly man who was very welcoming and accommodating, he straight away said yes to the photocopy and when I told him that I don`t have a great amount of experience on scooter he said:
"No problem, you drive a quad bike. It is safe cos it has 4 wheels" 
"So much is it for a day?"
"How many days?"
"One"
"One???? Awwww noooo, minimum 3 days. I give you deal, you pay 75€ for 3 days. What do you think? It is good deal, 1 day 30€ so I give you 25€ a day for 3 days."
He was hell of a good sells man, he knew how to make sure the client will rent for more days then one. We agreed it with him and straight away he gave us a quad with a helmet and a box on the rack.


Once we got hold of the quad bike we drove off to the North side of the island. We have covered main roads, tiny, narrow and winding village roads & even had the chance to drive on off road tracks. Going up the hill was a little slow (with 13kmph=8mph) definitely with two people sitting on the Quad but coming down the hill (with 50kmph=31mph) was that much more fun. We had one day when we drove down to the South of the island, which was a long LONG drive and after 3 hours of sitting on our asses it starts hurting. We were well looking forward to getting home on that day so we can finally stand or lie down or do anything other then sitting. When we were on our way back - after 5 hours riding and a lot of swaps on the quad - we ended up standing on the bikes when ever we had to wait at a junction.

At the highest point in Corfu, Pantogratoras
I find it that 3 days of quad biking was enough, we enjoyed every minute of it and head a great time. This little adventure of ours made me want to learn how to ride a motorbike or at least a scooter. It is something that is going onto my Bucket List.

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