GREECE

GREECE.

It took some effort to admit that Italy had been a disappointment. There had been fantastic highlights but generally it was too expensive and we stayed too long. What a welcome surprise was Greece. Having spent a lovely few days with my Mum and Dad in Venice, again acting like tourists rather than travellers we waived good bye to them at the campsite and cycled to the port to catch the overnight ferry to Igoumenitsa. I may be nearly 40 but I still have the ability to enjoy life like a five year old and setting up camp on one of the outside decks, snuggling up in a sleeping bag and feeling the sea breeze across my face as I tried to get some sleep reminded me of how excited I

used to get when travelling on holiday as a child. Thousands of people travel to Greece this way every year and it really shouldn’t have been that big a deal but I loved the ad-hoc way families, couples and friends (one family even had a very excited Labrador to keep them company) just settled down anywhere they could find – either buying a pizza and coke from the bar or opening a packed tea. Some planned their campsites with great care and had tents to shelter them from the sun and then later the wind and huge cool boxes with all their food. Many weren’t in cars and so had all their luggage with them on deck. It was so random and carefree and nothing you would ever experience in more regulated and foul weathered Britain. The ferry to Greece put me in such a good mood and then there was the icing on the cake, Greece itself where the countryside was more beautiful than we had imagined and the people by far the kindest we had met so far.

The first thing we noticed when we got off the boat were the mountains. We had expected parts of Greece to be hilly but not really anticipated full on mountains from coast to coast which is the end was pretty much what we got. We felt a little nervous – with Bridget’s knees and the fact we hadn’t cycled for more than a few days at a time for quite a while but we also felt excited. We love mountains. They are tough especially with heavy bikes but the challenge is fulfilling and the scenery always worth the effort. Our first day wasn’t too bad and although there was a pretty big up from the coast we also had some fantastic downs as well. We didn’t really get going until around mid day but still managed to get a good distance in. It was really hot but cycling seems actually to be cooler than just standing around with the self generated breeze. We did struggle – as we so often seem to do – to get our timing right as far as finding somewhere to camp and in the end pitch our tent in a tiny village, next to a gazebo in an enclosure containing a monument to country women. We worried slightly if we would offend any of the said “Good Country Women” but no one seemed to mind and we were up bright and early the next day and on our way before anyone could complain.

This account of our traverse across Greece may be somewhat condensed and possibly not entirely in chronological order as I am writing it some time later. My memories have faded as far as some of the scenery is concerned but the impression the country had on us both remains extremely strong. In all across Greece we camped twice in camp sites, stayed once in the porch of an orthodox church (both showering around the corner and though possibly in the face of God hopefully not the congregation or villagers) and we also camped wild a number of nights.

We also encountered some of the longest and toughest ascents of the trip so far. One ascent lasted nearly two days ( the night at the church coming half way up in a small village). We reckoned about 60 kms in all with a small amount of down in between the two main ups.

The flip side of that of course was that we also had some of the best descents of the trip. One lasting more than 40 kms all the way from the side of Mount Olympus to the sea. We also cycled through what was probably the scariest storm I have ever been in with lightening forking down and landing what seemed like just metres away, accompanied by the loudest thunder I had ever heard, so loud it made you feel like you were right inside the clouds where it was produced and struggling against gale force winds and driving rain, all at altitude with no where to seek cover and more false summits than I care to remember. Going down the other side wasn’t much better – 40 kms/ph into horizontal rain without trousers or gloves. I became so cold my legs couldn’t stop shaking but didn’t want to stop for fear of being hit by lightening.

By Greece we were taking karma very seriously. Bridget saved a tortoise, helping it to cross the road and a hedgehog twice. The hedgehog was so interested in some road kill that when she picked it up and placed it the side of the road it scuttled back into the road for seconds and we watched and held our breaths as a truck trundled past and fortunately for he spiky little fella didn’t squash it flat. Bridget then picked it up and brought it to the other side of the road where it turned round and climbed up on to her shoes and sniffed her legs – perhaps still trying to get back to a free diner in the middle of the road. It wasn’t until she placed the creature into a bush much further off the road that it got the message and disappeared into the undergrowth. It was long after helping the tortoise and the hedgehog that we arrived at a fruit stall and the first of a large number of friendly retailers who were determined not just to sell us food but also to give us treats – a free melon this time, but later we were given extra peaches, tomatoes, nougat bars, cold bottled water and free petrol. It may be people thought we were crazy and needed all the help but we think it was more to do with open hearts and genuine kindness.

The fruit seller who gave us the free melon also tried (in a kindly though misguided way) to advise us on which road to take. We must take the new road over the mountain, it is much safer and quicker. But isn’t the new road a motorway? In England it is illegal to cycle on the motorway. No problem in Greece we were told. The new road is much better. Three lanes rather than single carriageway, better condition and far less dangerous. We considered the advice and cycled off in the direction we had been told wondering whether motorways were safer in Greece with less traffic perhaps and therefore somewhere it was perfectly acceptable and normal to ride your bicycle. We were unsure and apprehensive but seriously considering it, local people surely know what is what but fortunately we got lost and by the time we realised we had come to our senses and decide to take the “old” road which because of its age had very little traffic, stunning views and became very quickly one of our favourite day’s cycling. It was also fun to spend time that day with some very friendly cyclists from Britain who take part in a different thousand mile trip each summer and this year were travelling from Thessalonika to Athens. Of course they had two support vans and were on light road bikes and so were able to travel much more quickly than us but they still slowed down to keep us company for while chatting away helping us to cover the miles without really noticing.

Our attempts at wild camping were the most successful in Greece and it is about the only country (other than the Ukraine which came later) where I have felt reasonably comfortable pitching the tent in the middle of nowhere. I even enjoyed a liberating shower in the middle of a field as the sun set over the nearby hills and afterwards doing a naked jig as Bridget looked on laughing and wishing she had her camera to hand. Greece was such an antidote to Italy and far more what we had come looking for. We loved every minute of it. It was tough, the heat was oppressive at times and the hills real bitches at times but I can’t remember feeling down, merely cheated that we could have spent more time there had we planned better and left Italy earlier.