What a fantastic day of riding!
Well…..75% of it!
I’ll let the pictures tell the story really!
But what a gorgeous landscape…climbing to over 1,500m…
…and this is one of the many photos where you might ask…’which country’…and get it wrong!!
So very green…..
…and just beautiful!
We rode about 75km….most well above 1,200 metres…..on extraordinarily good roads…and if I said we encountered ten vehicles during that whole ride…I would be exaggerating!!
Simply amazing!
And I really do not know how Greece does it! A population of just ten million…3.5 of which live in Athens…yet the infrastructure for the balance population…spread over 240 inhabited islands…and the hugely mountainous mainland…is simply awe-inspiring!
I was reflecting upon Tinos…40 villages…plus ten more ‘seaside’ settlements. So 50 settlements. And tiny Tinos is just one of those 240 islands….! All connected with really excellent roads…! (How many settlements are there in the South island of NZ by comparison!?)
I digress…
We had not had any breakfast!!
Well over 1,200m of climbing…50km of riding…and we were starving!!
So we dropped down in the tiny mountain village of Rentina.
What a gem!!
Coffee…coke and souvlaki!!
It was a surprising 200m ‘drop’ into the village…so we climbed back out again…and the ride still had plenty to give!
Complete with a 30km downhill cruise…..
One of the best cycling days ever……until the 75km mark!
But then…..a seriously straight flat road for the last 25km to Karditsa. Not a great end…to a great day!!
And Karditsa…great ground floor accommodation…but….really!? Somewhere to avoid probably! I wandered around town (it was drizzling!)…but could find nothing to recommend it at all! 50,000 folk…living in a bit of a dump really! (Well…..compared to the wonder which is Greece!).
But Iain and I thoroughly enjoyed our first Gyros together…since Tinos…what 12 nights ago?! That must be a record for me!! Hahaha!
No tourists anywhere near here….cheap as chips!…so it had its compensations!
Back into the mountains tomorrow…!
