46. Glyfa to Chalkida

11 June 2022

Huge thunderstorms yesterday afternoon and  lots of rain last night…..so it was with some relief we woke to bluish skies.

100m down the road…and we were on the ferry for the crossing to Agiokampos on Evia island…..and already the weather was a bit threatening.

But it cleared up for a lovely run down the coast to Limni. 

We came across three signs however to say that the road was closed. 

But we carried on….for the alternative route would have been all but impossible!! It was clear from the debris beside the road that there had been lots of rocks falls…and just as we were reaching the end of the cliffs….a football-sized rock plummeted from the sky and smashed into smithereens but a couple of metres from Iain!! He was a bit shaken…..but not stirred (or injured!) thankfully!

Limni was lovely…

…but the clouds were threatening…and but a kilometre on from our coffee stop…we were sheltering in the lean-to of an old church. 

One of many buildings evidently a victim of last year’s fires. Much of the forest around was black and you could still smell the fire (..but interestingly the olive trees were untouched. Perhaps they fall into the cork oak family…for apparently they do not burn either!).

A monster thunder storm….and then we were off again…roads had turned into rivers, rocks and all (the photo does not do it justice!)…

…….but before too long we were sheltering again…in a bus shelter! 

By which time my first battery had died and we were a long way from the halfway point so the rest of the day was in battery-management (ie low power mode!)….on a day which involved a monster climb…indeed the biggest single day of climbing so far!!

Lovely scenery….

but the weather was threatening all day….and before too long we were sheltering once more…in a shed evidently holding salt for the winter roads! 

Funny to see snow poles…on a Greek island!! (Evia is the second biggest…after Crete)…

And with 15km range on my battery…and 41 kms to go…it was touch and go if we would make it…but I felt good so pushed hard on the flat (ie above the battery-assist speed)…& we made it to Chaldika! (Iain meanwhile with his superior Bosch batteries was cruising!!)

So…a very big day it turned out….good distance, record climb….and we got absolutely soaked three times…but found shelter for the very worst of the rain! (Iain really should get a rain jacket…hahaha).

Wonderful apartment….so that is nice…and we wandered off for beers…and the first place we stopped at said yes they do have beers…but it would be much cheaper if we carried on to the kiosk near the beach! Classic!!!! We actually ended up at a bakery instead…and watched cricket…and enjoyed food from the Souvlakerie (really?) next door!! 

Both knackered so……early night!!