24 June 2022
Today was originally down as an 82km ride with 1,200m of climbing.
And then I found a website describing the most spectacular bike ride in Greece….which would turn a relatively easy day into a monster 100km with 2,100m of climbing. We discussed this…and opted for an early start.
Overnight however…I had decided that it was bonkers…only Shennae’s third day…and already suffering sore bottoms, sunglass chafing(!) etc…and I really was not sure how even the shorter (but already challenging) ride might pan out….especially in the ridiculous temperatures of the past two days! So I canned the idea!!
The first 15 km of the ride was the same….up, up and up…around 700m…
…and shortly after we came to the turn off to the silly route! A few things here….the ‘easier’ route then required a further 500m climb (you can just see the road winding up on the right!)…whilst the silly route offered a 700m descent back down to sea level!(notwithstanding another 1,500m of climbing after that!!). Nae surprised me by saying that maybe we should do it after all…her decision, 100%…and this was the moment she made it!! Go left!!
And what a day it turned out to be!!
A gorgeous descent to Fokiano…after an iced coffee at this sweet taverna on the tops…..(apart from the truck coming uphill which I had not heard…and which all but ran me over on a blind corner…good job I was not going too fast!!)…
…followed by what must be the silliest road in Greece…you can just see the start of it here…
…..coming off a single width road (the one down to Fokiano) and connecting Fokiano:
….with Kyparissi…another village accessible by a tiny road (more on that one below!). EU-funded of course…..and built to the very highest standards, fully two lanes, with broad shoulders….mostly carved out of solid rock…..and no cars on it at all! Indeed – apparently – it did not even appear on Google maps for a full six years after it was completed…such was the complete paucity of any traffic flow!!
To be fair…we did pass four cars over the 20km. All tourists…enjoying the spectacular scenery! But certainly the sort of nonsense which helped get Brexit over the line!!
Anyway…at the end of the new road is Kyparissi…described as one of the most beautiful villages in Greece. It is very pretty…and the setting is truly spectacular!! (..and the story goes this was the last place Princess Diana visited before Paris…given its inaccessible remoteness and gorgeousness). (I was already trying to spot the road out….!)
And the plan was to stop…and chill for three hours..to recharge batteries and bodies!! It was a treat! With great swimming…cold beer(s!)…& we met a NZ couple (the first NZers I have met for 3,600 km!!)…who were staying there three months to fix up their yacht (by remote from the bar, it seemed!).
We knew we had another 800m of climbing and 57kms to go…which was a bit daunting really…so we set off again at around 2.30…up, up and up again…on what was probably the most spectacular ride to date. Simply awesome…climbing amongst seemingly inaccessible cliffs…..photo ops at every turn…..here are just a few…
Even I needed a CocaCola sugar fix at the first village…..
….but that was not the end of it at all….more downs, more ups and we were both feeling it!
I had been in battery management mode since we made the left turn decision…but my battery ran out 20km from our destination…so I had to rely on the ‘re-charged’ battery. Three hours of charging…and a range…of just 15km….whilst the Bosch battery was all but fully recharged after three hours! Shimano have really failed with their battery design!!
So lots of hard pushing to keep the bike above 26kph (when the assistance cuts out)….and we made it to Monevasia!!
A monster 2,500m of climbing!! The first three-ton day as we have come to describe 100km…or 1,000m of ascent!!
A sizzling swim…and then we spotted a gyros, and both agreed that would be a good quick feed after beers. So we found a nice place for beers…and they did Gyros too!! (Turned out it was the same place…but completely ‘remote’.).
What a day! And Nae certainly made the right call!!
Spectacular!!! And what a massive effort!!!