Greece - the final frontier !!

[nethen1]

Just needed original documents for the bike and insurance and health insurance apparently

[nethen1]

Day... what day are we on ?
We started at Meteora to follow a very early version of the TET route.

Towards the Pindus mountain range. It began over a lovely pass then onto the trails, a few river crossings and a pretty washed out trail. It would have been difficult after any rain.

Then back onto the white stuff, I can't say black stuff as the tarmac is white around here.

An epic route over a closed mountain pass. The road said closed, we risked it, what are adventure bikes for !! . What a pass, stunning !!

We saw maybe 4 cars moving all day as we picked our way through trails and forests and villages. Sublime, all be it very hot.

Simply a beautiful ride. We went off route and followed some trails to a lake, super blue in colour with a few fisher men and their 4* 4's parked near the lake. We followed this for a while, took a few photos. Spotting many a route back to the road we thought a short cut was in order. So sending Scott on the lighter bike 1st I watched and waited... I creeped down the slope a little, then braaaaaaaaaaapp, the distinct sound of a bike stuck on a hill, then i saw him fall. nothing serious, but obviously stressful. I think he rolled back into the only fence in greece and got caught in the the wire.

I ended up negotiating the steep climb down, to park the park and see if he needed help. It was a little sketchy but all good. XT660R in its spiritual home land. Finally he made it out and down the hill. I opted for riding out and around back above him to try and help but he was out and we were laughing, a close call, but all part of the fun.... on wards to the white stuff... after many many a lovely road, no cars or bikes just views and views, a few trails peeping out of the side of the road, we took a few, a few dead ends and one that ended up very steep with think slate like rocks... then it just got steeper, it was very late in the day, and comedy hot so we opted for the best option... retreat

We ended up at a family run guest house , eating home made feta, wild fresh fish, fresh BBQ sheep's cheese and the local spirit cipero, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsipouro
also home made. Gorgeousness !!

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Bring on today braaaping adventure.

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Tortoise - the 1st one, never seen a wild one ever, we saw 9 within an hour on the trails.

[nethen1]

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[nethen1]

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[nethen1]

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[nethen1]

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loads of little Bridges, loads of great roads and tracks

[nethen1]

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[nethen1]

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The route we took... didn't really bet lost either which was a first.. you can't really get too lost as every turn there is something to entertain you as you ride.

You can keep your other passes. One with no cars, generally great surface and beautiful views... and no one else !!

[Alun]

Really enjoying this, thanks for posting

[nethen1]

Day... Decision day ... try and get t o Corfu for a party night? Go to one of the many coastal towns near Igoumenitsa or go Kavala the total other side of Greece to meet with me mates who had hired a coach and driver for 3 days to visit the coast.
We decided Kavala - a big day as it would be 5 hours riding but we figured we had to head that way ish any way to get back to Bulgaria. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavala

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Corfu etc, just wouldn't have had the time to enjoy it... would have been funny though

But 1st to the Vikos Gorge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikos_Gorge

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The day started with the usual Garmin issues, 1st off get some then we went round in one big circle, then an off shoot, then finally an hour later found our way to the Vikos gorge. It was a lovely get lost morning, but we knew time wasn't on our side as we still had the mammoth ride to Kavala to deal with.


Gorgeous gorge it is too. Stunning. Epic shear drop twisty tarmac for miles and miles and miles.

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Unfortunately on the way back Scott shot off to do some fast riding them apparently, That CCM with him on it is quick !!!
He decided to go off road he thought I'd seen him, I hadn't... there started am hour long search.. he wasn't at the crossroads, he wasn't at the garage. So I got to ride it all again looking for him.

A little worried to say the least. Finally after sharing a fag with a shoe less man on top of the pass he answered his phone twas a relief.

We arranged to meet somewhere on the main motorway. As we'd decided to do the marathon ride to Kavala to meet my UK friends n family that evening.... somehow we spotted each other travelling in opposite directions down the motorway.... lol all sorted and the ling ride started.

What a motorway.. not every day u can say that. Smooth, empty, tunnel after tunnel, huge bridges and amazing views as we chased the setting sun on our way to Kavala.

Soon it started to go dark, after a finally finding a propper service station with air con !! glorious, i just stood at the door for a while enjoying the blast of cold air.. it was the only motorway service station in 150 miles .. it was then when we noticed Scott's bike has used loads of oil. half a litre or there abouts... they only have about 1 litre to start with !!
So we topped her up, fueled up and then onward into the night.......

Arriving 5 hours later in Kavala, 11:30 om ish. we could smell the smell of the ocean and holidays. life was good, we were tired.. only to find our hotel reception had closed for evening they were apartments that had been booked for us, they apparently had waited an extra hour but at 10:30 the called it a night, we were bedless..

After frantic search for another hote all we could find where hotels for 200 euro plus ! finally we found one 40 euros with under gound car park so we had a pint with the British team we'd travelled so far to meet with..., it had been 12 hours riding day and was badly needed !!.

Leaving the very swish boozer - By now it was maybe 2am time for bed and the 7k ride to the hotel... we set off into the night, feeling far to woozy to e riding, although we'd only had a pint.. fatigue i guess.. only 150 yards later the Ccm died... it had run out of fuel... a little comedy stress, quick siphon from my tank and we were away... bed !!!

Kavala is beautiful Greek northern city. Busy with Greek and Bulgarian holiday makers, and some pasty white English.. us.
Not a cheap place but so good to relax and swim for a day.
We spent the day on the beach swimming and eating, followed by a lovely meal with the familys and locals. A most excellent day off and we were both glad we'd made the effort.

Time to head back to Bulgaria ... ride some more of the Rila.
It's definitely been an adventure so far