Due to the crazy wind my boat to Athens was delayed. Instead of arriving in Athens at the reasonable time of 1pm, I arrived at 2 am. I wondered what to do. Cycle around the city until the sun comes up? Find a secluded spot in the city to sleep? Try and find a cheap hotel?
About 15 minutes after I hopped off the boat it started raining. That confirmed option number 3. The safest option and would have happened anyway. I found a hotel pretty quickly for 30 euros. Not so expensive as a once off but I definitely can't make a habit of this. By 3 am I was in a warm bed.
I had arranged for a couchsurfing host but he was busy until late afternoon. I whiled away the day drinking coffee, eating pizza and battling crazy Athens traffic.
I managed to find Dimitri's house and was welcomed in. He recently cycled across the states and then across Europe, back to his homeland. We enjoyed some of his mums cooking and a few beers that evening, swapping bicycle touring stories. He is planning to go to Central Asia next year so it was nice to feel helpful, giving some route and visa advice.
The next day I headed to the city to meet up with another local that was going to host me but was unable to. He treated me to a delicious lunch and a beer (happy Australia Day!) and we wandered around the city. One of the highlights was going down an alleyway of butchers, where you can purchase a whole bunny rabbit with its tail intact. We also went to a camping shop and after months of (not) sleeping on a a crappy closed cell foam mat I finally upgraded to a therma rest neo air. Oh and there were a couple of old buildings as well.
For dinner I cooked some sausages with mash potato. Not authentic Australia Day tucker but the best I could do in the circumstances. Of course this was washed down with a few beers.
The morning arrived with a whole bunch of rain. Dimitri kindly let me stay another night. I spent most of the day of the couch. Dinner that night was an olive oil and garlic extravaganza. Home made bread served with olive oil and feta for a starter. Pork chops cooked with olive oil and garlic. Zucchini fried with olive oil and garlic. Eggplant cooked with olive oil and garlic. Left over mash potato made into a patties with garlic cooked in olive oil. Washed down with a few beers and followed with some fancy little deserts. Delicious.
The sun eventually arrived the following day and I made my way towards Patra. Unfortunately I had to battle a whole heap of horrible city cycling to get out of Athens. I do not reccomend Athens for cycling. I made it unscathed and followed the old highway. Unfortunately at one point a creeper on a motorcycle took a liking to me. Normally I try not to write about all the creepers but this one was very persistent, trying to ride me off the road.
After a bunch of swearing and yelling from me he must have got the idea and left. I cycled the rest of the day with a large rock easily accessible, checking every time I heard a motorcycle to make sure it wasn't him. I hate that one incident like that can have such a big impact on my day. I mean the weather was nice, I had a tail wind and the scenery was good. But I had my guard up all day. I thought that once I left Turkey this would stop but apparently not.
Anyway, I ended up cycling past a whole bunch of refineries as the afternoon wore on, wondering where to camp. I found a bit of land with a few gum trees and set up my tent there, just in time before the rain arrived.
It continued all night. I put on all my rain gear and packed up a wet tent in the morning. By lunchtime the rain had cleared and the cycling became more scenic again. I passed small towns along the ocean.
I found one of the best spots of all time to camp. From the old highway I spied a beach with a few empty looking buildings near it. I went and had a look and found a bar closed for winter. Undercover, protected from the wind with ocean views. The best. I dried out my tent and set my sleeping pad behind the bar, hidden from prying eyes and the wind. There was even electricity to charge my phone.
Sunrise was beautiful but was quickly followed by more rain. No matter. On goes the rain gear. I only had about 65km to get to Patra to catch the evening ferry to Italy.
My legs did not want to play the game this morning so I found a bakery and recharged with a very large pastry and coffee. I then cycled through some roadworks and ended up very muddy. As if I didn't look like enough of a hobo now my jumper and only pair of pants were splattered with mud. Not to mention my bicycle.
After battling a chilly headwind for the last couple of hours I finally made it to Patra. By 5pm I was settled on the boat, ready to go to the land of pizza and pasta.
25/1 Athens: 25km
28/1 Athens - Before Corinthos: 89km
29/1 Before Corinthos - Before Diakopto: 84km
30/1 Before Diakopto - Patra: 64km
ODO: 6179km
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