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Published: September 27th 2008
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Me while cycling
Blue sky and nice mood 6th September 2008 - Igoumenitsa
The ferry arrived in Igoumenitsa on the west cost of Greece on Sunday, 6th of September around 6:45. Jon and I left the ferry on the bikes and imidiately started our journey towards Ioannina, heading east for Thessaloniki (distance: 375 kilometers). The first hills were exhausting since I did not train at all for this trip, and the first day of cycling included a climb to 700m and down again. Jons tire exploded of the heat his breaks had caused on the steep way down the hill - something I will remember to check downhill. I had my first Frappe in the nice coffee where he stopped to change his tube. I like Greece 😊 We did not reach Ioannina as hoped, where there is the first camp site, but we found a nice spot by a little river full of cool water to fresh up in the afternoon. When the temperatures rise to 30+ degrees in the afternoon and you climb a mountain higher and higher, the sweat drops from your eyebrows. We tried to cycle in the mornings and rest in the afternoon, but often we were still cycling around 3 or 4 PM.
Jon and his Brompton bike
register the Great Britain sticker and the Union Jack flag :) I felt thankful towards Jon that he did not complain about my poor performance uphill. He often waited for me on the top of a hill checking his map while I still climbed slow and hard 😊 We did not ask anybody if we were allowed to put up our tents this night by the little river. Some cows were grazing nearby, which were collected on sun set by some peasants whos houses we had spotted earlier the day. Later in the evening a dog barked at us but luckily nobody reacted and after some minutes the dog left and finally I fell into a good sleep.
7th September 2008 - Ioannina
The next day we did not have a long day since Ioannina was only ~20 km ahead, and Jon proposed to stay on the camp site so that he could check out the Internet for his still missing spare parts. I also had a lot to research for my opportunities to continue after I reach Thessaloniki. On the other hand, this is my birthday, and it has been the first day since I had arrived in Brindisi that I was a little sad because I could not
party that birthday with my friends in Germany. I spent my time in the Internet, wrote my diary, wrote SMS and phoned a couple of close friends. And I had 2 beer and 3 gyros pita 😉 We slept in Ioannina another night. I realized, a lot of people could speak German, many had lived in Germany in this region of Greece.
9th September 2008 - "Mountain Stop"
I got up much to early at half past 5, we started after sunrise around 8 AM then, after I got another hour of nice sleep. We had climbed up the next mountains most of the day. We passed a wonderful quiet little village where I refilled our water supplies for the night. Then we put up our tents on an alp on 1400m altitude (if I remember correctly). There were goats, hoarses, a donkey, many shepard and dogs arround, the night was quiet and nice but I had so much fear because a young girl at the "Mountain Stop" nearby mentioned there are possibly bears. The prices there were badly high. Strange experience, felt like a kid again 😊 Later I found out that a bear attack is very unlikely,
Motorway crossing
A partly unfinished motorway besides the road we cycled on... Some parts where completed which for us meant: no trucks on our road. Other parts were not, here we had to deal with more traffic. but the dogs are dangerous since they protect the animals and sometimes attack anything that appoaches them. Also a bad hazard while cycling.
10th September 2008 - Bumpy Field
The next morning we continued our journey after a short omlette and coffee at the "Mountain Stop". The way downhill I enjoyed the landscape. Later we stopped in Grevena for the Internet. Supermarkets in Greece were expensive, at the German level. A nice low cost food supply are the "Kantina"s that are found frequently on the side of roads. I believe they are set up for workers. We had a Souvlaki in a Pita in such a Kantina. Unluckily this night we did not find a nice spot for the night, we put up our tents in a corner of a bumpy field.
11th September 2008 - Kozani
I felt so dirty the next morning, i was longing for a shower! We reached Kozani around 1 PM and Jon wanted to rush for Thessaloniki fast which he hoped to reach 2 nights later. I decided to slow down since I did not know where to go after Kozani, and there were still important things missing for my further travel:
The alp on 1400m hight
Here we put up our tents, and I feared bears in the night like a little child :) my passport (!), I only had brought my identity card with me which was sufficient for Greece but not for Macedonia or Syria, which I considered as possible later destinations. Also I enjoyed the mountains very much, and great Mount Olymp lied south of us. I would not even have seen it if I had rushed for (Thes-)Saloniki. I had enjoyed the time with Jon very much, and thanked him for all his help and cheering company. I waved at the street and then moved on to find a place to wash my cloth. I had not washed them since Brindisi and I ran out of everything. Later I decided to stay in Kozani for this day and ask for a cheap place to stay. Something I learn on my trip is that it feels very good if you got a target, something to achieve, some goal even if it is only wash your cloths, or search for a place for the night. Unluckily the cheapest hotel I could find was 25 Euro a night, but I really wanted that shower and also I liked all the young people due to the University here. Kozani is an expensive town, but
"Mountain Stop"
Coffee in the Morning I liked it very much!
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