Up at 6. I tried to sort out my mobile data and failed. This meant I left around 7. Fuelled by 2 croissants I pedalled north with the sunrise on my right, coming up over the sea in my last day of cycling (at least for now). It also promised to be my longest. In the end it came to 189.4 km. Wish I'd done an extra 0.6.
[My original aim with this cycle was to get to my Greek friend Nikolas's house in Patras before the 19th of August and meet him and three other friends there - Andrew, Matt and Miles. As far as I was concerned at this point, this might have been my last day of cycling.]
Eventually I crossed back over the causeway to the mainland, once again just avoiding the bridge being open for boats, and by 9 I was back on the beeline route, already 30km in. In fact I once again saw signs for Eurovelo 8! I cycled on, mostly along the coast, up and down mild hills in the searing heat, sweating like mad, constantly concerned about the state of my back wheel.
At 13:00, just before turning inland for a bit I stopped to get an ice lolly, snacks and water. Then I was off over the mild hills, passing road kill of foxes, dogs, kittens, lizards and tortoises. All standard. I stopped around 4 and got more water in a café. By 5:30 I rounded a bend and there was Patras in the distance. That was quite a cool feeling.
I continued along the cliff with Patras to my right until at last I got down into the town of Antirrio. I spent 15 mins looking for a way onto the huge suspension bridge before giving up and going on the ferry instead. It was free! I landed on the other side of the river at 7pm. I cycled 7km down the bank towards Nikolas’s flat. At one point I didn’t go down a road because I thought it was full of wild dogs. When I checked again (after almost having taken a motorcyclist’s head off with my front wheel when I turned my bike back from the traffic choked main road) they turned out to be cats. Cats are chill…
I arrived at the flat at 7:25. Matt and Andrew spotted me from the balcony. It was a surreal moment. I said hi to Nikolas and he let me in. I took my bike up in the lift. Once inside I said hi to everyone, including briefly to Nik’s sister, then I sat down with a glass of water and a bowl of veg (Greek style ratatouille), and shared stories of my trip. I took a shower, then Nik took Matt and Miles over to his sister’s flat where they and I would be sleeping.
Me and Andrew hung out and chatted for 40 mins till Nik returned and ferried us over. It’s a nice spot. AC, balcony. My bed broke as I sat on it but later that night I repaired it with climbing tape and ingenuity. Around 10 we set out into town for beer with a couple of Nic’s friends, Ilyas and Adonis. They were super nice and V interested in my cycle.
I ordered a beer and Andrew also gave me half of his. He was on the ouzo. Later we ordered souvlaki and me and Matt accidentally ate Andrew and Miles’s portions. Whoops. They ordered more. Around 12:30 we walked back home, tired as we were, and at last I got a good night’s sleep.
Journey, at least the original concept of it, complete… I did it!!
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