The day started as bad as yesterday had finished. Having brought Ginny out of the garage to the front of the hotel, I failed to notice some dog sh*t, so stepped in it! This didn't bode well but the man across the street, with his little stall came over and gave me a bottle of water. I'm not sure if he meant to drink or to wash the crap off my boot. He'd seen what had happened with Ginny, so maybe it was to top her up with. Grizzly had already bought some for that though.
On the road, our first stop was only about 15 miles away, at the Memorial Park, Mountain 731, commemorating a fierce battle where the Greeks repelled an attack by the Italians in the second world war. It's quite impressive. Like the other, painted white, this one with a soldier bending over backwards. We took some photos, including one with Dudley's bandana in. I've been carrying Dud around in my jacket pocket but have forgotten to get him out, on all but two occasions.
Another 15 miles or so and we had our first fuel stop of the day. Our second POI stop was just 20 miles away, with a stop at the Meteora Observation Deck, a rather grand title for a small car park and an outcrop of rock, overlooking the valley and the huge mesa type rocks, that make the place famous and heavily visited. Maybe not the rocks so much, as what is perched on the top of them, monasteries! There are at least 5 rocks with these impressive buildings on the top. I'm not sure my photos will do them justice. Obviously, we had to climb up(on the bikes to get to the viewpoint. It was slow going and hot, the combination that Ginny struggles with. On arrival, she was dripping water again but not nearly as much as yesterday. I knew I'd have to keep her moving and manage her temperature carefully over the next 210 miles. I did that successfully by switching her off at traffic lights and freewheeling on the downsides of the mountains. In fairness, the roads were good quality and fairly quiet, so I managed to keep up a good average speed and thus keep the air flowing through the radiator.
We stopped for lunch in a village hotel. The only people there. Do they eat later than us? Grizzly had his first and last Greek salad. I had grilled potatoes. A nice little lunchtime snack.
We made our second fuel stop then made the run in to our hotel. On the way we were treated to a festival of nature, storks nesting on telegraph poles, cows paddling in Lake Kerkeni, wild ponies. It was a pleasant ride alongside the lake. Our hotel was at the southern tip up on the hillside. A bit of a trek on foot to the room but it had a great view. We could get the bikes within about 10 metres so that was OK.
We had dinner in the restaurant. The menu was a bit limited but buffalo seemed to feature. We both had some variant with a couple of beers, obviously. Beer count 31?
Pics of the day.
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| Memorial Park, Mountain 731 |
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| Zoom in for monasteries |
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| Lake Kerkeni from our balcony |
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| Buffalo sausages, chips and yoghurt dip |
Tomorrow we will be in a new country, Bulgaria. I have never been before. Grizzly has but not on a bike. We have to pinch ourselves sometimes. Sofia here we come.
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