TWO GREEK SALADS A DAY EVERY DAY!

The forecast is a bit suspect again today. It’s only 2 hours for 133 km to the island of Lefkada. For the scenic route it is 152 km and takes 3 hours. For both options this is if you take the undersea tunnel, which for a bike is .70 E and saves about 45 min. We decided to hop on the main road and go 25  km south and then made a right hand turn into the mountains at Kopani. It’s incredible these tiny roads with literally no traffic between very tiny settlements are paved.

We stopped in Sistrouni at a cafe with German Greek owners. Super friendly service and great food. We were lucky we stopped here since it’s the only restaurant we saw all day and it started thundering and pouring while we ate. The black cloud passed by and we were not going its direction but another was on its way so we booked it south. We hit about ten minutes more rain, but we could see that we were riding in the direction of blue sky. I think we passed less than a dozen cars all day too.

We joined the main road south of Louros and headed south to the tunnel at Preveza. You can’t follow the gps from here as   there is a new highway, but luckily all the signs in urban areas are also in English and we followed the ones to Lefkada. This island is reached by a series of bridges and we are staying 2 nights in Lefkada town.

WATCH VIDEO PART ONE HERE

https://youtu.be/vh0YlhaMRfk?si=9qD0KAKyy-MXjDzf

WATCH VIDEO PART TWO HERE

https://youtu.be/G6vKx8_slUU?si=GW87Eqc4iL0c0KFz

We set out this morning for a bit of a circuit of the island which for us will be about 145 km and 3 hours ride time. The first stop was in the tiny village of Agios Nikitas which has a small but pretty popular beach. We then headed up into the hills and on the main road south to access the western beaches.

Many of  Lefkata’s beaches are boat access or long walk in only. This includes our next side trip in and out 5 km to view Egremni beach . There is a paved road more than a km from the now gated access point. From the gate you walk on the road and then descend 350 steps to the 2.5 km white sand beach. Realistically you get to this beach by a 90 minute boat ride. There is a very nice view from just to the right of the gates.

Our next side trip was to visit the beach at Porto Katsiki. Here the paved road winds all the way down 5 km to the paid parking and there is about a 200 m walk to access the beach. The attendant let us in for free as we said we just wanted to look and she even told us where to go for the best photos.

We back tracked again and continued south 10 km to the lighthouse at Cape Lefkata. The road is paved until the last 150 m. We went a bit farther but it got rougher than was worth it after the first switchback and we walked the last bit.

You must again back track 22 km to the famous honey stand at the junction and turn south again on the road to picturesque Kolyvata. We stopped half way back in Avanti for some fresh seafood for lunch.

There is a ferry dock in Kolyvata and lots of people sitting at the waterside cafes and restaurants. We tried to access Agiofili beach, which is just past the town, but this road has also been gated. I get a feeling that there is a good business in water taxis. No worries as I had planned a circle route here and we continued up hill to the east side of the island to see the beautiful sheltered harbour in Vlycho.  Now we headed over the mountains thru the village of Karya to arrive back in Lefkada city.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

https://youtu.be/YKVFk7KqlSU?si=YJ9aHo0kxghqcBBu

Today we are leaving the island and headed along the coast to the south and then up into the mountains. The ride time for 224 km is 4.5 hours, but we expect some rain this afternoon and so we will see. We left Lefkada on the causeway and then over the draw bridge. We set the Garmin to adventure level 3 so we were on the back back roads thru farms and abandoned villages until we hit the south coast. We headed back inland at Astakos and up and  down the hills. With a quick coffee stop in Bampini it still took us 3 hours to go the first 152 km to Aitoliko, which is on a tiny island for lunch.

 From here there is about 30 min of highway time to reach Agrinio before heading up the very narrow and very windy mountain road to Karpenissi. We can see the dark black clouds and managed to avoid the rain until the last 50 km. It’s too bad as this road is amazing.  At about the half way mark you pass the Holy Monastery of Prousiotissa ( stock photo) perched on the cliff. It stopped raining not long after this. About 11 km from our destination the rear tire pressure was very low and we stopped and pumped it up and limped 6 km to the next gas station. There was a very sharp pointed shale rock puncturing the middle of the tire in a tread groove. We fixed the tire and used their air and set off again for the Mountain guest house finally arriving after 5. There was a big induro event near here today and the town is full of bikes from the race.

WATCH VIDEO HERE

https://youtu.be/KBL4htOPa2A?si=lsdgAbzkKnjgDu2S

It was 9 degrees and drizzly this morning as it is all over Greece today. This is the last day of bad weather for a long while according to the forecast. We are riding to Nafpaktos 152 km almost directly south,   It the estimated ride time is 3.5 hours. We are headed up and over several mountain passes and the road climbs up up up and then down down to the valleys. For the first hour it was more misty than rain, but the road was wet and the temperature was 5 degrees for quite a while. We were up in the clouds with no view and poor visibility. But suddenly after crossing the  next high point we could see blue sky.

There was really nowhere to stop for a coffee and so we continued on to Nafpaktos. We did make a detour to the city Center and to the Venetian castle on the hill overlooking it. We have a great apartment on the water.

WATCH VIDEO HERE

https://youtu.be/HzkdzhbOUbA?si=oEZzrOg2EA3oOuuJ