“CALCULATIONS”
(Part 1)
The longer a journey with the motorcycle is, the more you will have to adjust your plans. Especially in the event of unexpected happenings. On this day of the “The Breakdown Ride”, which still followed the Greek Trans Euro Trail, I forced myself, for my own safety, to make a major adjustment relating to the incoming route.
*Yaaawwwwnnn* The last night was, besides some barking dogs somewhere in the distance, a very quiet one. Well recovered I …
went up and enjoyed …
the last cool morning mountain air of the day before the mighty glowing globe started with its daily mercyless heating up.
Due to gained daily practice, I was able to pack my old girl Чернотa faster than ever. Next to the obvious morning check of the motorcycle and the proper seat of the luggage, Чернотa and I started into the day. The area …
which we rode through was very remote and …
for a long time such …
hole riddled signs had been the only …
modern signs of civilization.
The sun rose and …
the Trans Euro Trail lead us most of the time through …
some calm valleys of northern Greek; always in and out. Being …
already low on water, …
I was very happy to find this well …
next to a gorgeous lookout over the surrounding Greek mountains.
The further ride reached now a hilly area, which …
looked like it was…
abraded from a glacier long time ago. After the first hours of riding, ….
just caming out of another small valley, we got blinded from the shiny tower of an obviously newly built mosque. This costly building here was very curious for me because, besides a…
duck in its bathtub and just three or four tiny houses, no signs of a vindicating faith community were seen. Indifferent! Чернотa and I followed the …
hard packed gravel road, which …
was wiggling its way …
through the gorgeous landscape. For the first time of this day the annoying ticking noise in Чернотas valve train/engine head reappeared and made me worrying again. I decided as long it won’t gain its hearable presence, I will keep on riding. So Чернотa and I followed in swiftly manner the trail. Whilst being on the fly …
I recognized that the motorcycle’s rear was wobbling slightly when riding along a bend. First I thought about a flat tire, but …
luckily, just a manufacturer seam of the Enduristan Monsoon bag was broken. In wisely foresight, I had strengthened all four of the main mounting points of the luggage with para cord. This way, just the thin seam snapped off, and the thicker para cord, leading through all the layers of the main belt and the bag’s fabric, was working as a trustful backup. So I just had to tighten the luggage straps and the instability due to the ongoing ride was gone. That was an additional small breakdown along this ride.
The landscape stayed …
pretty of the same whilst following the TET Route westwards. For a short while, Чернотa and I haven’t been alone …
on the track. For a few kilometers it seemed like, there was somewhere a …
nest of turtles. I had to circumnavigate a few of them lying on the gravel track. On a paved floating zone of a creek, we stumbled into this:
I wasn’t sure how this street orientated car came that far into this forlorn area along such bad tracks. But like for many parts of my own gear/motorcycle, the Trans Euro Trail took its toll: …
Somehow the driver of the car got it managed to damage his spare wheel (and surely the standard wheel of the car) heavily along this trail. A look on the phone showed me that there was no signal, what made me wonder where the driver was now and when this incident happened.
I decided to tell the next soul, which I will meet on my way, the plate number of the car and its position. Just in case, somebody got lost here in the middle of literally nowhere. I added a waypoint to the map on my navigation phone and continued the ride.
Just a few hills further I passed this prominent rock which had some bigger holes/caves in it. Surely there lived some people a long time ago. Sadly, the other picture which I took from a cave entry atop the rock was heavily blurred. So no picture of that.
The route went on around this …
old big rock and followed downwards into another valley. On our way, we …
came onwards this classy dual sport motorcycle standing forlorn at the edge of the road, which looked strange. Maybe another breakdown?
Heaving no plate on it, lead me to the assumption, that it’s a local which had to do something here near the gravel track. I stopped, went off the bike and had a closer look. Both tires had air, but the engine was cold. It was maybe 10:00ty in the morning. May the rider went up very early? Hmmm … . 🤔
I wasn’t sure and added another waypoint onto my digital map before continuing the ride.
For about another …
half of an hour …
following the planned route,
we just rode trough a few abandoned …
settlements like these.
Finally, just a few kilometers before reaching the first small village marked on my map, we met …
Dimitri, which is a regional farmer, earning his money with farming …
a rare sort of dwarf cows. Fully grown up, this very robust sort of cows didn’t grow any bigger than regular calves.
I had a short break at his house and after the usual palaver (where I from, which way I came, where I’m going to, …) he told me, that I will need a smaller bike, which would be more saver for riding alone on such remote tracks like this. *Ahm, yess …* 😅
With a wistful look to heavily equipped Чернотa I had to agree with him and switched the talking topic over to the lonely dual sport motorcycle, which I’ve seen just before. After showing him a picture of it, he nodded and told me, that he know that motorcycle. It was the bike of another farmer, which had a few bee hives up there. He was surely looking after them. No need to worry.
I also told him about the broken car. He didn’t know anything about it, but wrote a note about the plate number and the type of vehicle from my photo on a piece of paper. Just in case somebody is looking for it or somebody is missing, what indeed happens occasionally in this part of Greece, regarding Dimitri.
When our short talk was over, Dimitri gave me a small bag with two fresh garden pickles for a snack along my ongoing journey. He mentioned to me, that these pickles are one of the best food for overcoming the actual summer heat. Thankfully, I stowed it in one of my luggage bag and wished him farewell. The track now …
followed a bigger valley southwestwards, along …
some old Roman stone roads, til we hit the first proper …
tarmac road since a while. It was already close to midday, and I was hungry. So I stopped on an eventless parking lot nest the road and had a handful of nuts and one of the delicious pickles for a small lunch snack. Whilst munching this juicy snack, I grabed a big bottle of water out of the luggage and walked a few meters into the shade of a nearby tree, because the heat was already unbearable. 🥵
To be continued … .
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