“TET GREECE”
(Part 1)
Day seven of my journey started very unpleasant. Members of the Greek Border Police woke me up for an identity check in the very early morning.
After this surprising nightly incident, Чернотa and I followed our planned route and entered the Greek Trans Euro Trail nearby the borderline with Turkey. The whole day we stayed on the Trans Euro Trail and followed it North-westwards along very hard climate conditions.
*pssst* …. *PSSSST!* “GET OUT OF THE TENT – POLICE CONTROL!”
Around 05:00 in the morning, after hearing a car in the distance, it didn’t take long till I was prompted from police to get out of the tent with the above-mentioned words. First I had no idea what was happening and opened slowly the tent door.
Blinded by the light of a strong torch, I slowly went out into the dark. One of the uniformed men asked me about my language and what I was doing here. The other man was holding his riffle with a mounted torch in front of his body. Despite pointing down to the soil, the light beam of this torch was way too bright for my sleepy eyes.
With blinking, eyes I told them in English, that I was sleeping here for one night and will leave the beach with dawn. He asked me for a passport and the documents of the bike. I pointed at my jacket at the bottom of the tent entrance and asked if it’s ok to get it out. He nodded whilst his colleague was enlightening the scene. I went to the tent and kneed down to the jacket for the documents.
Whilst searching for the documents in the jacket, the police men with the torch kindly turned down its brightness. This way I was able to see, that they had some bright blue arm patches on their black uniforms with printed EU-flag on it. It was clear for me: Both men are members of the “Frontex-Unit” which are protecting the outer Border of the European Union. I finally found the needed documents and handed them over to the talking guy.
He took them and said something which I couldn’t understand. Just at this moment I recognized that there was a third person, a police woman standing in the dim background. Standing there half naked in my brief boxers, the lady came over now for the papers and went off with em to the border-patrol-car parking about 50 meters away. Well, this turned out to be some kind of crazy situation.
Whilst waiting for the result, the policemen with the riffle started the usual palaver with me. I told them my story, that I’m on an adventurous vacation trip through remote areas of South-Eastern Europe. The situation now relaxed remarkable.
In our talks I found out, that one policeman was Greek, one Romanian and the police lady was Italian. All three worked (like estimated before) for Frontex which is trying to deal with the migration pressure from Turkey in this area. Many migrants and human smugglers try to circumnavigate the border between Turkey and Greece by sea and were landing at this remote beach. That was also the reason for the check of my person. Campers are unusual in this area. Especially due to the billions of mosquitos coming up in the first half of the night. Aha, a keen grin wandered over my face whilst I recognized that most of the billions of mosquitos from yesterday’s evening had disappeared. Police told me too, that they have seen the tent on a thermal drone footage and decided to make a check. Just in case. Now everything made sense to me. Especially also the two destroyed rubber dinghies, which I’d seen the day before whilst riding along the beach.
After about 10 minutes, the police lady came back with the documents and handed them over to me with an examining glance from head to toe. 🤭
The control was over and they went off. No consequences for me at all. *pheww*
Because sand stuck all over my lower feet and knees, I decided to have a seat on the nearby stump of drift wood instead of going back into the tent. I sat there for about forty minutes, cleaned my feet and …
enjoyed the upcoming …
sun. Surprised by the power of the low standing sun, I started packing my stuff together.
Whilst doing so, I checked the improvised saddlebag repair from the day before. It seemed holding up well. When everything was stowed on Чернотas strong back, this day started like the day before ended: With …
a great ride along the beach further eastwards. After a few miles we left the beach towards the countryside and …
Чернотas braaping sound scared up a big albatross covey, siting in the swampland. We now followed some …
very rural farmland areas, always avoiding …
the big main roads, until …
the Kipi-Border-Crossing-Point with Turkey was reached. Besides many waiting trucks and some border post watchtowers, such border areas are kind of forsaken land. Therefore, I quickly left, back in the opposite direction and entered the route of Trans Euro Trail Greece on its far most eastern point, which …
is a simple tarmac road. It didn’t took us long, until …
the TET led us along small less maintained roads through Greek backcountry. Especially in Eastern Greece …
this armored shelters are often visible in the middle of the landscape aside small tracks. Due to historical “instabilities” in Turkey during the last decades, Greece is well known for having big fortification building in its eastern parts like the building above. Just in case when something went wrong within Turkey.
We pushed on trough dry bushland and …
along colorful sunflower fields. Riding through …
a little village, I looked at the map for a church. Every time when I’m short of water, I try to find a church, because most of the time, there or at the cemetery nearby, a water source would be available. Also in this case, I found next to a little chapel a working water tap.
The temperatures at this early hours of the day surely were already above 30 °C or 85 °F, what increased my water demand. The dry climate…
took its toll, and we had to ride some steep technical …
gravel alongside burned woodland. This effort was rewarded with …
a great view above the incoming route. I used the small shade on the right-hand side for having a short 15-minute rest and ate a chocolate bar for breakfast. When firing up the still sizzling hot engine, my ears told me, that there was a new faint noise coming from Чернотa engine head or the valve train.
It was kind of an infrequent ticking noise which was hearable between 3700-4200 RPM, most of the time only when reving down or using engine break. My first idea was kind of an incoming rocker arm damage, but I wasn’t sure about that. Due to the sporadic manner of the noise, I decided to ride on for a while. I was …
observing the noise whilst continuing riding through the woods, …
creek beds, along …
old military objects, and …
some small and …
tiny settlements. It seemed like …
the noise was gone and I was wondering a lot about that. Maybe some lack of oil pressure? Hmm … . 🤔
Around midday …
we were following a swath through the forest with snappy slopes and descents, when Чернотa and I saw …
our first turtle along this trip. I wondered how this very slow animal was able to survive along such hot temperatures atop this hill. I mean: There was no water source nearby, most of the grass looked very dry, and the sun was heating up the soil to maniac temps. Astounding.
The ride continued and for a short while we followed this…
abandoned track. It was leading down to a valley …
formed from a slow flowing creek. The temptation was big for taking a bath in the idyllic water, but a closer look showed me that it was very dirty and kind of smelling. *eek*🤢
So I pushed my old girl further …
along some little fields …
and villages, always for making progress further to the west. Each …
watering place along the TET route was a welcome opportunity for a short time rest for escaping from the beating heat into a shade. I also used each opportunity for soaking my bandana with water, what is an impressive effective cooling solution, lasting for about an hour. I was more and more overwhelmed of the …
remoteness, which …
the Trans Euro Trail Greece was …
now leading …
through. The heat, …
combined with very technical riding sections brought me close to my limits and fueled my concerns about riding safety. I was breathing heavily and sweating like a cow in the slaughterhouse after managing this hefty part of the TET, which wasn’t much more than a steep, washed out and rocky animal trail. 🥵
When …
Чернотa and I arrived at this lookout, I decided, for my own health and safety, to ride more on the safer side along perhaps incoming further obstacles.
Interestingly …
the ride along an unbelievable long chain of wind wheels was now for a while a very easy and comfortable one. Whilst enjoying the swift progress, a few times the ticking noise from the engine head appeared again for a few seconds. I was able to find out that the noise is coming from the right side of the engine head or valve train.
Now big worries about the health of Чернотas heart, which already had a very high mileage around 117.000 km or 78.000 mi on the clock, started in my mind. Especially because at this moment, only the first half of the planned trip was done. 🤔😥😱
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