“CALCULATIONS”
(Part 2)
The longer a journey with the motorcycle get, 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.
This is the second part of the ride report about day no. eight of my journey. If you haven’t read already the first part, I highly recommend you to do so before reading on. The first part is available at: THE BREAKDOWN RIDE – DAY 08 – Part 1
When I was done …
with my simple snack, I kept sitting a few more minutes in the shade of a nearby single tree next to the road. It was already so hot, that also in the shade, it was unbearable, so continued on riding on against the hot air stream of a hairdryer, which also wasn’t cooling me down. For a few …
miles we followed this, nowadays rarely seen yellow road lines …
and passed some nice small villages along …
less used backcountry roads, through the …
hills and plains of Central-Northern-Greece. It didn’t took Чернотa and me long …
till we left tarmac again …
for another remote shortcut, …
which went on along some more or less …
steep slopes, into …
superb heights. The TET was now …
accompanying some Greek main …
traffic lines for a while …
before hitting again southwards, right to …
the shoreline of the …
Aegean Sea, close to the city Kavala.
Still on the TET we rode …
close to the shore further westwards.
Doing so, we enjoyed …
the nice views over the bays …
and the …
endless …
beaches of the city “Paralia Ofriniou”. Due to the unbelievable heat at this afternoon, I decided making a proper break somewhere nearby. So …
I jumped onto my black pony and after …
a few kilometers along the main beach road, …
…. a nice restaurant was found. I ordered a whole deep-fried calamari sliced in thick rings, some traditional Tzatziki and fresh toasted bread for an early afternoon snack. The ice-cold coke …
was a well welcome refreshment along this summer’s historical heatwave. Whilst sipping …
the drink, I looked with an estimating eye over to my close by parking black beauty. After a few minutes pondering about the still existing engine-ticking-noise, the actual heatwave and the ongoing very exhausting conditions in the windless remote hilly areas along the TET, I decided for my own safety, to leave the TET for riding some more populated roads.
The chances of suffering a heatstroke or having a serious engine problem in the remote areas of the country had been too high for me as a “Lone Rider”. Like always, such decisions are hard ones, especially because after eight days and more than 2700 km or 1700 mi, I was still sticking close to my journey’s schedule. Within 3-4 further days along the TET, for sure I would have been able of riding the whole TET further on, til reaching the intermediate goal: the west coast of northern Greece. But hey, for what price? Finally, my prudent thoughts won, what was in hindsight a good decision. Temperatures gained further and, how I found out later, Чернотas engine had indeed creeping serious damage in the cylinder head area.
Wistfully, I programmed an alternative, mostly tarmac route to the west. After paying the surprisingly low bill and the last gulp of the cold beverage, I went back into the saddle. The ride was …
continued and followed now a different route, which also …
offered us some spectacular …
sights for …
both of us.
Sometimes …
we have seen the TET appearing nearby the new planned route, like here at this part, where the TET followed the overgrown hill chain parallel to the road.
But for …
a few times also the alternative route …
went into …
some more …
remote riding terrain, which offered nice and …
breathtaking views over the landscape. Riding through the heat with my jacket’s wide open zip …
wasn`t enough for cooling me down, so in the early evening, I ordered a …
big ice cream at the obligate fuel stop. Nearby the city Tesalloniki, a nice …
wild camping spot was found after a short search. Just when the sun was disappearing behind the hill, I was ready with building up the shelter. The …
view to the north over the surrounding plain was superb. The view down to my …
maltreated feet were lesser. But hey! 8 Days with always more than 12 hours/day in the saddle have to took their toll somewhere. 😏🤛✊🛵💨💨💥😆
I celebrated this nice moment with a can of liquid gold and …
another pickle, which the met farmer gave me during the first half of that day. Sitting there, munching the crunchy vegetable and drinking the still cold beer from the fuel station, I watched …
the slowly fading daylight. With the incoming …
darkness distant streetlights were turned on. After a look at the maps of my navigation system, I was sure being able to reach with the next day the Adriatic Coast of Greek, due to riding mostly easy tarmac. Therefore, I booked the next day’s night ferry from Greece/Ingoumenitsa over to Italy/Brindisi. With the darkness, my tiredness grow, so it was time to kip.
Total riding distance of this riding day: 355 kilometers or 220 miles
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