Today’s plan was to brave the weather and camp on Myrtos Beach. There was rain predicted for most of the day, but it would fine up by evening. Sounds doable.
I woke instead to sunny weather and as usual, the forecast had changed. Now, I had storms from 2pm all through the night. Oh well, let’s see what happens.
I packed up and rode the kilometre and a half back to Fizcardo, had a coffee and thought about my day. It didn’t take long – I’d just have to get going, enjoy the morning and see what the day brings.
My plan was to make it to Athens in about a week. My replacement Helinox chair frame should be there before then but the courier service would only hold it for six days. So that rules out a leisurely trip around the Peloponnese. Instead, I’d get the ferry from Samos to Patras and ride down the Gulf of Corinth – should be pretty easy and fun too.
So I set off for the twenty five kms to Divarata, the village above Myrtos Beach. It was a gentle uphill for most of it and was filled with some quiet villages and amazing views of both sides of the island.
I couldn’t believe how strikingly blue the water was, even on a cloudy day like today. As I neared Divarata, the slopes to the sea, were more like cliffs and it was clear that they must have landslips from time to time. It was stunning and I kept looking at the ominous clouds, that seemed to be stuck to the large mountain ahead. I was lucky that they stayed there until I was descending into the village when I got the first few spots of rain.
It was lunchtime but there wasn’t much open. I found a small place and was their only guest. As I parked This Moment under their awning and walked in, the heavens opened and it pelted down and thundered.
The people in the restaurant were wonderful. I didn’t get to read a menu, as the lady said they had just cooked meatballs in tomato with Spaghetti – the perfect comfort food when it’s cold and wet. I was hungry too. I demolished the bread with olive tapenade, the meatballs, then they brought cake and coffee with some homemade honey wine – all absolutely delicious.
I didn’t want to leave. Not just because of the nice food but because it was still raining cats and dogs outside. In the end, I paid the bill – 12 euros for all of that – and took off looking for accommodation. It was scarce as there wasn’t much open. The restaurant people recommended asking at the coffee shop up the road, so I headed there.
No luck and it seemed like the next town didn’t have much either. The cafe lady said that if the accommodation is open, it’ll be on booking.com and there was nothing there.
I was only sixteen kms from Sami, so I found a fairly reasonable place there, and booked in for two nights as there were some things to see in the area (they were closed though I didn’t know at the time).
I left the cafe, donned all of my waterproofs and then had to wait for a herd of goats to pass by. They were going down the same road, so progress was slow until I followed a car that pushed the herd to one side. There was one dog calling the shots at the front and the farmer was hundreds of metres back. At the last minute the dog ran at me. I hadn’t seen him because he was the size and colour of the goats.
A good shout stopped him in his tracks long enough for me to get by and I headed downhill through the sheets of water covering the road. It’s hard to warm up when you’re not pedalling, so the downhill was pretty uncomfortable and it wasn’t until I hit the east coast that things got drier and warmer. This would have been fun on a nice day.
I rolled into Sami, checked in and hung up all of my wet gear before walking into town for a look around. There was still a bit of drizzle around but it was also cold and windy. I’m glad I’m not camping tonight 😁