Today wasn’t a big ride down to the port of Vasiliki at the southern end of the island of Lefkada. I took my time and made some mods to the bike before leaving town.
Lefkada is quite a nice place and is well set up for tourists and yacht charters. I stopped by the end of the huge marina, sat down and worked on my rear wheel.
Nerd alert – look away now if this bores you ! I rotated my tyres in Sarandë, Albania, and ever since, there’s been a slight bump as the tyre isn’t seated properly. It got worse yesterday and I tried a quick fix by the roadside. TLDR – dumb idea. I made it worse. I think that after a while – nearly 8,000 kms in this case – the bead gets roughed up and doesn’t move and seat itself when inflated. It never happens with a new tyre. I run fairly low pressures so the result is a bump on every rotation of the wheel. I soaped up the bead and put the tyre back on, and it worked pretty well. I’ll do that again if necessary.
So by 11am, I had a bike with one wheel and dirt and tools everywhere. I left soon after I had cleaned up the mess and went to Nydri. It’s half way in terms of kilometres but about a quarter of the time. There’s a dirty great hill to get over before Vasiliki.
I had some lunch in Nydri and while there, confirmed that the daily ferry to Kefalonia leaves from Vasiliki (it changed just two days later). I’m glad I didn’t stop here. Nydri has the feel of a short term tourist area, probably due to its port and connections. Along the way, I wondered if the small Greek port village of tourists dreams existed any more.
Out of town, the gentle climb started and continued and continued … Until I had what is now standard Greek and Albanian coastal views. That is, standing on what is almost a cliff, looking down at a valley and beaches. Ho hum. Hang on. It’s bloody stunning. So I stopped near the top and just breathed it all in.
There’s roads that looks like goat tracks going up ridiculous mountains, mountain villages, and more than 400 metres below me is a beach with holiday looking places around it. Wow all ’round.
The downhill was fun as always and Vasiliki appeared very quickly. Like many other villages, it was almost deserted but gee it’s nice. It looks like your typical quiet Greek port village
I sat at a cafe and booked a room not far away. Later over dinner at the same place, I found out that there was a ferry strike tomorrow. That’ll mean another night here – something I’m happy to do. It’s so quiet and peaceful.
