I hardly took photos today. Seriously, there was nothing to see.
I was the only occupant of the hostel last night, so it was a little strange, but I was up and out at a reasonable hour. Any thoughts I had about returning to Meteora disappeared with the morning’s cloud and rain. So I set my sights on riding to Larissa, just over 60kms away.
I did the usual – grabbed some food and a coffee and left town.
To say this was a boring ride, is an understatement. It was full of empty or dilapidated villages or both. Much of the ride was on an access road beside the freeway and I had some busy traffic entering town. There weren’t even any dogs to keep me on my toes. I shouldn’t complain about that though.
In Larissa, I tried to find a hotel but there’s nothing reasonable so I decided to get the train to Thessaloniki. That was a good decision. From Thessaloniki, I’ll soon be into the former Yugoslavian states. Apart from a few days in Belgrade in the winter of 83, this will be my first look around. There’s a lot of recent and ancient history in these areas, so it’ll be interesting.
My back is still sore and today, after a wrong turn, I lifted the bike over a double barrier and I doubt that it helped the situation. It feels like I made it worse. That means a rest day in Thessaloniki for sure.
Thessaloniki is a vibrant town without being stunning. I think it’s the second largest city in Greece, but there was plenty of reasonable accommodation. It’s also about 70kms to the border with North Macedonia, so I’ll only have one more riding day in Greece. I’ve been in this country for nearly six weeks so it’s time to leave.
It’s been a lot of fun though. I’ve eaten five times my own bodyweight in Moussaka and Souvlaki, so it’s time for a change of diet, but I’ll be surprised if the cuisine improves in the short term.
Skopje will be the next major town and from there, I’ll need to decide whether to head towards Belgrade or Dubrovnik. The route to Dubrovnik will be hillier but probably more scenic and interesting but I’ll leave that decision for another few days.
More time in Thessaloniki
My back didn’t improve so I decided to stay two more days and hop into some Voltaren. I hate taking that stuff, but I need to reduce the inflammation asap. I even had a massage but it was simply painful and had no beneficial effect on my back.
It gave me more time to look around, and there are some more edgy, quirky areas just outside the tourist area. The town was absolutely full of people over the weekend.
The local football team PAOK won the championship yesterday, so there was plenty of noise last night.
I also spent a few hours planning an interesting route to the north of here. I had a few constraints though:
• avoid hills where possible
• Go via Dubrovnik and Skopje
• go through some interesting places
• avoid hills where possible
My current arch enemy, Komoot (it’s love /hate, with hate being dominant for a few months), suggested a route but I also asked ChatGPT for suggestions – there’s another love / hate relationship. This time, ChatGPT came up with some great suggestions and (because I asked it), I can avoid the biggest hills.
It may sound silly that a cyclist wants to avoid hills, but when you’re carrying your life on your bike and you’re 60+, I don’t think it’s unreasonable. I’m actually ok with hills, but if I can go up a 900m (vertical) climb instead of a 1500m one, then I’ll choose the 900m every time, traffic or no traffic. Komoot, of course, wanted to send me up the big one – it clearly reciprocates my hate.
So why do I still use Komoot ? Well, it’s absolutely wonderful for documenting my rides with the details and photos along the way. It’ll even generate a video with the photos and the map etc. and in places other than southern Europe, it’s planning capabilities are top shelf
I also asked ChatGPT about resupply points, so it suggested towns for that too. I plugged all that info into Komoot, and I have the next couple of weeks more thoroughly planned than any fortnight in the last three years. Not sure if that’s a good thing, but I’ll find out very quickly.
