Today’s ride on Komoot – Corfu
Today’s ride on Komoot – mainland Greece
I caught the hydrofoil from Sarandë to Corfu and reentered the EU. Back to Euros !
I can’t remember the last time I caught a hydrofoil, but it would have been on Sydney Harbour. They’re great, but you can hear them for miles. It was a quick trip though and very soon, I was riding from the port into Corfu Old Town. There was a huge cruise ship at the port and the town was heaving with middle aged tourists. There were a lot of Australian and American voices. I realised that I hadn’t seen any Australian tourists for some time. In fact, I have met very few on this whole trip.
I was hungry, but was put off by the touristic nature of the place, so I went out of town a bit and had second breakfast. There, I planned out the day. I didn’t want to stay near here, so I found a place on the west coast at Agios Gordios not far away and headed there. It’ll be nice for a couple of days.
It was perfect for me. Relaxing, warm, by the beach … and they had Moussaka at the restaurant down the road. What’s not to like about that combo ?
And for the price of a hostel, I had a mini apartment with sunloungers and a table on the verandah – perfect.
I took it easy, slept, planned and worked out what I wanted to do in Greece. I need downtime to do this properly and I had it here. The staff are lovely and the people in the village are great. There are a few english tourists around and there’s plenty of english spoken. At this rate, I won’t learn a word of Greek.
The water was swimmable. For me, that means it’s warm. Two weeks ago in Puglia, it was definitely too cold. Same ocean, slightly further south but totally different.
In the end, I could have stayed another couple of days, but the room wasn’t available.
Leaving Agios Gordios was tough on a few levels, but mainly the riding. The first two hundred metres were flat. The next kilometre and a half put me a hundred and fifty metres above the beach. It was a heart starter that I didn’t need.
I retraced my steps back to Corfu Town and this time it was far more chilled. Before the touristy area, there are a few cafes, so I stopped here for some breakfast and tried to work out where to stay tonight. I wanted to camp but wasn’t sure if camp grounds were open, so I set my sights on Camping Elena, not far from Igoumenitsa.
I rode down to the port, got a ticket to Igoumenitsa, had some lunch and boarded for an uneventful trip. I didn’t see much of Igoumenitsa as I headed out of town. I met some french cyclists who are going north, but need to hitch to a bike shop to fix a tyre problem.
Onward, I went upward, around the point until the turnoff to the camp site. The flags looked new, so assumed it was open. This was a leap of faith, as it was a steep downhill to get there, but I’m so glad I did.
The place is run by George, who is a character and really generous guy who makes everyone feel at home. Tonight, I was the only tent, along with eighteen campervans. There was also a bar and restaurant which saved me a trip to the nearest supermarket.
