7/30/13
Last day in Kefalonia, Greece
Ildi wanted yet another day at Mystras beach and as beautiful as it is, I needed a change so I went alone to retrieve the 2 bags we left in Argostoli. It's only 25k but with 700 meters elevation at the pass and another hot day it's a workout. Between 10 and 5 all you want to do here is rest in the shade sipping icewater and talking about all the things you would do if it wasn't so f**king hot. So it would have been a few hours workout in the morning followed by a restful afternoon back in Sami under a shade tree waiting for our 7:30 ferry to Italy. Except for ......THE SWEDISH BIKERS.
We met them outside Melisani cave and they seemed harmless at first, two couples a little older than me in good shape and biking around the island like us. But as we regaled them with stories of our biking prowess, they casually mentioned their morning climbing the 700 meter pass and continuing on to the peak another 1000 meters above. Judging from our crappy map it seemed like a steep climb. This little seed germinated for two days and as I prepared for my trip I thought maybe I would take a little detour at the pass and see how far up I could get.
So except for the usual late start (about 10:30/11) things went pretty well at first and I was at the 5 k mark before I knew it. But as the sun rose the hills got steeper and the 2 beers from the night before started working their magic and as I approached the pass I was pretty much stopping at every shady spot I could find. Then I found out the real problem. The bike wasn't shifting into low gear ! After 15 minutes of roadside repair I was rested and the bike was tuned and ready to go. The extra gear made a big difference and soon I was at the junction for the peak climb. I decided that Amercia needed to be represented at the top so I made a left and started on up.
I think at this point I had burmed off the toxins because I was feeling pretty good and enjoying the ride. The scenery was nice from desert views to views of both coasts and toward the top there is a park with a pine forrest.
I was about a half hour or so from the peak when I reached my time limit. I needed an hour amd 10 minutes to get down , get the bags and catch the bus. If I missed the bus we would miss the ferry and lose one week waiting for the next one. So with the peak so close I had to turn back and head down.
It was an exhilarating coast down all that elevation I had just pedaled up and soon I was back om the main road. I had planned on coasting the whole 20 k to Argostoli but the mountain had other plans and soon I was rolling to a stop and facing a half k uphill. At this point I started to worry about time and wore myself out trying to pedal it quickly. After some more downhill and with time running out I came to a y and chose the most direct route down into town over a bridge. The bridge turned out to be a causway and it was closed so I had to go back up and pedal 4 k around the inlet and to the hotel where the bags were at the far side of town. The heavy wind was against me for the last 2 k and I arrived at the hotel worn out and out of breath.It was 3:15 and I missed the bus. I would have been relaxing under a shade tree if it wasn't for those SWEDISH BIKERS!!
All turned out ok though due to the generosity of the hotel owner who drove me first to the bus terminal with my bike hanging out the back. (He had called ahead to ask them to wait).And then when we found the bus had gone anyway he decided to take his wife and drive the 25 k to go swimming by Sami, dropping me off on the way. So we made the ferry and are on our way....TO ITALY!
