Limni

May 22, 2018

My day (but not sensible Rachael’s) began ridiculously early today. Last night while working on the day’s journal I was reading up on the Old/Swing Bridge and saw that it opens one time per day, and that watching it open is one of the town’s attractions. The exact time depends on the tides. So I researched that too, and found a calendar of opening times. Tonight, it’s 12:30 AM. Ouch.

I’m an erratic sleeper, and by chance or subconscious plan I woke up just after midnight. After thinking it over for a few minutes I decided I might as well get up and walk down to the waterfront to check out the big event, and maybe get a great photo of the opened bridge to post here.

No big event. No idea why. Maybe it’s conditional on whether there’s anything waiting to pass through? No great photos of the open bridge either. Just this:

Chalkida at night. That’s the Old Bridge, illuminated but closed, in the background.

We had breakfast at the sixth floor dining room at our hotel, the Hara. It sits up the hill a bit on the mainland side of the Strait, and the views from its sixth floor across to Evia are expansive. As is their buffet breakfast. With muesli! With peanut butter!

We have a longer and harder day today than we’ve seen for a bit, so we make a huge effort and get out the door by 9:30. Our first stop is a sandwich shop on the Evia side that Rachael spotted last night. There’s nothing large along the route, and we’re not taking chances with running out of fuel again. While Rachael brings home the bacon, I have a last look around the waterfront.

The view up the northwest coast of Evia, the direction of today’s ride. Fun times ahead.

Watching life go by on the Chalkidian waterfront

Once we leave the waterfront, it’s a bit tricky finding our way out of Chalkidia. At one point, trying to find a quieter route than the one I had marked up in advance, we found ourselves at an intersection with three forward-going alternatives - all narrow, all fairly busy, and all one way headed in our direction. A bit of confused backtracking transpired before we eventually found ourselves back on the planned route again.

Where we were quickly reminded of why I was trying to avoid it. Very busy, lots of trucks, poor surface, no fun. After five miles of this we were starting to despair, imagining a whole day of this, when we came to Nea Artaki and a suitable side road that branched off into pleasant farmland. After this, roads for the rest of the day were just fine.

The pleasant Straitside path, which sadly ended far too soon

The ride from Chalkidia to Nea Artaki looked like this. Not recommended.

The first twelve miles of the day’s ride were flat, and then abruptly were flat no more. Ahead of us was a steady climb for the next ten miles to a 2,000’ summit. Reasonably quiet road, reasonable gradient, not bad at all. Also very green and forested, predominantly of pine and locust.

A few miles into the climb and 600’ up, we came to a roadside cafe and stopped for a hydration and facilities break. Feeling refreshed after glasses of OJ, we started climbing - and soon rounded a bend and frustratingly descended for about a mile, losing about three hundred of our hard earned feet of gained elevation. Climbing once more, evemtually we came to the summit and took another short breather before continuing on.

Looking back west to the North Euboean Gulf and the mainland. This was the only viewpoint on the whole ascent.

At the summit. No views, so I looked around for something else to remember the spot by.

Down, down, down. Over the top, and we drop nearly the whole 2,000’ over the next fifteen miles. After about ten of them we come to the village of Prokopi and decide to stop somewhere for another facilities break. We’re lured in by a shop with a souvlaki grill out front. I haven’t had souvlaki yet on this trip, and I’m still working to keep my weight up. And, I’ve decided to take a pass on the sandwich Rachael has been faithfully hauling all this way, after she discovered that they’re disgustingly drowning in mayonnaise.

While I work my way through four tasty pork souvlaki skewers, Rachael wanders down the street and snacks on ice cream instead.

Not much of a shot of the big mountain crossing, but that’s all you get. In general the woods were too close in to make much of a picture. Except of the woods, I suppose. I could have taken a picture of that.

Back on the road again, we’re admiring newly open views of the mountains ahead. A half mile later, I sense that something is amiss. We’re going the wrong way, and are climbing back toward the mountains again. Funny - maybe there really were some good views to be had if I’d just looked behind us.

Going the right way again, we bike back through Prokopi, feeling sheepish and looking straight ahead. Five miles later we bottom out and start climbing again - first over a few rollers, and then up a more sustained climb that tops out at a thousand feet. Then it’s all downhill to Limni, our day’s direction.

We arrive about six, and are met at our hotel by a guy that looks like a handyman. He speaks no English at all, but he shows us our room, points to a few key things, and then walks off. Odd. We settle in, and Rachael heads for the shower.

Shortly, there’s a knock on our door. It’s the manager, who has just returned. He explains that the first gent is his dad. I step out into the hall with him to register, and we get into an extended conversation about the political situation in our two countries.

As we visit, in the background I hear some knocking, which I think nothing of. Then I hear louder, more urgent knocking, and hurry back to the room. It’s Rachael. She’s trapped in the bathroom, and can’t open the door for some reason. And she’s cold, and none too happy, because there’s no hot water. It turns out that one of the things dad pointed to when he let us in was the switch to turn the hot water heater on. I hadn’t understood what he was indicating.

What a great view of the mountains we have ahead of us! It’s a shame that we’re going the wrong way and can’t enjoy them longer.

The next several miles were lovely, following a stream downriver as it descended through a maple forest. A peaceful ride, occasionally marred by a large bus rounding the bend and taking most of the road.

Abruptly, we come in sight of the Gulf again soon after cresting the final summit. Limni is a thousand feet below us.

Resfeshed and dressed (my shower was plenty warm, and felt great),we walked out to see the town and find a meal. Limni is a very quiet place now, and perhaps always is. We’ve about walked the length of the waterfront and are starting to despair of finding a meal, when we find the place. There’s a menu board with the day’s dishes chalked up, but it’s in Greek. We stare at it, trying to decide whether to keep walking, when the owner walks over and addresses us in English, tells us some of what’s available, and encourages us to sit. We sit. We receive bilingual Greek/English menus, and start considering our options.

Shortly, another man, seemingly a friend of the owner, comes over and offers to explain the menu. I’m not sure we need an explanation since it’s in English, but we do as it turns out. He’s reading the only things on the menu that are actually available tonight. We settle on Greek salad, fried aubergine, grilled chicken and fries, and stuffed grape leaves. We get the grape leaves on his encouragement - they’ll be great, because his wife made them using grape leaves from their garden.

He’s right. The dolmades are great, the aubergine is especially great, and the meal is fine. We enjoy a lovely, peaceful evening sitting there, watching the sea, watching bikers wheel back and forth throw the street, their tires half inflated, watching the swifts circle above and then swoop low over our heads. I love it - it feels like I’m watching a foreign film, but it’s real life.

Our restaurant. I’ve seen this before, a single chair out in the street. I’ll have to watch, but I think maybe it’s a signal that the restaurant is open?

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Ride stats: 53 miles, 4,400’

Today's ride: 53 miles (85 km)
Total: 823 miles (1,324 km)

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