Return to Ioannina

June 2, 2018

I think we need some blog standards here. I’ve struggled a bit with my assertions that we’re taking a rest day, because we pretty much never just rest. Most of our rest days are really simply easier days, or less arduous days. To clear up any confusion, I propose that to qualify as a rest day, two standards must be met:

Bike less than 25 miles; and
Gain less than 1,000’.

Sound reasonable? Good!

Today was not a rest day. Sooo close, but we missed on both criteria: we biked 25.6 miles, and climbed 1,100’. So, clearly an easy day, but no rest day.

My easy day began much like yesterday, by waking to discover there was no WiFi access in the room. As I did yesterday, I went out and sat in front of the cafe and worked on the journal until breakfast was served. As I sat outside, I enjoyed looking up periodically to observe the changing sky as a light layer of fog burned off.

Something we haven’t seen since leaving Oregon: morning fog

We have a short day ahead of us to return to Ioannina, and it’s mostly downhill. Over breakfast Rachael and I discuss ways we could add to it - possible hike, possible detour to look for more bridges - but we elect to keep it easy since we have quite a long and hard day ahead of us tomorrow when we drop to the coast and catch the ferry to Corfu.

So we take our time over breakfast, catching up on the CycleBlaze news: Suzanne and Janos can’t keep their maps straight in Bavaria; the Mathers have issues with Sicilian infrastructure; the Grampies discover that the coasts of Brittany and Normandy aren’t flat after all; the Bartletts are a bit accident prone in Catalonia; and the Grumbys are burning up in Kansas. Distresses everywhere, it seems. They should come to Greece instead, where all the meals are delicious, all the scenery is stunning, and all the weather is above average.

In spite of all this stalling around we leave Kipoi at the usual time, about 10:30. We start by backtracking yesterday’s final miles through bridge country. We stop and take a longer look at the Lazaridi bridge, which we only took a glancing view of yesterday. Today we have a proper visit, leaving our bikes at the trailhead and walking the short distance out to it. It’s a simple single arch bridge, but very attractive against the varnished cliffs.

We stop also at the Plakida bridge, for a second look and to check out a supposed trail to another nearby bridge we failed to locate. While there I enjoyed an extended conversation with a couple from Israel and the Netherlands. They and their friends are on their way to Meteora, so I did my best to talk them into an eBike tour with Vasilis.

The morning bread van arrives in Kippoi,

The wall behind the Lazaridi bridge is popular with the climbers, based on the number of pitons and carabiners nailed to it.

From here, we biked straight through to Ioannina save for a brief cafe stop for sandwiches and beverages, where we enjoyed a delightful conversation with the young woman who runs it. She knows of Oregon (uncommon here, from what we’ve observed), and has relatives that emigrated to Edmonton, Alberta.

Finally one I can identify on my own without Andrea’s help. She’ll be so proud of me!

It’s been a week since the last saddle check. There’s been some deterioration, but nothing that electrical tape can’t handle.

We’re dropping back to Ioannina along a different road than we left it on. We rode the road through this green trench three days ago, on our way to Papigo.

Still dropping toward Ioannina. The basin on the right is the quiet one we biked through on our first pass through - the one with the frog and bird video.

We arrived in Ioannina a bit after three just about as the afternoon thunderstorm took hold, and checked in again at the Castro Hotel, enjoying seeing some familiar faces. We spent most of the remainder of the day having a better look at the city than we had time for earlier this week. I could include that here, but I think I’ll take some ground, close this one out, and create a separate post for our visit to the city.

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Ride stats today: 26 miles, 1,100’

Today's ride: 26 miles (42 km)
Total: 1,188 miles (1,912 km)

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