Day 11: Karditsa - up a mountain somewhere

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Distance - 40 km
Total Distance - 718 km
Altitude Gain - 674 m

We had a very pleasant evening last night, with Panos, his mother and other villagers sitting around the table, eating slouvaki and talking into the early hours. Panos lives in a very rural setting. He apparently used to have cows, pigs, sheep and horses but now he and his mother only keep chickens. Panos told me some fascinating stories about his village - there are enough goings on there to make it the setting for a soap opera!
The rooster woke me up very early - it was a bit tough seeing as we'd gone to bed at 2 am. We wanted to start the next leg of my journey together. But Panos had some errands to do in town, so we didn't start off until about 10.30. The idea was that we'd start climbing the mountain I had to cross together until Panos had had enough and then I'd continue by myself. Panos hasn't been cycling for long and it was his first climb. He found it tough but did very well - and it was quite a long way into the climb when he decided he couldn't go any further. He took some photos of me, we said our goodbyes and I pressed on. The only problem was that I realised a few kilometres later that the road was not the one I was supposed to take, but one that took a longer way round. I thought of going back, but it was a nice road, I had plenty of food and water so I thought "What the heck!" and continued.

A stork nest

A genuinely nice guy, Panos, enjoying his first climb.  But it was very hot!

This photo makes me look like an ultra serious cyclist!

At lunchtime, I found a spring and sat down to eat. I looked at the map more closely. The road was starting to loose its appeal - not only was it longer, it also appeared to be very much more moutainous than I'd appreciated. I'd already climbed to 700 metres in altitude and it looked like it would climb much higher. What's more, the map indicated that the route would probably include more than one climb making it a very hard and long way. I began to wish that I had been less willing to trust Panos' local knowledge without verifying that the route he had in mind was the same one I'd planned to do. I couldn't for the life of me imagine why he'd sent me up this stunning but totally impractical road - maybe he'd already gone to Lamia that way once?

The road was stunning

I decided to continue climbing to the next village and ask some locals. But when I got there, I turned round and saw, coming up the mountain,Panos' car. He stopped, jumped out the car and shouted, "Thank God I've found you! It's the wrong road!" He asked me if I'd received his text message. I hadn't - the bleep my phone makes when it receives a text message is inaudible to me when I'm cycling. I looked at my phone and, sure enough, there was a message from my friend. It said, James! You're heading the wrong way man! Where are you? Let me come and pick you up. Panos started taking the bags off my bike and throwing them into the car.
   "What are you doing?" I asked.
   "I'm taking you."
   "Where?"
   "To Lamia."
I thought about it. Even if this road was wrong, I was loving every metre of it, and I had enough food to last for days and there were water springs everywhere. On the other hand, I really wanted to get to Delphi as quickly as possible, and this route wasn't only long but involved a lot of climbing. It was already 3 pm, if I was to get to Lamia tonight (the only place in the area with a campsite) then I'd have to accept abandonning this part of the ride. I accepted, and down we drove, down, down, down past all those hairpin bends I'd cycled up and all those spectacular views came speeding back into view. "Even my car had problems getting up here!" Panos remarked as we went down.
As we drove to Lamia along most of the road I would have taken, I realised that Panos' error was, in fact, a blessing in disguise. It really didn't look like a nice road to cycle on at all, and there were no springs of cold water by the side of the road. There was no doubt that the climb I had done was far, far better than this. So maybe the gods intervened to spare me from a nasty road.
Once in Lamia we looked for a bike shop to get more inner tubes. I'd had the fifth puncture of this tour today - despite the sealant. But it turned out that the air pressure gauge on Panos new floor pump was faulty and we'd put far too much air in my tyres before leaving this morning - so I can't really say the sealant doesn't work. Then we looked for a tent shop to look for a repair kit for my tent - when the pole snapped a few days ago it actually punctured the ripstop outer, making the tent useless if it was to rain. I had to phone the shop where I bought the tent to find out what to use - and they offered to look at it when I return.
Then we drove to the campsite and Panos watched me put up the tent and get prepared. He was genuinly interested to see how I organise myself on these trips. I think that's his next project - to go camping, maybe cycle touring.
I'd just like to finish by thanking once again my friend Panos. He was as generous and kind in real life as I found him on the Greek cycling forum where I'd first met him. His mother too is an amazing woman with lots of character and astounding energy. I really hope to meet them both again. And as I told them yesterday, there's plenty of room for them at our house if they ever fancy coming to France.