Day 6: Néa Kaliktratia - Palaria near Katerini

View Day 6: Néa Kaliktratia - Palaria near Katerini in a larger map

Distance -152 km (with 40 km by train)
Total distance - 427 km
Altitude Gain - 506 m


My ultimate objective for today was to get as close to Katerini as I could. This is so I could start the longest of my climbs as early as possible the following day to avoid the heat.
I started cycling at 7.30 am after a surprisingly good night's sleep. Like the last time I was on that campsite, the volume of the music from the bar wasn't too loud (despite my fears). I haven't yet encountered the ultra-loud music that was such a problem for me in Spain and Italy - dare I hope it'll stay that way? In Epanomi, which is about 20 kms from the campsite, I stopped for breakfast and had to ask the way as there were absolutely no signs and this small town has a one-way street system as complicated as any I've seen in any big city. As the serving lady was explaining an elderly man stopped and then re-explained the direction to me. He then sat down at my table and asked me where I was from, what I did for a living etc. He then started talking about his two sons who he was obviously very proud of: one, an engineer who lives in Crete; the other, who works for the European Commission in Brussels. This of course led to him talking about the problems Greece is facing right now etc, etc...I started to feel that I wasn't going to get to Katerini today! But I liked talking with this man. He was really very pleasant and interesting and it was difficult for me to pull away.

I eventually did say goodbye and it wasn't long before I found myself back in Thessaloniki. I'd totally lost all notion of time and forgot it was Sunday. This meant of course that both the bike shop and the camping shop were closed. A shame.
The road that I wanted to take out of Thessaloniki was terribly difficult to find and it took me well over an hour to find it. I was very glad it was Sunday, as the road was very fast and dangerous. But I wasn't on it for long. Soon I was cycling through villages and heading south.

A statue of Alexander the Great in  Thessaloniki

At one point I stopped to check my map when I heard from the other side of the road someone shout "Do you need any help?" It was a girl standing in front of a petrol station - she clearly worked there. I didn't feel I needed help, but I did need water and so I asked her if she sold any. She said she did and handed me a litre bottle of ice cold water. She refused money and said, "It's hot and you must drink." Her English was really very good. We got talking and I learned that her name is Anna and she'll be studying in Newcastle next year. She asked me to sit down and I met her father and grandmother. We had a good chat, and they were very interested in my route. But they warned me that unless I was prepared to take a very long detour, there was no way of crossing the river: the bridge marked on my map doesn't exist. The only way I could cross the river, they said, was by taking the motorway. "We often see cyclists on that motorway - it's safe." I'm sure they were right. But I'd had a number of scary moments last year in Italy when I found myself on motorways by accident and I didn't want to repeat the experience. The only alternative was the train. And it just so happened there was a train station only ten kilometres away.Anna found out the time the next train left and phoned up the train station to see if I could put my bike on the train. Her father had told me that I would only find a camping site in Katerini - so, as it was now 5 in the afternoon and Katerini was about 50 kms away I decided to use the train not just to cross the river but to complete that part of the trip.

Anna with her father and grandmother

So, thanks to the kindness of Anna and her father, I'm tonight sleeping in a very quiet campsite under the shadow of Mount Olympus.
Tomorrow will be another rest day. The ride to Metora is likely to be very hard work and I have to start it in the best conditions possible. Today was easy cycling and I don't feel tired. But I did get to the campsite late and, as I said at the beginning of the blog, I must take it easy and take no risks. So another day of being "normal" on the horizon. At least I get to have a lie-in!

Mount Olympus from the roadside at Paralia

Looking towards the pass that I will have to climb