While I was lucky on that long day yesterday, I never got rained on, but as the rest of the crew was a bit later on arrival, they actually got rained on a little bit at the end. I could tell they weren’t very happy about that!

After everyone arrived, we set out for dinner at 7 PM as usual. Orlin had selected a restaurant for us, a place right on the water of the bay that had lots of fresh fish. But funny, when it came down to ordering, nobody ordered fresh fish, everybody had had it the prior night and apparently nobody wanted it today! I could tell Orlin was a little surprised!
But a good dinner with a few gin tonics, and then some Tsipouro out on the back deck of the hotel. It was very nice, it is a mixture of a grape alcohol and anise, very tasty. I think I had made a disparaging comment about Ouzo earlier in this blog, not deserved. It’s actually really good. Tsipouro is different and is primarily a grape-made alcohol either with or without anise. With anise is delightful! It is generally about 40% alcohol, similar to gin.
A couple folks went in for a night swim, I did not, then headed to the room for good sleep. Mosquitoes in the room were a problem; I had to cover myself entirely with a sheet the entire night.
Got up for the usual 8 AM breakfast and set off on the bikes for what will probably be the final day of cycling. I didn’t intend to get so far ahead of everybody but Paul and Rebecca were late getting down from the room and so Sheri and I set off. I rode with her for a little distance but then moved on at my own pace.
I had asked Orlin about directions earlier, I thought I knew exactly where I needed to go, but I ended up on a great divide like Trail, Rocky and incredibly steep, impossible to ride parts of it, but thankfully I had mapping on my phone and never got lost. But as a result of my unplanned off-road adventure, I saw them at the end of the day…
Despite the off-road effort to get up over the backbone of the third finger called Athos, I was rewarded with a beautiful ride across steep rocky dirt roads with absolutely nothing and nobody else around. Really did remind me of the great divide, it was a great day. Eventually I found my way back to the main road. All day was just spectacular scenery, the ocean was always visible one direction or the other the entire day. Such blue turquoise waters! On arrival in Ouranoupoli, I stopped at a little beachside café and had a well earned plate of spaghetti Bolognese. And a deliciously cold beer. Eventually the rest of the gang rode by and I yelled them down, they all joined for a cold beer before we checked into the hotel. A good fun finish to the day.
On another note…It was another day of feeling very thankful for everything in my life, all the wonderful people in it, my health, the ability to do trips like this. Long distance cycling always helps remind me of my many blessings…
I think everyone is heading down to the beach for a swim… We had an overpriced mediocre din down by the water. Everyone is pretty pooped after two long days. Early to bed.
In the am, we walked down to das boot for our ride to see the Autonomous Monastic State of the Holy Mountain. It is near Mt Athos. Women are only allowed to see the monestaties from a boat. Men can visit only by permit. Wiki covers it well at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Athos for more. There is an actual wall to keep people out. Hmmm…
We were narrated along the way and told that one monestary contains a piece of the Christ original cross with a nail hole in it, a piece of the original crown of thorns, and a piece of the original shroud. Wow!!! Saw lots o’ monasteries, from the required 500 meter distance.

After the boat ride and nice lunch with some chilled Tsipouro, we drove a couple hours back to a hotel nearer to Thessaloniki. We had our final dinner together, reminisced over our cycling days together; then stopped by a little game area we walked by and played a couple games of group foosball! I invited everybody back to my room for a nightcap Tsipouro, as Swati and I head to the airport around 5 AM, want to make sure we had a chance to say our goodbyes to Paul and Rebecca and Sheri.
At some point of every trip, I wish the cycling could continue, but then accept that it’s time to head back home and that’s a wonderful thing too. Cycling in Greece has been a delight, but cycling anywhere is pretty enjoyable! And now all I gotta do is fly from Thessa to Munich to DC to Portland and this Greek adventure will become a warm memory of swimming in the Aegean and cycling with old and new friends…