May 12, 2012
To Tzermiado and back
From Heraklion we took an overnight ride to Tzermiado, a village high above the sea on the Lassithi Plateau. The ride up was one of the more strenous ones of the tour - after following the coast eastward for a few miles we turned inland to Gouaves, climbed a thousand foot ridge through Kalo Chorio, and then dropped again to the valley for a gradual ascent upstream until finally beginning to climb in earnest around Avdou. The final climb gains almost 2000 feet in about 7 miles.
The Lassithi Plateau is yet one more place where we wished we'd had an extra day to hang out. It's a fairly confined area, but has about a 15 mile loop ride that we had intended to take on the next morning before heading back to Heraklion. For the afternoon we stayed around Tzermiado, enjoying its quiet streets and poking through its shops and then cycling off to explore the nearby Dikteon cave.
In the evening, we had a bit of a scare after dinner. Tzermiado is a very small place, and very dark after hours. Our lodging at the Argoulias Hotel was a few blocks uphill from the main street through town, and not easily found at night. I was sure we were still several blocks away and nowhere near the hotel when we almost bumped into our bikes. Note to self: add the flashlight to the equipment list for the future!
We awoke to a very cold, grey and dampish morning. After looking over the menacing weather we decided to scrap the plan of touring the plateau and dropped down to the coast with hopes of escaping a possible downpour. We were in luck - we hit the coast a bit west of Limonas Chersonisou at about the same time that the skies began to clear, and enjoyed a dry but occasionally busy ride west back to Heraklion.
After packing up our bikes for the flight to Rhodes, we stepped out for one last great meal in Crete. As if the scenery and rides weren't enough, the food overall in Crete was fantastic.
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Today's ride: 76 miles (122 km)
Total: 440 miles (708 km)
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