Kissamos

April 30, 2018

Just a fast note for now, in case you’re wondering about the bike. It’s fine. 5 minute repair, 5 euro charge. Who knows what the issue was - I didn’t watch, and we didn’t share a language. Who cares? On to Kissamos!

I have no idea what was done to my bike. After the service man put my bike on the rack I walked across the street to take this photo. When I returned a few minutes later he handed it back to me for a test ride.

It took me longer to find my way back to the hotel that it took to repair the bike. I couldn’t backtrack exactly because the streets are all one way, and I got a bit lost and landed in a different nearby neighborhood. Which was great, because I’d wanted to see the Turkish minaret anyway, and here I stumbled across it by accident.

While I was at the bike shop, Alexandro was at the UPS depot. Shipping the suitcases from here to Macedonia is quite expensive, as it happens - over three hundred euros, much more than its ever been before. They have to be flown, and Macedonia is a problem destination. Had I known, we could have ended our ride on the Albanian side of Lake Ohrid instead and perhaps have saved a fair amount.

But, it’s done now. Time to ride! We load the bikes, head down to the waterfront, and stop across the water from the lighthouse for a final photo.

Leaving Chania; one last look at the Venetian lighthouse

Moving again, we bike/walk along the waterfront through the crowd of tourists for a few hundred yards, when I am startled by a sight I recognize from photos on Crazy Guy on a Bike - Michael Verhage, his bike and a display of bracelets arrayed before him on the pavement. I hadn’t mentioned it before, but I knew that he and his partner Ciska were also here in Chania during our visit. We had been watching for them in our comings and goings over the last few days without success, and finally gave up. Not ten minutes before leaving our hotel I had emailed our friends Bruce and Andrea that we were giving up the hunt, and expressing my regrets that we could not extend their greetings to Michael and Ciska while we were here. Big disappointment.

And now, on our way out of town, we stumble across Michael by chance. Serendipitous. Fated to happen.

We had an excellent visit with Michael, and with Ciska when she wheeled up beaming a few minutes later. They’re a very warm and charming couple, and we loved getting to to be a piece of their fabled story for a few minutes. Michael was quite interested in our Bike Fridays, and took mine out for a test ride along the waterfront before giving it his blessing. How exciting! My new bike has been ridden by a bike touring legend!

If you’re not familiar with Michael and Siska’s exceptional story, you can read all about It here, On their blog. it’s quite a tale - they’ve been on the road ever since leaving their home on a pair of tandems with their two sons back in 2008. The statistics alone are amazing: their blog runs to almost 1400 posts now, has over 20 thousand photos of their tour through fourth countries, and has over three million hits.

So we’ve got some catching up to do. You can help out: keep reading, and tell all your friends to check out our own fascinating blog too. At the rate we’re going, we’ll hit our first million mark in - uh, wait a minute.

Rachael meets Michael Verhage: ‘Cycling the world since 2008’

Michael’s partner Siska returns from an errand, looking fresh and full of life. What a great smile!

Michael considers whether to upgrade to a Bike Friday.

Rachael picks up a few tips from a bike touring legend

One last sight on our way out of Chania: the Venetian Walls

With the most exciting part of the day behind us, we continued biking west along the waterfront. The next ten miles are the same route along the north coast that we followed at the start of yesterday’s ride, and are even less enjoyable the second time. Finally we come to the end of the continuous procession of tourism establishments and stop for a pleasant, simple lunch by the waterfront, watching an army of prone or supine sun worshipers arrayed on the beach below us.

The view from the table at our lunch stop, Maleme

A few miles later we come to Kolymvari and leave the direct route for an arc north through the southern end of the Rodopou Peninsula, a long rugged finger protruding far north into the Cretan Sea. Immediately we leave the cars behind, and the setting becomes exceptional - goats in the road, fabulous seascapes, colorful vegetation, dramatic geology. The next ten miles go slowly, with many reasons to stop and look more closely. Very slowly - so slowly in fact that I’m startled to be caught on my way up the ridge by a Finnish runner on holiday with his family who’s been gradually gaining on me with every photo stop. For a spell we bike/run/chat together before we finally near the first summit and I leave him behind and pick up speed to catch up with Rachael.

North of Kolymvari, at the base of the Rodopou Peninsula

Up the east coast on the Rodopou Peninsula

Beginning the day’s big climb - a 700’ lift to the top or the ridge

Another maquis hillside, Rodopou Peninsula

Wild daisies, south of Avrata at the crown of the peninsula

Passing through a few of Crete’s thirty million olive trees

The church at Astratigos, backed by one of Crete’s many amazing gorges

An hour later we leave this small nirvana behind and arrive at the small seaside town of Kissamos, our home for the next two nights. We receive an exceptionally warm and solicitous greeting from Katerina, our hostess. Among other wonderful things, she offers to take our dirty laundry off our hands, give it a whirl in the washer, and hang it out on the roof to dry.

We end our day on the waterfront in a fine fish taverna, looking at the sea and waiting for a sunset that never materializes. Rachael wants me to make note that she had shrimp saganaki, and wishes to not repeat the experience - delicious, but just too much work shelling her meal. No sunset, we have to work for our supper; nothing is ever really perfect, is it? Poor us.

Ride stats: today, 36 miles, 2100’; for the tour, 107 miles, 8200’

Today's ride: 36 miles (58 km)
Total: 149 miles (240 km)

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