Day 6: Astikos to Preveza
I woke up to a beautiful, cool morning and began to pack my tent. When I was finished packing the tent I noticed that some dark clouds were approaching the neighbouring hilltop. I started hurriedly getting my things together; stuffing loose things into my bags and putting on my rain gear. A few minutes later thunder was sounding and moments after that the rain came. It's seems I missed the brunt of it and after a few minutes the dark cloud had passed by. This seems to be the way things are here; single dark clouds that come and pass quickly.
While doing my last tightening down of the straps, I heard the bull from the previous night and decided I'd rather avoid any issues and hit the road.
A few km away was the fishing town of Astikos. This was one of the most idealic towns I've been to. I grabbed some snacks and water supplies and stopped by the bakery for some breakfast.
I've really grown fond of Greek bakeries. Not so much for the bread but for the sweats and flaky savories. The sweats are much more mild and to my liking than in Germany.
So after breakfast I had another day of mostly remote coastal roads. These always include a good amount of moderate hills.
The previous day, I'd not encountered a single touring cyclist. Today however, I meet and Austian on a 2 month trek. While talking to him a Canadian/French (no French-Canadian ;-) ) guys came along who was in his 10th month of travels. We all talked for about 30 minutes and then said farewell. About 5 minutes after leaving them, another cyclist, French guy travelling since September, came and we talked for a couple minutes. I didn't want to hold him up so that he could catch up with the others.
Ideally I'd connect with another rider for a portion of my trip. Seems like the direction I'm heading isn't the most common, though.
After leaving the other cyclist, I only had about 30, mostly flat kilometers to go which I did in good time. My destination was Preveza. However, the only way to get there is through a underwater tunnel where bikes are not allowed. I'd been told this by the Austrain guy so it wasn't a surprise. They deal with this by having you wait for a service vehicle to come and drive you through.
While waiting I found a cheap (30 EUR) hotel in Preveza. After the escort I made my way there and was surprised by how nice the town was. This was by far the nicest of the towns I've been to, things were clean, the harbour was nice and the cafes and bars were teeming with life. Looked like a very livable place.
As for my knee, the pain has persisted but it's bearable. If it stays like this I can manage.