I woke at 8:00 am, well-rested. Realizing the time, I hastened to pack up to meet the time I’d told the camp host. While filling my water bottles I stumbled across the fuse box for the bath house. I turned on the circuit for the outlets, and charged my battery.
Ready to leave by 8:30 am, I set out to look for the camp host … and failed to find him. By 9:00 am still no sign of him, so I headed out.
In reviewing my route for the day, the road near Preveza included a tunnel underneath the entrance to a large bay. There was no way they’d allow cyclists through the tunnel, but I saw no trace of a ferry on the map. An impassible tunnel meant cycling around the bay – 144 km and two days of cycling.
Researching on-line, the tunnel was indeed closed to cyclists. Great. While searching for a ferry, taxi, or any indication that other cyclists had hitched their way through the tunnel, I found a blog post from a decade ago suggesting that a service vehicle might provide a shuttle. Worth a try.
The road to Preveza proved gloriously flat. Following the instructions from the blog post, I cycled past the sign indicating no cyclists, and parked in sight of the security camera. Sure enough, in about five minutes a yellow van drove past me, turned back around, and transported me through the underwater tunnel! I had to stop at the other side and review the route for the day, because I had truly expected I was cycling around the bay.
In nearby Vonitsa I had lunch near the castle. When locking up my bicycle, a small boy walked up and waited near bicycle, making me nervous about leaving it. As I pondered what to do, his companion arrived with a small bicycle with the chain tangled and slipped free. I helped them untangle the chain and remount it, and they scampered off.
Despite my on-again/off-again relationship with EuroVelo routes this trip, I saw the first official EuroVelo sign today outside of Vonitsa. From that point on the EV route was well posted. While I occasionally ignored the signs, I’d eventually re-encounter the route, still signposted.
Except for a short period crossing the foothills of an adjacent 1171 m mountain, the day proved a reasonable definition of light grades. I pulled up short for the day in Mitikas at about 70 km, hopefully positioning myself well for tomorrow. After all, I’m now an additional two days ahead of schedule. I used the afternoon for some rest and relaxation, and laundry. I’m not camped on the Ionian Sea, but it’s across the street.
I have navigation choices to make tomorrow evening. Another cyclist reported repeated attacks by wild dogs if I cross the bay at Patras, but campgrounds are in short supply on this side.
If you are still there in Vonitsa, or near the sea…. Keep an eye open for dolphins!
There’s a field station for the Ionian Dolphin Project there – so there must be a decent population along the coast at times?
I remember how excited you were to race off to kayak with a pod passing by, so many years ago.
Enjoying the posts. Thanks for keeping us updated.