//Day 37 /17-04-22 /Sandanski-Doirani

An eventful day it was. When I woke up it rained as expected. Somewhat harder then hoped. I had breakfast which was included in the room rate. I prepared Black Horse, put on all of my rain gear and started (rather late) cycling. My rain gear had proved previously that I would keep me dry. In an open bakery I bought lunch, as it was Sunday I did not wanted to take the risk not to find any food along the way. Strangely I passed a lot of shops which were open……

Today I would cycle to Doirani. A small Greek border town with North Macedonia (NMA). Rather then cycling through NMA I entered Greece out of Bulgaria and then took a route which followed the Greece-NMA border for the rest of the day. 

To reach the Bulgarian-Greece border I plotted a route following a small road. Although the rain I enjoyed cycling as there was no traffic and the NMA mountains provided a beautiful vista. The small road, I assume the original road to Greece, changed regularly in an (semi-)unpaved path and followed the new highway. At a certain the moment the path was completely unpaved, unsuspectingly I continued my route. After a couple of meters I noticed that cycling became more and more difficult and that Black Horse wheels and feeders became full of…..clay. Impossible to cycle. Initially I tried to remove the clay between the wheels and fenders with some sticks. But there was so much clay piled up between the wheels and fenders  that I was not able to remove it easily. The only solution was to unpack and take out the wheels and remove the clay… I used some wooden sticks  to remove most of the clay, put in the wheels again and pushed Black Horse through the grassy roadside until  the “clay” path changed into a cycle-able path. After crossing a bridge over the highway I found myself in an industrial zone and attached on the first building I passed I saw a water-hose…….To my surprise the hose worked and I was able to wash of all the clay of Black Horse and myself….problem solved. I should have taken photographs but rain, taking out wheels and  clay-removal activities did not stimulate photo-taking….

Eventually I arrived after 20 K at the border. Leaving Bulgaria and entering Greece was a smooth operation. Before I crossed the border I spend my last 12 Bulgarian Lev on chocolate and cookies, I hope that it will not become to soon to warm as I have to eat quite some chocolat.

On the map it was not entirely clear which road I could take, once I crossed the border. There was the highway,  and a smaller road (paved/unpaved) which would take me through the mountains for the next 20K. The rain was pouring and on the (fairly new) highway there was almost no traffic. If I cycled 15-20  K highway I would avoid climbing the mountains and would need to cycle 10 K less today….The worst thing that could happen was that the police would stop me…..So I started cycling the empty highway. The asphalt was again European sponsored, the back wind probably not. Almost no traffic passed me except a police car….which did not stop…The views on the NMA mountains were super. After less then 1 hour and almost no traffic  I left the highway and reconnected with my planned route and a small road. 

The remainder of my cycling time, the impressive NMA mountains where on my right side,  smaller Greek mountains, sometimes a big lake on my left.Small villages. In the beginning the road provided some variation, going left, going right…later in the day the road became more boring with  kilometer long straight stretches. I had lunch in a bus shelter in a small village. From my shelter I could see stork couples building new nests on electricity poles and the church tower. Behind the bus shelter was the train shelter, including the chalk-written timetable. 

After my late lunch the rain became a drizzle. Looking at the NMA  mountains kept me busy whilst cycling. I met an English speaking goat shepherd who laughed when I told him he had beautiful goats…probably I would have done the same if I was him. 

Around 15.30 I arrived at my hotel, surprisingly called Hotel-Restaurant Doirani, located at the shores of Lake…Doirani. The lake is shared  between NMA and Greece and probably a nice place to be in summer. Today it was as cold and windy place, the strong mountain wind created a lot waves. The restaurant was full with people terminating their lunch.The reception was friendly.  After checking-in and having a well-deserved beer I watched Paris-Roubaix but fell soon asleep. Maybe I had seen enough cycling today. In the evening I was the only customer and the hotel-lady made me my first Greek dinner : Greek salad (what else) and carp from the lake. Not to bad. 2 grumpy old men just entered the restaurant…so now I’m not longer the only old grumpy man….

Tomorrow I will cycle to Thessaloniki. I prepared a short and longer route. Depending on the weather I will decide on which route I will take. Rain is expected so I would bet I will take the shorter route…I have a bike-shop appointment tomorrow in Thessaloniki and booked an apartment for 2 nights. Wednesday I will start cycling to Athens…by then it will have stopped raining, sunny and a acceptable 23 degrees…..

Lessons learned :

• It is perfectly save/normal to cycle a Greek highway. 
• A water hose out of the blue is not a sign a divine power exists, only that I had a lot of luck. 
• NMA looks beautiful I’m looking forward to visit the country within a couple of weeks.
• Rain does not mean you can have a good cycling day.

Song of the day : 40 Braves - Irene Papas - Vangelis