//Day 49 /29-04-22 /Mesolongi-Menidi

When I woke up today the sun was hiding behind the clouds, it would stay there for the rest of the day. The advantage being that it was some degrees cooler then the day before, better cycling weather. Eventually I decided not to take the taxi through the Preveza tunnel. The taxi man, understandable,  wanted to know less or more the exact time when I would be at the tunnel otherwise he could not promise when he would be available when I called him when I arrived at the tunnel. I plotted a route from Mesolongi through the inland some 120 K north to the coast, to place with a hotel, it turned  out to be that this would be Menidi, a tiny place at the coast with an available / affordable hotel.

I left my vintage hotel and went in search for a breakfast, once found I hit the road and left sleepy Mesolongi via a kilometer-long boulevard which was build by someone with great ambitions but which never crystallised. Contrary to the salt which is produced in the nearby lagunas.

Some kilometers outside Mesolongi a lot of people where walking along the road. After asking I understood  they were Roma on a pelgrimage to a nearby church. The fun was somewhat spoiled when the group of young guy’s started asking for money…..

The route was beautiful. Cycling most of the time empty roads, through small agricultural villages surrounded by mountains. The villages even to small to have a mini-market, as result I did not have any lunch before 3 in the afternoon, when I exited the mountains. In one village I was lucky to find a bar to get a sugar loaded soft drink as fuel for the 2 bigger climbs I had on my route. 

The local men drinking beer and ouzo. 

I also passed place where I think pebbles where dugged which has created an extraordinary landscape. Lorries dumping all the time  the soil which was the residue after filtering the pebbles creating unpleasant dust clouds to cycle through.  

Today I also passed 3 sites where preparations where ongoing to build  windmills. Since I arrived in Greece I encountered a lot of solar panel fields and windmills, clearly the Greek are investing big time in renewals. The blades of the windmills are quite impressive.

Black Horse did well climbing the mountains, until on a steep small road suddenly the bikechain broke….Luckily I had a second chain available (By swapping my bikechain it should slow down the wear of m gears). I swapped the bikechain very swiftly to my surprise and continued my route. The challenge will be to find a new bikechain. The best option seems to be Tirana, which is some 600 K further on my route…

After fixing Black Horse it was most of the time going down to the coast, sometimes via steep small roads. In the first bakery I passed I bought something to eat as the 2000 meters climbing today had made me hungry. The last kilometers I cycled along a big road but which did not have any traffic. In the past it was probably a busy road but the sea tunnel of Preveza has a all changed that. Today the road is empty and in very poor condition giving no cycle pleasure. Today was a great cycling day most of the time on small roads with beautiful views. The two things which could have been better was the quality of the roads : bumps, holes, stones,…and less head wind. Most of the day I had a strong headwind out of the west…

When I arrived in Menidi I checked in into my hotel , did some laundry and had some sleep before having a simple but nice dinner of fish, salad and fries. Tomorrow I will cycle to Igoumenitsa, a coastal village some 130 K away with an open camping and reconnect with the Eurovelo 8 route. So tomorrow I will finally sleep in my tent again.

Lessons learned :

• Bikechain swapping is a piece of cake. 
• I’m a mule. I did not foresee lunch….
• 23 degrees, no sun, is quite good cycling weather.

Song of today : I’ll be here in the morning - Townes van Zandt