19th June 2012

Steve: What a way to start the day.. I woke at 5.15am  and after gently waking Debs with a cuppa we loaded the panniers and by 6.30 we quietly took our leave from the gorgeous Poros Bay - We had a great time there and will definitely return one day soon..

Thanks to our boo-boo on the timing we had found ourselves with a 5.5 hour trip to Delphi, and with the temperature in the mid to high 30’s I thought it would be a trip from hell. From our journey down I knew that it would take us about an hour to get off the Island of Lefkada across the bailey bridge onto the mainland, and that the first part was also very twisty roads with poor surfacing so there was little to be achieved by trying to push on through this section.

So it was just before 7.30 that we hit the mainland but the ride up through the Island had been wonderful, the air was cool and fresh, carrying the scent of wild herbs blending with the unmistakable tang of the sea.. Beautiful,  I could have ridden like that all day, except that it was now 32C and climbing.


Our route took us mainly off-motorway and alongside the Corinth Canal, which may sound a little unglamorous - it’s anything but...

The road is well surfaced (for Greek roads) and runs for miles sweeping from one bend to the next where, without the very obvious Police and camera presence. consistently low and changing speed limits you could wind through here in the high 90’s. As it was my sat-nav was wailing almost constantly with camera warnings, and I saw 3 speed traps.. Not fair, I wanted to play!

The food and coffee was good too..

We ensured that there were plenty of breaks for water and snacks, as dehydration in these conditions would be all too easy, and found a really nice coffee shop alongside the canal with beautiful view..

OK I give up, just have a look at the photo..





Eventually we arrived at the craziness that is Delphi, it reminded me of Skegness in high summer -  loads of souvenir shops, snack bars, dreadful parking and too many coaches, but we found our hotel and after booking in we went to find a cold beer!




One great feature about the place is that it’s so high up in the mountains that everywhere has a superb vista, and our bar was no exception, you just can’t encompass the immense view in one go.

Seriously chilled we sauntered down to the site to visit the museum, I’m not really into such things but this was impressive with artefacts over 3000 years old that had been recovered and placed on display - wonderful.






It was still extremely hot and although very enjoyable the ride had taken its toll so we arranged to do the site trip in the morning, and went into the town for some food and wine.
Unfortunately the wine was a little too pleasant for Debs, and by the time we got back to our room she warned me that the curtains just wouldn‘t keep still!