Balkans (Iron Gate to Corinth)

In March 2024 I was suddenly single again. Then in April my dad died after many years of Alzheimers. I spent a few weeks arranging for the funeral, and some time after the service it seemed my mother was OK, so I took off again to bike. But where? In 2021 I finished a two year project of biking the Carpathian mountains. That trip ended in Orșova by the Donau/Danube river between Romania and Serbia. I remembered looking across the massive river wondering what it was like on the other side. So, that was why I took the bike on the train from Stockholm to Vienna, Budapest and to Orșova. The first stretch is along the E70 highway, which is very narrow and crammed with heavy trucks. It was a nightmare, and I ended up biking on the wrong side of the road and steering off to the shoulder whenever I met traffic. I waved my hand as an apology for breaking the rules, and it seemed everyone understood why. At a rest place a stray dog chased me down and bit my shoe! It was truly a shit start. But after crossing the river on the massive Iron Gate dam I was in Serbia! After a few more dogs I rolled into Kladovo by the river. Serbia is cheap and pleasant biking as long as you can avoid the bigger roads that are crammed with trucks. The landscape is grand, the climbs are reasonable, quite high at times, but not crazy steep like further south. Some parts are quite remote where accommodation can be scarce, especially off season. My plan was to cross into North Macedonia at Голеш in Serbia / Krstov Dol in North Macedonia, but at the nearby Ribarchi border crossing they told me that it was possible only for locals with the proper paperwork. So I had to roll into Bulgaria, country number 68 for me. Weather forecasts predicted two days of rain, so I stayed three nights at a rather pleasant and cheap five star spa in Kyustendil. In retrospective I should have stayed another day, because the next day was in clouds and heavy rain all day to Shtip in North Macedonia, country number 69. Next day I left Shtip by 9 am, following a route suggested by the Komoot app I use for trekking and touring. Weather was gorgeous, then I was off the asphalt and on a very rough gravel trail up the hill, so steep I probably couldn't have biked it at the start of this trip. Suddenly there was a sign saying "Danger". Then concrete vehicle barriers with the text "Military Zone". I spent 3 seconds thinking, then pushed my bike under the gate and biked for 2 hours along a gorgeous ridge. Fantastic scenery, but I had a feeling it wouldn't end well. Just before hitting the main road again I saw a lot of heavy military trucks, Humvee's and jeeps. One guy waved me to the main entry. Then I had 5 hours of waiting and interrogation by the military, military police and civil police. The last guy spoke excellent English and was probably top notch police interrogator. I had to empty my bags to the last item twice, but everyone was very friendly. They told me I was lucky - the exercise with live artillery was starting 1 hour after they picked me up. Finally they waved me off, asking if I knew my way to the main road and to Negotino. I said yes, unless there was yet another military area ahead. Everyone laughed! The next day started rather dull, except I suddenly noticed a young cat lying on the road. I stopped, and after a quick inspection it was clear that it was mortally wounded, so I had to finish it off. It was grim, it has never happened to me before while bike touring. A bit later I rolled through the Demir Kapija gorge, a pretty spectacular cut through the mountain range for the quite big Vardar river. It was as good gravel biking as it ever gets. My bike at times raised a cloud of butterflies from the road. Then over a ridge through the now rather hot afternoon to the almost round Dojran lake and the next day to Thessaloniki in Greece, where I spent two full days mostly just walking around and exploring the city and its grand museums. Next I rolled across the plain pretty much straight west. It was intense sun, but I had a pleasant head wind cooling down my ride. At times Komoot sent me to bizarre places, and twice I had to turn around. I also had to climb a steep grassy slope and got covered in seeds. The landscape in this part of Greece is big valleys with farming split apart by rather tough mountain ranges. In the middle of summer I wouldn't do this, but in May it was nice and warm. If the Soviets ever did propaganda material for bike packing through Mother Russia, it would look exactly like this. Wheat fields, lakes, bluish mountain ranges. At times it felt like constant downhill too. After three days going mostly west I turned mostly south. Komoot sent me to some ridiculous "gravel" trails. At times it was just a dry river bed. But it was at times very beautiful. Then, my front wheel buried itself into some loose gravel, I flipped over the handlebar, landed on my side with my right arm under me. At first I was sure I had broken a few ribs, because it was very painful to breathe. Then I checked my collar bone, and it was also ok. Finally I realized my right biceps had taken a hard blow. I could use it, and biking worked fine, but lifting things was very painful, and after a few days that part of my right arm turned to a rather sickly blue tint. After the crash I had to bike 30 km in a rather shaken and stirred state, but it was mostly downhill to Kalampaka, where I stayed two nights exploring the area around the Meteora monasteries. Spectacular scenery, and millions of tourists. I then continued further south, first across a 50 km large plain, where at times the road was straight as an arrow for 10 km. A bit later I realized my spare battery was flat, and suddenly I was biking blind across an enormous unknown landscape for about 50 km, with no map. It was a bit of a thrill, I just barely knew I was biking in the right direction. Eventually I found a desolate gas station where I could charge my phone. People in general are very friendly in Greece. At numerous occasions I stopped at cafes for a short rest, people would ask me where I was from, and then pay for my coffee. That hasn't really happened elsewhere during my touring. Hats off to Greece! I continued south, first to the famous Thermopylae site, where 7000 Greeks held off a huge Persian army headed by Xerxes. It is also where the E65 and E75 roads intersect, so it is a mess of exhaust and noise. Next stop was Delphi, but to get there I first had to cross two mountain ranges and finish the day with a long climb in very intense sunshine. I was spent and very tired when I finally arrived. After my shower I fell asleep for an hour on my bed. The next day I explored the impressive ruins and the museum. The weather reports predicted 34° or even higher in the following week, and since I was starting to get rather tired I started to plan for how to finish this tour. The last two days were hard biking in scorching sunshine and very steep climbs. But it was also very beautiful, rolling landscape, big valleys, blue ocean. It was a very nice downhill race to Corinth. I crossed over the underwhelming bridge of the Corinth channel, and slowly rolled into downtown. From there on I biked to Kokkoni, then bus to Patras and boat to Bari in Italy and train back home to Stockholm.