Greece & North Macedonia

Entering Greece should have been easy and in essence it was however the border guard had some words. Basically as my passport had not been stamped on leaving the Czech Republic I had effectively not left the schengen zone and now only had 20 days left

Just after the border I took this car ferry

One of the first campsites I found was at Igomenitsa and there was a Honda dealer in town

I lounged on the beach while the bike got pampered with new fork seals and oil

It’s time to admit I was feeling a bit Meh! I had stopped enjoying it all for a while. I think that was due to a number of things. The bike needed new tyres again, the fork seals weren’t a cheap repair and I spent two precious days getting them done. I’d had to sit down and work out how many days I had used in the last 12 months as an overstay would be a minimum £500 fine and maybe a 12month travel ban to schengen countries.

I hadn’t done any research on Greece, but I had said several times to various Norwegians “I’ll probably head down to Athens”. Life rules say, if you tell 3 people then it has to happen. Plus I thought it would be cool to do furthest North to furthest South. We can skip over the fact parts of Spain are further South.

On day two my tent was raided at 6am

Anyway the upshot of all this is that I kind of rushed Greece. Using the motorway to head South to Athens.

On arriving I headed straight to a tyre shop. The bike needed a new front and I was less than happy with the rear that had been fine on the trails but had lost traction 3 times on the road with no warning. It just so happened that they had a pair of Anakee Wild tyres. I had heard they were good.

Next was the campsite closest to the Parthanon. It was full and not taking anymore bookings. The lady gave me directions to the next nearest which was 20km away in heavy traffic. On arrival it was like a scrap yard, full of old cars, vans and a big dog on a chain. I didn’t even stop. I searched for a hotel and found one with underground parking. I booked two nights so I could have a day I Athens without luggage

Say what you like about the Romans, they knew how to scaffold

The Parthanon sits atop the acropolis. Acropolis just means biggest hill

The queues for the Parthanon were really long so I settled for a distanced view for free

On leaving Athens I headed to the olympic village, built for the 2004 summer Olympics it was a gorgeous setting and was fully equipped for athletes to train and live during the event. Unfortunately the village was subject to the devastating financial crises that hit Greece a few years later and now is just like a very modern ruin.

I now realise this is a water tower not the Olympic flame

Heading North again hoping to save a schengen day by using motorways to aim for North Macedonia that evening but not before visiting Mount Olympus

I did a good thing.

This is as far as I got. The top is open to the public but is also a military base. It was closed, I could camp and hike it the next day but those where big clouds

The last 50km to the border where on a pot holed Road and I was glad to see the border post. There was a slight delay as I had to buy insurance for N. Macedonia. By then it was getting dark so I booked into the first hotel I found. £25 and 5 star.