Stage 39: From Larisa to Kalyvia Varikou

The stage today had a lot of obstacles in store for me. If you want to go from Larisa to the coast in the north, there is only the way through the Tempe Valley. It is probably one of the highlights on my route through Greece, if it hadn't been for the road being closed due to incredibly extensive construction work. Cars could simply use the toll road tunnel on that day. However, they didn't have a cyclist in mind. The police officer at the barricade was also not willing to compromise at all (how impassable can a 12-hour construction site be?) and didn't want to let me through.

After a big coffee for calming down, the saving idea came: on the other side of the Pineios River that flows through the valley, my bike navigation shows a small path that bypasses three-quarters of the closed road and thus the nice officer! So, without any alternatives, I quickly switched to the other bank and initially enjoyed a surprisingly wide and asphalted road. But then it abruptly ended in a dead end with a railway tunnel on the left and a shortcut on the right side, which also led to a (disused!) track. Without further ado, the bike and bags were dragged down the path and pushed for the next hour along the track to the north. And yes, that was really the only way to get through the Tempe Valley by bike on that day (except maybe bribing the officers, but he was really not in a good mood). Over rocks and many stones and through two tunnels, I came out near a small monastery. From there, it was still a few stairs and a bridge until I actually stood on the closed road with everything attached. In the next two kilometers, I encountered ONE vehicle that was renewing the road markings! The workers greeted me kindly, and the police officer on the other side of the barricade didn't mind me either. Thanks again to police officer number one, who cost me three hours of my life and a few more nerves!

The rest of the day I hurried along the road, passing by closed campsites, until I set up my tent on the beach in the dark.