Marking Time in Igoumenitsa
Saturday 4th October 2014
I have breakfast with Karin and Tobias, a young couple from Germany.
I am loading my gear onto the bike, when suddenly the other two are gone. I don't see them again until I arrive at the ferry office in Igoumenitsa.
It's a challenging road over the mountains. I stop for a coffee at a small cafe high up then join the A2 about 50km further on from where I left it to turn down to Meteora.
I've surely missed a few in that 50km stretch but I resume the tunnel count anyway. I'm up to up to 55 when I arrive in Igoumenitsa.
I find the other two sitting outside the Minoan Lines offices at the terminal. I buy a ticket, €96.50 for me and the bike on the midnight ferry. It is a 19 hour crossing. I while away the hours in a cafe that has internet. They are showing a Premier League game live. Man City win at Villa with two late goals.
It is a free-for-all at first on the concrete apron where we gather for boarding. Cars, lorries and bikes are all mixed up. Then we are asked to move, first one way and then another. It is rather chaotic. At one point there is a bit of a fuss when some illegal immigrants are flushed out of a waiting juggernaut. They flee into the distance evading capture and live to try again another day.
Finally and a little later than advertised we are allowed to ride onto the ferry. There are no document checks. We lash down the bikes and go to find somewhere to get our heads down. We have no cabin for this crossing but there are reclining pullman seats available.
A big group of Croatian school kids/students set up a disco on the deck just behind the Pullman seat lounge and the pounding music continues into the early hours. I feel like throwing them all overboard.
I have breakfast with Karin and Tobias, a young couple from Germany.
 |
| Karin and Tobias |
I am loading my gear onto the bike, when suddenly the other two are gone. I don't see them again until I arrive at the ferry office in Igoumenitsa.
It's a challenging road over the mountains. I stop for a coffee at a small cafe high up then join the A2 about 50km further on from where I left it to turn down to Meteora.
 |
| Coffee stop in the mountains north of Meteora |
I've surely missed a few in that 50km stretch but I resume the tunnel count anyway. I'm up to up to 55 when I arrive in Igoumenitsa.
I find the other two sitting outside the Minoan Lines offices at the terminal. I buy a ticket, €96.50 for me and the bike on the midnight ferry. It is a 19 hour crossing. I while away the hours in a cafe that has internet. They are showing a Premier League game live. Man City win at Villa with two late goals.
 |
| Sleeping dog and lazing bikers at the terminal |
It is a free-for-all at first on the concrete apron where we gather for boarding. Cars, lorries and bikes are all mixed up. Then we are asked to move, first one way and then another. It is rather chaotic. At one point there is a bit of a fuss when some illegal immigrants are flushed out of a waiting juggernaut. They flee into the distance evading capture and live to try again another day.
 |
| Waiting to board the ferry on Igoumenitsa dock |
Finally and a little later than advertised we are allowed to ride onto the ferry. There are no document checks. We lash down the bikes and go to find somewhere to get our heads down. We have no cabin for this crossing but there are reclining pullman seats available.
A big group of Croatian school kids/students set up a disco on the deck just behind the Pullman seat lounge and the pounding music continues into the early hours. I feel like throwing them all overboard.
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