This was the only view available from my apartment for four days while it rained. The cabin fever got pretty bad.
Here are a few general pictures of riding in Crete in November. The weather has been mostly good with many glorious sunny days in the high twenties. We had four days of non stop rain at one stage, which is almost unheard of - It's much nicer in the sun!
This was the only view available from my apartment for four days while it rained. The cabin fever got pretty bad.
Typical view on the road that circles the main mountains.
This chap is a famous "andarte" (resistance fighter) from the 2nd world war. I tried to set myself up in a similar pose for a self-timed shot, but despite sporting a suitable beard and bandana, I still didn't do him justice. His granddaughter has just been elected as the local mayor.
This is coming down from the coastal mountains onto the plain of Messara.
My bike visits a fishing harbour. Those hillocks in the background are 2500 metres high..
The sunglasses are a cast-off from Sam, so they must have been cool once.
This is especially for Kevin. An organic rose nicely packaged in plastic. The blue bottle top sets off the lovely colour of the wine, I think you'll agree. A bit extravagant at 3 euros for a litre and a half, but the nice colour, together with a good balance of fruit, body and acidity, make it worthwhile.
I have found one place to sit in the sun at the back of the apartment. As you can see, I took the precaution of coming armed with retsina in case the rose wasn't up to scratch. Please notice the care taken to ensure the colour coding of clothes and background.
Another view over the Messara from the Astarousia mountains.
and another
I've not been riding my mountain bike much as I'm much more nervous after last year's crash - especially riding miles from anywhere on my own. I don't suppose Dan could come along and pick me up here! Today I went out exploring tracks and found this area of forest that someone had told me about. It was really nice to be back on tracks and lovely scenery too. Forest is quite rare in Crete, especially as this was only at about 300 metres.
real trees!. Looks like there are quite a few good tracks, so I will be back to explore more.
This is the view that the self-timed photo missed.
The track I followed came out at this little church. Typical amount of buiding leftovers and rubbish scattered about too. There are loads of them dotted around the countryside, I think mostly used just once a year on the saint's day. It would be a good trek up here every Sunday!
Here's the view.No pictures of the way back down I'm afraid - only seemed to take about 2 minutes! And yes - I did put my helmet on.