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Monday 21 July
Back in Euroland, immaculately
white houses and a lot more car traffic. On a
picnic area a group of Romanian invited me to
join lunch. After lunch I cycled west between a
2000 m high mountain range of Mt. Kerkini and a
lake with the same name. On the highway to Kilkis
lots of trucks, luckily the road has wide
shoulders. As I left the mountainous region the
landscape consists of barren, dry hills. On one
of those hills I'd found a fairly flat rocky spot
without too many thorns. The campsite reminded me
of camping in the desert.
Tuesday 22 July
Only 70 km to go to Thessaloniki,
where I'd booked an airplane to Düsseldorf in
the evening. The traffic in the city is hectic.
Some piece of metal caused my first flat tyre of
the trip. To my surprise I was carrying all the
way spare tyres that didn’t fit, the valve
being too short for this kind of high rimmed
wheels! :-( However, I manage to fit the spare
inner tyre somehow onto the wheel and didn’t
need to fix the puncture.
After a quick visit of downtown, I cycled along
the boulevard to Macedonian airport, about 15 km
south of town.
At the check-in I didn't had to box my bike, only
turning the handlebars sideways and remove the
pedals.
Wednesday 23 July: Wesel (D) - Arnhem (NL)
The 2hr45 minutes long flight to Düsseldorf
passed without problems nor delay. After
assembling the bicycle I took the shuttle to Düsseldorf
airport train station. Unfortunately I missed the
last train to Emmerich (near the Dutch border).
Took the next train, which didn't go further than
Wesel. From Wesel I started cycling to Rees. It
was past midnight and pitch-dark, I had no map
and assumed I'd cycled on a backroad along the
Rhine, hopefully in the good direction. Cycling
during the night wasn't bad at all, the roads
were totally deserted and temperatures very
pleasant, compared with the heat in Greece. Not
quite sure I was on the right route, I arrived in
Rees, and found my way to Emmerich very soon.
After passing the Dutch border, I felt very tired
and just before dawn it became pretty cold. In
Arnhem I decided I to take the first train back
home.
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