A HOLIDAY ADD-ON WORTH HAVING – OFF ROAD CRETE

[fritz]

This is a repeat of a piece I did for the TRF magazine (RIP) that I’m sharing with you guys and gals just in case this ‘summer’ is like the last

It’s a hire bike (none GS) article. It’s off-road focused, the options for road riding are endless but less of interest to us for this type of holiday – the plan was always to off road as much as possible on the back of being over there for a ‘normal’ fortnight of sunshine and holidaying.

All info is within – mainly at the end, and no, I don’t have any GPS logs etc etc – you’ll have to figure routes out the way I did…sometimes with difficulty! Enjoy

Motorcycling wise 2012 was really the summer we never had. Bev and I managed to recoup some of this disaster with careful planning of our annually holiday abroad. There are lots of companies that will arrange motorcycle holidays for you – but it’s not hard to arrange something yourself. We planned a mini-adventure within a sunshine break.

For a few years we had wanted to visit Crete as the island has a rich heritage, an absolutely stunning landscape and a virtually guaranteed sunny disposition. We knew mid-summer was going to be a little too hot so aimed on September. As it turned out their summer lengthened and even mid to end of the month was clear blue skies and 30+ every day.

We flew Ryanair from Leeds Bradford to Chania as the flight times were conducive and we planned on basing ourselves in the west of the island as it holds more attractions for the adventurous and is more relaxed than further east. We took hold luggage to allow for riding gear and booked accommodation purely based on tripadvisor reviews. We struck lucky and stayed at Almirida an easy 45 minute drive from the airport. As we were staying a fortnight we’d pre-booked a car as it was more economic than transfers overall and gave us flexibility for our stay.

The riding on Crete is excellent, but of course you need to accommodate the different driving standards and conditions. Some of the well used roads are polished like glass, potholes and gravel can be frequent, and local drivers are somewhat ‘Latin’. The positives are less traffic – many back roads are empty, and speeds are generally slower, not that we would take the local riding style of shorts and flip flops and little else to heart – far more worried about gravel rash than an over all tan.

There are a huge range of motorcycle hire options on Crete, no shortage of locations or ranges of bikes. We went to a local hire shop just yards from our apartment and hired a tidy enough Yamaha XT600 trail bike as we would be travelling two-up so the more serious off-road bikes wouldn’t be comfortable - the XT offered a good compromise. Based on 5 days hire – which they were happy for us take none-consecutively so we could vary our days – the bike worked out around £28 a day. The hire included the bike, helmets and a lock. Unfortunately we hadn’t been able to bring our helmets so used the locally provided ones – though adequate we’d recommend taking your own (up the hold baggage to 20kgs!). We had brought light jackets (off-road vented jackets are ideal) and gloves and a small bag for the tail rack which along with a rucksack would carry all out needs for day trips. The bikes are insured (€600 excess) and have full breakdown cover.

A few years ago I had put a request for information on riding in Crete in Trail and a couple of people rang me. One, thank you John Brown (hope I remember the name correctly), gave me loads of good advice including information on a riding guide and based on this I had bought an excellent, if a little dated at 1998, travel book Unexplored Crete (ISBN-10: 9608481244) by Greek motorcyclist Stephanos Psemenos. Though the book is out of print it does come up on ebay or amazon occasionally. It’s a great book giving an insiders (well, mainland Greece) view of the island, its customs, and most importantly the biking. Nothing beats local knowledge and there is a wealth of information for the motorcycle visitor. Worth seeking out – along with a quality map, we used Crete West by Harms IC Verlag (ISBN-10: 3927468169) which at a 1:100,000 scale showed great detail and was pretty accurate though a little flimsy in repeated use – many available maps leave a lot to be desired, not ideal off-road or indeed on road.

A word on Greek signage. There are often different spellings of place names even ignoring the Greek alphabet. For instance Hania (as we say it) is written Chania or Xania and as Xaviá in Greek. A good map will indicate at least one local ‘English’ spelling as well as the Greek. Road signs often indicate in advance in Greek followed by a repeat in English before the turn. I’ve used the spellings indicated in the guidebook and on the map.

 

[fritz]

DAY 1

An inaugural off-road ride was taken from the book and was deliberately chosen as an easy start. A visit to the absolutely glorious bay and beach at Diktynna. The island has one major road, the National Highway, which stretches along the north coast and offers a good starting point for most routes and is nearby to Almirida getting the first miles in quick so you can enjoy those that follow more. The track to the beach was unsurfaced but well graded – in fact sufficient to allow hire cars to drive most of the way, but is quite long at some 25kms return. The bike allowed us to ride right down to the edge of the beach – and what a beach! (first pic) If you have a wife who likes picking up stones – and I guess many will, this is where you have to worry about your baggage excess on the way home. You could spend hours just admiring the myriad beauty of these natural smooth pebbles to say nothing of the swimming and lounging opportunities the bay offers. As we left a group was trying to help some east-Europeans extract their well bogged-down hire Jeep from the beach – better not to actually park on the beach! (second pic)

On the west side of the same Rodopos peninsula there is another fine track that leads up and over the 500m ridge and down to a chapel that hosts a huge 3 day long festival for the local villagers at the end of August. The views from the top were glorious eastwards to the equally remote Gramvoussa peninsula. (thirsd pic) A road-side shrine at the top of the pass indicated ‘caution’ and there was clearly a recent car wreck two-thirds of the way down the steep escarpment. The crash had taken place 2 years previously and just a day before the festival, rolling over the side of the road on these routes would be totally unforgiving as the shrine showed. We took a trip down to the chapel and in common with most we visited the keys were hanging on the gate at the entrance allowing us to investigate.

To complete the ride out we took another off-road route from the book, but this one in the form of a ‘road book’ as the tracks we’d be using were unsigned and generally access tracks for the shepherds to get between their high and low pastures. Without the inside knowledge you wouldn’t know the legality of these routes, and coming from a country like ours where so much is being done to prevent motorised access to the countryside you would question whether you could – and that’s where the book and the author’s local knowledge comes in handy.

The route Voukolies – Sembronas – Palia Roumata is shown on the map, but not generally signed. Described as ‘among the best mountain routes in Crete’ it was an obvious choice. Even with the road book it took quite some time to accurately find the start, but once we had it was great from the off. We stopped by a lovely little chapel to have a bite to eat before getting into the mountains proper. They are always worthy of a diversion as you never know what you will find. The interior of this one was newly decorated with a starry roof and some garish colours bringing to mind the classic BBC programme ‘changing rooms’. Outside was a large covered porch area offering shade from the sun as Bev made sandwiches and we enjoyed the views in peace and seclusion.

We were soon climbing up the foothills of the White Mountains and enjoying expansive views across the northern coastline laid out beneath. (First pic on next post) The route followed the ridge of the foothills for most of the way offering exceptional riding, and we saw no-one! Occasionally Bev would have to swing open one of the concrete reinforcement mesh gates to let us through, but as pointed out in the book these are ‘to keep the goats in and not you out’. (second pic on next post) The views were absolutely stunning with the late afternoon light changing to a glorious golden glow. (thirsd pic on following post) This also meant evening was coming and we needed to be a lot nearer our base. The route finding had been relatively easy once on the way but getting off the mountains looked a little more tricky with tracks descending every which way. As luck would have it we saw a shepherd up ahead by his pick-up and enquired by use of our limited vocabulary, finger pointing and the map. Happily he indicated we were going the right way and we’d soon be on the asphalt again. The second part of the route would have to wait for another day. And so, we were soon down and quickly beetled back towards the north coast. There was one last surprise up the sleeve when we were stopped just near our junction off the national road by queuing traffic. There were bush fires on the hillside beside us and the fire brigade were busy trying to control them. When we were once again able to continue we turned the final corner only to see huge flames flowing off the alight verge side ahead. We’ve never been that close to flames on a bike – the heat was intense as we passed within feet of them. We made the apartment before dark…just, and returned the bike to the hire shop for safe keeping.

 

[fritz]

as above

 

[fritz]

DAY 2

Day two took us to the south side of the island on a mainly road route – but with the promise of a great climb up the mountains on the way back. It was a bit of a trawl in the first part of the ride across to Armeni, not too interesting and a bit ‘numb bum’ distance two up on the XT. Things improved thereafter as the route down to Spili was very scenic.

The routes west to Frangkokastello were all asphalt, damn hot, but scenic and varied enough to make for great riding. The fort of the title wasn’t looking so exciting so we headed straight for the mountain track I’d spied. From the coast there was an obvious zigzag crawling up the high mountains behind Kapsodasos that looked fairly insane and looked like it was going to live up to our hopes. One problem was fuel – there was no petrol and the garage said we’d have to try elsewhere. I wasn’t confident we had enough to get a long way but erred on the positive and set off on basis if we ran out there was a very long downhill.

Finding the route was easier than expected – it was signed for the Kallikratiano gorge. I guessed the asphalt would run out round any corner, but in fact it got better rather than disappeared! I’m afraid the track wasn’t – it was now a road. It’s strange as on some maps it isn’t even there – bizarrely on ours it appears on one side of the map, turn it over and it’s disappeared! Anyway, it was some engineering achievement with switchback after switchback and absolutely incredible views back down to the coast. (see pic below) The scenery at the top was pretty wonderful too with rocky and rugged peaks all around and a real sense of isolation. Having found the track that ‘wasn’t’ we took a few diversions as we continued and went along shepherd tracks nosing about to see what we found. Mainly a lot of space and stunning views, especially up higher towards the austere White Mountain peaks with their blank exposed limestone surface. Being limestone there is water in the hills – but it’s not often at the surface, there are ancient cisterns dotted about the mountain landscape to collect the water and we stumbled on a lovely example with its ancient low slung stone barrel roof almost blending in with the surroundings. Quite a piece of work.

We returned back to Ammourdari, the centre of the Sfakian region – an area soaked in history. It’s said that Sfakia has never been fully occupied by foreigners and their fearsome reputation has continued right down the timelines. Ask the Nazi’s, this whole area is tied in to the secretive operations of the SOE probably due to its harsh landscapes. Fortunately knower days the Sfakians are regarded for their hospitality and generosity. They certainly do good biscuits and cakes which makes stopping worthwhile. Following our re-fuelling we popped along to the WWII museum. It’s an intriguing little place – a personal collection with (sadly) no government funding. There are artefacts spread all around that were collected over the years and a kindly women showed us round and highlighted various items. It’s a low key affair and relies on donations but is well worth a visit.

As a final but brief off-road foray we tried getting up to the old Turkish Fort at its well placed hilltop location. All the routes from the village we tried lead to blanks so we took the old dirt road down into the valley and parked part way up before exploring on foot. The fort is certainly set in a commanding location, very atmospheric and worth the short, but hot walk.

Near home the bike started missing and then cut-out. Eh? Turned out we’d run out of petrol. Bugger! It seems the ‘reserve’ tube must have been removed as there was none! Bloody lucky as we were about 2kms uphill from the last petrol station we’d passed. An interesting u-turn across the national highway gave us a mainly free wheel for the 2 kms – but with me fixing my eye on the rear mirror in case of approaching cars driving on the hard shoulder to allow overtaking. Luckily we made it with little more drama, but found ourselves in the difficult situation of having to put juice in the bike to get back all of 10kms, but not wanting to leave juice for someone else to use (you leave the bike ‘empty’ rather than full bizarrely). Quite a gamble!

 

[fritz]

DAY 3

We’d taken the next day off the bike to go walking but returned for another ride up to the mountains a day later, this time heading towards the Theriso / Drakona area. The route up to Theriso was enjoyable as the asphalt snaked up an impressive gorge towards the rather popular tourist town at the end, the flocks of dozing sheep laid in the shade of trees taking up half the road width were worth keeping an eye out for on the bends though. (first pic below)

Having negotiated the toy train depositing visitors in the high street we continued on up and round a bend to be confronted with a fully grown tree in the middle of the road. Not dropped off a truck or anything, actually growing smack bang in the middle of the road. Remarkably it looked like no one had ever run into it, and quite a feature it made, striking, but not struck! (second pic below) This road was shown unsurfaced on the map, but again was asphalt.

After another kilometre a dirt road headed off southwards towards the mountain of Kalores (unsigned) and we followed it hoping it was one described in the guide. It was some 9kms of dirt and offered stupendous views across the north coast and Hania and climbed up to around 1200m in amongst the peaks, quite beautiful. (last pic below) At the end there was nothing more than a couple of pickups and some basic shepherd huts. Little more to do than reverse our route and see the views all over again – and that was no hardship.

Joining the asphalt again we headed towards Drakona and stumbled on a brilliant lunch stop. A crowd of locals was sitting under a raffia canopy on the opposite side of the road from a nice looking little taverna so we thought we’d give it a try. We had stumbled on ‘Dounias’ a restaurant of rare pedigree and excellence, an absolute delight. The locals welcomed us with nods and smiles and we seated ourselves ready for what we hoped would be a treat. The owner came across and asked what would we like, I asked what was on the menu and he placed his hand on my shoulder and said “come with me” and took me across the road into the kitchen where there were pots and vessels aplenty and a delightful young lady showed me around. All the food was local and used only the best ingredients, many home-grown, and they prided themselves on the ‘slow food’ ethos. Frankly I could have stayed in that kitchen all afternoon slowly working my way through small portions of each of the many dishes available. I think Bev would have had something to say though so I made a request for a selection of what ever they suggested.

I’d read about ‘mountain tea’ and Bev was interested in trying it so I asked about it, the owner showed me outside and started picking various herbs and the like and we attempted translation, seemed to be like oregano, sage and mint – but likely different variants. The posy he had collected we kept and made a delightful brew from it later that night back at base. Anyway, mountain tea it was and very refreshing it was too – much nicer than green tea, but not a sugar and milk tea (though they do offer honey with it)The food we were presented was outstanding from the fresh bread through the mixed salad served with baked spuds and onto the ravishing wild boar cooked in fresh orange juice – it was truly exquisite,“45kgs and shot in the mountains”. Next up a bowl of aubergine, pumpkin & courgette goulash, delightful, a potato and courgette tart and finally a brief custard tart type dessert for me and a brimming mug of coffee apiece. There was more besides and we could have stayed the rest of the day, but frankly the bikes suspension wouldn’t have appreciated it and besides, you actually can get too much of a good thing. We’d spent a delightful couple of hours working our way through fantastic food and all for around a tenner each - do be sure to look this place up if you are in Crete – you won’t regret it.

We picked up another dirt road, but the wrong one (well, not the one we were after anyway) that again led up into the mountains but this one was a poorer surface and much harder riding with us being two-up. We stuck with it, but finally turned as time was getting on. We came across our first traditional stone shepherds hut high in the hills, a really ancient un-mortared beehive style building looking for all the world like a Neolithic cist. Called 'mitata' or 'koumoi' these are buildings you are unlikely to see easily so walking or off-roading offers the opportunity and a chance to explore these fantastic structures. Many are by the trails that have since become tracks as the shepherds continue their craft, but now by Hilux rather than foot or donkey, times change, but history doesn’t.

The asphalt roads up around the hills are great but for signage, could we hell as find our way back. To the amusement of a local family we turned in their yard – they’d seen it all before and just smiled and pointed to the route we were seeking. Finally back on signed roads we were back at Almirida and ready for some cold beers.

 

[fritz]

Day 4

Back in the saddle again, and for a very long day as it panned out. We went out towards the Omalos Plain and then the Samara Gorge, though with no intention of walking on this occasion. The road upwards was good, but an awareness of the narrow yet twisty road and the frequency of coaches using the route is wise. It looks too narrow for coaches, but the honey-pot of Samara means there are a lot – especially early and late on. Xiloskalo is the end of the road and offers great views, and even greater walking along with an impressive scrabble score, and it was nice to see a couple of Cretan Kri Kri (wild goats/Ibex) wandering around. It was a clear blue sky day and the sun intense making for another lovely day. We decided to complete the second part of the excellent trail we’d started on the first day of hire.

The start was in a valley abundant with orange groves leading into edible chestnut woods. 11 Day4 Voukolies4.JPG The route was easy to follow with small signs at splits in the track. Looking back across the mountains we could see the first half of the route we’d ridden previously – the circuit of the two days together would be exceptional. The views across all of the south coast and in the other directions to the hills and mountains were wonderful – quite life affirming. 12 Day4 Voukolies5.JPG

We took a spur off the col that lead to yet another chapel, Aghios Loannis and the setting was stupendous. There was plenty of shade due to a covered area attached to the chapel, and in common with others the chapel itself was open. For the second time we noted a car wreck down the slope from the chapel. The car looked pretty new suggesting an odd occurrence. I can’t see there being a big market in joy riding in Crete – but equally wouldn’t like to think of some aged driver toppling over the track edge, very unforgiving. Strange old business. The views from this chapel were sublime, well worth a visit. On saint days these places must host serious gatherings as there are obvious basic facilities for entertaining large crowds, must be quite thing to witness in such an isolated location.

We dropped off the other side and enjoyed equally great riding down to Palia Roumata where the guide indicated another good place to eat. It suggested a place hidden in a back street rather than the square so we searched around and found it. Bev opened the door and peered inside and called hello, in a while a lady came out and gave what we thought was a ‘closed’ message. We were just about to leave when a moped pulled up and a young girl (the daughter as it turned out) got off and speaking excellent English got straight up to speed and said ”no, we’re open – you should have rubbed your stomach” sign language usually works! Having explained to her mother she got us sat down and ran through what was on offer. She took time to explain it was all local – in fact so local it was in the yard out back; chickens and rabbits. We started with bread (made by the mother) and some of their own olive oil – delicious. We had a mountain tea and a coffee with an excellent mixed salad following. I asked about the crumbly white cheese and she said it was Myzithres and definitely NOT feta! Our choice of mains was down to what was slow cooking in the kitchen and we had a rabbit, and a chicken dish with veg in support. The meat hadn’t come far and was excellent. The whole thing came to £16 and when we indicated we wanted change from a ‘5’ the girl realised we wanted to leave a tip and was having none of it and said she was just happy we had called on them. What a great place! And it was a great place to chill out and take a relaxed pace on life before undertaking more exploring. For £8 each what more could you say than “we’ll be back”. 13 Day4 Voukolies5.JPG

This was another of the towns treated brutally under the Nazi regime. There was a monument to local fighters that included a plaque the like of which I don’t think I’ve ever come across. Images of shepherds shooting paratroopers in the sky, laying into them on the ground and the foreground image was of a soldier leaning back with arm outstretched in defense as a shepherd grabbed his gun with one hand the other arm stretched high above his head crutching a large rock with which to dispatch the victim. Unusually graphic, and understandable when you read the brutality of the Nazis on the island in reaction to the islanders defense of their land – more than one village was raised to the ground. Of course times change and Germany tourists money is as good as anyone’s.

We continued by road to Kandanos, one of the most famous of the raised villages. In revenge for the murder of 25 Germans the whole village was destroyed and the Nazis had the audacity to raise a column on the site with an inscription in both German and Greek saying “ At this site stood the village of Kandanos as it was destroyed in compensation for the murder of 25 German soldiers” a second sign went even further “Because the men women and children dared to resist the great Reich Kandanos was leveled to the ground and will never be rebuilt” Fortunately history tells us otherwise and their now exists a pleasant little village with tour buses of German tourists being dispatched to buy local wine and olive oil which is all together more cheerful. The local town council has erected the only plaque in English that summarises with “Kandanos still lives on and we hope such symbols will never be used again.” Let’s all hope so.

As we’d now come so far south a trip to the coast suited. We knew we were close as we met bikes coming the other way with tourists riding lidless on cruisers in flip-flops. Paleochora didn’t hold our attention and it was a little too hot, we suddenly realised it was 17:10 and we were not that close to home. We still opted for the twisty roads home and enjoyed a rather brisk ride back, a long day, but a great thrash home. Back just before dark proper, we’ve done just over 800kms in the four days so far. A couple of days off using the car before one final hurrah!

 

[fritz]

DAY 5

The final ride – stuck 7 litres in the bike and struck out along the coast before heading for the hills, we had spotted a couple of long tracks heading high up near Vrysses and decided to explore further. One went towards the Volka refuge and we tried it first. It started fine but got gradually a bit more tricky for two-up riding, lots of loose and larger stones. After battling on and getting to a fair old altitude, around 1000m in the 5 or 6kms, we decided not to be too heroic on our final day and keep shiny side up. It was far too hot (around 30C) for too much adventure anyway. We found a great picnic spot on the way back down and sat in the shade admiring the vast panorama before us. We could see the jetty in ‘our’ village some 50kms away with the aid of binoculars. The boiled eggs had even shelled themselves on the rocky ride up. 14 Day5 Volka1.JPG & 15 Day5 Volka2.JPG

We found an interesting link road across to another track and were pleased to find it wasn’t surfaced. Actually reminded me of some of the simple stone tracks up on the moors. One thing that was different was the vicious overhanging dried out spiny plants that were best avoided – make thistles and nettles seem tame in comparison. On one narrowing we both got whacked on our knees and had to stop to remove the offending thorns. Long, very, very sharp and painful – like riding into a cactus! Back on tarmac we suffered the usual problem of not being able to find our way around – the tarmac roads are brilliant, well surfaced (ignoring the shiny polish) and twisty as hell, real super-moto territory, and great fun to ride – but frustrating not being able to find the way.

Finally we found our final track – a good 8 to 9kms of trail rising into the White Mountains ending at two separate, but close, chapels. 16 Day5 Madara.JPG It was a brilliant trail that just took us higher and higher up the mountain side in twisting turns and the odd hairpin or two and once again offered stupendous views.

At the highest chapel we realised there was someone else present as we noticed a shepherd and his dog stood in the shade under a tree, we exchanged greetings, before he headed off to his animals – he’d been one of only a couple of people we had seen on the trails on any of our five days riding.

Looking back the way we’d come the track stretched serpentine for miles offering a fitting view to summarise the few days trail riding we’d enjoyed. Beautiful tracks, in beautiful weather in a lovely country populated by fine people – a great bonus to be had on top of the planned holiday at little extra expense.

 

[fritz]

So there you have it, it worked out about £140 to hire the bike for 5 days and we covered 590 miles – almost as much is in the car for the remaining 11 days. The bike had taken us places the car couldn’t and allowed us to indulge in our pastime of trail riding without any problems caused by access or other road users, all that and the weather was great and the scenery stunning. We virtually always ride two-up so the XT 600 suited us, but for solo riders KLX250 and even more off-road orientated bikes can be hired if you search about or do your homework in advance.

With some advance consideration you can add extra value to your next holiday!

Rental terms appear generally to be based on, free unlimited kilometres, 24h road assistance all over Crete & bike replacement in case of damage and bike insurance (with an excess unless you take out extra cover), a bike lock & helmet – but naturally the helmets aren’t as good as anything you might bring yourself. We messed up our packing and had to leave our lids behind – factor in to take your helmet when packing.

Details: We booked flights through Ryanair taking 15kgs hold luggage (our riding gear). Flights were costly at about £800 for us both, around £500 if booked now for Sept 2013. We stayed at the excellent Niriides Hotel in Almirida www.niriidesalmyrida.gr which we can’t recommend highly enough. We rented a Yamaha XT600 from just down the road for 5 days for €175 all-in including helmets (our 15kgs allowance meant our helmets stayed at home!) www.flisvos.com You will probably get the best deal via a web booking – reserve rather than pay in case you aren’t happy with what you re offered on arrival.

Footnote: For anyone with even a passing interest in the WWII history of Crete a reading of W Stanley Moss’s book “ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT” covering the daring kidnap of General Kreipe is recommended. It will certainly engender a great respect for the hardships the islanders suffered under the Nazis. Easily read it would make a great choice of holiday reading before, after, or during a visit.

 

[Jockser]

Nice pics, looks a stunning place

 

[johnnyrep]

Great write up