Disclaimer

• If you are in any way referenced in this post but want not to be, then I am sorry to hear this. You can contact me, and we can try to figure something out.
• If you are not referenced in this text but feel like you should be, then don't take it personally, I am very forgetful and I am sure I did not omit you from this story on purpose.

Introduction

On the summer of 2023, I embarked on my second bikepacking trip. After last year's amazing experience, I have been anxiously looking forward to having new adventures. I also had past experience this time around, which gave me the insight to change some aspects of the trip, like the way to work from the road and the pacing of the trip.

Curiously, like last time, it was very hard for me to commit to the idea. This time for completely different reasons though. Last year, the trip was an escape from a tiresome routine at Thessaloniki. I wasn't having a very good time there, and summers are especially difficult in the city. This time it wasn't like that at all. I've been having a really good time in Thessaloniki. I had a hard time deciding if I want to go on the trip because there would be a high bar to pass. I was especially stressed by the solo aspect of it. I've made a few great friends in Thessaloniki lately and, at this time, I would much rather spend time with people than travelling alone.

Again, not a lot of planing went into the preparation. I've decided to make a few changes in the format of my remote working and camping setup. Other than that, I did no research on any of the islands (just like last year) or any other preparation at all. If anything, I reduced the amount of time spent preparing.

I'll try to be posting live about my shenanigans on the islands. Maybe this way I'll manage to actually finish a post in this blog instead of keeping it in [DRAFT] forever 🙃

The plan

The plan was to board a train from Thessaloniki to Athens with my bike. After spending a night in Athens, catch the ship to Nisyros, where I would spend a few days and go on a concert with a couple of friends I met last year in Samos, the Germans. Later, I would travel to Tilos. After that I only had general ideas of which islands to visit, but the plan would be greatly dependent on the people I meet and the info I collect along the way about cool places to visit.

Setup

For the most part I reused my existing setup from last time. For the cycling, travelling and working parts of the trip I had the exact same setup. Even most of the clothing I would bring were the same as last year, albeit with a couple of holes in them. The only change I decided to make was to not take a tent with me. Instead, I got a sleeping bag and a tarp and I would just lay in the beach to sleep.

The other thing that changed was that the handlebars harness I made last year was broken and thrown away. I didn't bother making a new one. The harness was quite useful, but also had a lot of issues because of how scuffed and last minute it was. I figured, since I'll not be bringing a tent with me, I can just wrap everything directly on the handlebars.

Another important change that I made was that I installed noise cancelling software on my system. I've been testing it lately and it works wonders. One of the most bothersome aspects of working outside is the noisy background from music in coffee shops and people chatting (or in the case of Greece, shouting).

After fourteen and a half hours in the boat I finally reached Nisyros. The journey, though long, was not terribly bad. I quickly made acquaintance of a (very) young group of friends. They had a guitar and a bouzouki with them. They let me play a bit, and later a couple other guys stopped by and we all sang together. One is also getting off on Nisyros with his friends, so I'll be seeing him around, the other will be on Astypalaia when I get there, so we'll meet there!

It was already 2:30 in the night when I got off the ship. The main spot for free camping on the island is 10km away from the port. I precariously began my way there, but decided to stop and sleep in Pali. A few other people had the same idea.

Not half an hour into the trip, I was already out of water for the first time.. Some things don't change. I will try to make better management of food and water this time around.

The sunrise was very beautiful and very hot on the beach. It seems that my days here will be starting at 7.30 sharp. The heat is too much to sleep past that. Went for a swim and then sat for work on the beach bar. Pretty chill morning overall. One possible issue here is finding water to take a shower. There are no showers on the beach and a couple of showers that exist on the street do not have running water.

At four o'clock I decided to head up to Emporios, a small village on the top of a small mountain. It was a moderate ascent. It was challenging but I managed. I reached a tiny square with a couple of taverns. One of the owners, JT, greeted me and offered cold water. I sat for a bite and we chatted for a while. Very friendly guy with a great attitude. We exchanged numbers and he offered to help me if I need anything while on Nisyros!

I roamed around for a while, exploring the village. On the top of it lays a castle and all around you can find abandoned, semi-wrecked old houses. There was an earthquake in the 90's (don't quote me on the date) that destroyed a big part of the village and many people have left the place since. You can look around, go into the wrecks and explore (with caution)!

Later in the afternoon, I left for Pachia Ammos, the main place to wild camp on the island. I decided to take to short route there, that goes by a monastery and then descends to the beach through a dirt road. Huge mistake! The path was great for mountain biking, but terrible when you're carrying around a 25Kg bike with most of the weight on top of the handlebars. A lot of switching between stone, gravel and sand. The kind of gravel and sand that your tire digs into and halts.

I fell over a couple of times. Thankfully, it was at safe parts of the path. There were some parts that the road was ~20cm wide and dropped into a steep cliff-side. At some point, I heard a loud noise and my bike halted. I got off and to my surprise the rear wheel has been completely freed from the frame. Like, the quick release had been loosened and the wheel got off 😰

I pushed on and sure enough the beach appeared. I met a very chilled out guy, Chill P, that gave me a ride to Loutra, a place 5Km away where there was a concert taking place later on. The concert was nice, some people danced tsifteteli. I was lucky to find a ride back to the beach with two guys and a dog. I was at the back seat with Ellie, the dog. She laid her head on my thigh and took a nap 😊

A pretty full day all in all. I had forgotten how much you can fit into a single day when you're on the road like this.

A tired wake and a slow morning. The night was rough. Too many bugs and many people going by with flashlights. I had a swim and made my way to Mandraki for work. Luckily, the bike had survived last day's torment.

Later in the afternoon I met VK and her group of friends and we arranged to go to the volcano together for the Goran Bregovic concert that night. We stopped by Emporio to eat. An older man talked to us about anything and everything. He talked about how Dodekanisa (the cluster of islands Nisyros belongs to) used to be and how it got to its current state. We talked about the food here, local dishes and their counterparts in northern Greece, how some cooking techniques were created especially to avoid being noticed by the Turks back in the day. I also tried skordalia and pitia for the first time!

The concert was great. Goran really loved us as a stage. He got up to leave many times but people's applause and energy made him sit back down and keep going a little bit longer. I met with the Germans and we danced like crazy at the front. I also met a few other new people!

Sadly, I got separated with the people that brought me to the concert and we had no way of communication! They also had most of my stuff in their car 🤦 I found another car to take me back to the campsite and hoped I would find them there, but no luck yet. It was a nice day, I met a lot of new people and had the best time in the concert. I only hope I didn't screw over VK and her friends very bad with the whole car situation.

A good sleep last night! I moved my stuff to a new place last day and I had shade until late in the morning! This beach is huge and has a lot of little corners to hide yourself. I got up concerned. I had to start work soon but my stuff were still in the car and I had no idea where it was or where the guy with the keys was.

As I was making my way down to the beach, I heared a shout "Apostolof, over here!", it's VK's fiends that owns the car 😁 Everything turned out ok. They were looking for me too last night. I got the sense that I kinda fucked up their night. They wanted to leave earlier and at some point a girl from the group was looking for me for 20 minutes. They sounded a bit annoyed, but not very angry about it. Anyway, I got my stuff and headed to the nearby canteen to work.

I finally made some time to wash my clothes, but the place where I hanged them to dry closed up before I could pick them up 🙃 Then, I hitched a couple of rides to get to Emporio for dinner. There I joined a couple of people from the camp, CT and Anna and headed to Nikia. There was a traditional-music concert. We danced and stayed up late. It was very similar to a panigiri. I treated VK and her friends to a raki and we smoked a joint together. Everything's cool with them! Chill P got me back to Pali and I slept for a few hours.

I woke up tired from yet another late night and made my way to the place where my clothes were being held hostage. I spent most of my day with a very friendly and really nice guy, Double A. Then, after I went back to the camp and rearranged some of my stuff, I hitched the craziest ride. I was on the back seats, with a wet dog and a bee. The dog was trying to eat the bee, jumping and spinning around. The driver was drinking beer and smoking a joint while shouting to the dog! His girlfriend, who didn't faze at all, was making small talk. I got out a bit earlier. It was really stressful.

Another ride took me to Emporio, where there would be the last concert of the festival. I found CT, Anna and some new faces from Pachia and hanged out with them. I also met a lot of new people. Quite a nice night overall. I made a few interesting acquaintances and conversations. A guy from Pachia took me back to the camp and I slept on the beach.

I woke up early. It was a very bad sleep on the beach again and I decided to pack up and leave for somewhere - anywhere - else. I worked from the local canteen and chilled out there all day. The plan was to try and sleep on another beach, just outside Mandraki. There was a big group of girls and a guy at the canteen. I gave them my backpack to take it to Mandraki for me and I started cycling.

There was a concert at Mandraki, this time folk and indie rock by a couple of local teen bands! I met up with AJ there, a guy I was headbanging with at the Goran concert, and we hanged out together. After the concert, we met the people that had my backpack and we joined groups. A lot of interesting characters they were, I had a good time getting to meet with them.

The sleep at Mandraki was terrible. The bench where I laid was very narrow and I saw a few roaches before going to sleep. At this point I hadn't had a good night's sleep for over a week. Anyway, it was saturday and I didn't have to work! I had a lot more planned for the day, but the fatigue took a toll at me. I left the bike and took a bus! 🙈

I reached Nikia and immediately headed up to the chapel of prophet Ilias. It's at the top of a hill with a great panoramic view of both the villages (Nikia and Emporio) as well as the volcano valley. I stayed there for a while gazing. I also took a small nap under a tree in the chapel's garden 🙂

I woke up feeling a bit better and made my way to the village. I've been told about a small kafenio (traditional greek coffee shop) that has the best desserts and sweets. After trying their "Volcano chocolate" cake I can say I completely agree! After a small exploration of the village, I found a great place at the start of a hiking path, where the wind was blowing cool under the shade of a few trees. I relaxed there for while, listening to music. It was around that time that I realised, I had lent my phone charger to one of the girls from last night and never got it back. I messaged them, the Charger Thieves.

After a while I began my way down to Avlaki beach for a swim. It was a bad cobblestone path that had not been maintained for a long time. It was high noon at this point and the sun was burning hot. Luckily, a young, Greek-French couple that was driving that way took me with them. Avlaki was a nice beach. There was a spot where the volcano creates a flow of warm water!

Another young couple took me all the way back to Loutra where I met up with Double A. We talked for a bit and after a quick bite to eat we, together with his girlfriend, headed up to Evagelistria monastery where the Diavatis path starts and heads up to the highest point of the island. We stopped at the middle of the path and watched the sunset from there. A nice, cool, dry wind was blowing up the mountain that was a much-needed relief from the heat of the day.

I got back to an empty, hypotonic Mandraki and quickly decided to head up to Emporio and maybe sleep there. After losing the last bus up, I tried hitchhiking. A few cars drove by without stopping and the time was getting late. The vibe of the island has changed swiftly after the music festival ended. I decided to head to Loutra where a few remaining musicians would hang out and play. I was incredibly tired, struggling to stay awake. Double A noticed and he took me aside to show me a couch where I could lay for a while and maybe sleep in the night. And that's what I did.

I woke up having the first ok sleep since I started the tour. Then, disaster! My phone's screen was dead. I had it under my pillow the entire night. When I woke up, half of it was being heavily pressed by my arm, the other half being burned by the morning sun. A combination of sweat and heat had done it in. I also recalled not having a lot of battery left the night before. Alas, my charger was still with the Charger Thieves!

I was getting stressed out quickly and got into panic mode. I connected the phone to my laptop and managed to have a few minutes of screen time, just enough to contact the Charger Thieves and write down a few phone numbers in case I need them. My mind was running. Should I just leave for Thessaloniki? Is there any place where I can buy a new phone? Can I ship one to the next island in time? After a while I decided to try out Tilos without a phone and see what I'll do from there.

Later, I stumbled upon one of the girls from the Charger Thieves group! I felt a bit relieved even just seeing a familiar face and talking about the setback with my phone. She contacted the rest of the group and we both waited together to meet them and get the charger back. Eventually, I ended up spending the day with them. We drank coffee, talked and got to know each other, had a swim, ate dinner, went to a concert and finally headed to Emporio for my last rakes on Nisyros! I had a blast. Great company, them Thieves 🙂

Last night, after the rakes, I boarded the ferry to Tilos. I found a chair and quickly fell asleep, only waking by the announcement that the ship is leaving Tilos! I grabbed my stuff and barely made it out in time. It was late at night, around 3.30, so I went to the beach nearest to the port (like many other people) and slept on a sunbed. It was the greatest sleep I had yet! There was a constant wind on Tilos that had just the right temperature to make for a good night's sleep.

I woke up and found a place to work from. After work, I headed to Eristos, the beach where everyone wild camps. I unloaded the bike and sat on the canteen for a beer. The Germans met me there and we made plans for the night. After a bit of swimming and a nice shower, I cycled back to Livadia. There I met up with the Germans and RK a woman I met in Nisyros. We ate dinner and shared some fun stories.

I found a ride back to Eristos where a small live concert was taking place in the camp! I only stayed for a little while before falling asleep like a log.

Another awesome sleep. No bugs on the beach, great temperature, pleasant breeze, quiet, white noise from the waves! Tilos is a lot easier than many other places where I've wild camped. I found a ride back to Livadia, where I left my bike the previous night. I worked from there.