Amfilochia to Rion, over the bridge.

I was pretty tired last night and fell asleep by 8.30pm.  I needed a good sleep to tackle the ride to Rion and getting over the Rio-Antirrio bridge.  This bridge has no legal pedestrian or bicycle lane, so I have to try and cross or it, or it's a pain staking boat ride and more riding for the day.  I'll talk about that later.

I left the hotel at 7am with my lights on and started climbing straight away.  The road followed small towns with the occasional herdsman tending to their sheep and goats in the distance. I did notice a lot more Police road blocks along the road today, not sure what that was all about.  I did hear that smuggling goods and bypassing the tax system was running hot in the country at present, so perhaps that was the reason.

The rest of the morning was along roads with a good shoulder till  I turned onto the major freeway south to Rion.  This road went for about 30kms and was duel lane with just about zero traffic. I couldn't believe riding for 2 hours on this freeway and only having a handful of vehicles pass me.  Once the freeway ended the road turned to a rough narrow highway all the way to Rio-Antirrio bridge.

It wasn't long and I was back on the coast in sight of the Gulf of Corinth.  The road ran alongside the mountains with spectacular views as far as I could see.  I took my time today as I still have a long way to reach Athens to meet up with Peter. I did speak to him today and he's feeling much better and keen to get back on the bike. 

The photo above is of the spectacular coastline I rode along today to Rion, about 10kms away from Patra.

With a lunch stop to help me to the finish line, it wasn't long and I got my first sight of the amazing bridge. The Rion-Antirion Bridge was first opened to traffic in August 2004, was the product of a seven-year construction project from 1998 to 2004 (including a two year preparation period 1998–1999 and a five-year building period 2000–2004) and resulted in the world's longest cable-stayed bridge.

With a suspended deck of 2,252m, the Rion-Antirion Bridge features four pylons (where there are usually two) and has a reference span of 560m. Located in the western end of the Gulf of Corinth in Greece, the Rion-Antirion Bridge links the Peloponnese (southern Greece) to the Greek mainland.

The bridge also unites two major roads: the intersection of the Patras–Athens–Thessaloniki motorway (which forms part of the European motorway) and the western axis of the Kalamata–Patras–Igoumenitsa road.

The five-spanned bridge was completed in May 2004 and after its opening the bridge has significantly reduced the crossing time of the Gulf of Corinth to around five minutes from 45 minutes (previously by ferry). Currently 10,000 vehicles cross on a daily basis.

As I approached the bridge I tried to get around the barrier and was stopped by one of the bridge officials.  I'm sure he said I could take the pedestrian walkway over the bridge, so I turned around went around the back of the building and headed for the bridge.  No one called out to stop, and I probably wouldn't have heard them with my headphones on.  I just kept going and going.  When I got to the end of the bridge the gate was closed, but there was another exit which I opened,  Now I had to work out how was going to get my bike and bags down this gantry.
 
I kept all my bags on the bike and just held on with my brakes on full.  The bike bumped and slipped a bit, but I did manage to get down about 3 floors to reach earth.  That saved me a heap of time getting off that bridge.  I went up the road trying to locate Rion Camping but was told it didn't open this year due to the financial crisis that has hit the country.  He did give me some advice about the Hotel Appollo, and within 5 minutes I had negotiated a price and was having a shower in my apartment with everything for 30 Euro.

During the ride it got really hot and humid and I think I suffered more on the ride than yesterday.  The total today was 105 and I expect to do the same tomorrow and the next day.

 The above photo was taken as I crossed the bridge.

 The photo above was taken from the southern side of the bridge.  It is enormous and 2.8kms long.

 The photo above is of the steps I had to negotiate to get off the bridge.

I took the above photo from the centre of the bridge.  It shows one of the many fortresses that were used to protect the Gulf of Corinth and also how high this bridge is from the water.  So today was a good day and I expect more hills tomorrow.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.