Mt Olympus

The next morning the bike was covered in a decent layer of frost. Obviously, the temperature had dropped so I wrapped up well, only trouble now was the fact that I was quite immobile as a result of all the clothing I had to wear and found it difficult to move. The tape on the gloves helped to keep frostbite away from my fingers.

I went to the local village, had a breakfast, fuelled up and headed for the mountain. I passed through a couple of small villages before I found the road to the top. The road surface suddenly went from smooth tarmac into a very rough track. The trail zig zagged across the front of the mountain, the going was very slow. I stopped now and again to take a few photos, the scenery was impressive.

Mt Olympus was supposed to be the heavenly home of the gods in ancient times. People believed Mt Olympus was the sacred home of Zeus, the king of the gods, his wife Hera, brothers Poseidon and Hades, sisters Demeter and Hestia and children (Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Athena, Hermes and Hephaestus).

Thousands of visitors flock there from all over the world to tackle the tough trek to the highest peak in Greece. The entire area was declared Greece's first national park in 1937 and consists of eight peaks including the ‘Throne of Zeus’ at 2909 metres and Mytikas, which has the highest summit at 2919 metres. I only reached 2135 metres.

This mountain range is home to around 1700 plant species, many of which are unique to Olympus. The mountainsides are cloaked in dense forests of pine, beech, oak and cedar trees, which harbour various wildlife including wolves, bears and lynx. The slopes are buried beneath two metres of snow in winter and only accessible to the most experienced climbers - even in July the snow lurks in shadowed corners and crevices. It can take 2 days to climb to the summit.
As if by magic the odd farm appeared, complete with cattle or horses. However, the ride to the top got interesting when every now and again aggressive mountain dogs would bark and chase in packs. I didn’t see any wolves, bears or lynx; neither did I see any gods.

Eventually I got to the end of the line. Hard compacted snow blocked my path, trying to tackle this terrain on my own would have been asking for trouble. I stopped and turned off the engine, not a sound and not one person to be seen. I stayed there for a while before starting the decent. I freewheeled down as much as I could, I could hear a strange noise coming from the front of the bike. I had to stop to let the rear brake cool down a bit, I have done this sort of stuff before so I knew the brake would begin to fade sooner or later. The rear disc was blue and smoking quite heavily, caught it just in time.

At the bottom of the mountain I just took the main road and headed off, much the same as the last couple of days, searching out the twisties and trails until I found another hotel towards the end of the day. The noise turned out to be the speedo drive on the front wheel, the rough terrain must have constantly pounded the plastic worm gear until it packed in. Although the speedometer had packed in I still had my gps that read my speed.