Digital Wanderer |

Cyprus — 4, day three, Polis Coast

2015-06-16

On the third day, our strength was pretty much depleted, and we decided to just go for a ride near the coast, heading slightly into the mountains and coming back on the asphalt. The problem is that in Cyprus "slightly into the mountains" doesn't exist — you only have to ride a measly 5-10 km away from the shore, and the elevation gains become quite threatening. Sasha initially drew a track further out, but I immediately told him: "think again, old man." And it's a good thing I did.

We clearly didn't have enough strength that day, pedaling was hard. First, we bolted up the dirt roads, but quickly thought better of it — the slopes are so steep that you walk up, and it's too scary to ride down, so you walk down too. And we are cyclists, after all.

A cyclist in red gear on a mountain bike is climbing a rocky dirt road uphill. The gentle slopes are covered with dry grass and coniferous trees against a bright sky. — Sashka did risk riding down once, though not on the rocks, but on the grass

A stone path leads to black wrought-iron gates along a low fence overgrown with green succulents with bright pink flowers. In the background, behind the green tree crowns, a view of the blue sea opens up under a clear sky.

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Cyprus — 3, Day Two, Akamas Bay and Peninsula

2015-06-08

The third day promised to be action-packed — nearby was the Akamas Peninsula, which was the very reason we came to the north-western edge of the island. Good thing Sashka dragged me out there (at the cost of several bus rides, admittedly), otherwise I would have just kept riding around Troodos all day long, and those days would have been numbered, because the mountains there are exceptionally mountainous. I was convinced by an article in The Guardian, where Akamas is praised to the skies.

Akamas is not just a cape, but a national park with numerous endemic plant species, and, luckily, almost no trace of humans. Which plays right into our hands as lovers of escaping civilization. To map our route, we used tracks created by the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO), which are pretty decent. Though at times it feels like the track descriptions were written by someone with a big, malicious sense of humor (like many of my friends, so I can appreciate it). Far too often they throw around phrases like “a pleasant and easy route, nowhere does it have an elevation drop of more than 400 meters.” Maybe there is no drop, but the total elevation gain can easily be well over a kilometer, if not two. None of our friends have ever ridden that much — a 1.5-kilometer gain, especially if half of it is on dirt roads, is already considered very respectable, 1.8 is the ceiling, and anything over 2 is called “we sing a song to the madness of the brave.”

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Cyprus — 2, day one, from Larnaca to Polis

2015-05-25

Fifteen minutes before the critical point Rybakov ran out of the shop with his bike, and we bolted for the promenade, from where, according to our intel, the bus to Limassol was supposed to depart. I must say, practically everyone in Cyprus speaks English, and Russian is exceptionally widespread, so the problem of communication practically didn't arise.

I had found out in advance whether they transport bikes on the bus by calling the Intercity Buses company from my computer back in Latvia, and when our jalopy arrived, we loaded our bicycles into it without a hitch. 7 days later, when we were on our way back, we were in for a shocking surprise during the exact same process, but the thread of the narrative doesn't allow me to jump ahead, as it has currently only woven its way to the city of Limassol, a.k.a. Lemesos.

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