The eternal attraction of a hilltop

In theory I am testing out a couple of things on my bike (that might be subject of a future post) but my main motivation for this one is to reach the top of a nearby mountain. OK, you may call it a hill since it's half a km high but in any case it offers an unparalleled full view to the sea so...

However, not all things are what they look like from far and the road near the top proved to be not as accessible by a bike like min on street tires as I expected it to be. Or I should better say I wanted to ignore the potential risk. So at some point I had to give it up in order to spare me trying to lift a 200+kg bike on my own on a slippery uphill with no one around on this Sunday morning.

Loose stones and concrete offer grip levels that compare only to soaped marble:

Not even solid concrete but just broken patches of it:

The little stones you saw above act as rollers on concrete, way much worse than riding on dirt and this plus the steep uphill made me chicken out - too lose terrain to risk it solo:

I wish I had my mountain bike instead but we can't have it all though the view I get feels like I do have all I need right now:

I'm a bit of an early bird and the sun is still partially behind the hill but you get an idea.

Thanks for the adventure dear road, see you again soon with my 4x4:

As I move back lower I try to get more shots of this masterpiece but that excavator spoils the view badly:

You see the economic crisis that froze things for a decade is now fading and the real estate is blooming in Greece hence there's houses around this spot poping up like mushrooms. AirBnBs, cottages, even residential ones.

A little lower things get much better and now the road feels like brand new tarmac to me compared to the previous one:

That view though:

It's aeroplane league isn't it? Can't wait to come back to make it all the way to the top and even hike around if possible.

For the moment one more shot a little lower than the previous one:

As you can see in the above image I am using the mirror folding option that I have just implemented on my new DIY mounted mirrors. These guys tend to be the first to break if you fall so this is their "offroad" mode 🙂

I'll soon be back, hopefully even tomorrow if I find the time so stay tuned for more.

Till then here's my last one:

Here's a 4K video taken from 3 view points:

Next day comes and fortunately a really nice one so here I am in my 4x4 car this time to spare me the fear of making love to those unpaved roads 🙂

I engaged the 4x4 only for the last couple of turns and this was enough to make me glad that I didn't try to go all the way on my bike yesterday - chances are I'd be still trying to pick it up on one of those slippery AF steep gravel roads. But if this made me glad what can I say about the view up there:

Despite the early morning (very) high humidity that kills clarity I think you still can understand why I get a smile from ear to ear as soon as I leave my car to start hiking. (More on the high humidity later).

First I have to climb this vertical 2m rock to continue what (other than that) looks like an easy hike:

Rock's obstacle is history and I enjoy the view a couple of meters higher:

Makes it such a convenient location for a cell tower:

I love those young pine trees:

Not that the older ones aren't pretty:

Not many trees up there though as it's mainly rocks and bushes:

The higher I get the better it feels (this applies in more than one cases right?):

At this point I am impressed by the grip I get from my boots. I bought them dead cheap from a supermarket just because the have zippers and proved to to provide at least as much grip as my Swiss and Austrian hiking boots do if not even more:

The sun is rising complimenting the vegetation on my left,

but ruins the pictures I take on my right. Hard to spot the cement pole marking the top of this mountain but it is right there in the center:

This time it was the focus's turn to ruin a picture as I try to capture this almost pink cutie (more on them later):

At this distance 2cm off and the focus is off too.

Remember I told you about the humid conditions? Look at the drops on those rocks:

Adorable wet art from nature!

I reach the first point that offers me view from both sides of the mountain and I am more than happy to share the experience. Enjoy:

Superb right? Still have some way to make it to the top though:

Remember the almost pink guy I missed before? Now I find more of them:

Just in case that's not cute enough for your taste mama nature comes with some wet art again to decorate these guys with drops of water:

How awesome this microworld of these guys is!

The way I still have to go to make it to the top is not as micro but sure is as satisfactory:

Finally, here I am, as high as it gets:

At this point I'm sure you want what I want so let's have a look 360:

Once I'm gone if I come back to this planet again as a bush I'd like to be one of them to enjoy the same view:

Feeling like the happiest man on earth I step down again leaving the top behind. Feels like every step is a top picture around here. This is the last one I take later at the end of the hike just before I jump in my car:

How about a 4K video? How bad can it be right?

Enjoy:

Thanks for "hiking" with me,

see you on the next one!