I’m not a list person but here goes…
1. Finish coffee in this great little local café just up the street from the hotel.
2. Go to the bike shop I have been recommended (just 300 metres away apparently – it looks promising from the evidence of the YouTube video I posted to Twitter earlier). It opens at 9am.
3. Load Reggie up for a day trip (so only taking the essentials in just one pannier). It will be a good shake down for him…
4. Take the bus to Sounio (or as near as I can possibly get to it, perhaps Lavrio).
5. Find the Temple of Poseidon and spend a good amount of time, Lord Byron style, gazing out to sea, contemplating the journey ahead and writing poetry. Probably without the poetry.
6. Set the odometer at zero and set off for Portugal! (I’ve never set the Cat Eye computer without the manual before so this activity might replace the writing of poetry…)
7. Take the coastal road back to Athens. It’s a trip of about 40 km so a modest start for day 1.
8. If the timings are good, avoid the midday sun by chilling out under a tree somewhere en route. Or a bar. Let’s face it, it’s probably going to be a bar.
9. Arrive back in the capital in time to meet my local journalist cycling contact at 9:30pm.
10. And relax…
Between now & nine o’clock: