Cycle Touring Greece Day 9 - Cycling from Metsovo to Ioannina

With the Katara Pass behind me, it was time to cycle from Metsovo to Ioannina.
I was warned that there might be aggressive shepherds dogs along the way. I got hassled three times by them, but fortunately it was all on downhill sections.
If I had been cycling the other way from Ioannina to Metsovo it might have been more difficult!
I finished the day in a camping in Ioannina. Not the best run place in the world, but it will do for 2 nights!

End of day reports:
Daily spend - 46 euro
Average daily spend - 34.24 euro
#biketouring #bicycletouring #cycletouring

[dfddwm]

magnificent open road, "old road"? Those downhills a real pleasure but scary!

[simonstanforth]

Looks like a great day's riding 👍 Such quiet roads and amazing views

[leawood]

Nice one. Great views. The down hill sections looked so relaxing ( apart from the dogs) Loved the episode. I love Ioannina, I've spent some happy times there. i recomend the battered, deep fried frog's legs. ( with an Ouzo or Tsipero, of couse)

[lyxnafis]

If you're planning on going back to the area, you can take the train up to Kalampaka (there is no train going to Ioannina). You may, also, want to consider passing through Grevena county which is, nature wise, one of the prettiest counties in Greece. The village with the highest elevation in Greece (Samarina) is situated at Grevena county' Pindus Valia Calda national park is here as well. I could recommend tons of paths depending on the number of days you want to spend and how rough you want your rides to be. You can, for example, take a gravel path that goes through old stone bridges i.e. Portitsa, Aziz Aga etc.
A plausible path could be before Panagia to divert towards Kalithea and take any route to Krania with target destination the village Mavranaioi that can be reached via a wilder (-est) route through Mikrolivado or an easier via Kipourgion. From Mavranaioi there is a main route to Samarina (highest elevation) and Ioannina county can be reaches via Fourka or Distrato depending on where at Ioannina you want to go (I'd go through the forest road to Distrato.)
The problem with Grevena county is that it is totally mountainous and you must be prepared for the possibility to account all kinds of wild life including bears (mostly harmless) and lots of Greek shepherd dogs.
Speaking of shepherd dogs anyone who meets them must know that the best way to handle them is to stop and walk pass them' most of the times they will back off; if there is one or two persistent then pretend, or even do, grab a stone - they will go away. In this video the guy overreacted lol...
Cheers.

[thebigchip]

Cheers Dave, That was good enough for me. Then the road conditions and the dog! Wouldn’t like to meet one on a slow up hill bit though.
Super views. So jealous.