I may undertake another bike tour if we have fine weather. This is the case today and I start at 9 am with the same bike as before. Of course I check the wheels thoroughly this time. At first there are to climb 290 m up to Sellia. Due to the nice views it is advisable to ride and walk in turn. Past 45 minutes I reach Sellia, sweating. The next section is nearly plane. And now I see this animal with the bushy tail, run over on the road. Of course it is a pity, I take a photo and suppose that this is a marten.

After the summit that I reached some days before a long downhill to Kato Rodakino follows. In another tour report I saw a picture of a curve which seemed to lead right into the sea (  http://www.auto.tuwien.ac.at/~bernhard/mtb/touren/kreta/ ). Now I recognize this point, it is the first curve after the summit down to Rodakino. As I reach this village with a high speed suddenly a man comes across. I just can brake down and avoid a crash, otherwise I would have been a cictim of the vendetta which is or better was very popular in this district named Sfakia. It once was the wildest region of Crete.

I better stop at a bridge above a deep gorge. Before the bridge there is a narrow curve without a crash barrier. Below the curve is an abyss and at the rockwall numerous images of saints. Now I climb up to Ano Rodakino. The road is a dream. A wide view to the sea, flowers and green slopes at the mountains. The nice village Skaloti is surrounded by colorful meadows. I enter a shop there and interrupt two youngsters at their TV to buy some lemonade.

Now we reach a wide plane which looks somewhat deserted. But then there are the ancient ruins of the fortification Frango Kastello. This is the basement for various taverns which wait for the busses.

I stop at a tavern above Hora Sfakion and look down to the harbour. They prepare the boats for the summer season. At the far end of the bay there is teh fisher's village Loutro, only accessable by boat. I resign to ride down to the center, there are enough busses already. And I have not to climb on the way back.

In Sellia I have a last rest at the panoramic view. A fully occupied bus comes up, "Photo Safari" is to be read behind the front glass. And then those crowds pour out of the bus, click click in the air, no foreground motive but a kind of aeroplaneview of the Plakias bay. I get off and some time later take a photo myself down to the Kotsifous valley (inclusive foreground). Just at this moment the bus "Photo Safari" comes along and speeds to the next spectacular viewpoint.

About 4 pm I am back after about 90 km. After the strong winds of the last days we now find many clumps of tar at the beach. This is not so pleasant if one bare-footed steps into it. In the evening I can get the photos of today. The owner of the shop writes down the names of the run over animal in Greek letters: Zoulida or Kouhavi or something like that.

Friday - Sunday: The Last Days

During the last days one should behave as lazy as possible. So we do. But I cannot resist to attempt how to find the path over the headland, where the crows (or ravens) had embarassed me. And this time I success, there is a small path marked by little heaps of rocks. But the path cannot be used very often for the vegetation is rather dense. I climb up until I can see the sea and cap at the other side - and then return.

At Sunday they pick us up after a long boring day at 6 pm. The most guests are collected at Rhetimnon and we wonder, how the people can enjoy this busy, grey and crowded region. At the beach the chairs and sun shelters are arranged soldierlike. In comparison to these conditions we believe to come from the paradise.