Riding in Cyprus - trip report.  It's a bit long.

As friends may know, I was in Cyprus last week with the family, for school half-term.

I knew of a guy in Polis who I'd emailed beforehand, who hired out bikes, so it have been rude not to go biking for a few days wouldn't it?   

Monday 26^th October – Day one for riding.

Monday lunchtime, after a bite to eat in the main square in Polis, I called in at the bike shop just 100m away.  For future reference, the shop is Petrides Rentals, here http://www.cyprus-rent-a-car.info/motorbike-rental-cyprus.cfm

I wanted a 250, rather than the XT600, as I reckoned it would be better off-road.  The 250s are marked up at just 19E per day, however, there' a three day minimum rental period, and then insurance and VAT on top, so it was actually 25 Euros per day.   (at present 25E pretty much equals £25 GBP or $25 USD, so actually quite good value compared with many countries, including the UK)

As his brand new Honda 250s are not ready to be hired out yet, I ended up with a failry tired looking white, Honda Degree 250 instead of one of the 2 new good looking black & grey machines behind it.   

It was already mid-afternoon so I had no big plans for the rest of day, because I knew I had the bike right through to Thursday afternoon; therefore plenty of time remained to get a few rides in.  But I’d brought my armoured mesh jacket with me, plus my own helmet, gloves jeans, knee-pads and tough boots down to the rental shop, so I might as well go for a short blast straight away. 

Against my original intentions, I’d sent my rucksack back in the car with Clare. It had drinks, a snack, a multi-tool, a map and a waterproof in it.  All the useful stuff really.   It was too hot and sticky for me to want a bag on my back.  I kind of knew where I was going, and if it did rain, well, I wasn’t intending to go all that far away was I?

Grey clouds were building although it was still quite hot (around 26 degrees C), a few spots of rain began to fall.  On good advice from the lady, I checked the fuel situation and found an inch or two sloshing around in the bottom of the tank.  Mental note to myself, “I’ll get some petrol on my way out towards the Akamas”.

I’ve been to Cyrus twice before, and on both occasions I’d spent some time exploring this end of the island by motorcycle.  So, I more or less know my way around these parts without a map.

I left Polis, and guessed I needed the Prodromi signs to get me first to Laatchi, then Neochorio to access the fabulous Akamas Peninsular.  The coastal “resort” of Laatchi seems to have got far more built up since my last visits of 6 and 15 years ago.  Strangely enough,  for all the 15km or so to Neochorio and the start of the Akamas – I didn’t find a single petrol station.  Never mind, I’ve always got reserve if it comes to it, and besides, I’m not intending on going very far anyway.

The little four-stroke, water-cooled 250 felt a bit crap on the road.  The bike was too small and low, had very little power compared to what I’m used to, and only just adequate brakes.  The indicator switch was buggered, so they only worked intermittently, and the speedo didn’t work at all.  Never mind – these items hardly mattered where I was heading.

There are some fabulous, well surfaced, twisting mountain roads in Cyprus; a fitting playground for a sports bike no doubt, but that’s not where it’s at for me these days.  The only road bikes on offer seemed to be Harley-clone Cruisers, which couldn’t do those race-track roads justice anyway.  No – my little trailie suits me just fine.

Despite the little bike’s limitations and my slight regrets and grumpiness at not getting one of the better machines, I was really starting to enjoy the warm climate on my way to trail bike Nirvana.  On the way there, I couldn’t resist taking a few detours; following barely distinct goat trails into the woods.  I thought there might be an off-road “short-cut” up to Neochorio – but there wasn’t.  I suppose I wasted a bit of fuel finding that out.

Why the Akamas Peninsular?    It’s a fairly large swathe of barren land, criss-crossed by dirt roads, tracks and trails, the major ones are marked on the map, but the smaller ones aren’t.  Navigation is fairly easy, because a high mountain ridge runs along its spine, broadly East / West, dropping quite steeply down to coasts on both sides.  So although it covers quite a distance, you can navigate by eye, and just pick any old trail that heads broadly in the direction you want to go. This wilderness cannot be developed; partly because it is, or was a firing range used by the British Army, but also I believe it’s getting a kind of National Park Status. (whooaa – quite controversial http://home.clara.net/heureka/cyprus/akamas.htm )  As a rule of thumb, the main trail, passable by any mild 4x4, is marked as the E4, and does a more-or-less circular route around the peninsular.  You can stick to this route, or deviate down many of side tracks just to see where they go.  Many connect up, but some just fizzle out to nothing, or become a little tricky and un-recommended if you’re by yourself, and in the middle of nowhere.   But no-one would be so daft, surely?

Despite its claim to fame as a haven for flora & fauna, to the untrained eye the Akamas at the very end o f hot dry Summer,  it appears to be a pretty dry, barren and relatively featureless landscape.  But I suppose, compared to Iceland for example, it’s a lush and verdant rainforest!

Following my navigational instincts of 15 years ago, I rode the steep ascent to Neochorio, though the unchanged traditional village center with its couple of Tavernas, then along the road to Smithies Picnic site.  Apart from one small stretch of dirt, all progress so far was on easy paved roads.

Just beyond the timber swings & roundabouts of the picnic sight, the Aklamas proper begins.  A big grin emerged on my face as the bike began to drift on the loose gravel surface.  Higher & higher I climbed on fairly easy loose rocky trails, and in less than a fw kms, I was enjoying fantastic panoramic views of scrubby forests dropping down to rocky coves & beaches many hundred metres below.  A fading yellow sun low in the sky to the south West, created a shimmering seascape as far as the eye could see.  I was absolutely loving this.  I’ve no doubt that a braver rider could develop quite a turn of speed along here J   The little bike handled well. It’s low height (both feet easily flat on the floor kind of low), inspired a lot of confidence, allowing me to drift the machine around most loose corners.  Easy, foot-down recuperation should it ever get out of hand.  The only problems were, as the bars were rather too low for my almost 6’ height, standing on the pegs resulted in an awkward Gorilla-like stance.  Unlike the proper dirt heroes, I tend to sit down most of the time anyway.  The other problem was, the steering head bearings seemed a little loose, causing a clunkering noise over corrugated ground or when getting a bit of air.

On and on and on.  This is GREAT!    I took a steep little detour up to a Fire Service Observation Point, evidently one of the highest points around at 428m, where any bush fires could be detected, even if they were many miles away.  There was a look-out man up there, with binoculars and it all looked a bit barbed wire and high-security, so I came back and re-joined the E4.  Another cup of fuel gone.

On and on I rode.    As I ‘d now headed further onto the peninsular than I’d originally intended, I decided to “cut a corner” and took a side track down to Pyrgos Tis Reginas, as I believed this might connect me to the North coast and give me a shorter return route back home. 

At this point, the bike ran onto reserve.  Ooops.

Daylight was fading now, at just 5:00pm.   I strolled around this quite under-whelming ancient ruin.  Then I had a  look at the “Tower of the Queen” monument.

A signpost indicated that a trail ran down to the Baths of Aphrodite, which were only a few km away.  From here, I knew the paved road ran back to Laatchi & Polis.  However I rode down it for a while, but reference to a Map-That-Wasn’t-Actually-With-Me, would confirm that this was more of a footpath than a legitimate trail, and due to its steep descent, may become impassable at some point along the way.  From past experience, I‘ve found this to be a quite inconvenient situation. 

You sometimes follow a downhill trail for ages, to find it getting increasingly steeper and narrower, up to a point where you can proceed no further, and by now, the path is so steep and narrow, you can’t even turn the bike around.  I wouldn’t want that happening (again) so I turned round and used up some more fuel getting back up to the Pyrgos Tis Regina.

I could go back to the last T-junction, and maybe, if I turned right instead of heading back the way I came, I could reach the end of the peninsular, then take a level trail back to the Baths of Aphrodite, which should get me back to civilisation before the tank ran dry.  The Map-In-My-Head wasn’t all that clear on the matter.

So I rang Clare’s mobile!  She had the real map, and could advise me on the shortest route back.

But she didn’t answer her phone.

Being a sensible sort of chap, I gambled on taking the longer (?) but known route back home, rather than take the unknown trail that may all end in tears.  I hadn’t seen another soul since passing Smigies, and heading off even further into the peninsular seemed somehow foolhardy.

I’m ever the optimist (tank half full), and have great faith in the rescue capabilities of a bike’s reserve, but as I rode along the high ridge with the sun setting below the horizon of a dead calm sea below, I did start to doubt whether this would all work out OK.  Still, I was heading back.  Every minute ridden was another half kilometer nearer home.  I could push the rest if need be.  Better than being totally out of fuel at the head of the peninsular eh?  Still, the thought of a long push home, for a midnight return wasn't an image I wished to dwell on.

It takes the edge off the riding a bit though. No more spinning up the rear just for the fun of it.  Oh no.  Plod plod plod.  Easy does it.

At last I came across a parked car, and a few folks admiring the red sky at night scenario.  It was a road going saloon, and its equally red number plates indicated that it was a hire car.  They won’t have ventured too far from the paved roads, so I knew it couldn’t be far now.  In fact the English tourists advised me that Smigies was just around the corner, and Neochrio was only another 6km away, and anyway was mainly downhill now if push came to shove.

With some relief I regained tarmac again before Neochorio, but it was still another 12km to Polis.  As I cruised through Laatchi’s neon strip, with rain drops now falling from dark leaden skies, I still wondered if there’d be a little pushing to finish off the day.  I filled with fuel in Polis, and it took 7.60 Euros worth, to the brim. At a cost of about 88 cents per litre, I reckoned there really hadn’t been much left in there.

Tuesday – Day Two

Although the Akamas is said to cover 230 square kilometers, there’s only a limited amount to ride on.  Rightly so, not every bit of it is covered by trails, so if sticking to the main routes, then a certain amount of repetition is inevitable.  For this reason, I set off the next day to do an anti-clockwise, but extended version of what I did the day before.  A full tank of fuel should get me anywhere on the peninsular.  I did about a third of it yesterday, having started with less than a third of a tank, and I got home OK. Just.

First stop was the bike rental shop.  Yiannis wasn’t there, so his assitant made fine adjustments to the steering head bearings, using a large screwdriver and a hammer.  I borrowed tools from the cardboard box inside, and rolled the bars forward a little, to give a slightly more forward and higher riding position for my long arms and legs.  It didn’t make much difference.  And the steering head still clunked a bit despite no discernable play in the bearings.

My plan was to take the road to the Baths of Aphrodite, then pick up the Akamas on the North Coast along the trail marked on the map.  I’d follow the trail, hugging the coastline all the way past Fonatana Amarosa (not actually marked on my map), right on as far as the tip of the peninsular if possible.  To reach Cape Arnaoutis was my goal.  Then I’d return along the West / South West coast, past Koppas Island, Lara Bay, Agios Georgios, then leaving the dirt going maybe as far South as Coral Bay, and even Pafos before heading back over the hills to Polis.

But as in all plans by mice & men, things often change.

The plan went wrong as early as Aphrodite’s Baths.  I found th ebaths easily enough, taking the obvious right, a few km before Neochorio.  The road stops, and there’s a tourist car park just before the rather unassuming baths.

Then, in theory, the dirt road continues along the Akamas Peninsular.   I’m sure this is the route Clare and I took 15 years ago, on a Suzuki DR350.  But, there’s now a ubiquitous red & white “No Entry” sign at the start of the trail, and quite a few hikers walking along it.  Despite the map saying “It’s OK”  I decided not to proceed any further for fear of upsetting the walkers, or worse, carrying on past them only to be brought to an embarrassing halt if the trail suddenly turned into a spiral staircase up the cliff face.

Instead, I pootled around a deserted cliff top caravan park for a while, watching large horny lizards scuttle by.  I also ate a banana. Some rides are more exciting than others eh?

For today, I’ve tied on a bag with food, drink a folding penknife and my bathing suit. Ready for any adventure, but already stopped in my tracks.

Not a problem – I retraced my steps along the road, and went back up to Neochorio to begin my ride as it had done yesterday.

I re-rode those ridge trails with even greater alacrity, and once again, I don’t recall seeing any other vehicle.  Before long, I’d passed Pyrgos Tis Reginas, and soon descended the steep dusty hill of talc near the goat farm, to arrive at Fontana Amarosa.  The famous fountain or “spring” isn’t up to much, but the deserted bay was rather beautiful.  Here I would take my swim.   Unfortunately, a sole couple had nabbed the best spot, so I moved along at bit so as not to spoil their moment.  They soon packed up and left (no, it was nothing to do with me), so I swam out alone into the centre of the bay.  This is what it’s all about.  Nice.    As It happens, that was my only swim in the sea all week, and the only member of my family to do so.

I set off again with the intention of hugging the coast all round the peninsular.  Not to be.  The trail just peters out.  It gets rockier and rockier, making riding almost impossible, and the very sharp stepped ridges making the chances of a puncture quite probable.  While having my swim, I noticed a Park Ranger had driven by in his offically marked up 4x4 pick up truck. He came from the direction of Aphrodites Baths, and continued along the peninsular. But he soon came back again after a short while, indicating that the trail probably doesn’t continue right the way on to the tip peninsular.  However, judging by the route he had taken to get here, I reckon there must be a way from here directly back to the Baths of Aphrodite.  As a Park Warden, I’m sure he can go wherever he wants, but whether it’s “official” or not I don’t know.  If anyone happens to read this who actually knows, please email me J

To finish my day, I first retraced my steps in the direction of Neochorio, but then took one of the first more obvious rights (or more accurately, not taking any lefts towards Neochorio), to make sure I found a way to the south side of the peninsular, heading towards Lara Bay.  As It happens, just follow the E4 “main route”.  There are turtle nesting site around here, bu tnothign to see during the day, or this time of year, so I’m not going to write about it here.  There are plenty of links at the end if you want to know more about the wildlife.

I just made a few mental notes for photo shots along the way, but otherwise just kept on riding along the South / South West coast.  The coastal finish got easier, faster, and less eventful. As it gets closer and closer to the tourist spots of Coral Bay and Pafos, the level and mainly well- graded trail allows the ingress of many tourist vehicles.  It just isn’t fun anymore – the isolation has gone.

I rode past entrances to the Avakas Gorge, and the White River Gorge, then hit the tarmac surface again just before Agios Georgios.  I felt no desire to endure the sprawling tourist horrors of Coral Bay and Pafos, so took a left here, to go to Pegeia and over the mountain road past Kathikas and back to Polis.  I’d intended to buy some more fuel before this 35km ride “over the top” but didn’t see a petrol station, and wanted to see how far I’d get – knowing I always had that mega reserve, and it’s all downhill from the top.  I filled again in Polis, and it took a mere 5.50 Euros worth.  Not bad for about a 100km day’s trail riding.  I can’t tell you the exact distance – the speedo doesn’t work, remember?  I finished the day just before dusk, and again, by the end of the day, a few raindrops fell, although you couldn’t call it proper rain.

Wednesday – day three ride

Today I was going to do more or less the same thing all over again, but in reverse, and I’d have my daughter Stephanie on the back.  She was dead keen to come out for a ride, and to this end, we’d borrowed a spare helmet from Petrides.  The previous day had been my “recce” of the whole peninsular, while the family had gone to a commercial water park in Pafos – the unpleasantness of which I can hardly bear to contemplate.

I lent Stephanie my jacket and gloves, whilst I took the strictly non-PC option of jeans & tee short.  It doesn’t half make you ride ultra defensively on the road, and the off road speeds and sliding antics were way down on the previous day, of course.

We started the day over the mountain road towards Kathikas, and surprisingly I was still warm enough dressed in a tee-shirt.

To minimize the road work, I took a side turning to Ineia, then Kato Arodes and Pano Arodes, where that map-in-my-head told me I should be able to pick up a trail that dropped down into the Avakas Gorge.  There are lines shown on the map, and I’d seen a route marked “Ineia” from somewhere near Lara the previous day, so I knew various connections were possible. By sheer luck, or my incredible navigational capabilities, without any reference to the paper map, we were able to pick up a lovely scenic dirt trail, near to the deserted Turkish villages, and right down into the Avakas Gorge, coming out beside the tourist car park.  We often stopped to take photos, and Stephanie kindly took some posed “action shots” of me, to illustrate this article.

On hitting the coast trail, we headed up to Lara Bay and beyond, and instead of taking the obvious E4 up to the mountain ridge, and down to Fontanta Amarosa, we hugged the coast, presumably past Koppos island, and picked up often very indistinct and marginal trails to follow the coast.  Every few minutes I told Stephanie, “any minute now, the trail will probably fizzle out, and we’ll have to turn around and go back”.  But it never happened.  The way on got very marginal on occasions, with awkward rock steps, but we carried on two-up, and much to our amazement got almost to the end of the peninsular I think, before we climbed higher towards a stone tower.  Here it did go a little wrong.  Our trail did indeed fizzle out, but there had been other options along the way, so we just went back a bit and tried another one.  Getting beyond the stone tower (marked on the map at 211 metres?) didn’t seem feasible, but heading back a bit revealed a route around it a little further south.  Why do reasonably obvious trails just finish, for no reason?  No-one lives out here, and there are no buildings.  There’s a bit of goat grazing, so perhaps goatherds need occasional access.  Or maybe, hunters?  In theory, hunting is prohibited here, and there are occasional metal signs which say so.  However gun cartridges litter the ground at in several places, and many a “no hunting” sign has gun shot holes through it.

On occasions, there’s a  blue arrow painted on a rock, where various onward options may exist.  Although these blue arrows point the wrong way for the way we’re going, the reverse route generally sends us the ”right way” avoiding the dodgy dead ends.

Why are the blue arrows here?   A less capable 4x4 (eg. the Mummies’ school run ones with all the style but no substance eh?) would struggle on this route, although the true Landies and Jeeps should cope OK.  Are these Hunters’ routes, or perhaps routes used by the controversial 4x4 Safaris?  I don’t know.

(I accept that some would view access by dirt bikes as unacceptable as well)

This is also the old Britsh Army Firing Range. Signs tell you not to touch any suspect articles, as they could explode and kill you.

In the distance, I can see where I want to be – the distinctive curving bay of Fontana Amarosa again.  Ignoring the blue arrow, there’s a steep rocky descent which appears to lead where I want to go.  It’s almost sheer rock (not loose) which appears to drop over an ever steepening edge, and there aren’t any obvious previous tyre tracks anywhere.  I walk down for a look, and although It goes in the right direction, but gets steeper and steeper, at some unseen point into the distance dropping into a little gorge before reaching the sea.  Does it connect, come to a dead end, or just drop off dangerously into a gorge?  I can’t take the risk, with Stephanie on the back, so we head in the “wrong” direction away from the bay (South East), before eventually reaching the tried and tested E4 main route.  We slippy slide down the tracks of talc passed the goat farm to reach Fontana Amarosa.  It’s clouded over now, and also cooled off a bit, so neither of us can be bothered taking a swim in the bay.

We decide not to take the more direct, coastal trail back to the Baths of Aphrodite, partly ‘cos we don’t want to upset any walkers who may be along there, but also because I’m looking forward to that final ride along the high ridge trail back to Neochorio.  Stephanie takes a few photos en-route, and I’m sure we get both wheels off the ground at a few points on the way back J

It’s been a great day, and we don’t bother adding more fuel.  Again perhaps around a hundred kilometers ridden? Maybe more.

To finish the day, we called in at the “Fly Again” Irish pub, by the beach, just a short dirt track short cut from our villa. I enjoyed a draught Pedigree and a draught Newcastle Brown, for 2.50 Euros each.  The British influence is everywhere.

Still running on the same tank of fuel, I dropped the bike back on Thursday morning, still with an inch or so of petrol in the bottom of the tank. I could have kept it until mid-afternoon if I’d really wanted to.  Good move as it turned out – it chucked down with rain all afternoon then.

We had the last 3 days’ good hot weather on that bike.  The rest of our time was iffy, and in the wee small hours of Halloween our villa got struck by lightening, and it blew the mains power for the whole row.  Although we ended up with no means to cook our soggy frozen pizzas, and the ice creams all melted, it didn’t matter one jot as we were due to fly out late the next day anyway.

Not a bad trip, the weather was warm and mainly OK, but once again, the chance to do some bike riding made it for me.

In summary

I used to say Cyprus would be a good location for a biking holiday, but I’ve modified my view a bit.  For a dirt riding trip  -  although 230 square kilometers sounds a lot – it’s really only enough to keep you amused for a just few days, not a full week.  I’ve perhaps been spoiled by Thailand, Iceland, and even Sri Lanka, which are infinitely better destinations.

To be brutally honest, Cyprus isn’t all that pretty compared to say Thailand, or beautifully dramatic like the French Alps, or stunningly different, like Iceland.  But it makes a decent holiday destination from the UK because it’s still warm during our winter, and not too long a flight (about 4 hours).  Suffering from the present 1:1 Pound / Euro, it ain’t all that cheap right now, but as we can fly from our local airport, the whole package is attractive for a relaxing week.

What is perfect?  As a side diversion from a family holiday, it’s superb to get out on a bike for a few days.  Highly recommened.

Further reading on the Akamas Peninsular

http://home.clara.net/heureka/cyprus/akamas.htm

http://www.cyprus-travel-secrets.com/akamas-peninsula.html

http://www.conservation.org.cy/akamas/background.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akamas

http://www.cyprus-holiday-guide.co.uk/Akamas-Walks.html as a walkers perspective.

Bike or car  hire in Polis

http://www.cyprus-rent-a-car.info/motorbike-rental-cyprus.cfm

There are loads of places in Pafos either.

In my opinion, the area from Pafos to Coral Bay and Agios Georgios is horribly over-developed now.  Polis is nicer, but getting worse.  Laatchi is the limit I can take for destruction by tourism, and more hotels and appartments are now encroaching further onto the Akamas.

Unless you like all those repetitive concrete blocks and tacky British style bars, pick your holiday location carefully.