Scooter Hire in Greece – Part 6, The Road

This is part six of a series by Suntrap Holidays about scooter hire in Greece, and here we FINALLY get out on the road.  Beginners, don’t miss this..

(If you have not read the earlier parts of this series on scooter rental in Greece, you can find it here: Scooter Hire in Greece – The Series)

Road Surface

Quite a bit of the time when you’re out on the bike enjoying the Greek holiday sun, you will be looking at the road.  Not just to see what’s happening, but to constantly check the state of the road.  This is an important aspect of riding a scooter, especially on holiday in a foreign country, because the roads are different to those at home in the UK.  Also, if you’ve never been on a bike before, it’s not the same as a car – the road surface has more effect when you’re balancing on two wheels.  Here are a few things to consider:

Potholes:

Scooter Hazard - Pothole, courtesy of flickr.com user: teofilo

Oh how people love to talk about the perilous state of Greek roads!  These days, the main roads are fine.  OK, so maybe not as good as the main roads back home, but OK.  Off the beaten track, yes, it’s a different story.  You can find that the tarmac literally runs out, without warning, and you are on a so-called “un-metalled” road – one that’s basically a load of very loose white chippings and stones.

“the tarmac literally runs out”

In my early days of scooter hire in Greece, there were a LOT of these roads and I sort of got used to them.  But, if you are on a scooter for the first time, it’s very easy to come unstuck.  The best advice I can give is to avoid them (remember, any damage to the bike from flying stones – you pay for).  If you can’t avoid these stony sections of road, go slow enough – and fast enough.  You need to go slow enough that you can correct any slides as soon as they start, and to avoid damage from fast-flying stones, and fast enough to make sure you are well-balanced.  Seriously though, all but the confident beginner should avoid these roads.

Steep Hills:

On Greek Islands holidays, steep hills are everywhere.  When, as a 22 year old, I did scooter hire in Greece for the first time – in Rhodes it was – I had literally never been on a scooter before, which is true of so many holidaymakers of course.  My partner did not fancy riding one, so from day one I was riding with a pillion passenger, on a bike that was barely able to move on the flat under our combined weight, so you can imagine that when we got to the hills, things became rather interesting.

“jump off the back”

From that first week of my biking career, I was learning VERY fast what to do if the bike literally stopped when going up a steep hill with two people on board, engine screeching, clutch slipping, forcing an unplanned scurry to the side of the road.  Soon, my pillion passenger learned to spot the signs, and would jump off the back before we stopped altogether, giving me enough power to crawl on,  until reaching the top of the ascent, where I would wait for my passenger to walk up!  This is, erm, not recommended, especially in traffic..

“the very definition of danger”

You really DON’T want to find yourself on day one of your scooter hire in Greece, with a passenger, going up a steep incline, losing speed fast, starting to weave about to keep your balance, with lorries and coaches whizzing past inches away.  This is the very definition of danger.  Well, one of them.  What are you going to do?  Well, if you really do find yourself there, escape and bloody fast.  Get off the road before the bike stops. Or at the very least, get to the side and stop.  Do not wait until you have stopped altogether or you will only have your feet and gravity to propel the bike out of the traffic.  Having stopped, play it safe and wait until there is a good break in the traffic before trying again, or better still, turn round and go back down.

Scooter Hire in Rhodes, courtesy of flickr.com user: kalevkevad

To avoid this situation, and I URGE you to avoid it at all costs, know your bike!  Find a quiet, hilly road on your first outing, and LEARN what the scooter can do – and what it can’t.

“the bike went backwards”

I was riding a scooter up a VERY steep hill in Skopelos one year, a beautiful island next to Skiathos.  There was a lad and a girl going up this hill some distance ahead of us, and I could see that they were slowing rapidly.  On they went – blind hope I suppose.  As we approached, powerless, their bike stopped – and to my horror started to roll backwards – the lad in his panic must have forgotten where the brakes were!  The bike went backwards in a straight line for a while then turned suddenly and off they came.  Fortunately, they only had a few scratches.  They said it was their first day on the bike.  Judging by how flatly the girl was refusing to get back on, I suspect it was their last!

“terrifying wheelie”

Another story about hills from my early days riding a scooter in Greece – one year we found a lovely beach where the road down to it was very steep indeed.  One day, on the way back up I suddenly noticed a lad pointing at us and clapping.  It was only after a few seconds that I realised the front wheel wasn’t on the ground!  In my eagerness to take a swift run at the hill, I ended up doing my first, unintentional and rather terrifying wheelie!  Now don’t go getting any ideas…

Grids & manhole covers:

On the straight, in the dry, grids and manhole covers are OK, but it’s best to get into the habit of avoiding them because they can turn into slippy hazards when it’s wet or on bends.  They can also, if you are really unlucky, tip as you go over them, and some of them are really sunken..  Worse still, the cover could be missing altogether, and the deep hole left behind often looks just the same as the dark cover.  So, look for grids and manhole covers and plan a route around them whenever possible.  This is especially important on bends and in the wet.

Tramlines:

You sometimes get these where the road has been laid in strips lengthways, and one of the strips breaks down.  Or you can get a stretch of subsidence along one edge of the road, causing a length-ways crack, or tramline.  If your wheel gets caught against the edge of one of these, you’re in trouble.

Smooth Patches:

I remember a particular year when I hired a scooter in Skiathos – there had been a really hot spell beforehand and the tarmac had melted on long stretches of the main road around the island, somehow bringing the tar to the top, where it set.  This made the road surface black, shiny and completely smooth, like an ice-rink.

“like an ice-rink”

You would think that a smooth road would come fairly low on the list of dangers of you could face doing scooter hire in Greece, but I can tell you it was one of the trickiest weeks of riding I have ever experienced.  I had to go soooo slowly on the bends, because a time or two I literally felt the rear wheel losing its grip even at 50kmh / 30mph.  So, watch out for those smooth black stretches of road because in the extreme heat of summer in the Greek Islands it’s not unusual for this to happen.

Sand:

If you’re on the beach road, watch out for this one.  Patches of sand can drift over onto the road, and they’re a killer.  Riding on any depth of sand, the steering becomes impossible and the bike sinks in and slides all over the place.  If you hit a patch of sand at speed, boy, you’re gonna get sandpapered if you’re not very careful indeed.  Avoid sand at all costs.

Oil:

This is something else to avoid at all costs.  Brake or corner on a patch of diesel, even at relatively low speed, and you will be off.  So, when looking at the road ahead, one of things you must strive to see, scanning endlessly, is that patch of oil.  They are not easy to see either – often just a darker patch on the tarmac.  It’s especially bad at junctions, where lorries turn and diesel overflows.  Just where you want it least; just where you need to turn and just where your

Scooter Hire in Greece - Goat Hazard, courtesy of flickr.com user: benjamin_mercadier

attention is likely to be on other traffic rather than the road.  So watch out.

Animals:

Ah, animals.  I have had some lucky escapes with animals while on the scooter in the Greek Islands.  Here are a few of the most kamikaze to watch out for:

“some daft goat”

Goats – very problematic for scooter riding in the Greek Islands, goats are.  On several occasions I have been riding along a deserted country road in the hills, then suddenly right in front of me, some daft goat literally jumps out of the hedge and in front of the bike.  Just when you spot a route past it, another one appears and blocks you.  They’ve got no sense of your speed whatsoever, and if one goes, the next will follow.

All I can say is this – if a goat runs across the road ahead – boy, you better keep your eyes peeled and lose your speed, because you can guarantee that just as you reach the spot, goat number two will jump out in the same place, virtually under your front wheel.  Worse than that, you can be unlucky enough to encounter goat number one jumping out at close quarters with no warning whatsoever, at any time, on any country road.

Pigs – like goats, pigs are often not alone and prefer to test your riding skills as a group!  They’re a bit slower than goats too, so give that bacon on legs a bit more time to shift.

Hens – actually hens are not as stupid as you might think, and usually get out of the way even if it’s at the last minute.

Greek Islands Scooter Hazard - Dog, courtesy of flickr.com user: benjamin_mercadier

Dogs – in country villages or through farmyards, dogs can be a pain.  I’ve had them running alongside, jumping up and barking, and sometimes rather aggressively too.  The best thing is not to look them in the eye, not react at all in fact, and keep going at a safe speed, ignoring them until you leave them behind.  They are not stupid enough to run in front of you.  Hopefully.

“many a dead snake”

Snakes – I’ve seen many a dead snake on the road in Greece, but only a couple of live ones slithering across.  If you can safely avoid them, dead or alive, do so, but they are not worth swerving into traffic or off the road for.

Dappled shade:

This is something particularly common to scooter hire in Greece – often there are olive groves next to the road – lovely yes – but they can cause deeply shaded areas of road surface.  because the sun on the other parts of the road is so bright, these shady patches will be a complete unknown, possibly hiding any one of the other hazards mentioned in this article.  If you can, steer round these shady patches, and if you can’t – assume that any one of the above hazards is lurking there.

Well, that’s it for part six.  Look, I’m not trying to put you off scooter hire in the Greek Islands, I promise you.  It’s tremendous fun, and as I have already said, one of my great pleasures in life.  But you need to stay safe, OK!  In the next part in this series, you can find some vital tips on riding style:

Scooter Hire in Greece – Part 7 – Ride in Style