The last pictures…

…of my trip to the Acropolis Rallye of Greece in September last year. Something I haven’t done before, but this post will contain more than one photo. All are taken at the Karoutes stage (8/11) on Saturday.
Again it was a perfect event and a perfect weekend and as always, a pleasure to have been there.

 

Sébastien Ogier / Vincent Landais

 

Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja

 

Sébastien Ogier / Vincent Landais

 

Thierry Neuville

As you might know, there is always a purpose behind travelling to rallyes: taking pictures in the dust. It all started at the 2006 Acropolis Rallye of Greece, went over to Rally Italia Sardegna on the beautiful island of Sardinia and in this year I finally went back to the Rallye of Gods in Greece.
In this picture: Thierry Neuville in his Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC at stage 8 on Saturday morning. This stage was near the town of Itea, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth.

 

Acropolis of Athens

After sad and/or unlucky circumstances in the past years, this years trip to another WRC event was the first time, where we went as a complete travel group again. Exciting for me, as we finally went back to the Rallye of Gods, the famous Acropolis Rally of Greece. Haven’t been in Attika since 2013, the last event before this rallye got ditched from the WRC calendar.
The first thing we usually do after arrival: grocery shopping and visiting downtown Athens to enjoy the strange atmosphere in that city and going up Philopappou Hill to catch the view over to the Acropolis.

 

Stairway to heaven

An absolute highlight on Madeira. The well known “stairway to heaven”. Again I was really lucky with the weather that day. And again with not having others around me. This spot gets heavily crowded around sunrise as it is part of the PR1 hiking trail between Pico do Arieiro and Pico Ruivo. Many hikers use the magical light from the upcoming sun to start their hike.

 

There is no bad weather for biking

…you are just beneath the clouds.
Taken on an amazing down country ride around and down from Pico do Ariero. For my second bike ride on Madeira, I chose an organized tour. This had the benefit of leaving urban areas without getting exhausted. Nature around Funchal starts at 1000m above sea level or you have to travel to a different spot on the island.

 

I got shuttled up to 1300m where an amazing ride begun. A nice cross country ride up to 1600m around Pico do Ariero followed by an endless trail ride down to Funchal. I wish I had chosen a fully for that part of the jouney. Or at least a proper air fork. The bike I had was horrible on the technical parts. Anyway, the view and the fun were priceless. Absolutely stunning experience.