We ended up staying in Thessaloniki, not that it was planned that way. A slow start, cycle down to the centre, and an extended stay in the bike shop resulted in 2 happy cyclists, 2 repaired cycles and a lovely evening in Thessaloniki with James contemplating life, the universe, everything, and how amazingly happy we are with life.
Thessaloniki
A great evening with Ioanna in her local restaurant resulted in us meeting Lefteris – the cook of the wonderful food, who had a friend Akis who is the best bike mechanic in Greece. Today we found ourselves having a bike repair, basking in the sun, and watching the beautiful people walk by day, generally enjoying life. Drahtesel is now fitted out with a new tyre and brake pads, ready to stop (which was almost not the case) in the next torrential downpour.
Akis and Drahtesel
My ex-colleagues at AUTH (University of Thessaloniki)
Lunch waiting for the Drahtesel repairs
Approaching sunset in Thessaloniki
arctic-cycler.com 
Hope you can keep finding people like Akis along your route!
Me too! 🙂
Hi friend, this comment is not to be published
Give a look to the italian TV emission http://www.kilimangiaro.rai.it
I think they could be very interessed to your enterprise, under every aspect!
Good luck for your crossing or avoiding the war area …
Riccardo (between Trento and Lake Garda)