The Moutsouna Climb
If you forget to take the turn, maybe you just splash right into the sea? Better don't try it!
Moutsouna is a small village on the East coast of Naxos. There are a couple of tavernas (one of them open more or less year round), there are some fishing boats, and there is the harbor terminal where the locally mined emery used to be loaded onto boats for export. It also has a nice little beach.
Of considerable more interest to cyclists is that the road to and from Moutsouna gives us a nice 11km climb at an average grade of 5% with nice views.
Unless you are actually based in Moutsouna (or on the road towards Panormos), you will actually have to ride down to Moutsouna first. Enjoy the splendid views! You can see a couple of islands in the blue aegean sea, e.g. Amorgos and Donousa. There are some rough spots in the road, but in general it's in decent condition. Watch out for a couple of places were the road has been widened for the bus using concrete as the road surface. I find that it's not nice to ride on that, so I will use the main part of the road unless I have to let a car pass.
The twisty turns coming up from Moutsouna are more and more in the shadow as the late afternoon progresses.
The first time I went down there, I asked a friend about how much traffic I should expect. He said there won't be much on the weekend, but I happened to be riding on one of the few times where leftover emery from the mines was transported away by huge trucks. It wasn't nice to be passed by these monsters - but it has never happened to me again, these trucks are gone.
I usually take a little rest in the harbor. Time to take nice pictures with the pier and the sea as the backdrop. Sometimes with company we even sit down and drink something in one of the tavernas. Then it's time for the actual climb back up.
If you come back from the direction of Panormos (at the southern end of the island), you will miss a few hundred meters of the climb from the harbor, but you will still do the main part of it.
On the way down stop to take pictures, admire the view... and measure up the climb you will take on the way back up.
A climb for the evening
Due to the position on the East coast of Naxos, I prefer to ride the climb from Moutsouna in the late afternoon, early evening. Go late enough and the sun will have passed on behind the mountains. You can ride up in the shade. You will really notice the cooler temperatures, especially in summer.
That way most of the tourists with rental cars will have come back from their excursion to the beaches near Moutsouna too. If you are just a bit too early though, you might have a procession of them passing you on the way up.
Many of the horseshoe bends look very steep on the way down, but there are no really steep spots on this road.
Facts about the Moutsouna-Climb
- Length:
- 11km (from where the road exits the harbor) 10km (from the crossroads where a small dirt road goes to Azalas)
- Grade:
- 5% average. Shortly after the road to Azalas you pass a little bridge, and right after the road takes a short turn and goes up. From that part on the road is steeper for about the next 3.5km. There are some short stretches with 10%, lots of horseshoe bends, the works. After that part the grade eases up a bit, so don't burn yourself out on the lower slopes!
- Road surface:
- For climbing up there is no problem with the road surface. The few spots where the road has broken parts or small potholes, you can easily handle it going up. Take more care when riding down!
- Traffic:
- Low traffic most days. There is some local traffic, there is a bus a couple of times per day. During the tourist season there are regular flows of rental cars and some scooters. It is not one of the main roads of the island.
- Wind:
- This climb has long stretches where you are exposed to the wind. Especially a strong North wind (e.g. the typical summer "Meltemi") can be very tiresome and annoying. Personally I try to avoid this climb on those days. Days without wind are best - but those are pretty rare here. If the wind comes from the East, it would help you - but East wind is even more rare than no wind on Naxos!
- Strava:
- There are two significant Strava segments: Moutsouna - Apiranthos starts at the port, while Moutsouna (Pinak.Azalas)-Apeirantho starts at the crossroads to Azalas. If you ride in from Panormos, you will get only the second one.
- Get there:
- The climb is located on the East side of the island, connecting Apeiranthos (in the mountains) with Moutsouna (on the beach). From Hora (Naxos town) the main road of the island goes in direction Halki, Apeiranthos. That's the simplest way to get to the top of the climb. Once you are in Apeiranthos, after the road passes the village the first time and goes up through a bend again, there is a road going to the right (with a big sign for Moutsouna and Panormos). That's where you go down.
The loading docks, next to the beach and tavernas in Moutsouna.