Avoiding another race

It may not be "the season" in Greece, but there seem to be no end of international races occurring, which I have a knack for running into.  First, the bicycle stage going to Pylos.  Today, the Rally of the Gods race from Athens to Loutraki (just north of Korinthos).

In our attempts to avoid the race, we seemed to be running headlong into it, and actually drove past the staging area for all the cars and the primary event tent.  We elected to take the northern pass and head east along the gulf side rather than backtrack through the known "danger zone".  That was exactly the wrong way to go.

We now saw signs for the spectator areas and improved guard rails around the twisting roads.  Fortunately, we were able to get through at least 20km of the course, which was quite nice except for the fact that we didn't know if the race had started, where it was coming from, and if we would be encountering sudden death with each blind turn, or alternatively, if something would suddenly overtake us.  You might think this paranoia, but in Greece, the lines on the road are frequently not observed, especially on hairpin turns.  As navigator, I kept looking down the mountain at the path trying to see if there were any unnatural flashes of metal.  However, when we passed an area with children riding bicycles in the road, we knew we were safe.

It did, at least, let us see both sides of the isthmus and cross the canal without paying a toll!  ;-)

(Shot as we crossed the bridge over the isthmus canal)