Thursday 18th June 2009

After another “early start”, we purchased ferry tickets to Loutro at the harbour office, despite the unwilling ticket attendant, and boarded at 10:30. The 20 minute journey took us along the breathtaking coastline, where we could already see evidence of mass movement and coastal erosion, as well as giving us a clear view of the mountains in the centre of the region. On arrival in Loutro we were surprised to see people unloading fruit and drinks from the ferry to be served in the restaurants and bars, emphasising the seclusion of the village, which has no road access and relies heavily on supplies brought in by the ferry. The first thing we wanted to do was to have a swim in the cool water and a drink in the bar, but unfortunately the geographical features drew us onwards and upwards, (metaphorically and literally.) The walk started well with goat sightings early on and there were many scree slopes and gullies with varied species and amounts of vegetation. Although the path was steep in some places and the drop to the sea was often sheer, the path was well maintained and relatively level – with the main factor compromising our speed being the heat. After passing a small Greek Orthodox church ,which provided welcome shade from the sun as well as an insight into the local culture, we descended to Sweetwater Beach – discovering we were the first to arrive (beating even Alan Howard’s mountain goat pace!) This gave us plenty of time to have lunch and cool down in the sea, although the contrast in temperature of the water made getting in slightly uncomfortable. When we were finally ready to leave after several hours of relaxing, we continued with our trek back to the village – keeping our gaze firmly ahead to avoid the nudists (but it WAS a good show – Jamie)

 

The path became a scramble over many rocks which had fallen from the active scree slope above, and at one point it was cut into the rock face itself. We finally reached the road and had to stop for a while to get our breath back – the hardest part was over! On the way back to the village, Jamie spotted a goat on the other side of a flood tunnel that had been built under the road… and so of course also climbed through to see it! He encouraged Celia to do the same, only adding afterwards that the tunnel was “full of goat poo”. We finally got back to the hotel to find that, yet again, we had aced the journey back, although this time we were beaten by Alan Howard! Group 3: 1 – Alan Howard: 1. A good day all round!

 

 

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