55. Lagia to Kardamyli

Wind!!

Now for many of us it is beans – of the baked variety, or (f)artichokes…but for Nae it is cheese! And yesterday she managed a chilli feta dip for morning snack, three (ok…quite small!) cheese pies, and a Greek salad with a huge slab of Feta…!! Working on the principal of hot air rising, it was a good job she had been banished to the bedroom at the top of our tower!!

So no…that was not the problem at all! Rather a 40km wind…right on the nose…all morning. Like going up hill all day…..and we had to go uphill too…and pedal down again (always so very disappointing!). It was not long before battery stress set in!

We took the longer route…up the West side of the peninsular, so that we had most of Mani covered. Not quite as impressive as the East side/South end…but still some lovely bits…

…and a door…..to protect what used to be some very valuable olives!! Complete with padlock still in place! (…Kalamata is at the North end of this coast…but it is said that Mani olives are more prized).

Coffee stop at Limeni, a delightful spot…and already this little bit further North, almost all the houses are now fully refurbished.

15kms on…and with my battery level low….Google had found an alternative route…which dropped off the hill and followed the coast…rather than going over another big hill. And drivable for all but 500m or so! So….off we went!

The drivable bit lasted less than 500m! The cyclable bit ran out after another 2kms or so!

Lots of loose jagged rocks…and we were both slipping all over the place with our laden bikes! So discretion advised we walk! 

And so we did!

For about 4kms!! Mostly downhill…but still exhausting in the heat

A rarely trodden path…..with – oddly enough – spiders webs being the biggest irritant! Crossing between giant thistles etc…right at head height. So our faces/glasses were plastered with sticky silk fibres by the end. My bike still is! And the spiders themselves were enormous. Had Iain been with us….I feel sure he would have opted to push the bikes back up the hill rather than battle through the tangled webs!

…inquisitive cows followed us down…….

…..as the track got more and more difficult…

…with a deep gulley to cross towards the end….

….and barriers to keep the cows in!!

So we pushed and pulled the bikes over……sweating like piglets…exhausted and hungry by now!!

And eventually found the right track to take us to Trahila….for prized beers…and food!! Phew!! It had been the wrong call….but it was certainly an adventure! 

And a nice coast road thereafter took us on to our destination of Kardamyli. 

Nothing available at all on either Booking.com nor Air BnB…but the first place we tried, right on the sea, had  lovely – empty – rooms!!

Despite the relatively modest distance/ascent…we were both completely knackered! Wind…..and our walk…had really taken it out of us!

…and just as we were leaving our table after dinner longing for sleep….free beers arrived! So very kind….but almost exactly the wrong moment!!! (..a first on this trip that is. The complimentary beers, I mean!)

A nice wee town…..

…and looking back down to it the next morning.