23. Kissamos to Agia Roumeli

Martin left this morning….good and early…too early of course….but we did make sure that he would not have to wait for more than an hour at the dismal bus yard!! Haha!

Iain went back to bed!!

Agia Roumeli is at the bottom of the famous Samaria Gorge….and is only accessible by boat! So our ride today took us over the hill and down to Palaiochora to catch the ferry…at 15.20. 

So a very relaxed start for Iain.

And a hot start too! Right from the moment we woke! 

Lovely ride….

….up through a spectacular gorge (with a dark bendy tunnel which Martin would have been pleased to miss)…

Coffee at a familiar haunt….

…before the long flowing descent into Palaiochora.

As we climbed however….the wind got stronger….and cooler…and by the time we arrived at Palaiochora it was time to put the jackets back on. Seemed strange after such a hot start!

Spinach pies….as we searched the horizon for our ferry! The sea is a bit rough! And the ferry is very small. So we did wonder if it would run at all.

But despite the weather..it left bang on time! This is it…with the old ferry next door!

Three cars, ten passengers…and two bicycles!!

We pulled into Sougia en route (..message to self: you can ride into here too!)…

I did enjoy the meticulous deck painting…showing the wheelchair route onto the ferry. Which sort of missed out the stairs…! Ho hum!

….and then made an unscheduled stop….to drop off a beekeeper and his truck.

Given the conditions…it was looking like an impossible job….

Yup…that is the landing spot!!

….edged in…ramp down…

…..and they were off…and so were we! The ramp touched the ground for barely 20 seconds!! It was an extraordinarily skilful manoeuvre!!

And thence…to our overnight stop of Agia Roumeli.

This is the tiny village at the bottom of the famous Samaria Gorge. Most walkers get dropped off at the top…walk down the gorge…and get picked up by boat from here…to be whisked back to Hora Sfakion…and on a bus back to Heraklion or Chania. A hugely long day! 

So hundreds of folk here when we arrived. Then they all left! And it was delightfully quiet. Not sure why most folk are in such a hurry!

Great taverna for beers and food. And I had a pork chop. Charcoal grilled!  Which the Greeks do so well! 

And this was a real one!! You know how big pigs are…..well most pork chops look like they have been plucked from a young piglet!!

This was a proper one!! Delicious!!