A nice site - but nothing to do from it, so we squeezed our way out past 2 badly parked trucks and continued heading south. Along the way we stopped near Nidri, to visit a waterfall a few miles inland. A bit of a walk, but worth every step. For me it was the highlight of the trip so far. A narrow gorge, a modest waterfall of around 30 metres, with not a vast amount of water - but the setting and lighting was superb. Whilst there we chatted to an English couple who were holidaying in Nidri for 2 weeks. They said there was so little to do there they would have gone home after 1 week, and had already walked out to the waterfall 3 times just for something to do. There is an excellent cafe at the waterfall, so a walk to the waterfall, lunch at the cafe and a walk back would make a good day out.
At Sivota, which we stopped at briefly, Rosemary met an English girl with 2 alsation puppies. It seems she had rescued them from a rubbish skip. There is certainly no shortage of dogs here!
Fnally, a campsite at Vassiliki, where we were expecting to find a letter waiting for us - and it was! I'm amazed! Quite an old campsite, slightly run down, but in a good position. A VERY flaky wifi connection, sometimes excellent, mostly flickering between almost non existent and completely non existent. There seems to be no rhyme or reason why it should vary so much. And I now have a € symbol, thanks to one of my readers! Thankyou Alan:)
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| Vassiliki |
Mon 18th May
The site is just a 5 minute walk from the small and, mostly, unspoilt town. The compulsory quayside restaurants and cafes all have a rather amateurish feel, which we much prefer to the really slick and shiny restaurants that clutter most quay sides.
There is a lot of dredging and construction works going on. A local Greek lady said that yet another yacht marina was being built, despite local opposition - the result of corruption and back handers. It has to be said that a big marina completely changes the character of a place. Currently in the harbour are just 5 yachts.
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| for my yachtie friends;) |
Tues 19th May
Rain overnight. We knew it was coming because we had looked at the forecast. And the automatic vent works! It had cleared by the morning. That's my idea of rain! A pleasant unassuming site in a pleasant unassuming town, we plan to stay for a few days
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| To Vassiliki |
Wed 20th May
There is a reasonable beach, about 2 miles away along a track on the hillside. Whilst Rosemary was drawing in town I walked out to it, spent half an hour there reading Scientific American (did you know there is evidence that sugar substitutes like aspartane and saccharin makes you fat!) then came back. Quite a nice shingle beach, and not too busy. It was rather hot - I should have gone in the morning.
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| he was investigating the contents of a skip, wondering if her could get in |
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| Stalker |
Thurs 21st May
€60 for 4 nights. A lovely homely sort of town, we are sorry to be moving on. We're not going far, to a car park at Porto Katsiki, which I think translates to Port Catsick - but I could be wrong. This is down towards the end of the southernmost point of Lekada. Really photogenic, and appears on a huge number of postcards. It might not have been far, but the trip was quite exciting, especially when I took a wrong turn up a steep hill that got narrower and narrower. I had to reverse about 1/4 mile down an extremely narrow road, with overhanging bushes, and walls on either side. The drop down to Port Catsick was quite exciting, too.
Our target was the car park for the beach. Cost €3 for cars and €6 for motorhomes. We parked up beside an Italian van that has been here 4 days. A very friendly couple. The car park is substantially higher than the beach - a slope and 102 steps before you're at sea level, but the view from the van door is stupendous. Huge white cliffs, an empty golden beach and azure blue sea.
We had only been there a few minutes when 3 pleasure boats hove into view, and ran up the beach, disgorging passengers. Thy had to descend a steep ladder into the surf to get ashore. One boat in particular made an enormous racket, playing pop music at full volume. Then, an hour later, the passengers all re-embarked, and the boats set off for a different island for lunch. We weren't sorry to see them go.
Halfway up the hill is a very enterprising restaurant. You can phone an order, and they'll deliver it, free, anywhere on the beach. They even walk along the beach taking orders, very distinctive in smart yellow tee shirts.
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| 102 steps |
Later in the day, about 4 pm, it had quietened down, and the sun had lost some of its power - and we ventured onto the beach - and I still got sunburnt! By sunset, all the cars had gone, and just 5 motorhomes remained: 1 Italian, 1 French, 2 Dutch and 1 Brit
Miles 1572, N 38.60300 E 020.54915
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| A Turneresque sky |
Fri 22nd May
We left fairly early - with hindsight I wish we had stayed another day or two.
The road out proved quite exciting - we came across a village with a very steep hill - and it took 3 attempts to get up. Either the clutch was slipping or the wheels were spinning - I'm hoping it was the latter, but it was difficult to tell at the time, as I as more interested in getting to the top. It was the only road out! Subsequent tests - putting the handbrake on, selecting 3rd gear, revving up and letting out the clutch - just stalled the engine, a slipping clutch would have continued to slip.
Our next wild camping spot was another beach - but that didn't find favour, so we found ourselves back where we started, in Lefkada. We wanted to buy a larger electric ring to replace the cheap small one we had, so we could cook outside more easily. However, I then discovered I had left the tools I needed to replace the plug at home. How annoying!
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| Add caption |
Late afternoon, and we were back in Camping Kariotes Beach. Still no beach, but there is at least water in the swimming pool.
Miles 1611, N29 deg 48' 15.7" E020 deg 24'50.7'
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