Crete 2016 Week 1
I suppose this is a bit of self indulgence. Somewhere between a blog and a photo diary. Should you find errors be they grammatical ( which there is an abuncance of ), factual or historical then it is best that you tell someone who cares.
Day 1. Chania - Aptera - Agia Galini 13/09/16
Fantastic start to the holiday. Flight leaves about 10 minutes early and arrives 15 ahead of schedule. First time to land in Chania Airport Ioannis Daskalogiannis. It is a shared Military / Public Airport. Refurbished within the last few months it looks very well inside, it has a clean and efficient appearance.
In my hurry to get going I give the card holders a perfunctory glance, no card with the name, Padraig, and so head outside, still nobody. Got out the reservation form with the intention of phoning Athenscarhire, no signal on the phone, so head back inside and on a more studied survey of said cards: low and behold there is my name possibly in the exact place it was 2 minutes earlier as I had sped by.
Less than a minutes drive to their depot and a couple of minutes to fill in the paper work and I am on my way.
What a start, lovely blue sky, okay there a few clouds up there but they are friendlies ( no rainy ones, they stayed in Ireland ) temp is about 28o have wheels will travel.
First stop is the ancient site of Aptera, the drive takes about 30 minutes. I have being looking forward to visiting the site for about 2 years now and it does not disappoint.
Fantastic start to the holiday. Flight leaves about 10 minutes early and arrives 15 ahead of schedule. First time to land in Chania Airport Ioannis Daskalogiannis. It is a shared Military / Public Airport. Refurbished within the last few months it looks very well inside, it has a clean and efficient appearance.
In my hurry to get going I give the card holders a perfunctory glance, no card with the name, Padraig, and so head outside, still nobody. Got out the reservation form with the intention of phoning Athenscarhire, no signal on the phone, so head back inside and on a more studied survey of said cards: low and behold there is my name possibly in the exact place it was 2 minutes earlier as I had sped by.
Less than a minutes drive to their depot and a couple of minutes to fill in the paper work and I am on my way.
What a start, lovely blue sky, okay there a few clouds up there but they are friendlies ( no rainy ones, they stayed in Ireland ) temp is about 28o have wheels will travel.
First stop is the ancient site of Aptera, the drive takes about 30 minutes. I have being looking forward to visiting the site for about 2 years now and it does not disappoint.
History time:
( If you do not like history skip to the next three paragraphs)
The name is explained in Greek mythology: There was contest between and the Muses and Sirens, the Sirens lost and in so doing were shed of the feathers from their shoulders: Aptera means without wings or wingless. Their feathers were transformed into the white islands in Souda bay.
Occupied since Minoan times it is mentioned in the Linear B tablets dating from 13th - 14th century B.C.
Aptera continued to be an important site during Dorian and later Hellenistic periods with the Romans continuing to occupy and add to its buildings with a Bishop of Aptera being mentioned in early Christian times. It appears to have been destroyed by a 7th Century earthquake, rebuilt after this natural catastrophe the city was finally destroyed by Saracen pirates about 125 years later in 823 A.D. and though the monastery of St. John was established later on the site the city itself was never again rebuilt.
Though the most eye catching sights on site ( I like that ) are the Amphitheatre & the Roman Baths you should be aware that very little of the city is actually excavated and hopefully more will be revealed in future times.
The fort featured in the images is the Turkish Fort of Koules and was built in 1866.
The fort below is Intzedin, built by the Turks also in 1872. It is stated that this is the only fort built by the Turks on Crete meaning that it is the only one built from scratch on a green site while all others were Venetian forts or even byzantine sites that were added to or built on sites of demolished / damaged forts or similar structures. Intzedin was later used as a prison by the Greeks, then used as a barracks by the Germans during the years of occupation, and once again reverted back to a prison by the Greeks after the second world war and remained in use until 1974.
I spent about 2 hours wandering around the site, managed to crack my skull on a low lying olive branch, serves me right for going off track.
( If you do not like history skip to the next three paragraphs)
The name is explained in Greek mythology: There was contest between and the Muses and Sirens, the Sirens lost and in so doing were shed of the feathers from their shoulders: Aptera means without wings or wingless. Their feathers were transformed into the white islands in Souda bay.
Occupied since Minoan times it is mentioned in the Linear B tablets dating from 13th - 14th century B.C.
Aptera continued to be an important site during Dorian and later Hellenistic periods with the Romans continuing to occupy and add to its buildings with a Bishop of Aptera being mentioned in early Christian times. It appears to have been destroyed by a 7th Century earthquake, rebuilt after this natural catastrophe the city was finally destroyed by Saracen pirates about 125 years later in 823 A.D. and though the monastery of St. John was established later on the site the city itself was never again rebuilt.
Though the most eye catching sights on site ( I like that ) are the Amphitheatre & the Roman Baths you should be aware that very little of the city is actually excavated and hopefully more will be revealed in future times.
The fort featured in the images is the Turkish Fort of Koules and was built in 1866.
The fort below is Intzedin, built by the Turks also in 1872. It is stated that this is the only fort built by the Turks on Crete meaning that it is the only one built from scratch on a green site while all others were Venetian forts or even byzantine sites that were added to or built on sites of demolished / damaged forts or similar structures. Intzedin was later used as a prison by the Greeks, then used as a barracks by the Germans during the years of occupation, and once again reverted back to a prison by the Greeks after the second world war and remained in use until 1974.
I spent about 2 hours wandering around the site, managed to crack my skull on a low lying olive branch, serves me right for going off track.
Then to Agia Galini, thought about stopping for a coffee somewhere along the way but the stop and coffee remained as thoughts and never managed to appear in reality.
Made Galini by 4 and met Eleni the landlady / owner of Kalypso immediately where upon she showed me to room 8. Nice & airy room, clean, view of the village and harbour. I dropped everything and out the door again. I could have washed and changed but if started that crack I would possibly have realised how tired I was, sat on the bed, lay on the bed, dozed on the bed and lost a couple of hours of the holiday...never to be seen again.
Time for a drink or several.
As I strolled through the village nodding to the odd person who appeared to recognise me I decided to see if Mick noshoes was over in Tropicana.
And so he was, to give you an idea of what he looks like imagine a rather less imposing or more vertically challenged person than Sir Ian McKellan who auditioned for the role of Gandalf, did not get the part, so decided to soak his sorrows while playing a guitar in Agia Galini for 3 to 4 weeks a year and there you are.
As a gift Mick once gave me a larger than life, and I do mean LARGER than life, self portrait. He is a top class artist, meaning that this self portrait is good and unfortunately really does look like Mick noshoes. A friend of mine is minding this canvas for me in his house in Wales and has told me that if I do not take it away our friendship could be in jeopardy. Good luck with that Mike. While I would not like to risk our friendship I can come up with a dozen or more excuses why this image cannot appear in Ireland.
This guy Mick, kinda owns an island near Galini which he paints pictures of throughout each year, and of this island, which I have given him loads of shots of from various view points that he would not otherwise come across, do I get a painting of the island????????? Oh no, I get one of Gandalfs older but smaller brother. It would probably be good at warding off Orcs but to the best of my knowledge we have very few Orcs in the west of Ireland.
While chatting to Mick he tells me of another Irishman whom he met recently; description given I believe it is a man that I have not seen in about 22 years. More to the point it is the man who is responsible for me adopting Agia Galini for repetitive holidays.
Kinda History:
1994 and I am working in Pier 32 restaurant in Dublin. A customer, one Mr John Tierney, is waiting at the bar for some fellow guests to arrive. As it turned out it was rather fortunate for me that John was early or his guest were late. This is roughly the conversation that followed:
John: Are you going on holidays this year?
Me: I am heading to Crete next week?
John: What part?
Me: Not sure; flights are booked but I will decide either when I land or as I am on the plane which direction I will head. Once I settle on my first stop I will possibly stay in another 2 - 3 places and just wander around. That is more or less what I done on the last two occasions.
John: Have you ever being to Agia Galini?
Me: Never heard of it; where is it?
John: (with a bit of mild astonishment in his voice) You cannot go to Crete and not go to Galini. ( he says this in something akin to a low but booming voice, a quiet but authoritative Brian Blessed voice). And proceeds to describe Galini to me.
Me: Okay ( I was convinced by his tone and his loving description of the village).
John: I will phone Marilyn in the village, tell here how long you want to stay and she will sort out accommodation for you.
Me: Sounds good.
John: I guarantee that once you visit Agia Galini you will go back.
Oh so true. I have not returned every year but have gone back every year that it was possible about 12 - 14 times. I have continued to follow a similar line as I did back in 1994 stay in Galini for 4 - 5 days, visit and stay in at least two other places / villages I have not being in before, return to Galini for the last 4 / 5 days. Every year an adventure of sorts.
Anywho back to 2016 I say farewell to Mick, it is about 6 and I need to stop moving as in lie on a bed for an hour or two if I am to last until about 3am tomorrow morning as the first night of my holiday demands. I pay George Jnr for my fare and about to head off when Mick calls me back over. He points to a man that appeared at the bar, now I should point out that I do not believe, though I may be wrong, he did not appear magically or anything like that, just happened to wander up when we were not looking. We were possibly busy telling each other lies.
`That's him`
`That's who?`
`The Irishman I was telling you about`.
I go over to him, look at this man, and lo and behold it is one John Tierney. I cannot believe it. I introduce myself. Wow. He recognised me in no time ( can such a thing exist: No Time?). Okay he says, you used to have a moustache and a pony tail but I know you.
He tells me that he overheard me telling George Jnr what I had to eat and drink and thought; I know that voice, I know the accent is Irish but I think I know the actual voice.
As it transpired he was right.
We chatted for a while and I arranged to meet up with them later ( him and his wife Corrina) in the holidays.
Time to sleep a few minutes, I am going for about 36 / 38 hours now with about an hours kip on the plane, so the plan is to rest my head on a pillow for 30 minutes, convince myself that that is enough, then to drink a little, eat a little, drink not so little and sleep perchance to stay asleep.
Had a fantastic Pizza in Tatsamoundo and drinks later with Vivian, Lydia, Mike & Wim.
Made Galini by 4 and met Eleni the landlady / owner of Kalypso immediately where upon she showed me to room 8. Nice & airy room, clean, view of the village and harbour. I dropped everything and out the door again. I could have washed and changed but if started that crack I would possibly have realised how tired I was, sat on the bed, lay on the bed, dozed on the bed and lost a couple of hours of the holiday...never to be seen again.
Time for a drink or several.
As I strolled through the village nodding to the odd person who appeared to recognise me I decided to see if Mick noshoes was over in Tropicana.
And so he was, to give you an idea of what he looks like imagine a rather less imposing or more vertically challenged person than Sir Ian McKellan who auditioned for the role of Gandalf, did not get the part, so decided to soak his sorrows while playing a guitar in Agia Galini for 3 to 4 weeks a year and there you are.
As a gift Mick once gave me a larger than life, and I do mean LARGER than life, self portrait. He is a top class artist, meaning that this self portrait is good and unfortunately really does look like Mick noshoes. A friend of mine is minding this canvas for me in his house in Wales and has told me that if I do not take it away our friendship could be in jeopardy. Good luck with that Mike. While I would not like to risk our friendship I can come up with a dozen or more excuses why this image cannot appear in Ireland.
This guy Mick, kinda owns an island near Galini which he paints pictures of throughout each year, and of this island, which I have given him loads of shots of from various view points that he would not otherwise come across, do I get a painting of the island????????? Oh no, I get one of Gandalfs older but smaller brother. It would probably be good at warding off Orcs but to the best of my knowledge we have very few Orcs in the west of Ireland.
While chatting to Mick he tells me of another Irishman whom he met recently; description given I believe it is a man that I have not seen in about 22 years. More to the point it is the man who is responsible for me adopting Agia Galini for repetitive holidays.
Kinda History:
1994 and I am working in Pier 32 restaurant in Dublin. A customer, one Mr John Tierney, is waiting at the bar for some fellow guests to arrive. As it turned out it was rather fortunate for me that John was early or his guest were late. This is roughly the conversation that followed:
John: Are you going on holidays this year?
Me: I am heading to Crete next week?
John: What part?
Me: Not sure; flights are booked but I will decide either when I land or as I am on the plane which direction I will head. Once I settle on my first stop I will possibly stay in another 2 - 3 places and just wander around. That is more or less what I done on the last two occasions.
John: Have you ever being to Agia Galini?
Me: Never heard of it; where is it?
John: (with a bit of mild astonishment in his voice) You cannot go to Crete and not go to Galini. ( he says this in something akin to a low but booming voice, a quiet but authoritative Brian Blessed voice). And proceeds to describe Galini to me.
Me: Okay ( I was convinced by his tone and his loving description of the village).
John: I will phone Marilyn in the village, tell here how long you want to stay and she will sort out accommodation for you.
Me: Sounds good.
John: I guarantee that once you visit Agia Galini you will go back.
Oh so true. I have not returned every year but have gone back every year that it was possible about 12 - 14 times. I have continued to follow a similar line as I did back in 1994 stay in Galini for 4 - 5 days, visit and stay in at least two other places / villages I have not being in before, return to Galini for the last 4 / 5 days. Every year an adventure of sorts.
Anywho back to 2016 I say farewell to Mick, it is about 6 and I need to stop moving as in lie on a bed for an hour or two if I am to last until about 3am tomorrow morning as the first night of my holiday demands. I pay George Jnr for my fare and about to head off when Mick calls me back over. He points to a man that appeared at the bar, now I should point out that I do not believe, though I may be wrong, he did not appear magically or anything like that, just happened to wander up when we were not looking. We were possibly busy telling each other lies.
`That's him`
`That's who?`
`The Irishman I was telling you about`.
I go over to him, look at this man, and lo and behold it is one John Tierney. I cannot believe it. I introduce myself. Wow. He recognised me in no time ( can such a thing exist: No Time?). Okay he says, you used to have a moustache and a pony tail but I know you.
He tells me that he overheard me telling George Jnr what I had to eat and drink and thought; I know that voice, I know the accent is Irish but I think I know the actual voice.
As it transpired he was right.
We chatted for a while and I arranged to meet up with them later ( him and his wife Corrina) in the holidays.
Time to sleep a few minutes, I am going for about 36 / 38 hours now with about an hours kip on the plane, so the plan is to rest my head on a pillow for 30 minutes, convince myself that that is enough, then to drink a little, eat a little, drink not so little and sleep perchance to stay asleep.
Had a fantastic Pizza in Tatsamoundo and drinks later with Vivian, Lydia, Mike & Wim.
I Day 2 Agia Galini - Crazy Driver - Matala
Had a bit of lie in after a very late night, say about 4am. Eventually surfaced close to 11 and had a yogurt with fruit and honey for breakfast in Alikes on the way to the beach.
I head off shortly after 12 with the intention of walking to Matala. I tend to take a lot of photographs so know that I am pushing my luck just that little bit as the last bus for Agia Galini leavesMatala at 5.15. Not to worry I tell myself, first full day on holidays, met up with a lot of good friends last night, no hangover (which I rarely suffer from) and full of the joys of life: so we will be optimistic.
The distance was just over the 17km so a little over the 10 mile. That was the plan…..
Had a bit of lie in after a very late night, say about 4am. Eventually surfaced close to 11 and had a yogurt with fruit and honey for breakfast in Alikes on the way to the beach.
I head off shortly after 12 with the intention of walking to Matala. I tend to take a lot of photographs so know that I am pushing my luck just that little bit as the last bus for Agia Galini leavesMatala at 5.15. Not to worry I tell myself, first full day on holidays, met up with a lot of good friends last night, no hangover (which I rarely suffer from) and full of the joys of life: so we will be optimistic.
The distance was just over the 17km so a little over the 10 mile. That was the plan…..
The first 2.2 km’s can be walked on either a dirt track slightly above the beach or on the actual beach, the beach consists of large stones for the most part so I tend to favour the path. A little after 2km you will reach a small gully, this is the easiest one to access the beach from, the next one is a further 100 meters on and is a bit tighter but very doable. If you reach the third one then turn back. Last week there was a incident near here where two tourists had to be rescued from this area and I have a feeling that they may have attempted to cross this last one and got into difficulties, I may be wrong but having walked this route about dozen times or more there are very few places on the path that you can get into trouble that are beside the sea and as the article stated that the coast guard could not reach them because of high winds and the fire service rescued them I am assuming it was very near to the coast.
http://www.chaniapost.eu/2016/09/09/rescue-operation-for-a-dutch-couple/
After coming down from the path you have a stony / pebble for 1 km and then another km and a bit of sandy beach until you reach the start of the village Kokkinos Pirgos (Red Tower). The first taverna you see will be the Red Castle which is on the beach. The fayre is basic but nice and both the food and drink are reasonably priced. The tavern is typical in that the under the canopy the three sides are open and as there is little to no shade on the walk from Galini the shelter is welcoming. Too welcoming, I had planned on 20 minutes and stayed for 40.
The village / resort though not large has a beach and harbour that runs for 1.5km. Just after you pass the large harbour you come across the busier of the beaches; about 8-10 restaurants with most having the requisite beach beds and umbrellas of differing colours. For this particular resort I thought it was very busy, I reckon I passed perhaps between 150—200 tourists while in previous Septembers I have counted less than a couple of dozen and last year if I remember correctly …….no I don’t remember correctly as I did not go past the Red Castle taverna.
At the end of village, 6km into the walk, you start to enter the stretch of beach that adjoins the army base which runs for about 1.6km. At one time this was inaccessible as it was cordoned of by a fence running into the sea but as you can see by the photographs this has not being the case for a while now, the fence is in total disrepair, I do not know how many years it is like this but I would estimate around 5 or so, though it could be longer.
While I did not encounter any other walkers on this stretch of the beach at the far end where the army have their sun beds there is a small area where some flat rocks form a partial lagoon and here there were 4 tourists bathing and I met another 2 crossing this side of the downed fence with the intention of joining them.
After leaving the army part of the beach you can now either choose to walk along the sand or walk along dirt track for the next 1.5 km. I went for the mix and match. Eventually you will have to leave the beach and walk on a path above some amazing layered sandstone formations, I usually spot different birds of prey up here, but not today. After just another half km or so and you are in the village of Kamilaki.
Kamilaki is a nice sized tourist resort / village with a long, sandy shelving beach. It’s main drawback though is the wind, it always seems to be windy anytime I am here, that said it also always buzzy anytime I am here and particularly buzzy today.
Here I discover that my phone is on the blink; about a year back I dropped my phone and it developed a crack and apparently my phone liked the idea of having cracks as it repeated this process and got dropped on additional 3 or so occasions, nothing to do with me, I appear to have a suicidal phones, I believe this particular phone has as may cracks and crevices as Mick Jaggers face. I plugged it into the small power bank I had and eventually woke it up. I realised that I was taking too much time I also checked the Runtastic app which plots my course and discovered I had walked on water for about 2 km, no wondering I am behind time, walking on water can be hard going.
Back in Kokkinos Pirgos I had realised that I had not brought much cash, after my two stops I just about had the bus fare left, so went into the village to get some from a cash point; I enter a shop and the lady says yes there is one in the village and there it is, the back of the ATM is behind the counter in her shop. I go to leave shop to use it but she informs me that it is out of order for two days now. What the hell I am sure they will have one in Matala.
http://www.chaniapost.eu/2016/09/09/rescue-operation-for-a-dutch-couple/
After coming down from the path you have a stony / pebble for 1 km and then another km and a bit of sandy beach until you reach the start of the village Kokkinos Pirgos (Red Tower). The first taverna you see will be the Red Castle which is on the beach. The fayre is basic but nice and both the food and drink are reasonably priced. The tavern is typical in that the under the canopy the three sides are open and as there is little to no shade on the walk from Galini the shelter is welcoming. Too welcoming, I had planned on 20 minutes and stayed for 40.
The village / resort though not large has a beach and harbour that runs for 1.5km. Just after you pass the large harbour you come across the busier of the beaches; about 8-10 restaurants with most having the requisite beach beds and umbrellas of differing colours. For this particular resort I thought it was very busy, I reckon I passed perhaps between 150—200 tourists while in previous Septembers I have counted less than a couple of dozen and last year if I remember correctly …….no I don’t remember correctly as I did not go past the Red Castle taverna.
At the end of village, 6km into the walk, you start to enter the stretch of beach that adjoins the army base which runs for about 1.6km. At one time this was inaccessible as it was cordoned of by a fence running into the sea but as you can see by the photographs this has not being the case for a while now, the fence is in total disrepair, I do not know how many years it is like this but I would estimate around 5 or so, though it could be longer.
While I did not encounter any other walkers on this stretch of the beach at the far end where the army have their sun beds there is a small area where some flat rocks form a partial lagoon and here there were 4 tourists bathing and I met another 2 crossing this side of the downed fence with the intention of joining them.
After leaving the army part of the beach you can now either choose to walk along the sand or walk along dirt track for the next 1.5 km. I went for the mix and match. Eventually you will have to leave the beach and walk on a path above some amazing layered sandstone formations, I usually spot different birds of prey up here, but not today. After just another half km or so and you are in the village of Kamilaki.
Kamilaki is a nice sized tourist resort / village with a long, sandy shelving beach. It’s main drawback though is the wind, it always seems to be windy anytime I am here, that said it also always buzzy anytime I am here and particularly buzzy today.
Here I discover that my phone is on the blink; about a year back I dropped my phone and it developed a crack and apparently my phone liked the idea of having cracks as it repeated this process and got dropped on additional 3 or so occasions, nothing to do with me, I appear to have a suicidal phones, I believe this particular phone has as may cracks and crevices as Mick Jaggers face. I plugged it into the small power bank I had and eventually woke it up. I realised that I was taking too much time I also checked the Runtastic app which plots my course and discovered I had walked on water for about 2 km, no wondering I am behind time, walking on water can be hard going.
Back in Kokkinos Pirgos I had realised that I had not brought much cash, after my two stops I just about had the bus fare left, so went into the village to get some from a cash point; I enter a shop and the lady says yes there is one in the village and there it is, the back of the ATM is behind the counter in her shop. I go to leave shop to use it but she informs me that it is out of order for two days now. What the hell I am sure they will have one in Matala.
Proposing to Crazy Barbara
Now they say never change a good plan, now I am not saying mine was good plan - walking 17km from Agia Galini to Matala (via Kokkinos Pirgos, Kamilaki & Kommos) - but it I was happy enough with it so I will say it was not a bad plan.
A good plan was possibly listening to the voice that told two people `Don’t eat the apple`. Maybe they should have stuck to that plan, the subsequent consequences I am told were somewhat catastrophic. I am wondering now if that particular couple decided to make cider from the apples, after all they would not have eaten the apple, would the consequences be similar would it just have meant perhaps the AA being founded earlier and Magniers & others would have had stiffer competition.
Why at this point I decided to head inland to Pitsidia I will never know, I knew I had done too much ambling and lost a bit of time and thought perhaps a few quick steps along the tarmac road would give me a bit of breathing space as I have about 7 km to go and not much over the hour until the last bus to Galini.
I would have made it too if I had taken the road out of the village to Pitsidia which was part of the new plan but no, not me, I took the road to Kamilari. See the accompanying maps. If I was not under time pressure it would have made little difference in the distance (about 5km). Entering Kamilari and realising my error I am not happy with myself, we have a conversation of sorts, Me and Me, and I possible would probably leave the part of me that made the decision to change the plan behind in this village, but I cannot as I am stuck with Me. ( I suppose a marriage of sorts)
After leaving the village and taking the right road for Pitsidia I decide what the hell; I am a bit tired and am concerned that chaffing may start to become an issue within the next couple of km, so I stick out my thumb.
The first car that passes stops. I meet Barbara, not necessarily a crazy German lady but most definitely a crazy German driver. She asks where I am heading and I say Matala, she can drop me 3.5 km down the road in Pitsidia so all is good. She tells me she is coming to Crete for 22 years, that’s nice I say, I mention I am coming for 26 to which she exclaims loudly `You Win, You Win`. That’s great but I did not realise it was a competition. Still as we drive down this secondary road where every now and then the verge may be slightly in need of attention she constantly swerves wildly. One moment we are driving straight and the next she veers so sharply that I end up practically on top of her, after the third visit to her side of the car I feel we are so close to eachother I am wondering should I propose. I decide not to, cannot be taking the limelight away from Mike and Vivians wedding. She tells me this is her first time to stay in Kamilaki, she would prefer to stay in Pitsidia but her husband, now ex, of over twenty years is staying in Pitsidia with the new love of his life.
She drops me off at the bus stop and does a U turn out the of the village, nice meeting you Barbara, hope you find an new love for your life. I am pretty tired, not sure which exhausted me more the 15km walk or the 3km drive.
Now they say never change a good plan, now I am not saying mine was good plan - walking 17km from Agia Galini to Matala (via Kokkinos Pirgos, Kamilaki & Kommos) - but it I was happy enough with it so I will say it was not a bad plan.
A good plan was possibly listening to the voice that told two people `Don’t eat the apple`. Maybe they should have stuck to that plan, the subsequent consequences I am told were somewhat catastrophic. I am wondering now if that particular couple decided to make cider from the apples, after all they would not have eaten the apple, would the consequences be similar would it just have meant perhaps the AA being founded earlier and Magniers & others would have had stiffer competition.
Why at this point I decided to head inland to Pitsidia I will never know, I knew I had done too much ambling and lost a bit of time and thought perhaps a few quick steps along the tarmac road would give me a bit of breathing space as I have about 7 km to go and not much over the hour until the last bus to Galini.
I would have made it too if I had taken the road out of the village to Pitsidia which was part of the new plan but no, not me, I took the road to Kamilari. See the accompanying maps. If I was not under time pressure it would have made little difference in the distance (about 5km). Entering Kamilari and realising my error I am not happy with myself, we have a conversation of sorts, Me and Me, and I possible would probably leave the part of me that made the decision to change the plan behind in this village, but I cannot as I am stuck with Me. ( I suppose a marriage of sorts)
After leaving the village and taking the right road for Pitsidia I decide what the hell; I am a bit tired and am concerned that chaffing may start to become an issue within the next couple of km, so I stick out my thumb.
The first car that passes stops. I meet Barbara, not necessarily a crazy German lady but most definitely a crazy German driver. She asks where I am heading and I say Matala, she can drop me 3.5 km down the road in Pitsidia so all is good. She tells me she is coming to Crete for 22 years, that’s nice I say, I mention I am coming for 26 to which she exclaims loudly `You Win, You Win`. That’s great but I did not realise it was a competition. Still as we drive down this secondary road where every now and then the verge may be slightly in need of attention she constantly swerves wildly. One moment we are driving straight and the next she veers so sharply that I end up practically on top of her, after the third visit to her side of the car I feel we are so close to eachother I am wondering should I propose. I decide not to, cannot be taking the limelight away from Mike and Vivians wedding. She tells me this is her first time to stay in Kamilaki, she would prefer to stay in Pitsidia but her husband, now ex, of over twenty years is staying in Pitsidia with the new love of his life.
She drops me off at the bus stop and does a U turn out the of the village, nice meeting you Barbara, hope you find an new love for your life. I am pretty tired, not sure which exhausted me more the 15km walk or the 3km drive.
I am at the bus stop and decide to admit defeat and wait here for the bus. I wait about 3-4 minutes. This is where I again go meddling with plans that are not necessarily good but not really bad. I see a sign Matala 3 km, what the heck, I have over half an hour and can march that.
And so I set off, I walk about .5 km and the sign now says Matala 4km. Apparently I can walk backwards very fast while my brain thinks my legs are walking forward. Less than another kilometre on and the sign now say 3km, about another half km and the next sign says 3km. I am beginning to wonder who the hell keeps moving Matala. Was Matala not happy where it was, did the tide move it, is there very quiet and gentle earthquakes going on about the place. No….it has to be Vogons.
I carry on, pass another bus stop, some part of me tells me to stop but the part of me that should be listening decided to take a holiday from me so I carry on walking these strange kilometres, I reckon I have about 2km to go when the bus passes me on it’s inward journey. I keep telling myself that if Matala does not move again I can do this, I keep telling myself I can do this, yes I can do this, ( you know something like repeating I must I must increase my bust but more like I must I must make this bus) I keeps saying this right up until the bus passes again on the outward trip.
A little less than 5 minutes I think though on the day it was closer to six but five is neater on the clock.
So we do reach Matala, have a snack a few beers and take a taxi back. No sooner did I arrange a taxi when I thought I should have hitched, it would have being a lot more fun. Still even if the thought had arrived in time who would have said I would have listened to myself; I had not done a good job of listening to me up until now.
In the end I walked a little more than 19 km so if I had not changed plans I would have made it with time to spare; but then again I would never have met Barbara and had the chance to propose to her. But alas it was not to be.
So I will have to do this again next year with no deviations………...who am I kidding……...there will always be deviations.
And so I set off, I walk about .5 km and the sign now says Matala 4km. Apparently I can walk backwards very fast while my brain thinks my legs are walking forward. Less than another kilometre on and the sign now say 3km, about another half km and the next sign says 3km. I am beginning to wonder who the hell keeps moving Matala. Was Matala not happy where it was, did the tide move it, is there very quiet and gentle earthquakes going on about the place. No….it has to be Vogons.
I carry on, pass another bus stop, some part of me tells me to stop but the part of me that should be listening decided to take a holiday from me so I carry on walking these strange kilometres, I reckon I have about 2km to go when the bus passes me on it’s inward journey. I keep telling myself that if Matala does not move again I can do this, I keep telling myself I can do this, yes I can do this, ( you know something like repeating I must I must increase my bust but more like I must I must make this bus) I keeps saying this right up until the bus passes again on the outward trip.
A little less than 5 minutes I think though on the day it was closer to six but five is neater on the clock.
So we do reach Matala, have a snack a few beers and take a taxi back. No sooner did I arrange a taxi when I thought I should have hitched, it would have being a lot more fun. Still even if the thought had arrived in time who would have said I would have listened to myself; I had not done a good job of listening to me up until now.
In the end I walked a little more than 19 km so if I had not changed plans I would have made it with time to spare; but then again I would never have met Barbara and had the chance to propose to her. But alas it was not to be.
So I will have to do this again next year with no deviations………...who am I kidding……...there will always be deviations.