The Goat track walk

Wednesday 18th January 2023

This morning it is still very windy, but it is going to get a bit calmer over the day. But over the next few days, it’s going to pick up, and then drop back again. But the temperatures are going to be hovering around eighteen, no wonder I was hot walking up the mountain track from Livadi yesterday. I decided to finally take a look at the building work going on the top house of my track. It’s a huge extension and because they like me, have a house on the side of a mountain and want to keep its profile at the same height of the existing house, they have had to dig out a huge hole to build it in. Hence the two huge mountains of rocks that have appeared. Anyway the building is built, it needs fitting out and finishing off, but it’s a natural stone structure, I have never seen blocks being delivered, so somehow they have built it of the stone around them and concrete? 

This photograph was taken at sunset, the person I talked about contacting, we have now had a series of emails catching up on things. I had some photos of the house. which I sent on, but I thought I don’t really have one of the roof, with the table and the BBQ. Unfortunately the air conditioner and uncovered store area is shown too. But it looks like quite nice I think. I forgot to book a hair appointment yesterday so, I need to do that, so I will drive down to do that this morning.  One of my friends has suggested we do a walk at one pm, so I will get us a sandwich at Grans. It will be interesting to see where my friend takes me! I only saw the kittens today, but my friend told me the adults were at their house! These cats know where to get food in alternative places, in case their primary food source becomes unavailable.

I went down to Livadi, got my haircut straight away, ten Euros. It’s a bit shorter than I would normally have it, but as delivery guy said to me today when I went to Grans, you won’t need as much shampoo. I have decided to park the car in a slightly different part of the car park in Hora, as I have seen a few rocks around on the ground, off the slope above. This nice rock was on the ground, and has different colours plus glistening  specks in it as well. The photo doesn’t do it justice. 

It’s interesting how the title of these blogs appears to affect the number of readers every day. So “on my way home” got lots of hits, and yesterdays did as well. When I wrote blogs when I worked for Sun Microsystems, I found a similar situation. I don’t specifically pick the titles to improve my reader numbers, it’s just what comes into my head. 

One of the first short sentences you learn on my Greek course is “I want a sandwich”. I have been itching to use this for ages now, but I don’t buy sandwiches here. But I did at Grans today, except I wanted a specific sandwich, there were several types on display. There are two ways I could have done it, I used the marginally more complicated “ this sandwich please”. It’s a real six of one or half a dozen when you learn a different language, not that I am experienced in this, as Greek is the first one I have invested a lot of time in. Sometimes they have a single word that  means “I am buying”, then where we might have one word, but translated into Greek it becomes two or more! 

Photo Interlude - On the path today

 The path my friend was taking me on was to Agios Stefanos. This is on part of the walk that I did to a village a longer way off  called Kallitsos . Unfortunately for me, I did not have my friend with me at the time and I got to the church by way of a very circuitous route. Not so today. As it turned out, my friend asked a lady coming out of a farm building where it went wrong for me last time, and she confirmed the path. It was quite a wide path, not overgrown or with loose stones around. There were lovely views of Livadi, Hora of course, the reservoir and other bits of the coastline as we ascended. Here there are lots of dry stone walls and ruined buildings. We are not that far from that town hall sign on a ruined building that I know. Over to the right the fields were full of yellow clover flowers.

Not much further on we met a lady that I know, as she is the neighbour of my friend, who I am feeding her stray cats. This lady is no spring chicken, has painful knees, she told us, but walks miles, to look after her goats. Quite amazing to say the least. We crossed a concrete bridge, over a ravine, which was dry unfortunately, but there was a wash house, not in good condition but with a red roof.

I think I have seen this before, but then I was lost. Soon enough, we got to the church, I believe it has its Panagia near Christmas, and it draws quite a crowd. There is a recently resurfaced track from the road. Again more amazing views, and an old house, with the oldest grape wine I have ever seen, its trunk coming from the ground which was as thick as someone’s thigh leg. There was all sorts of things, lying around, in a way it was a bit untidy, but quaint. We sat down in the little church’s courtyard and had or lunch.

In the sun and shelter of the church it was really warm. I had shorts on today, and a fleece that I wasn’t wearing. A little later, while we were still sitting down, the husband of the lady we had seen on the outward part of the walk, came along with a couple of adult goats and a few goat kids. My friend knows both these people, so had a quick chat with the husband. We then walked back the way we came. The good news, I know how to do that longer walk properly now, there is a return path to avoid going back the way we came, that is to be discovered a different day. When I got back a towel and night shirt on my washing frame, were still there and dry. The forty pegs holding them down did the trick. I can now mark on my map, the path, that I have with my friends help walked along.