Prickly beach

Friday 10th February 2023


This morning when I went to feed the cats, it was drizzling. I got a bit wet, there were not many cats, I put most of the food in the covered hoppers, instead of spreading it around, I don’t want it to get wet and be wasted. I suppose why would you like soggy cat food, if you were a cat? As I was a bit wet, I decided to miss Marinos this morning. I had been looking at my map and thinking about where to go. I might do a couple of walks soon, to see what they might be like for my guest dog. Meanwhile today I decided to go East and visit a few more beaches above Agios Sostis. I have been to a couple of them before but one was to be a new adventure. I suspect I might have been better off in the sheltered South. I had my early lunch in Grans as usual, with the fun banter that I enjoy so much. I have been thinking when I go to the UK in March, I might bring them something back, that they can’t get here.

Photo Interlude - View from the first track I went down today


I drove off to the East, stopped the car, opposite the reservoir and headed down a track, which doesn’t go to a beach, but just to new villas, looking over Paralia Ammos. These villas are cut into the rock, and faced with natural stone so they blend in as well as they can. On the way back along the track, I found a little Dinky toy on the track, I rescued it and put it somewhere visible. I imagine its owner has forgotten about it now.

I then went onto the beach itself, there were a load of steps down to the beach from the road. It’s lovely and sandy but with rock formations either side. There was a boat being swallowed up by the sand, unfortunately there was quite a lot of rubbish, but I managed to get it off the beach and throw it into a nearby dumpster on the road. Apart from the litter picking, I did take time to enjoy myself on the beach. Of course I was the only one there. It might seem odd to spend time litter picking, but as I have said before, it is my way of paying the island back, giving myself a reason to go out and enjoy the place.



The next beach is a bit like Agios  Sostis in that there is a church by the beach. Because of this, it  is named Agios Giannis. Again there are steps down to the church and then the beach. Behind me menacing clouds were gathering, but I carried on. I wonder what the parking is like in the peak summer times around here. At least if you have a place nearby you can walk there, but you are a way from Livadi.



My final beach was the new one for me. It’s a little way from the small village of Kallitsos. On my map, it shows a path which starts as a track, quite a way from the village. Of course, once the track ended there was no clearly marked way, it’s not on google maps, so I could not use the sat nav map navigation, and my paper map just indicated a path, no obvious things to go past or near. As I went down,  I  occasionally met something that could be a path, then it pestered out. I saw the Zante Ferries Adamantios Korias battling the waves, it looked so small. To start with the plants were quite low, so it was easy to walk along, even without an obvious path, but in places it got tall and very prickly. There was the odd cairn to help, but the path was very sporadic. There were lovely views of the beach below.


Eventually I got to the beach and there was grass, canes and then sand. It looked very deserted, there were signs of fishing, but I am not sure it’s going on now. There were boat shelters with winches in them, all ruined and rusting. It’s a stony beach, but charming in its own way. I wondered if it was sandy would there be a proper path or track then? I could see some sheep on the hill, I think they might go on the grass, maybe I scared them off. There was a bit of litter, there was no way I could take it with me, so I packed it in an old oil drum and put something heavy on top.


I then walked back up. As expected, it was harder, as there wasn’t a clear direction to go. This time I seemed to be mired in tall perennial herbs, and as I staggered through them, I released the smell of
pungent herbs. It was a bit of struggle, I can’t deny that, but a sense of accomplishment when I found the track and then the car. I drove back to Livadi and had a treat at Grans. They were surprised to see me again,  I explained where I had been. I got a call from my Dog rescue friend, saying I am invited for a meal Monday lunchtime, where another friend that we both know will be there. That’s nice. Tomorrow I think I will head South and see a few beaches there, last time I was in shorts  and sun bathing, I am  not sure that’s going to happen tomorrow. 

Photo Final - View from  the beach showing the  grass and canes. The village of Kallitsos is in the distance.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Last Post for now

Image
 Saturday 11th February 2023 I have been thinking about this blog for a while now, even after changing the time recently, that I send each post out there. The main problem is the amount of time it takes to produce each post. It’s not just the time it takes to write it, but during each day, as I have a bad memory, I am constantly having to make little memos of things that are happening, what I see, do, what experiences I share with the people on this island.  Other problems or effects on writing these blogs are many and I don’t want to list them one by one, because that’s a negative thing to do and not useful at all. The main thing I do want to say, is I don’t want people to read anything into this, I would, if I was the reader of this post, but that’s just the way I mind works! I am fine, all is well out here and I look forward to seeing many of my friends when I come back to the UK for two weeks in March and more of you in July and August, when o I will be pet sitting. I do w...
Read more

Reflections

Image
Apart from keeping friends up to date with my Greek goings on, I have realised that this blog has been a good record  of my time here in Greece. I am a bit of an over thinker and often will spend a lot of time coming up with lots of what ifs and also brooding on bad things that have happened to me. So the point was to record the good things that happened here, as my brain will be good enough to recall the bad! Not that there has been a lot of bad to dwell on, it has to be said. The rat in the house was the low point but  I have been blessed with lots of encouragement from people here and abroad, for which I will be forever grateful for. I have met so many people here, who are now my friends, and I feel very accepted here, with all my quirks like picking up litter and walking everywhere.  So many things have been amazing here, in no particular order here are a few of them. The Dog Palace. It is likely one or more of the dogs there won’t be alive in September when I  r...
Read more

Two patients

Image
 It seems that one patient gets better and another gets worse at the Dog Palace today. On the phone to them last night it seemed Mavro was not long for this world, and the folks at the Palace did not know what to do, stay with him or come down to their house. As I was heading to Livadi via the ferry, I got a take away and took it up there, as they had no dinner up in the Palace. Mavro was pleased to see me, I felt good to see him, for maybe the last time. After dinner I stayed with him a bit longer but I then decided to leave him to rest. Here is a rose up at the Palace, the fragrance is amazing. The next day, I decided to go back up there, the other helper was doing the walking, so there would be time to spend with the dogs relaxing. Mavro was there at the gate and looking a lot chipper. I spent several hours up there and drove down to do some chores. I went to the dentist, had a check up, I need a filling. I had some lunch and then drove to the new house, I had wire, to tie back ...
Read more