X nearly marks the spot

I decided on my last long walk to go to Vathy, the place where over two years ago I broke my leg. I reckoned it was about fifteen kilometres, if I walked from Kamares. So I headed out along my usual route to Apollonia. Very often especially on this stretch of road when I see bikes and vehicles I often get a wave or a toot. I saw the guy who has the Indian style tuk tuk, who looks like a captain but he doesn’t have a boat I think. He seems crammed in the cab of the vehicle as he is quite tall. As it was early there were a few clouds kissing the mountains.

I went to my favourite pie shop, told the owner where I was going in Greek, also that I was going home Tuesday. I had looked up that tomorrow I was having a day of rest, but the rest word did not work for her, sometimes there are local dialects that stymie google translate! I then walked back down the road and headed on the same road that I went on yesterday. Here is a bit of shameless advertising for the bakers. The bag contained their famous chicken pie. The best on the island.

I carried on and snapped another unusual flower by the roadside.

Not long afterwards a big van passed me, hanging out the back were loads of carpets. I would put money on him driving around the island, announcing on a speaker that he is  in town, selling carpets. I had heard a vehicle doing that the other day. After the road turn that it took when I did that long inland walk, the road started to go downhill. But there were a couple of inclines before I got to Vathy. I also picked up a nice breeze. At this point also I could see Faros, Vathy is off to the right of this beach and harbour. I was getting a bit peckish at this point so I started munching my pie. Like the inland path, there was a lot more trees around now, we don’t really see this tree population on Serifos. More amazing views, were there to behold.

Soon I could start to see my goal but still some distance left to travel. The roads twists back and forth as it heads to Vathy, scrubbing off altitude as it does so. There are the usual selection of churches like this one above the road.

This is called Taxiarches of Merisyni. Right next door was what looked like an old clothes washing place. There is one on Serifos with a huge water cistern behind it. 

I also saw some beehives nearby, there don’t seem to be as many as on Serifos. I carried on, my pie now consumed. Finally I could start to see Vathy properly.

There was plenty of tarmac to tramp along even at this point. But soon I was down by the car park, and met an English couple. They had seen me before, on the road but had decided with my walking boots, I would have declined a lift offered to me. They had been on the island for two weeks, were going home Monday. I gave them a potted history of the islands I had visited, and recommended they come back in spring but not during Greek Easter. I then walked to the beach, and took a quick look as my bus was returning the Apollonia half an hour later.

I turned left as I wanted to see if I could see where the accident happened. I walked along the slender beach, which as the tide was in was under water, so my boots got a wash. The beach then unfolds and I headed towards a rocky promontory where there is a path over it, which is where I fell. 

There was a lady sitting on the beach, I was hot and had my T shirt off, so I said very hot in Greek to her, and she smiled.

 I climbed the steps at the far end, but could not see exactly where the accident happened. But this is as close as I got. I then turned around and caught the bus back. On the way, my big plastic bottle that I have been using all week, was deposited in the plastic recycling bin, it’s served me well. In Apollonia my bus failed to turn up, but my new friends that I met earlier walked past and offered me a lift back. Annoyingly I haven’t set up something I wanted to tell you about. Imagine you want to give someone a url and neither of you have a phone or a way to transfer the vital information? Never fear! mythreewords.com will save your blushes. You can set up three easy to remember words to any url, like you Facebook page, blog or whatever, I had wanted to do o this for my three blogs, and I had I done it I could have given these folks, some useful info on my travels to various Greek island or my life on Serifos. So I have setup good left leg for the Serifos story and bad left leg for the Greek island travels one. The recipient just needs to remember mythreewords.com and type in in either good left leg, or bad left leg, which hopefully will be easy to remember. Please give it a go, it’s free to register your own three entries!