Day 13 Katelios to Skala …

ready for the great adventure

 To say we’re up and out at the crack of dawnis something of an overstatement especially as dawn is around 5.30am. But its an early start none the less. Nicholas and I are off to Skala today. We’re going to be walking along the beach for awhile before we cut across the main road and follow it into the town.

We’ll have to leave early, it’ll take us a while and the temperature has been up around 30 degrees this week. We have hats, 3 litres of water each, a book, an ipad, a map, a towel each, sunglassesand our diariesfor note-taking.

We head down to the front with Jeannie, she’s delivered a great selection from the bakery this morning and Nicholas and I are playing ‘first-come-first-served’ with the pain-au-chocolate. Yum!

Initially the beach is easy going and I figure if it was all like this all the way everything would be sweet. We’d easily do it in the hour and half Dad has said it would take us, but then the beach turns to rocks and rocks turn to cliffs and suddenly its all a little bit harder. Before we know it we’re both scambling through the rocks and scrubland. There were a few occasions when we looked back, to take some pics before moving on. But most of it, at least for the next 15 minutes, my attention is focused on:

1.    picking my way between brush

2.    Avoiding tripping

3.    Avoiding falling

4.    Avoiding either of us sliding down the scree slope or plummeting to our deaths.

Looking relaxed and ready for the day

There’s a small traverna servicing Mounda beach, there are six seats outside, we’re looking for cool drinks and Mars ice-creams.  I had the distinct impression we were interrupting some family reunion as the proprietor excused herself to serve us.

She spoke no English at all except ‘yes’ and ‘thank you’, she even had to show me the calculator screen so I could pay her the right number of Euros. But then, who am I to talk? I speak NO Greek, not even ‘yes’ or ‘thank you’ and all I can do is nod enthusiastically at the screen and say ‘ok’ in some weird accent I’ve never heard come out of my mouth before.

Our next stroke of good news comes some 5 minutes later beside what I hope is the junction with the main Skala road. We spend a few minutes out of the sun, rehydrating and make our way to the junction. But it turns out not to be the junction at all, but rather the entrance to the local primary school.

Oh good grief! It’s a lot further than I thought.

In the shade of a tree there sits a good natured gentleman, a coach driver,  a little older than myself, but not by much. With him, sits his daughter.

With my single syllable words, lots of pointing and his secondary school English from 20 years backwe determine the following facts.

1.    This indeed is the road to Skala

2.    The road ahead is ridiculously steep

3.    Skala is only 10 minutes from the junction at the end of the road

4.    And yes he offers us a lift to the next junction if we don’t mind waiting 10 minutes for his coach party to arrive.

Over shared bottles of water Pa’lo tells us how he is driving a school gymnastics squad around the island. They are from Athens and arrived by ferry three days ago. He’s taken his daughter out of school for the week, “seeing this side of the country is an education itself” he tells me.

Pa'lo and his daughter

Elizabeth, same age as Nicholas, has been riding shotgun with her dad. The English is broken but she understands well enough. She spends a few minutes showing Nicholas how to play TETRUS on her Dad’s phone.

Pa’lo owns three buses and spends most of his time on the mainland. He tells me his other buses are much too new to drive in Kephalonia. Its too dusty and dirty, the roads too narrow to risk the insurance premium on his newer vehicles.

When we reach the junction with the Katelios-Skala road there is some good news and some bad.

It appears that we are to leave the bus on the crest of the hill and it’s all downhill from here to the sea. On the other hand it seems the promised ’10 minutes to Skala’ Pa’lo alluded to is closer to 25 minutes.  This is confirmed as we pass a couple of Brits coming the other way. Nicholas is crest fallen and I have to confess I’m a little over things now too. The heat is getting worse and our engery levels depleting fast.