During our long lunch break, one of the things Neil did a fair amount of was walking. Well, we all do it. I walk my daily commute from one side of the house, across the congestion of the porch to the workhouse every day before dawn, and back again each time I need another cup of tea. Neil, however, has been out and about climbing over rocky mountains ( like in The Pirates of Penzance), climbing every mounting (like in The Sound of Music, kind of), and standing high on a hill like a lonely goatherd, except he wasn’t lonely as he often went out walking with Clare.
One of the places they visited, with Francis as their guide, was the cliff at St George. This iconic bay was featured in The Guns of Navarone, or at least, part of the beach was, and it remains a favourite stopping-off point for some day trip boats and many visitors wanting a quiet, idyllic beach with no conveniences or taverna. Seeing it from above is something else, though, as you can see from a couple of his photos. The place has been used by base jumpers for competitions, both successfully and not, and the water in the bay is among the clearest around the island.
It’s a fair old hike to get there, especially without a car to take you some of the way, and I’m not going to give you the route because, mainly, I don’t know it. It’s listed in the various walking on Symi books, though, and apparently, well worth the trek. Only, be careful. As Tim Rice put in ‘High Flying Adored’ from Evita, ‘Don’t look down, it’s a long, long way to fall.’
