It was a bit of a walking weekend, if you see what I mean. On Friday we took a walk down to Yialos to test out new walking boots, and climbed up the north face of the harbour to get some shots from over there for a change, including this one of the train in our model village – it’s a trick of the camera.
And on Saturday we hiked up to Kokkimidis and back for the St Michael festival that is held at that church every year. The rest of this tale is going to be told in parts, over the next couple of days, so hold onto your hats it’s going to be a windy ride.
The walk starts from the village where you first head up to the church of Saint Stavros, then turn right, cross the little square, straight on, left, right, then straight on again and up, and keep going up until your find the donkey path. Just as that starts there’s a (new-ish) sign which will point you to Ksisos one way and Panormitis the other, ‘the other’ is the top donkey path which zigzags up to the road.
Keep on the road, heading towards Panormitis, until you get to the corner where the Red Stripe van used to be, you know – the place, where the goats get fed in the morning, near where the car wash was abandoned (such are directions on Symi). There there’s a shortcut, which is a rocky path, heading up, past the church of Ag. Katarina and onto the newly concreted path which used to be a rough track. There are some of Francis’ blue and red dots along this path so you can catch another quick route up to the road again, which is pretty scree-full at times, or you can follow the concrete one, which is easier. Then up onto the road and bang! Wind blasted for a few moments as you arrive back on the exposed part of the hillside again.
It was very windy on Saturday, so much so that the boats could not come from Rhodes, which is a great shame for the festival and for Panormitis in particular. (Sunday was calmer.) So we got well and truly sand blasted by grit and sand from the side of the road, and at times were in danger of being blown into the road. Head down… ‘Down with your head and up with your heart and you’re skimming over the top in a jiffy.’ (Roughly cut from ‘Blythe Spirit.) So, onto ‘shooting range corner’ and following the road left, past Ag Konstantinos and down the hill – makes a nice change.
I’ll leave you there, in the wind, on the side of the hill, in danger of being blown across the path of oncoming traffic, and we’ll pick up the trail tomorrow.
