I hope you enjoyed our four day walk. You will be pleased to know that we are back to more usual posts now, though only for a couple of days. Next week I am going to run a week-long advertising campaign, showing a book or a calendar every day, maybe two books. It’s that present buying time of year again so I thought, now’s the time to give you some info and maybe clips from some of the Symi books and my novels, in case you were short on ideas of what to get for people. Things ordered next week should arrive in plenty of time.

Before that though, there’s some catching up to be done. And to start that off, today I’ve been asked to pass on a message from Symi Animal Welfare. So here it is:

“The weather is slowly becoming more wintery now and many houses are closed up, their summer residents gone until at least spring 2015. Cats who have enjoyed food during much of the summer & autumn at these houses have relocated, usually to one of the nearby rubbish bins or skips. Their winter diet may not consist of tasty BBQ titbits or one of the more expensive cat-feed brands available over the next few months, but alternative food will be delivered 2 or 3 times per week by one of our volunteers – as always, an enticing mixture of pasta, biscuits & canned food.  Most supplies for the 2014/15 winter feeding programme were delivered earlier today so we have been distributing some of them to volunteers in Pedi, Harani & Mylos areas this afternoon.  This year, Suzan has organised supplies for the harbour & Nimborio whilst I am responsible for Chorio & Pedi – as there are now so many feeding stations, we decided that a ‘job-share’ was really necessary.

We are also finalising arrangements for an Australian vet who arrives next week for a few days, her visit to Symi comes at the end of a sponsored, outreach neutering project to other islands. This is an extremely positive start to what can be such a bad period for street cats, your donations & support + our conscientious volunteers will help Symi’s cats survive yet another winter.

Thank you all, Melanie, Suzan, Hazel, Tove & Claudia”

As usual, you can find out more about Symi Animal Welfare by clicking to their site.

And as for us? Well, Neil’s meeting his landlady today to formally hand back the shop and its keys. He’s been to Rhodes to end his phone contract at the shop, and his accountant has been dealing with all other paperwork. Tell you what, if you are thinking of opening a business in Greece, you best check out how much it costs to close one down! No wonder people don’t bother and just wander away leaving debts and things unpaid.

But on the lighter side, well, not that light actually, the Ikea things arrived and were carried up to the house, the cabinet is together, Neil bought a floor-standing light that is too tall for his new office, so I’ve got that towering over me like a 1950s hair salon dryer, and there’s a long box on my office floor which should soon transform into a book case. If only I could remember where I put that screwdriver for safekeeping…

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Ah, there you are. Thank you for waiting. So, all set for the homeward hike? It’s only ninety minutes if we don’t dawdle. Oh yes, there is time to admire the scenery and decline lifts in the back of trucks. Here we go.

Back down the hill, past the other festival which is winding down and where we meet David, Hugo and Maria on their way up to where we just left, through the valley, admiring the forbidden rocks, see a dead snake, avoid the cars and trucks, plod on, up the hill, jacket comes off and into rucksack, back to the main road, jumper comes off and the wind nearly snatches it away, and onwards towards home. We’re passed, a little later, by Alexis and Manolis driving very slowly. It’s not the whisky that is dictating the speed, it’s the on-going and heated debate about tackle or something. They take the turning towards Roukouniotis where they can continue their debate at another festival.

We take the main road all the way back, apart from the Katarina-cut which is a bit rough underfoot on the way down, and finally reach the village and home around half one in the afternoon. Shoes off, steaming feet up for a while, then salad for lunch and a bit of TV before heading out for the evening with Ian. A tabled booked at To Spitiko, and a walk down the Kali Strata after pre-dinner drinks at Rainbow (Yianni, where were you? We missed you at Kokkimidis. Ah, it was too windy), and to the harbour. Here the boats are being thrown around in the swell, the sea is over the quayside, and the wind is still raging.

The restaurant soon fills up, some army boys come in for Coke and carbonara, we have taramasalata, cheese balls, chops, swordfish and wine, fill up nicely after a long day and then, under the full moon that occasionally gets to peep out through fast passing clouds, we walk back up the Kali Strata and head to the Sunrise. You will note that Sunrise is actually an anagram of Sure Sin, and we did rather indulge ourselves in celebratory wine but I don’t think I did anything sinful, apart from try and tell a joke and completely lose the thread half way through, try and improvise my way out of it and fail miserable; I left the comedy up to the other guy after that.

And finally home. And that’s what I did last Saturday, the weekend of the Panormitis (and others) festival. Sunday was a day spent writing this and ‘hanging out’ at home, cooking, watching TV, working on some edits for Lonely House (due out early next year) and generally having a nice, relaxing no-exercise day for a change.

Okay, we can now get on with the rest of the week. Oh, it’s nearly over!

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Remember we had finally arrived at the church of Kokkimidis, up at the top of the hill? I would be interested to know the height up here (of the hill), I reckon this could well be the second highest monastery on Symi; Stavros Tou Polemou being the highest. Maybe someone will let me know?

We finally arrive, one hour and forty minutes after leaving home, and head up to the terraces to be suitably out of the way but still part of the event. Met and greeted by many people we know from the village, a great big welcome from Katerina who hosts the event (and puts a mean seem in your jeans when then need turning up), a thank you from Zoe to my mum for the painting she gave her, hands shaken all round, and then there’s time to listen to the chanting and watch the procession of the icon.

Then we admire the new hall. This is a huge new building that’s being put up for when it rains, apparently. It’s not a chapel but, well, it sounded like it was to be a function room, so I assume refectory and meeting place. It reminded me of the places we’d go to on Romney Marsh for a barn dance, except those places had roofs and this one hasn’t, yet. All stone though and very impressive.

Meanwhile, back at the event. The service finishes with the blessing and sharing of the bread, which here happens outside in the courtyard. The chapel is very small at Kokkimidis, which is why many people stand outside and listen to the service from there. The bread is then passed around, the congregation is blessed and buys candles to light. We light ours later when there is room inside the chapel.

And then it’s time for the real social stuff to start. Warm Greek coffee, with milk and sugar, ‘sketo’ is available as well, biscuits made by Litsa, but which Litsa is anyone’s guess, some of the bread, a cheese pie and a donut, and then everyone who wants one is given a bag and extras to take away for later, or for others who can’t be there. Later, lamb and kritheraki is served for those who want lunch, there’s water and wine, and there’s a bottle of whisky on the go on Alexis and Manolis’ table over there where some great and lengthy debate has started up between the two fisher-friends.

We stayed a while and then tried to slip away. ‘Where are you going?’ ‘Why are you not eating?’ ‘Photgraphos, ella!’ and so on, but we make our polite excuses (it’s very windy, and cloudy, and cold, and a long walk home) and manage to slip away. And so, here we go:

Actually, let’s leave you there preparing yourself for the descent and the homeward march. Make sure you have water for the walk; although it’s cloudy and windy and not altogether warm, it soon warms up as you walk, the sun will come out (tomorrow) and you will need to drink water. So, you hang on there and I’ll be back to pick you up avrio.

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How was your night on a bare mountain? In storytelling time we’re still paused and poised outside Ag Konstantinos, on Symi, Greece, and we pick up the trail and tale from there.

And as you take this part of the road on a windy day you can stop to admire the ‘ravens wheeling round about above me’ (rough cut form a Chris De Burgh song) on one side and the plastic bags from the rubbish dump wheeling round about on the other, and peppering the countryside like confetti. And so, we round the corner where there used to be an outpost of military boys on national service and where now only the concrete huts remain to guard Lord knows what and for why, and turn left, onto the concrete road, just before the tip. (It’s a bit prettier than I make it sound.)

Okay, still with me? We’re about half way there now, a bit beyond half way I reckon. So, down the hill admiring the rock formations, and the signs painted on them saying ‘rocks are forbidden’, which seems a bit odd in a landscape that’s 90% rocks, but I think it means it’s forbidden to nick the massive boulders for your own use – ‘Here Mildred, pop that six tonner in the boot will you love? It’ll look grand on the patio.’ – and on towards some very old stone walls. There’s nothing but an old threshing floor marked on my map, but there is a hillock here, with some very solid, carved-to-fit, stones that were once a wall, on top of it.

Still following the road, and stepping to the side occasionally to avoid being run over as cars full with folk make their way to the two festivals happening on this route on this day, and back up the other side of the valley. And on, past the church of the archangel Kailiotis, also celebrating on this day, and the party that’s gathering there; the folk from Lefteris’ kafeneion and many others, huddled against the wind with coffee. And upwards and onwards. And now, nearly there, honest, we have the last climb to the summit. A winding path through the trees and the strains of the liturgy comes down on the wind; the service is being loud-speakered out from the tiny chapel.

And tomorrow you will be able to hear some of it as there should be a very short video in tomorrow’s’ post. Wow, gosh, can’t miss that, I will set the alarm, you say. Stop being sarcastic, say I, and go and enjoy the rest of your day.

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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.

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