THE VOYAGE CONTINUES
Cordelia made a voyage that led
down Biscay, round Iberia to the Med,
from Gibraltar sailing East
to North Cyprus at least.
One must say, she was brilliant at that.
The two people onboard could explore
different countries like never before.
They enjoyed Greece and Turkey
in waters, both clear and murky
when they travelled from shore to shore.
The adventures simply carried on
as Cordelia was still going strong,
and her crew were content
with the way it all went
and were happy to just come along.
Chapter One: LEROS LIFE
After a few turbulences and changes to our travel arrangements we made it back safely to Leros Marina at the beginning of March. Cordelia was in good shape, and we soon settled back into life on board. We managed to carry out a few maintenance jobs ourselves, and got a sailmaker to stitch up the torn seam on the genoa’s UV strip. Between rainy days, cold fronts and ferocious winds we also ventured out and repeated a few walks from the previous years. We had a lovely hike past Merikía up the hill to the chapel in the rock, then down on the other side and back to Lakki.
On another day we set off towards Xirokampos at 10.00am. ½ hour later we arrived at the junction where we had to turn off for the long trudge up towards the mast. After the usual huffing and puffing by Ingrid and the running ahead by Peter we finally made it to the little “Church of the Ascension of Jesus” at 12.00pm. We carried on along the narrow and exposed path at the back of it and enjoyed our lunch on the seating outside. It was sunny but hazy, nevertheless we still appreciated the views towards Kalymnos and down to Xirokampos and Lakki. We retraced our steps and with plenty of stops underway made it back to the marina.
One of our outings, or to be more precise, the homecoming, was memorable for all the wrong reasons. Ingrid had put the washing on before breakfast and hung it out after, then we prepared to go out. It had warmed up after a cold front, and we were in shorts and T-shirts again. We walked up the back-way from the bus stop to Vromolithos, carried on through Platanos, made it up to the church, and continued up the steps to the castle. We got quite a sweat on and shared a banana on the bench before we descended down the road.
We passed the little chapel, then the windmills, and were directed down more steps by a friendly local to the harbour. We consumed another banana and our oranges before we walked along the beach, then up to the road back to Vromolithos. At the turn-off we took the right behind the dental clinic, thus avoiding “The Road of Death”. We came out near the Kritikos supermarket where we paused for a drink, then made it back to the marina.
Ingrid did crosswords in the cockpit, and Peter made cappuccino. When he came up to serve it he enquired about the washing as he couldn’t see it anymore. Blast! The knot on the line had come undone, and the washing was dangling over Cordelia’s side. The duvet cover was less fortunate and was floating in the brine, hanging on to the submerged line with its three pegs. If Ingrid tried to retrieve it by pulling on the line surely it would all slide through and be lost overboard. She bent down over the toe rails and managed to grab a corner of the duvet cover. Pulling on it eventually got the waterlogged cloth back on board and into a bucket. With the rescue mission successfully completed we continued with our cappuccino and solved another crossword puzzle. Peter then went for a shower, and when he returned Ingrid went to rinse the cover in the laundry room. It’d probably have another wash with the next laundry load, weather permitting.
As another way of keeping fit we spent much of our time provisioning, carrying rucksack load after rucksack load from the various supermarkets back to Cordelia. We did cheat though, and had packs of drinking water bottles delivered to our pontoon. Then, with food and drink restocked and Cordelia shipshape, we were ready to start the new cruising season.
Chapter Two: LEAVING LEROS
On 22 April at 9.30am we walked to Customs with all the necessary papers. When we got there ½ hour later we were told we needed an appointment and that the marina must provide them with an application form in order to get our Transit Log back. The two ladies in the office were doing nothing but twiddling their thumbs and could have dealt with us straight away, but no, “rules must be obeyed” without exceptions, and we were left hanging in a feud between the marina and Customs.
We went outside and called the marina, they managed to e-mail the relevant form, so we returned to Customs to inform them of our actions. They asked us to take a seat in the hall where we waited to be seen. A person with an appointment went into the office and emerged 20 minutes later. “Chaos” he whispered to us as he left. Then we were called in. The ladies had received the application and now took a keen interest in Peter’s passport. They inspected every stamp, looking for the exit stamp from Athens. We had to explain that there wasn’t one as we had flown to another EU country, i.e. Italy, and had returned to the UK via Spain. A lot of talking between them in Greek ensued, Ingrid understood some numbers, so they must have been counting or calculating, then they wrote a long essay on the back of the transit log and charged us €30.00 “admin fee”. Finally they handed us our amended Transit Log and sent us on our way. Their changes turned out to make Peter the “user” of Cordelia till 24 September of this year only. What were we supposed to do from then until we’d start the new marina contract on 25 October? What a mess!
We walked off to the Port Police where they stamped us in and out in under two minutes, then we went to the discounter, greengrocer’s and supermarket for some last minute supplies, and hurried back to Cordelia. While Peter stocked up with water Ingrid put the purchases in their place. We prepared the lines, said good-bye to our neighbours, and slipped our mooring at 1.30pm. As we motored out of the marina Ingrid called the office to say we’d gone.
She stowed fenders and lines, and Peter motored us out of the bay. We had no wind, so the motor stayed on and the sails stayed unused. It was hazy and mainly overcast with the occasional rays of sun, the temperature was pleasant enough, and we had an uneventful journey. Along the way Peter researched our options for the missing month in Greece, and we agreed that a return to Turkey, although costly, would be feasible to add to the “away-time” to our shortened Transit Log. We reached Patmos in good time and dropped anchor in our favourite spot at Livadi Geranou.
It felt good being at anchor again despite the wind blowing Cordelia around and her sometimes ending up side-on to the swell. During her stay in the marina Cordelia had amassed quite some growth under her waterline, so we prepared our gear for going into the water. Peter measured its temperature, and it showed a barmy 16°C. Ingrid was in first and managed to scrub the starboard waterline while Peter sorted out the propeller and checked on the anchor when he joined her. When he got cold he returned on deck to warm himself in the sunshine. Ingrid finished her side, reaching down as far as she safely dared in the wind (20 knots), then followed suit. When we’d reasonably recovered we dressed up four of our fenders in Ingrid’s old gaily-coloured leggins in preparation for Ikaría. The next day we were cleaning again. The whole process seemed more difficult, but finally Cordelia’s port waterline was clean, too, and we were ready to move on.
We were underway just before 8.00am. It had been damp during the night (90% humidity in the saloon), so Ingrid had wiped Cordelia’s deck to dry and clean off the traces of sand, and Peter had taken care of the sprayhood windows. It was sunny and there was no wind to start off with, so we motored along the East coast of Patmos, dodging a few fishing net marker buoys along the way. About an hour later we had done 6.3NM with 1,500rpm, so the cleaning on the hull had certainly paid off. Soon afterwards we had enough apparent wind from the right angle to make it worth-while to unfurl the genoa. Our average speed for the next hour increased to 6.8 knots, not bad for an old lady!
The wind left us when we sailed past the little island on Nisis Alatzonisi between the gap to the adjacent shallows. We arrived at Agios Kirikos Marina on Ikaría at 12.20pm, and Vangelis helped us moor up on the quay.
After a cup of tea and lunch we were off to the Port Police. We had to wait for them to return from their break, but they weren’t even bothered about our papers. “Come back the day before you leave, then we’ll do the check-in and out together”, they told us. Well, that wouldn’t have happened in Leros! We immediately took to Ikaría’s vibes and were looking forward to exploring the island.
Chapter Three: AROUND AGIOS KIRIKOS
We packed our swimming gear and walked along the cliffs on the road to Therma. It was a pleasant walk with great views back to Agios Kirikos and the blue and white chapel above the sea. We arrived ½ hour later at a very sleepy and out-of-season village. The only place that looked open was the bakery, but bars, restaurants and hotels all had their shutters down.
We headed for the seafront where we saw half a dozen people swimming in the sea, and from there made it to the thermal springs. These are supposed to be beneficial to one’s health, so we tried them out. Where they gurgled up it was warm and pleasant for a little while, but the cold seawater that kept flowing in soon put an end to that. This, plus the reputed radioactivity of those springs called for an early departure from the drink, as we had no intention of either freezing off parts of our anatomy or ending up glowing in the dark. We changed into dry clothes and left Therma via the main road.
There were only a few cars around, flowers and trees gave off a lovely scent, and we saw and heard chaffinches that accompanied us on the ascent. What goes up must come down, and we did so on the road into “town”. We encountered quite a few “fixer-uppers”, not only houses, but also cars and machinery. We didn’t think that any of the gear ever brought to the island has left it. There was even an abandoned school bus parked along the road, though looking closer at the state it was in we did not believe it could ever be recommissioned.
The smell of sage and other herbs followed us all the way to the outskirts, which was taken over by the aroma of coffee and food. Peter had already done his research and had discovered “Abariza Bistro” which was recommended online. We found it eventually and had their cappuccino (nicely creamy with cinnamon on top) and shared a pancake with white chocolate and berry jam filling (yummy!). They had kindly divided one big portion into two smaller ones and had served them individually, but we were still both struggling to finish it.
After we’d paid we walked to the harbour, then along the coast, returned via the church road, and found a hardware store that allegedly sold camping gas. When Ingrid went in and enquired about it she was informed (in Greek!) that they were out, but may have some on Monday. We’d be back!
We left Cordelia at around 10.00am as we set off to the Archaeological Museum. When we got there the car park was empty and the gates were locked. We decided to carry on and headed for the hills instead. Peter had devised a high-level route around Agios Kirikos, and as the narrow roads in town were also quite steep we soon gained height.
We followed a lane atop a gorge till we reached a little hamlet where we picked up the main road. After a few hairpin bends and a brief diversion to a (closed) temple we reached our turn-off to the left at around 250m. A dirt track with a nice gradient meandered around the hillside. We were well above the last outskirts of the town and had great views out to sea.
Further up Peter espied what looked like a monument, and when we were at the turn-off track that led to it we took it. It guided us upwards by about 100m and ended up abruptly. Stairs then led onwards to the Memorial to the Fire Tragedy of 1993. It was big and impressive, and we learnt that there was a yearly memorial service for the victims at or around 30 July. We spared a thought or two for them, then retreated our steps down to the junction. From there we picked up the road downhill through the outskirts.
When we passed the museum we found the front entrance (we’d inadvertently gone round the back on the way out) which was open, but as we were now tired we continued back into town and the marina. It was 2.00pm, and we had completed 6.7 miles and 465m up and down, so a cup of tea was well in order.
The wind started building up in the night and pinned Cordelia against the quay. Her groans kept waking us up, the howling of the wind added to the noise, and the splashing of large rain drops and thunder in the morning added to the pandemonium. Ingrid stayed in bed and Peter watched YouTube till the rain had passed, then we had breakfast.
After a second cup of coffee we got off the boat and walked to the Archaeological Museum. We entered through the front door and were directed to the exhibits without being asked for an entrance fee. We admired the usual array of amphorae, drinking vessels, ceramic figurines, oil lamps, stele, coins, arrow heads, mirrors and other utensils, and read about the varied history of the island. It as well worth the visit, especially since we didn’t even pay for it.
The wind kept on howling and the bullets of gusts kept coming. We decided to head out and went to the Port Police who stamped our transit log without asking for any of the other documents. They were also content to be given our next destination as “Lemnos” without need for a specific port. It was all very laid-back, but still we got everything done the way their law required.
Next we were off to the hardware store where we got a full gas bottle (the lady there even remembered Ingrid). The cinnamon buns at the bakery weren’t ready yet, so we returned to Cordelia for a cup of coffee and a biscuit, then ventured out again, this time to the shops for provisions as we had made plans to sail back to Patmos to sit out the next front of northerly wind and needed to stock up.
Lunch, crosswords and sitting on deck in the sun (but out of the wind behind the sprayhood) occupied us till cappuccino and the very tasty cinnamon buns we’d returned to the bakery for. Next Peter filled up the water tank, we both had a shower, and Ingrid rinsed some clothes with the hot water there in preparation for a departure on the next day.
Neither of us slept well as the wind kept coming. It was still ballistic when we finally got up at 7.00am with no improvement in sight. After checking several forecasts and looking over the wall at an angry sea we accepted our fate and stayed put. We were not very comfortable at our mooring, but it sure felt safer than the alternative outside the marina.
When the conditions improved we ventured out again. First we went to the harbour to take a closer look at the Icarus Monument before we carried on along the road. We passed the (closed) WhaWha, then descended to the public hot springs (nothing note-worthy there), rejoined the main road and turned right towards Glaredos. The road was quiet through this village, and the tavernas were all closed. Even the “Church of the Prophet Elias” to which we hiked up was firmly locked, so we didn’t linger, especially as the wind was about to blow us off the little hill it was located on. The road past the museum took us back into “town” and the marina.
Chapter Four: IKARÍA BY CAR
Peter contacted IAMOS, a car rental company from Therma, and a white Fiat Panda Diesel was delivered to the marina at 9.30am. The paperwork was done on site, we paid and were on our way just after 10.00am. Peter drove us through “town”, then we took a right turn towards the airport. We had great views along the coast out to sea on a bendy but wide road. We turned right before we got there and parked up just behind the Faros bus stop.
From there we walked to the “Drakano Rooms”, a conglomerate of half a dozen holiday homes. Behind it we saw a sign to an Italian Fortress, so up we clambered on a washed-out path with prickly bushes.
We found a few ruins on the top of the hill with good views all around, then retraced our steps to the junction and carried on along the dirt track till we reached the Tower of Drakano. This was a most imposing building, made of huge stone blocks stacked on top of each other in a circular fashion without the use of mortar or concrete. We also admired the remains of houses, an altar and a wall, and consumed our lunch within its perimeters.
Afterwards we followed a path signposted “Iero”. It started off as a double track, then reduced to a single one. We were reassured we followed the correct way as the red dots marking it seemed quite new. However, when it began to point downhill to a cliff we got suspicious and stayed up on a track contouring the hill. This led us to a viewpoint but no further, and after consulting the map (again) we turned back to the downhill section. It turned out to be the correct decision, as, though steep and exposed, it took us down the cliff to the beach.
Just before we got to “Iero” (a little beach) we diverted to a cave. It was impressive enough, though nothing special.
At the beach we had a short rest, then continued on the wide track out of it.
We passed the airport and the military base next to it, and soon found ourselves back at the car. The way back to Cordelia was the same as the way out, and we arrived at around 2.30pm. We’d done 3.7 miles with 214m up and down, and the cup of tea on deck went down a treat.
Next time we took a left and headed along the coast out of “town”. We passed Lefkada Beach, Xilosirtis and Chrysostomos, and turned inland near Plagia Chrysostomou. The already bendy road became even “bendier” and threw in a few hairpins along the way. We got up higher and the views got better and better. We crossed from rocky and barren landscape to fields and woodland, and made it to the North side of the island at Evdilos.
We walked around the harbour of this picturesque village, then returned to the car and drove to Gialiskari where we had a look at their surf school and sandy beach.
After a drink and a banana on the beach we carried on to Nas. We parked the car at the bridge over the gorge, then walked back along the road into the hamlet, duly admiring the cascades of fresh water heading for the sea. Steps then led down to the beach, and on the opposite side of the stream we could see the ruins of the “Temple of Artemis”. Up until 1830 the site still had columns and statues, but these were then used in the building of a nearby church, and there is now very little left to see.
As getting there would have involved a swim, and there wasn’t much left of it anyway, we headed back uphill to the car and finished our lunch next to the pools of the river. Frogs were swimming in them and serenaded us while we ate.
We drove back the road we’d come from, but once again turned to the hills and Raches. We strolled around at Christos, but were put off from sitting at a café by some screaming kids. We made it back to the car and Peter laid in a course on Waze, a navigation app. It sent us to Kastanies where the road suddenly turned into a dirt track, but luckily we found a place to turn around, returned to Christos and headed back downhill. At Agios Dimitrios we hung a right and on a very scenic road via Agios Polykarpos finally descended to the coast once more. From Gialiskari back to Cordelia we followed our route in reverse order.
What an experience we’d had! Ingrid couldn’t get over the views and the difference between North and South coast. Looked like the North had all the sandy beaches and turquoise sea plus some pretty little villages. We gathered they’d also have the brunt of the meltemi as they are less protected. We’d had a great time and Peter had done a marvellous job driving up and down some very challenging roads.
Peter parked the car at the marina, put the keys under the driver’s seat as instructed, left the car unlocked and informed IAMOS it was ready for collection. It was still sitting there next morning when we slipped our mooring and left Ikaría.