There are no English here. This island, Corfu, is a haven for the English looking to vacation in a warm, sunny climate, away from the rain and fog that is England’s weather. But, Greece is considered an “amber” country by Great Britain. This means that if you travel to Greece, when you return to your home you must quarantine yourself for 2 weeks upon arrival. If you vacation in Greece for 2 weeks, then you have to take a month of vacation, 2 weeks for Greece and 2 weeks for the inside of your home. Consequently, no one from England is coming here. We did meet one English couple, but they work from home anyway, so quarantine at home is not a hardship.
There are lots of Germans here on the northwest coast of Corfu. This is an area that is popular with Germans. There are no travel restrictions for these people, so there are a fair number of them here.
Today, Sally is taking a taxi so she can have a day of rest. I am hiking the 18 miles to our next beach.
I was up at 5:30am this morning, packed and out the door at 6:00am. With 18 miles in front me, I was anxious to get an early start and to move quickly.
There are so many forks in this trail as it follows roads that afford views and vistas that one must keep a wary eye as to which way to go.Twice, in the first 3/4 mile I took wrong turns, one a 1/4 mile before I discovered it and retraced my steps. In trying to move fast I was making mistakes.
In its desire to be a scenic trail, it drops down to what is considered the most beautiful little beach on the island, one that Larry Durrell spoke of. The way the trail is routed, I could skip this part. It would save me about 2.5 miles and 1000’ of climbing.
As I approached the fork in the trail, left down to the beach, right skip and onward, I debated which way to go. Somehow, I couldn’t skip this loop. Down I went.
It was worth the extra miles and vertical feet.
“Larry’s Beach” was very picturesque, and this early in the morning, deserted. It is now a nudest beach, meaning I missed other aspects of the scenery by being early. I didn’t linger long, knowing the distance I had to travel and quickly passed by and began the 1000’ climb back up. I was hoping to be done hiking around noon or 1:00pm, about the time Sally would be delivered at Paleokastritsa.
The trail climbed much higher than the point from which it descended. This made me descend a couple hundred feet down a very steep trail that was little more than a ditch caused by erosion.
I followed the route along roads, through open fields and through a quaint town where I stopped for a Coke. An open air restaurant had about 6 gentlemen sitting outside enjoying morning coffee and conversation. It was 9:30am and I had 10 miles under my belt.
Four miles of olive orchards and coastline views and I dropped into the town of Liapades. It was now about 11:15. We had not been sure of the groceries situation in this town as we never know the size nor how many businesses will be open due to COVID and lack of tourist so I stopped at the first hole-in-the-wall grocery and bought food for the day. There was not much selection, but there was fresh bread that the woman that owned and ran the store indicated she baked. I called Sally to see what she needed at the store, then used Google Maps to find some other markets. This town is fairly good sized and there were two other “Super Markets” on my route through. I stopped at each of these picking up a few items, then off to the far side of town where we had rented a seaside room.
The Corfu Trail goes right onto the public beach in front of a swanky hotel. As I entered the beach I could feel eyes following me. It was noon, 78º, a couple dozen people lying on the beach sunbathing and here comes this old dude with a big pack on trudging across the this beautiful beach nestled between rock cliffs. On the far side I could see the familiar CT painted in yellow on the cliff wall indicating the trail climbed the rocks to leave the beach.
I traversed the beach, climbed up the rocks and disappeared into the trees and brush. The trail went straight up, at one point needing a ladder to scale a vertical section of rock. Then down the other side and to the road that followed the beachside to our place. I was hoping my timing would allow me to see Sally and her taxi drive by, even snagging ride for the last 2 miles. Alas, I saw her taxi, but it was returning from dropping her off. It was 12:25pm.
Sally met me on the road to guide me to the room. We spent the afternoon on the beach, swimming and sunning and in our fancy room relaxing.
We were about two miles off the trail. It looked like we could scale the cliffs behind our hotel and catch the trail directly above us 800’. The map showed a trail, but we found a local who verified that yes, the trail did exist and we could avoid backtracking to catch it. Noodles with bullion and carrots with the woman’s great bread for dinner and our day was complete. The room we had rented was so wonderful, clean, comfortable, modern and right on the water. Why didn’t we stay here two nights?
Another fantastic day. Sally got the rest she needed and I got to stretch my legs for an 18 mile day. Swimming, sunning, relaxing. A good day.
No comments:
Post a Comment