Down in the valley

FRIDAY 14^th NOVEMBER

I was right about the sunset bringing good weather.  According to the car it’s 22C but feels so much hotter.  As the noise of the fishing boats woke us early it seemed a good idea to get up and get off to explore the valley at the entrance to Kourtaliotis Ravine.  

We could see a path alongside the river and hoped to be able to follow it, although it would mean crossing the river.

Down in the very bottom is a pumping station and the river flows very close to it.  Here we were able to get down to the water's edge and watch the river flow around large boulders into very deep pools under the shade of the overhanging trees and then out into the sunshine.

On the opposite side water trickled down fern covering the lower part of the cliff face again falling into very deep water that appeared to be still.  We threw a couple of sticks into the water and it was some time before they started to move – in fact we moved on before they did.  

Passing a small weir where watercress was growing in the almost still water at the side we found there was no suitable way to cross the river and  so returned to the gazebo Ian had visited on the day we took them to the church of St. Nicholas.  Ian was right about the missing pieces of wood forming the seating.  Someone had been along and cut out lengths of timber. Signs of attempting to cut pieces from the back supports, only to fail, could also be seen and the bag of cement Ian mentioned had disappeared too. 

Returning to Plakias we had hoped to fly our kites but as usual there was no wind and it was absolutely baking on our balcony.  I was relieved when Maria asked me in to help her prepare the carobs she had collected the other day to make carob honey.  Theo said we were wasting our time as we should have made it in August.  Now the carobs were hard and dry.  Washing them and breaking them into pieces to leave for 24 hours in the tepid water should see results.