Around Preveli Bridge

SUNDAY 18^th JANUARY

After another lazy morning at ‘Creta Spirit’ we went for a meander in the olive groves rather than walk into the village and sit drinking coffee, etc in the bar.  We parked the car over Preveli Bridge to be greeted by several abandoned cats, the ducks were reluctant to leave their warm resting place by the river.  We were going to explore new roads, the first one only leading to a field with neatly stacked scrap metal. Hidden in the trees must have been the house but we could only hear the sounds of children playing.  

The second track off the road leading to the aloni and chuch took us past a large olive grove where anemones were flowering with a few also in the banks.  We had lovely views of the countryside and the entrance into Frati Gorge. But once again the track lead to no-where and yet looking down to a lower level we were only yards away from the track that leads down to Previli Beach.  We could also see another rather unattractive church set in the hillside.  So returning to the car we were a little envious to see a couple sitting on Preveli Bridge enjoying their picnic.   There were no signs of being bothered by the cats as they had a dog with them.  

Back in the car we drove down the road to the next bridge where the guard dog barked ferociously at us as we passed over the bridge to park the car.  Getting out and walking back to the bridge the dog couldn’t have cared less about us.  

We walked up a very rough track with wild terrain on either side, and a strong smell of sheep or goats.  There was no sign or noise of the animals only their droppings so we had to watch where we put our feet!  We reached the unattractive Church, which was fenced off, so continued along the track which was now deeply rutted in several places, until we came to another fence.  This fence was well and truly padlocked with barbed wire everywhere. We could just see the roof and chimney of a small building hidden in the landscape further up the hillside so assume this is someone’s summer home. As you will have already guessed we had to retrace our steps. Although this particular area was full of rocks there were plants and shrubs everywhere with lots of euphorbia just coming into flower. There was also a tall spiky plant with white flowers that I recall seeing several years ago growing high in the mountain area where the ‘vultures’ are protected.  Some of the remains of burnt or old trees made interesting sculptures too.  As we drove back over the bridge the dog went mad again!