I raised my eyebrow a little, almost an involuntary movement. "Can we do something special tonight?" Dawn had said. There was just time for an intake of breath, before she continued, " I think it's time for a bit of wild camping". Just a little uncertain of what direction we were taking, I glanced at SWMBO and before I could clarify, she did it for me, "Up in the mountains - I think it's cooler and we can get off the grid for 24 hours".
Then it was clear, a spot of camping in the wild, now that was in the plan and we were agreed it was time.
So we left our orange grove, beachfront campsite, which is always a wrench, setting off over the thumb and into the interior of the eastern finger of the Peloponnese. Soon we were high above the Saronic Gulf, using all the hi-ratio gears to move round the hairpins. It's amazing just how quickly the height is gained and the views are stupendous.
We drove up the astounding gorge formed by the seasonal river Dafnon and were looking out for a monastery perched high above it.
This is the Panagia Elonis nunnery, comprising quite a number of buildings tucked under the rockface high above the road. It is maintained by four nuns in a silent order, although we only met a priest and he spoke, saying "Yassus".
It's a tight turn off the road and along a short access road to a turning space and car park. From there a short walk on nice steps takes you to the buildings.
Looking down into the gorge is just as stunning.
Now it was onto Kosmas, a beautiful village sitting at well over 1,000m. There were the obligatory local men watching and waiting in the square, plus a lady who tried to sell us about ten years worth of herbs in a big bag. We do cook with herbs most evenings but what she thought we would do with that quantity, I don't know. Herbs also smell nice but not in the confined space of a Landy for a month or two.
We turned onto a dusty track a few kms out of the village, in search of some privacy, tranquility and views.
This is bee country and there are many many hives
We picked our spot, killed the engine, climbed out and were deafened by the noise of millions of bees all making their way back to the hives. It was like that Windows screensaver where all the stars rush by as you are speeding through space, "Give me warp factor eight Mr Sulu".
So that didn't quite tick all the boxes and we searched for another site and found one with a slightly less panoramic view but considerably fewer bees. The barbecue came out and we were happy.
So we had a night of camping in the wild. We were quite prepared, with a big water container and a trowel if it had been needed ( it wasn't). We are not fully sealed into the Landy doing this, in that some items need to stay outside, such as the table and chairs.
Most stuff though, is inside the Landy and as we have proved in Austria and in Serbia, we can use it as a motorhome in the rain too. Give us fine weather though and it's easy. There were no flies at such a height and it was cold enough to keep the windows closed. At sea level, with mozzies around, things would be different as we don't have any fly screens. Maybe we will need to make some.
After a great night and a slow start on account of the surroundings, we packed up and headed for the coast once again.
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