Lefkas and a scary mountain drive

We decided to try a couple of days on the Ionian coast and all reports suggested the island of Lefkas, an island connected to the mainland with an isthmus.

It was the end of a long drive from our wild camp in the Peloponnese and it was quite late by the time that we crossed the small bridge and drove along to the main town. This is clearly a yachting mecca.

We made a run for the western coast, only to get there and find that the campsite we had chosen isn't on the beach and that just won't do.

A quick decision was made to head for the south-eastern town of Nidri and a site near there. We made a dash across the centre of the mountainous interior. "It can't be too difficult". Well most of it is around 1,000m and the roads are very steep. By the time we got down the other side, I'd had enough driving.

The campsite is directly onto the beach at one end of a small bay. It was worth the hard end to the drive.

There were motorhomes both big and small, with most having used the ferries from Italy to Patra. This is an extremely popular route into Greece and for Italians and Austrians particularly, it really makes it a short journey. You just factor-in the 24 hours or so on the ferry.

For motor home drivers it is very cheap - they don't need cabins and are allowed to sleep in their vehicle on the deck. So motor homes win again on the financial front. There is already a clear advantage in that they 'wild camp' wherever they want and it's mainly on harbour quays and in car parks. As they have on board sanitary and, of lesser importance water, they can of course pinch a site for free with zero impact.

I am conveniently forgetting here the initial capital cost of the vehicle, some of which will be £50-60K I'm sure.

We spent a couple of nice days on the beach, watching the Germans, Italians and Czechs playing with their inflatable speedboats. They were having a great time (and I was a little jealous).

However, Dawn's research required that we go north east to see some (more) monasteries. She mentioned something about them being perched on rocks. So we we off to an area called Meteora. First we had to get there and we picked an A road to take us on a southerly route east, knowing that we would use a more northern route to travel back west later in the week.

Now the photos that follow do not, in any way, convey the 45 minutes of rising panic and a little fear, as we crossed yet more mountains, particularly the stretch between Vourgareli and Stournareika. We timed it (im)perfectly with a thunderstorm behind, in front and above us.

I can deal with rain, even if the roof still leaks a little somewhere. The run-off onto the road was quite significant, but I've got big wheels and tyres. However, imagine Mam Tor and the unstable shales. Now multiply that by x10 in height and then imagine the drive is right under the face and it's about six miles. Water was pouring down the gullies and onto the road. The road was strewn with gravel, stones and rocks.

We could hardly manage to take photos as we were so worried about getting through, especially when we realised that the rocks were coming down onto the road as we were travelling.

It was with great relief that we passed through this area of great instability and I can honestly say that I've never seen anything like it. The mountainside was crumbling away as we looked at it. The local people must go to enormous lengths to maintain that road.

It wasn't quite over yet. A little further on we passed through a small village which had clearly been affected by an earthquake. Many buildings were abandoned and many of the remainder had corrugated sheet iron roofs. The road through the village (the same A road as before), had a series of quite awkward steps / cracks across, which were no trouble but still a first time experience.

As we completed the drive, the rain got heavier again and we hit a huge puddle of water in the middle of another village which appeared to be just a 'normal' big puddle. There must have been a problem with the road surface there too as it was very deep and the Landy ploughed straight in, aquaplaned and for a moment we were underwater, or so it seemed. It took an age for the windscreen to clear. Fortunately we had held our direction and came out unscathed.

At Kalambaka the tent was erected in double quick time but the bbq was half done when the next storm hit and food was eaten undercover with the help of a Wimbledon umbrella. We were a bit early with that advertisement, but so what!