We wanted to post a couple of cards. There’s nowhere here in Stoupa and we need to drive 10mins to Kardamyli to find a yellow post box. Who knows when they will arrive.
It’s a lovely place; very arty and literali literally literaturey literature-y with nice shops, a quiet beach and not quite as much of a Manchester - Gatwick feel. There’s more of an established all-year or at least long season crowd here. There is a bus from Stoupa at 08:20 and the first return is at about 14:00, so a morning can be had here, even without a Land Rover.
Then we turned towards the mountain range that towers above. This is the Taygetos (~2,400m) and is where the idea for these trips began (with a little hire car and bumpty gravel). We drove up and up and eventually turned onto the gravel in order to get onto the top and then turn south towards Milia.
It was an easy but slow journey but we had a picnic at a suitable spot and made our way almost to the tarmac coming up from the east side. The intention was to descend a steep gravel road to Milia and from there go south, still on the west coast of the Mani.
Unfortunately the top of the road was blocked with a sign warning of ‘works’. Should we? Shouldn’t we? That was a dilemma. We tried to look with binoculars and there was no sign of any blockage but it’s a long road.
So we retraced our steps, all the way back to the tarmac (many slow Km’s) and then to the road that hugs the mountain, until we reached Milia from there.
Oh well, it was a bit of fun. Better though, was seeing a huge turtle in the sea at Limeni. Although we have been here before, we haven’t seen one. Today the sea was a little choppy but we stood and looked and suddenly one came up for air. They only gulp for a few seconds and are gone. Elsewhere we have see this happen so close to swimmers but they never notice. This one though was huge, with head and neck poking up above the water, like an arm with a clenched wrist. Wow.
It goes into the book of ‘nature experiences’ along with the howling of jackals. We didn’t realise what we have been hearing at night. In Greece it is ‘a thing’ to have dogs prowling around in fenced areas or chained to buildings and these certainly make a noise. Once they get barking the rest of the neighbourhood starts and it can be some time before they calm down. When they get going at night it can be a bit frustrating.
However we wondered why they occasionally switch into full-on howling mode. All the area dogs seem to get involved. Then we read a Park4Night review that mentioned hearing jackals and the penny dropped. Google helped because we played a recording that confirmed it. We have been hearing jackals and are continuing to hear them most nights.
It’s quite nice really. They start and stop very quickly; it’s almost orchestrated. They aren’t far away and what they do I don’t know but they certainly let the world know that they are ’here’, in their area.
We used Park4Night to find a spot to sleep and drove down steeply from the main road to a taverna at a small boat launch. It was deserted. Eerily the taverna had been left as if all had been beamed up to the starship. Even the order pads were on the table with pens alongside. The drinks fridge was on but had a chain around it.
You have to be quick in the evening. Light fails very quickly and it is dark at 7:30pm. All that preparation with torches has paid off. Big Larry is in use every night - Thank you Robin and Rex.
The sea was some way from us, with rocks between it and us. Maybe it was the retained heat in these that meant we had a hot night. It was still 22 C at 7am the next morning. This was probably the most relaxing wild camp ever. There was no-one, no noise, just the gentle sea.
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