Jane and Ken's 2014 Adventure: Day 108 Friday 4 July – Motorway Madness and The Corinth Canal, by Ken

Jane and I made good use of the early morning peace and quiet of the camping ground (as far as we could see the only other occupants were a couple in a campervan and they weren’t up) by going to the bar area to use the free internet to catch up on email and Facebook.

Mabel and Smarty At Paleologio

Early Morning On Facebook

While having a shower I noticed I had a rash in the Dardanelles region similar to that Harry used to get after a hard day’s cricket on a hot day. It must have been the result of yesterday's exertions at Mystra. Jane said you could buy cream over the counter in pharmacies in New Zealand to deal with it. Interesting, but not particularly helpful, I thought.

Our minimalist outdoor set up for our one night stay in Paleologio meant getting Mabel ready for the road was a much quicker affair than usual. We were on the road by 09:30 heading for Corinth. “A problem at the bakery” meant there was no bread in the camping ground shop but the owner gave me good directions to a bakery in nearby Sparti. There I bought a loaf similar in shape and weight to a discus.

Jane drove the first leg and did a great job threading Mabel through narrow gaps resulting from double parked vehicles in Sparti. All was going well until we reached a new section of road on the outskirts of the town which satnav wanted us to take. A confusing selection of signs blocked the road giving a hint it was closed, but didn’t indicate a diversion route. We turned into a side road that took us back to the old road linking Sparti with Tripoli. Tripoli was on our route north so we decided to give the old road a try. Satnav didn’t take long to reprogram itself and was happy with the route we had decided on.

The road climbed steadily into the mountains. Every now and again we caught tantalising glimpses of the old road. It seemed to be finished, even the road markings were there. It was also a much better alignment than ours with sweeping curves and at least one tunnel to take it through a mountain, rather than over it. We climbed and climbed reaching 920 metres above sea level. We remained at that altitude, or thereabouts, for quite some time. The long climb was reflected in the range shown on Mabel’s display. What had been 200km plus in Sparti was now 85km. Jane began to worry we wouldn’t find a filling station before we ran out. From what we had seen in Greece so far on our travels, it must have more filling stations per kilometre than anywhere else in the world, but the road from Sparti to Galipoli seemed to be the exception that proved the rule. I tried to reassure Jane by telling her that the range was based on the instantaneous fuel consumption and it would increase once the road leveled out and descended. Also, Galipoli was less than 85km away. The range never increased but neither did it drop below 85km. We found a filling station on the outskirts of Galipoli much to Jane’s relief.

At Galipoli we joined a motorway that would take us all the way to Corinth. Satnav warned there were toll charges. We swapped driving duties at a service area that was near enough the half-way point of our trip. Shortly after we came to the first toll plaza, the display at the booth showed a charge of €6, then the operator spotted Smarty and the charge went up to €8.50. Approximately 15km from the motorway exit shown on the satnav display we came to a second toll plaza. Pulling up at the booth the female operator spotted Smarty and had an animated conversation with a colleague standing next to her. The colleague left the booth and through the door mirror I watched her walk the length of Mabel and stop at the A-Frame. She returned, shouted something unintelligible to the operator and the charge increased from €6.40 to €8.90. It would have been nice to have enough Greek to ask for an explanation, but we didn’t and thought the toll charges modest compared to those in Italy. We paid up and went on our way.

We left the motorway as satnav directed and joined a local road. Less than 2km from our destination we came to a bridge over a motorway that was closed. Like the closed new road out of Sparti, there was no detour signed. That was academic as the only choice available was to take the ramp down to a motorway. We did so, satnav reprogrammed to show that at the next junction we should continue on the motorway towards Athens. We decided it would be better to leave the motorway at the junction and take a route north into Corinth. It was a sound idea, but there wasn’t a northerly option and we found ourselves on a motorway heading south! A few nanoseconds later we realised it was the motorway we had travelled from Galipoi and we were heading back there! Satnav showed an interchange 15km ahead where we could leave the motorway and rejoin it heading north.

I wondered aloud where the toll booths were relative to the 15km. After a while we passed a sign advising the tolling station was 2km ahead. Satnav showed the interchange was 2.1km away! Sure enough, as we pulled up at the toll barrier we could almost reach out and touch the exit sign ahead of us. €8.90 poorer we took the exit, a narrow single lane road with barrier arms across it. The arms raised to let us through – they were there to stop people getting a free ride on the motorway. A narrow country road took us down and under the motorway where we turned right. We could see the tolling station some way ahead and hoped we could rejoin the motorway before we got there. Our hopes were dashed, another pair of barrier arms raised to let us into the toll plaza area where we pulled up at the same booth we had stopped at 20 minutes previously. The woman recognised us, Jane produced our toll receipts, the woman was very sympathetic but said we had to pay again. She asked where we were trying to get to and directed us to leave the motorway at the interchange after that which had got us into trouble. As we moved off after Jane had handed over yet another €8.90 the woman smiled and said “be careful”. “See you later” was my reply.

So Close To The Exit And e8.90 Poorer!

The directions were good and we found Camping Blue Dolphin without any more hassles. Like many of the other camping grounds we have used in Greece, it was practically deserted and we had our pick of the pitches. We chose one shaded by a bamboo canopy on the edge of a beach bordering the Gulf of Corinth. The shade meant we didn’t need to deploy our awning and, as we weren’t planning on stopping long, we just took two chairs and our small table from Mabel’s garage.

After lunch of the bread bought in Sparti (the crust was so hard we couldn’t pull the bread apart and had to slice it), taramasalata, tzatziki and a cheese dip we took Smarty out in search of the Corinth Canal. Satnav was set to take us to Loutraki, a seaside town north of the canal. We hadn’t gone far when we reached the opposite side of the closed motorway bridge that had caused us so much bother earlier in the day. As before, our only option was to take the on ramp to the motorway, this time heading west. Satnav reprogrammed itself and two thirds of the way down the ramp it exclaimed “Warning, Toll Charge”. I stopped sharply and to Jane’s concern started reversing up the ramp, stopping to let the occasional traffic pass. There was no way I was going to pay any more tolls today!

We found a route through Corinth that brought us to a submersible bridge at the north west end of the canal. The picture in my mind of the canal was of a bridge spanning the sheer walls of the canal high above the water. I was completely unaware of a submersible bridge and later read there was one at either end of the canal. We parked Smarty to take a closer look at the bridge and to walk across. Looking down the canal we could see the high walls of my mental picture and a boat coming towards us. Just as we reached the far end of the bridge barrier arms across both ends came down accompanied by the loud sound of electric motors starting up. We couldn’t have timed our visit any better, the bridge deck was being lowered by an electric winch on each corner to allow the boat through. The deck was soon submerged and kept going down for quite a while.

Submersible Bridge

Looking Along Bridge

Boat Approaching

Going Down

Gone

Boat Almost Through

Coming Up

Immediately the boat’s stern cleared the bridge the motors started to raise the deck and its outline slowly came into view. Once clear, the water drained quickly from the slatted deck, the barriers raised and normal service was resumed.

I read later that the bridge deck is lowered to 8 metres below water level. I also learned the emperor Nero was the first to actually attempt to construct the canal, personally breaking the ground with a pickaxe and removing the first basket-load of soil in AD 67. However, the project was abandoned when he died shortly afterwards. The Roman workforce, consisting of 6,000 Jewish prisoners of war started digging 40–50m wide trenches from each end. The Romans managed to construct approximately 700 metres of canal, about 10% of its total length.

After a number of false starts, usually ending with the bankruptcy of the constructors, construction started in earnest in 1882 by a Hungarian led group that also became bankrupt. A Greek company took over in 1890 and the canal was finally opened in 1893. It has not been a great success experiencing financial and operational difficulties after completion. The narrowness of the canal makes navigation difficult; its high rock walls channel high winds down its length, and the different times of the tides in the two gulfs cause strong tidal currents in the channel. For these reasons, many ship operators did not bother to use the canal and traffic was far below what had been predicted. At 24.6 metres wide the canal is too narrow for modern freighters and nowadays is primarily used by cruise ships

Another persistent problem has been the heavily faulted sedimentary rock in an active seismic zone through which the canal is cut. The high limestone walls have been persistently unstable from the start. Although the canal was formally opened in July 1893 it was not opened to navigation until the following November, due to landslides. It was soon found that the wake from ships passing through the canal undermined the walls, causing further landslides. This required further expense in building retaining walls for more than half the length of the canal. Between 1893 and 1940, it was closed for a total of four years for maintenance to stabilise the walls.

Serious damage was caused to the canal during the second world war when it was the scene of fighting due to its strategic importance. In April 1941 German parachutists and glider troops captured the main bridge over the canal. One version of events is the bridge had been wired for demolition by the British who were able to set off the charges and destroy the structure. Another is the Germans cut the explosive wiring and it was a lucky shell by British artillery that triggered the explosives.

From the submersible bridge we followed the coast to the busy resort town of Loutraki before looping inland and then recrossing the canal at Isthmia We parked there and walked back over the bridge where y mental picture of the Corinth canal became reality.

Loutraki

Canal Looking North West

Looking South West

Memorial To Hungarians Who Got Construction Started And Went Bankrupt In The Process

We ate in the camping ground’s taverna, a pork chop for Jane and steak and fries for me. As we finished eating two young men dressed for serious cycling rode past, selected a pitch and started setting up two small tents. Later they came over to the taverna eating chip pies and drinking a beer. We heard them talking with unmistakeable English public school accents.