Jane and Ken's 2014 Adventure: Day 120: Wednesday 16 July

Our sleep was disturbed by a thunder storm in the early hours of the morning that required a rush to get all our outdoor furniture under the cover of Mabel’s awning. The storm soon passed but rain continued intermittently all night.

A sound that puzzled us for a while but we had got used to was the rattle of unripe olives as they dropped every now and again from an overhanging tree onto Mabel’s roof.

Dawn brought a light overcast that started to burn off as the sun came up. We decided a tiki tour in Smarty was the order of the day. We mapped out a circuit of the northern part of the Pelion peninsula to check out whether our Rough Guide’s view that the area confounds the stereotypical image of Greece as a dry and arid land. That's because the relatively humid climate of the west coast of the Pelion allows fruit trees and dense forests to flourish. Actually, we had seen that much of Greece is a lush green, but that is the result of irrigation schemes. Also the Pelion is a good five degrees cooler than the plains nearby. We thought that if we enjoyed a day in the northern part then we would explore the southern half another day.

With Jane at the wheel we set off for Millés high in the hills north east of our camping ground. I was particularly keen to see it as the village is the eastern terminus of a narrow gauge railway built around the beginning of the 20^th century. It originally linked Volos with Millés but is now only half its original length starting on the coast in the village of Áno Lehónia. Our guide book described a iron trestle bridge spanning a gorge near Millés as a ‘masterpiece’ which sounded right up my street. Railways are usually not difficult things to find but try as we might, and in spite of following numerous direction signs, there was no sign of it. We eventually gave up and drove into the village to explore its colourful streets and mix of tourist shops and more ordinary establishments that served the needs of the residents. We bough a bag of tri-coloured pasta in one shop that the owner bizarrely insisted on putting into a carrier bag in spite of me saying I was more than happy with the bag the pasta came in.

Millies Street

And Another

From Millés we made our way north westwards gradually descending to the coast passing through the villages of Vyzita, Pinakátes, Ayios Yeóryios and Áyios Víassios before reaching the coast at Áno Lehónia. All the hill villages were similar with large houses spread a long distance apart above and below the road. At Áno Lehónia we found the southern terminus of the narrow gauge railway. There was no sign of a train and we decided not to hang around.

From Áno Lehónia we followed the coast road towards Vólos. Jane announced Smarty’s fuel gauge was down to two blobs. Our agreed refuelling rule meant it was time to fill up. We came to a filling station on the opposite side of the road. Jane asked if she should go in, I said it was her call, she decided to press on.

At Káto Lehónia satnav directed us to leave the coast road and take a road into the hills. The narrow road started to climb steeply, ahead of us we could see the 1651 metre Mount Pelion. The road continued to climb through lots of hairpin bends. Smarty’s fuel gauge started dropping rapidly as the revs required to get her moving from virtually stationary at hairpins guzzled petrol. Soon it was down to one blob with 5 litres left in the tank. The fuel content dropped steadily a half litre at a time as we continued to climb. It got down to no blobs and 3 litres. Jane was not happy but I didn’t think it was an opportune time to remind her that only a week ago she gave me heaps when I let our fuel reserves drop to 4.5 litres but knew we weren’t far from a filling station. Neither of us had any idea where we would find fuel, probably in Zagorá about 15km away. On a level road 3 litres would be more than enough to take us 15km, but the road was far from level and Smarty was drinking fuel like it was going out of fashion. It was time to try and conserve fuel, I asked Jane to keep the revs down, turned off the air conditioning and pulled out the satnav power cable. Shortly after we reached the road’s summit near Hánia and I knew we could virtually coast downhill to Zagorrá. We found a filling station there and Smarty’s gauge still showed 3 litres in the tank. Jane breathed a huge sigh of relief and I gave her heaps for breaking our fill Smarty on two blips rule!

A Lot Of Climbing Was Drinking Fuel

Nothing On The Fuel Gauge And 3 Litres In The Tank!

Zagorá is the largest of the Pelion villages and is Greece’s apple growing capital. We passed lots of small apple orchards. Our guide book informed that studies show the fruit orchards will only survive until 2020 owing to soil depletion and overuse of pesticides. Some orchards have replaced apples with kiwifruit to remove their dependency on apples. We saw lots of kiwifruit vines.

Kiwifruit

From Zagorá we took the road down to the east coast and the seaside town of Áyii Saránda. There we walked along the beachfront road lined with tavernas and picked one busy with Greeks eating lunch. We shared starters of grilled feta and fried zucchini after which Jane had roast lamb in lemon sauce reminiscent of a very tender lamb shank while I had calamari.

Ayii Seranda

Taverna Lunch Stop

Starters

Turned Up Within A Few Minutes Of Us Sitting Down!

Jane Relaxing After Lunch

We took a quick look at the beach and then decided it was time to make tracks for home. We made a small detour to visit the town of Áyios Ioánnis, the main resort on the eastern Pelion. It was jam packed with hotels and tavernas and the beach didn’t look very inviting. We were pleased we weren’t staying there, Camping Sikia’s beach was much better.

Ayios Ioannis Beach

We also wanted to see Damoúhari described as having a stage set, picture perfect port that is frequently used for film shoots, but couldn’t find it.

Our circuit of the northern Pelion took us back to Milliés where there was still no sign of a railway and thence down to our camping ground. We decided we didn't need to see the rest of the Pelion tomorrow.