As has become the routine when camping near the sea we start the day with an early morning dip to wash away the sleep from the night before, and then have one of Andy’s cups of tea before breaking camp and heading off. A day travelling west nearer to home, hugging the coast as far as is possible.
The route took us initially inland with rolling hills verging on being mountains I suspect, to the North of us and views of the sea to the south. Unbeknown to either of us one of the main crops in this area is cotton. It is very obvious at this time of year little cotton wool balls on small shrubs about the size of small rose bushes. We could see that harvesting had begun and judging by the cotton balls blowing all over the roads it’s not a particularly efficient process.
The road took us through the wetland national park Nestos. It was here we were blown away by the beauty of 3 flamingos gliding right in front of us in to land on the waters. The coral pink colour of them set against the clear blue sky, and the grace, as they appeared totally synchronised in the landing was truly magnificent. It was a really special moment but unfortunately one that we were not quick enough to capture with a camera. We did stop though and photographed the birds from a distance, swans, flamingos, egrets, storks, herons and all sorts of water fowl all mixed together. We both wished we had time to watch longer but we wanted to press on west towards the Adriatic coast, not that we would reach it today.
The journey was fantastic a mixture of coastal roads weaving inland past beautiful lakes and then back to the coast. We were getting spoilt. At one point I communicated with Andy to stop so that I could take a photo. We pulled up in a car park right next to the sea and walked the few yards onto the beach. Idyllic! The beach almost deserted apart from two Greek gentlemen in swimwear and deep in conversation. From the beach you could also see the town further west which up until this point had been hidden from view; beautiful houses set into the steep backdrop. The two Greek men looked at us, smiled and said almost at the same time as Andy, we should cool off and take a swim. It was an easy decision, motorcycle gear discarded we soaked up the Agean waters .
Setting off again in temperatures just pushing past 30deg C we continued west, with little conversation between us as we both took in the views presented. A brilliant ride. It was livened up a little when all of a sudden I heard Andy shouting into the headset that he had just hit a small bird that initially got stuck in the screen and then almost immediately freed itself only to fly straight into his visor. However other than the surprise factor no damage done, to Andy that is, we’re not sure how the small bird faired.
We arrived at our camp site, not quite looking as good as it did in the brochure, but adequate for our requirements at about 5:30. Tents erected time for another dip before sampling camp site food!
