A fabulous walk with Nicky

So today being Tuesday Nicky and I were walking and the weather could not be more different to when I walked with Rachel (now known as Jonah) on Saturday.  It was glorious and Nicky had asked to do the same walk we had done last week but in reverse and I had added a little extra loop so that she got to see a bit more of the countryside.

We started out at the church in Arodes and headed out of the village and then took the road which takes you past the church/shrine to the Patron Saint of Pano Arodes who is Saint Kalandionas - this tiny little memorial could be so easily missed if you did not know it was there so thanks to Liselotte for showing it to us on one of our walks.

After the storm at the weekend there is a lovely sense of calm and when out walking on these roads less travelled we feel so lucky to have so much open space and fresh air - everywhere is looking green and there are some beautiful wild flowers coming through - orchids and anemone are popping up all over the place.

Although we were doing the same walk as last week it seemed quite different in reverse - you certainly get a different view and I realised that at this point we were walking above the Witches Gorge - I could recognise the terrain down below as a bit Rachel and I had passed when we did that walk a couple of weeks ago and the road in the distance in this photograph was the route that John and Liselotte were taking.

I persuaded Nicky to take a little detour and walk down to the end of the path where there is a rickety old bench seat.  I remember that many years ago John and I sat on this bench, which is above the start of the Avakas Gorge, and we were suddenly aware of the thundering of hooves behind us and then we were surrounded by a herd of goats - John couldn't remember where it was when I asked him last week but he certainly remembers now as his walk with Liselotte took him past this seat and down down down into the valley below and across the river!!!  

This was Nicky and my view of the valley below - we didn't venture down there and just as well as John said that one of the marked paths had been washed away and he and Liselotte had to go off piste in several places.  Anyway from our viewpoint it looked like Switzerland!  It was beautiful and in the distance we could hear those goats - well maybe not the same ones because it was more than10 years ago that John and I had sat on that bench!!!

What a difference a storm makes when it comes to our obligatory selfie - last time I was a drowned rat and this time I was getting rather warm!!!  Were we enjoying this exercise - you bet or at least Nicky was until the final stretch which was a very long uphill into the village square and back to the car.  Sadly she got a pain in her hip which wasn't helping.

We made it and felt fabulous for having done so.  I hope all this exercise is doing me some good - today's walk was the longest I had covered with Nicky as it was well over 11Km but my walk with Liselotte was shorter than normal and my one with Rachel cut short.  Still the forecast for the foreseeable future is set fair - soon we will be complaining it is too hot to walk!!