Walking near Neo Chorio

So this is the state of our pool this morning - it is murky to say the least or, as Rudyard Kipling would say, grey, green and greasy (Limpopo River).  It is still stormy with high winds so John has decided to let it blow itself out before he tackles cleaning it and I don't blame him.  It is bitter outside if you are out of the sun and in the biting wind and that is quadrupled if you have your hands in water.

We could not decide quite what to do today.  I would normally be walking with Liselotte but she is not available so John is substitute - we sat at home for quite a while trying to decided whether or not, if we ventured out, we would get a soaking - there were big black clouds overhead but with such a strong wind they were passing by pretty quickly.  In the end we decided to chance it and do a walk down nearer the coast where it might be warmer.  I plotted an easy one up in the hills above Latchi and we made the decision to go.  We put in our request and got down to Latchi where, as you can see, it is like a ghost town.  Not so unusual this time of the year when a lot of the seasonal establishments do not open until Easter (which for us is early May this year).

This was to be a very different sort of walk for us as it was primarily on roads although not major roads and we didn't see any traffic but we thought it would be wise as otherwise we might get wet and muddy boots after all the rain.  We started our walk going up the hill past the 'Russian' hotel which is a bit of a white elephant.  This was built and then found to contravene the original planning permission and so needed to be altered but since then it has not opened but there again there hasn't been demand due to Covid.

It is amazing that within a very short distance from the coast you walk in some beautiful countryside - there are some pretty amazing houses up there too - that is clearly where the money is!!!  This land is also very fertile looking at all the planting of trees and vegetables.

Our walk took us up from the coast and then across towards Neo Chorio and then on the edge of Neo Chorio we hung a left and started walking parallel to the coast towards Prodromi.  This is much wilder and untouched and we started to see some wild flowers and orchids.  We also came across some 'tracks' which we wanted to explore and may well do next week if I can plot a circular route which we can complete within our allotted time.  There is supposed to be an announcement next week - our current restrictions are in place until the end of March and we have our fingers crossed they might be relaxed if the numbers stack up - sadly currently the numbers do not.

Although this was a much more 'manicured' walk than we have encountered of late we both really enjoyed it because it was such an unexpected pleasant surprise to find this so close to civilization and John was doubly happy when he found a discarded pool sump cover which would fit Nicky and Mark's and save them breaking an ankle falling down an open hole!!!

The very last part of the walk came as a bit of surprise - there was clearly a footpath marked on the map which took us right through the Latchi Family Resort.  There was no-one around but if challenged we decided we would just drop Argy's brother Andros's name into the conversation as he had been running this establishment for the last couple of years!!!  Strangely there is most definitely a footpath there so we are wondering if this is actually a public right of way.

We were very pleased with our decision to get out and get some fresh air - we felt the better for it and we got to see a part of the island that we might otherwise have missed and it has spurred us on the discover more.

Our day was made complete with a fabulous takeaway from the Farmyard - it was probably the best we have had yet and so good that there was no time to take a photograph - we just wanted to eat it.