Cruising progress 2022 (Click to enlarge)
31st August 2022
After leaving Messolonghi we headed up the Gulf of Patras and under the the Rio-Antirrio Bridge, which was opened in 2004 and is one of the longest cable-stay bridges in the world. It's certainly a very impressive sight. All shipping is required to call on the radio to get permission to pass under it. Once through the bridge, we motored for a couple of miles up river and anchored off Nafpaktos, which is a very attractive medieval town. We spent a very pleasant few days exploring the sights.
From there we managed to sail for a couple of hours before having to revert to the engine, motoring into a fairly gusty headwind. We tried to anchor in several bays, but they were all too deep, so we continued on up to Galaxidi, only to discover that the anchorage was full. We eventually anchored off a deserted beach a short distance away and the next morning motored back round to Galaxidi after the morning exodus of yachts and anchored in the bay. We later went ashore for a wander around, but after reading all the hype about the town, we were a bit disappointed.
The next morning we motored about four miles up to Itea at the head of the bay and went into the unfinished marina, where we tied up alongside, just ahead of Coco and our friends George & Anne. The remainder of the morning was spent hosing down the boat, cleaning off three months accumulation of salt, grit and dust. What a difference when we'd finished! We loved the town and spent ten days there, using our bikes to get around. I even managed to get an excellent hair cut for the princely sum of €14.00!
As an early surprise for my latest significant birthday Mike booked an overnight stay in a hotel in Delphi, so we hopped on to a bus in Itea and were transported up into the mountains. Delphi sits on the slope of Mount Parnassus and is a spiritual retreat. We had a lovely hotel room with a balcony looking across the rooftops and down into the valley towards Itea.
Once we'd dropped off our rucksacks at the hotel, we spent the day wandering around the ancient ruins and then visited the museum. Luckily the day was reasonably cloudy so it wasn't too hot and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The next morning, after a very good breakfast, we caught the bus back to Itea and the boat. It was such a treat to be able to use as much water as we wanted, sleep in a stationary bed and have everything done for us.
The views from the gorge are incredible, right down to Itea and the Amfissa Olive Grove which is one of the oldest in Greece, dating back 3,000 years. There are approximately 1.2 million trees with 70% of them over 150 years old. Unfortunately 30,000 to 40,000 trees were destroyed in wildfires in July.
It was then time to start retracing our steps down the Gulf and the next stop was the Island of Trizonia, which is the only inhabited island in the Gulf of Corinth. It's only 2.5 sq.km and no cars or motorbikes are allowed. We spent two nights there along with Coco and met up with Emelio and Dori, an Italian couple on Eleonora. We were all invited on to Eleonora for lunch of Bruschetta, carbonara, risotto and apple cake, all homemade and accompanied by a different wine for each course. A spectacular meal and the hosts were so generous. Coco and Eleonora left early the next morning heading for Messolonghi.
We followed on the next day and shortly after we passed under the Rio-Antirrio Bridge, we received an email from George in Messolonghi to say the Port Police had told all the boats on the quay and anchored in the bay to leave, as they were expecting a large cargo ship to arrive early the next morning. They left immediately and our plans had to be modified as we'd intended staying there for around a week. We carried on to anchor overnight off the beach at Oxia and then up to Petalis the next day. Due to strong winds we spent two nights there and then had an excellent sail over to Vlycho, where again we caught up with Coco and we all went out for dinner to our favourite restaurant.
We're currently back in Vathy to stock up on supplies which will hopefully keep us going for a while until we can get to another supermarket. Our next stop will be Mitikas, back on the Greek mainland.
