Crete Day 7

This is the road we came up, captured from the back of the moving pickup truck!

My last day in Crete was wonderful! After a solitary breakfast, Una picked me up in the morning and took me to the other side of town to join the rest of the hiking party, Beth's family, who are mostly from Michigan. We drove to the Imbros gorge, which was a 2-hour spectacular drive, once again over the hills to the south of the island, past the resort of Plakias and beside beautiful beaches, until we reached the foot of the gorge. As there were nine of us, we waited for a pickup truck to take us to the top, and then I leapt into the back so that I could feel the wind in my hair and get some shots of the scenery as it sped past us, backwards.

The road wound up and up, like a switchback. Apparently it's 20 km, taken at 20 km per hour, and the journey takes about 20 minutes. Whatever...
It was exhilarating and one that I'll savour in my memory bank for years to come. Glad I wasn't in the front, as apparently the driver kept turning to look at his passengers.

The 8-km walk down through the gorge took us about two and a half hours. We started out feeling chilly, glad of our extra layers, but we gradually warmed as we descended. Waymarkers occasionally told us how far we had to go, and signs reminded us of the dangers of smoking in a dry, forested area, but otherwise we were on our own in a totally natural environment.

How to describe it? Imagine walking large rocks and scree, mindful always of where to put your foot next. Surrounded by trees, some of their roots growing up entwined with layers of rock, a dance of wood and stone. High walls of rock extend several metres on either side. Birds twitter, sounding all the world like English garden birds, and the air is scented with conifers and goat dung. At times the bells of the mountains goats can be heard, and the goats themselves run towards people, tinkling, and seemingly able to climb trees as well as finding vegetation among the sparse yellow flower heads. Many languages are heard among the walking parties, who can be seen sitting on rocks to picnic on dates, fruits, nuts and chocolate in the sun, far from the madding world beyond the walls of stone.

Eventually we emerged at the base, out of our temperate micro climate, and feasted on stuffed tomatoes, served with chips/fries and a huge dollop of yoghurt, before taking the faster road back up the gorge and over the hills to Rethymnon. This journey only took an hour, so I had time for a coffee with Una prior to heading off to the bus station. Two buses later, I was back at Chania airport, ready for the flight home.

The Spanish have an expression, ¡Que demasiado! which means 'what a too-muchness!' in a good way. That's how I feel about my holiday. So much to take in, to process, that it's going to take a long, long time to absorb, I am so, so glad to have taken the opportunity, and to have a friend in my old mateUna, who organised most of it and made it all possible. Few people in the world are as loyal and generous (and still funny!) as her.