Wednesday 16 September: ZAKYNTHOS to BRISTOL

We wake with the sunrise once more but find it is too hot to sit on our balcony at 7.30am to drink our tea! We will miss this. A particularly unmemorable breakfast at the cafe below our hotel before a wander around the backstreets of Zakynthos town. This, of course, is very charming and traditionally Greek, unlike the touristy seafront. We are already sweating before we start our short cycle to the airport. Total mileage covered is 400 miles and no punctures! Amazingly we are able to retrieve our cardboard bike boxes from the Left Luggage room and we pack them up for home. All leaves pretty well on time and a 3 1/2 hour flight takes us back to Bristol and a clear run on the M5 home. It is only 15 degrees, grey and raining!

We feel very lucky to have had such a wonderful holiday and are converted Greek lovers. So many happy memories of blue seas, sandy beaches, green mountains, olives, figs, oleander and bougainvillea. Turtle nesting sites, Kingfishers, Flamingoes, and barking dogs. Greek salad, tzatziki and Horta, Briam and Beef Stifado. Mythos beer in chilled glasses, rustic white wine and metaxa.

Now to plan another trip.....

Tuesday 15 September KALAKAHORI to ZANTE (30 miles)

We are the first to arrive down at breakfast and meet Valentina again who is very friendly and welcoming. She can speak four languages which is very impressive. We are on the road just after 9 and the dogs bark as we leave, so no change there. The rubbish collection/disposal system has clearly broken down in this part of the Peleponnese, but we are relieved when the situation seems to improve further north. The planned diversions to avoid the main road are successful today, unlike yesterday's for which I am still getting criticism, and we only rejoin what seems a busier main road than in was further south for relatively few miles. We are both relieved though when we turn off for Gastouni and have a freddo espresso at a cafe near a very busy road junction where a guy is sanding down the bar - very unrestful but amusing nonetheless! We get to Kyllini at about 12:30, buy our tickets for the 5:15 boat and spend the rest of the day on the beach, and have our last taverna lunch at a place where we are again the only English. Still reading A Little Life which is totally engrossing though at times totally horrendous. On the yellow Levante ferry for a faster crossing than on the way out. Back to ZAKYNTHOS and the Dali to complete our circular tour. "In my beginning is my end".  We enjoy our first ouzo on our balcony.

Ironically Zakynthos town feels busier than when we were here two weeks ago and indeed when we return to Ammos Taverna it is full and we have to wait for a table. It is worth it however as we have a delicious last supper including white beans, fried anchovies and lamb keflado.

Monday 14 September: KALO NERO to KALAKAHORI (50 miles)

We are near the sea again so of course Simon thinks we should have an early swim at sunrise. This time we are joined by a group of village dogs who seem to appreciate my crotch, so the swim is brief! The dogs also want to join us at breakfast around the hotel pool and there is quite a scene when the hotel staff try to shoo them away with a broom. We are on the road by 9.15 and make good progress along the main coastal road. I am often in my big wheel and we even manage to average 12.5 mph. Simon's first attempt at a short cut to avoid a hill ends in failure as we get completely lost and have to retrace our steps, and do the hill. We are keen to avoid Pyrgos, the capital city of Messinia, so Simon has planned another detour. Unfortunately this takes us off road along a dirt track of stones and sand. It goes on for several miles and becomes more and more remote. Morale is low and we get lost again. We finally make our way to the sea and decide to stop for a beer and a Greek salad. Simon has his hand firmly shaken by a retired lawyer from Athens who tells us that we will always be welcome in his country. Morale restored we hit the road again following the coast. Tragically the roads are lined with great piles of stinking rubbish, some rotting, some partially incinerated. We later discover that this is a problem in the area and that they have run out of landfill sites and have nowhere to take the rubbish to. Sadly the Government are not currently interested. Nearly 50 miles later we arrive at Villa Georgina, once again, in the middle of nowhere along a dusty track. The delightful owner Valentina is Italian and makes us very welcome with a cup of tea, although her barking dogs (well fenced in I hope) are a distraction. Everyone in Greece seems to have dogs - leashed or fenced in as security we suppose -  and there is a constant cacophony of barking. We then walk down to the local beach for a rest, read and dip in the sea before watching the sun setting from our balcony. We cycle in the dusk up to Chez Costas, a very Greek taverna where there is no menu and no one speaks English. We have the dish of the day: Greek salad, tzatziki, aubergine balls, pork souvlaki and local wine, all for less than 20 euros. An interesting cycle home in the dark looking at the Milky Way and cowering from the barking dogs.

Sunday 13 September PSARI to KALO NERO (15 miles)

We wake in our mountain retreat with the sun rising behind us and slowly dispelling the shade cast on the other side of the valley, and soon PSARI, below is in full sun. We have been left some lovely fresh eggs and so we scramble these and have breakfast on the terrace, with green figs that I have just foraged. We even improvise a filter for our home brought coffee. We head down the rough track very carefully on our bikes and after a mile or so of this get to PSARI which we then head through and take a different road westwards from the one we arrived on yesterday. Just before we join the main road we get caught up in a large fruit and veg market which has taken over all of the roadway through the town and we feel very self conscious pushing our bikes through the throng. We see stalls of the green vegetables that make up Horta. A largely downhill swoop across warm smooth tarmac to sea level and KALO NERO. A blissful day of reading, swimming and al taverna lunch, which we are getting quite accustomed to! There's a large group eating in the section of the taverna acros the road and we notice that they all stand up and cross themselves and later on there's a lot of chanting and singing, We stay on the beach until about 7 when the sun is beginning to get low in the horizon before making our way back to our new base the Hotel Oasi. For supper we go back to one of the furthest tavernas and have beef stifado. 

Saturday 12 September: MESSINI to PSARI (40 miles)

We have buffet breakfast on the hotel terrace and are on the road at 9.00am. Our route takes us initially through the fertile plains near the coast with roads lined with prickly pears. On every side there is lush vegetation with elaborate watering systems and lots of stalls selling their produce. We then start heading inland towards the mountains but it is fairly flat for the first 10 miles and I am lulled into a false sense of security. We soon start climbing and there is a head wind, of course. The scenery becomes more stunning as we reach Ancient Messini at 500 metres. Here we change out of cycling gear to explore the ruins of this Greek / Roman village. It is far more impressive than Olympia really, with very few people visiting. We see theatres, columns, arches, ancient market places and a very impressive sports stadium with track and tiered seating. Back to the village of Mavromati, perched above the ancient remains under the peak of Mount Ithone, for lunch in the taverna. Ideallic spot overlooking the valley and mountains beyond. We enjoy a small beer, Greek salad, Horta and briam before getting back into cycling gear for the second leg. This takes us down the mountain again with spectacular scenery on all sides. We wend our way through several small villages before hitting a mainer road heading west. The headwind is even stronger now and it feels a hard slog, rarely reaching over 8 miles an hour. We turn off and have a reviving coca cola in a small village called Dorio where we are served by a lady from Hertfordshire who fell in love with a Greek. Once at our destination at the foothills of yet more mountains we are met in a pick up truck and offered lifts as our accomodation is "a little way out of the village". We pile in the back together with our bikes and are taken what feels like several miles up the hillside to an idyllic set of cottages perched on the hillside. We are in the middle of nowhere with the most spectacular panoramic views from our rustic balcony. The delightful cleaner and her son who have transported us (as the owner is away) have offered to bring our supper to us later. They have left Tsipouro (a strong Greek liquor made from the grapes after they have been pressed) in the fridge so we may not be in a position to update this later!

Later: we are brought our take away of Greek salad and pork souvlaki which we devour enthusiastically inside in our little kitchen/ dining area as the temperature is definitely cooler in the mountains. Simon has found wild figs which we have as dessert - delicious. Coffee on our tranquil balcony, and a lovely old ceiling fan instead of air conditioning.

Friday 11 September KORONI to MESSINI (28 miles)

Relaxing Greek breakfast on our terrace, then we pack, pay and are on the road by 9:30. A bit of a climb out of town and then the road follows the coast. We stop for cafe freddo under a huge plane tree in a bustling market town. A small boy offers us a couple of sacks of onions, but we politely decline. The stalls are all pretty much the same:  tomatoes, aubergines, potatoes and okra. We manage to find a post office after much searching. The road continues along the coast with a plethora of road side stall holders selling nets of oranges and other locally grown produce. We can see now our destination, with Kalamata, where all the olive oil comes form, in the further distance. We take a somewhat circuitous route to GMP beach resort, which is on a huge undeveloped sandy bay, and spend the afternoon relaxing,reading and swimming. 

Thursday 10 September: KORONI to Zaga beach on foot

We enjoy our home prepared breakfast on our terrace again. The weather looks more unsettled and there is a fair bit of cloud. We decide to give the bikes a rest and walk up and over to the nearby beach - radical! We are up the other end of Zaga beach that we went to yesterday and find some sunbeds and a parasol. We pay 6 euros but it means we can order beach service and enjoy another iced coffee. I think we could get used to this. The book club has moved onto A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, so conversation is sparse! There is quite a lot of surf today and we wish we had our belly boards. At times it feels more like Polzeath although the temperature is still perhaps too high. Lunch overlooking the beach: Greek salad (of course), fried cheese (Saganaki), anchovies and spinach salad - a local speciality called Horta. More reading, body surfing and the odd stroll along the beach. Several protected areas surround turtle nesting spots. We gather that they hatch in August. The babies have to make their own way down to the sea, swim to the Caribbean and return to the very same spot several years later. Amazing. We have only earned a small beer today. You see we do have some self discipline! 

Wednesday 09 September : KORONI to Zaga beach (4 miles)

I hear the church bells tolling 8 and so it seems a good time to stir ourselves. Breakfast on our patio overlooking the distant mountains of the second fingure of the Pelopponese. We have honey and Greek yogurt and muesli and coffee, all very tranquil. We cycle off to the far end of Zaga beach and the umbrellas and sun loungers are free to customers of the taverna behind. There are several tortoise nesting sites marked out on the beach as there were at Kalo Nero, and apparently there are only a few places in the Mediterranean where the tortoise choose to nest. There's even waitress service here and a little while later we order a cafe freddo, which is the best iced coffee yet, proper espresso with ice and frothy milk on top brought direct to our sun loungers. It clouds over a bit later and we head to the taverna for Greek salad and stuffed tomato and pepper with some really sherry like 'white'wine. It starts to rain later on in the afternoon though it's still incredibly hot, and we head back to base. The sun then shines again and we visit the convent set within the walls of the castle. The nuns seem happy for suitably dressed visitors to wander around their grounds and greet us with a friendly'yassos' There are impressive views in all directions from very precipitous and unguarded ramparts, refreshingly unEnglish. We wander round the cobbled narrow streets and end up at the Parthenon for an iced draught beer. We have probably walked further today than we have cycled. Now planning where to eat tonight.

Tuesday 8 September: PYLOS to KORONI (27 miles)

The boot camp alarm is even earlier this morning and the water is quite choppy for our swim. We are sad to leave Pylos and admire the views of the impressive bay as we cycle up another hill south towards Methoni. We take a small detour to visit Methoni Castle, an impressive ruin near the sea surrounded by fortifications. Our guide book tells us that it dates back to Venetian times and there is a marble column and an impressive archway. The castle itself is in a magnificent settling with the sea and mountains behind. We become rather snap happy with the camera. Refuelled with a coffee and a coke we continue our journey. The temperature is rising and so is the incline. I think we are now well and truly entering the mountainous area and we cycle uphill for about 5 miles. We get the odd respectful wave from passing vehicles and, at my pace, have plenty of time to enjoy the spectacular views. The subsequent descent is lovely and we weave our way down into KORONI. It is a beautiful town perched on the hill with rustic back streets and a very untouristy feel. We eventually find our accomodation at Pelagia apartments and enjoy a refreshing shower before lunch on the seafront. Our big beers are consumed early today, together with a delicious Greek Salad, aubergine dip and rather large courgette balls! We find a shady spot on a nearby strip of sand and I catch up on a bit of sleep. We buy provisions before relaxing on our terrace with a glass of Retsina of course. We are getting anxious about our planned itinerary which involves a 25 mile hill climb on Sunday. The heat and humidity and today's hill makes us realise this could take 5 hours and may not actually be possible. We are considering other options but it is tricky. We may be here some time! A rather mediocre supper down by the water's edge before bed.

Monday 07 September PYLOS to VOIDOKILIA via the Lagoon (20 miles)

We We're up and in the placid sea even before the sun is ready to peep over the Eastern hills...at about 7:30. Clare complains that this is a bit like the Nutters at Topsham pool, but I know she really appreciates an early dip. Refreshed and invigorated we have breakfast on the terrace. We then head off and find a superb bakery next to the fruit and veg place that has fresh figs today and large red grapes. Then up the sinuous road out of PYLOS and down to Giavala, topping 35 mph on the descent. We take a detour through the wildlife sanctuary and see flamingos! Also kingfishers....we have never seen so many in one day! The track winds its way through the reserve and we get to VOIDOKILIO at about 11 o'clock. We walk up a well worn track to Nestor's cave, with a beautiful view of the Navarino dunes and bay below. The day then slips by reading and swimming. David Mitchell's Bone Clocks still providing abundant food for thought and discussion. Back along the track through the reserve and we see even better views of the flamingos and can see them in flight, pinky wings and looking incongruously gangly as they fly. Back to our now usual stop over at Poseidon bar for a beer whilst watching the sun dipping towards the Island that runs along PYLOS bay. Then on our balcony  at the Karalis Beach hotel to sit and listen to the sea lapping the rocks below.

Sunday 6 September: PYLOS to VOIDOKILIA and back (20 miles)

We swim from the hotel deck as the sun rises. It is lovely and calm and quite invigorating. Breakfast is on the top floor with magnificent views of Navarino Bay. I think I could get used to this. We pack beach things into one pannier: it feels so light. We buy picnic provisions before heading up and over the hill. It seems so much easier in the cool of the morning with fresh legs and a light load. We cycle about 10 miles to VOIDOKILIA beach, behind a lagoon where allegedly flamingoes can be seen. But not today it seems! When we arrive the magnificent crescent shaped beach is deserted and we struggle to choose a spot. Before long however people start arriving and we are astounded when a large group of Germans plonk themselves, and a beach tent, about 3 feet from where we are sitting - even though there is still miles of empty beach! Feeling totally invaded we move further round and eventually find a nicer and more sheltered spot. Sun worshipping and reading follows. We are both reading The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell which is an excellent and compelling read. We are enjoying our own little book club discussions. We climb up the sandy slope at the end to take photos but the sand is so hot we can barely stand still for long enough and we are worried about blistered soles! Our cycle home is a pleasant 10 miles and we celebrate conquering the hill again with a large beer back in PYLOS. Well needed showers and some Retsina and nuts on our balcony. The weather seems to be changing and there are clouds in the bay. Maybe the heatwave is coming to an end. We eat grilled Bream with Fava bean dip and delicious courgette balls with mint at a restaurant with only a Greek name.