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.