10 March 2025 – Sun, Sand, Sea & … Snow!

Miles driven today = 25

Total Miles to date = 1,793

Today has definitely been a first for me.  Not once before in my 61 years have I ever swum in the sea whilst also simultaneously being able to see snowcapped mountains.

Dimitros at Camping Fare Kalamata hadn’t got back to me with news of any availability by the time we left Koroni this morning, but despite the total lack of alternative campsite options in the area we had devised a Plan B.  We headed north via Charokopio, Nea Koroni, Chrani and Petalindi.  All pleasant enough looking places but lacking anything to tempt us to pause from passing through.  Most were fairly deserted other than the ubiquitous gentlemen of a certain age drinking coffee and no doubt discussing the current state of the olive oil market.

At Messini we took a right turn and after 4km of a fairly narrow road we arrived at Bouka Beach, where we joined a number of other vans parked up beside the strand including a group of Swedes and a German family in a full sized converted Skania truck.

I pulled on the handbrake, flung open the habitation door and this was the view that greeted me.  We are nicely shaded under a Eucalyptus tree but not so much as to prevent the solar panel going to work and keeping the leisure battery nicely topped up.

Long trousers were very quickly replaced with shorts for a barefoot stroll eastwards along the beach.

And what a very fine stretch of sand it is too.  This is looking back towards the coast we drove up this morning.

And here you can see Kalamata a little further along the coast to the East.  It’s the largest town in the Southern Peloponnese, famous for producing some of the chunkiest olives you are ever likely to find.

These are the snowy peaks I was referring to.  At 2,405 metres Mount Taygetus (aka Profitis Ilias) is the tallest mountain in the Peloponnese.

At lunchtime Dimitros got back to me to say they had a “shadow space” with “no open area”.  I told him thanks but we’ve made alternative arrangements.  Considering this is completely free we’re pretty chuffed we were forced to find a Plan B.  

Our Swedish neighbours had already been in for a dip and given us the old “come on in the water’s lovely” line so this afternoon I manned up and put my trunks on.  I wouldn’t say it was warm but I’ve experienced chillier in the North Sea in July.

Back at the van and enjoying the sunshine another vehicle pulled up behind us.  A lady jumped out and invited us to have a look in the back at the produce from her local farm.  There was all sorts in there so we bought some olive oil, honey, herbs, eggs and home made pasta.  They also had a few cans of beer on board which I was delighted about as I had stupidly forgot to stop to buy some before we hit the beach.

This afternoon the wind got up and it clouded over a little, which detracted a tiny amount from the idyll.  But we took ourselves off for another short walk in the opposite direction and admired the multitude of varieties of wild flowers.

We also took a quick wander around a Eucalyptus plantation just across the road for a change of scenery from all that glorious sand.

Tomorrow we head down into the Mani Peninsular, the middle and longest of the 3 downwards pointing fingers of the Peloponnese, and probably the most challenging roads of the trip from a driving perspective.  Places to stay and service the van are even fewer and further between down there so we may just pop in and see Dimitros and avail ourselves of his facilities in the morning so that we can at least start out with empty waste tanks.

11 March 2025 - The Exo Mani