4 April
2025 – Pelion Down With Rain Again!
Miles
driven today = 48
Total Miles
to date = 2,786
Not an
ideal start to the day. I discovered
that I had left the grey water drain open when I serviced the van yesterday
morning. It’s very easy to do what with
also emptying the loo, filling up with fresh water and sorting the bins out at
the same time, but most annoyingly I left the plastic key used for opening and
shutting the drain in situ AGAIN and of course it had fallen off somewhere
while we were driving. I know last year
when the same thing happened I said I would buy a spare but those nice people
at Pullingers gave me one gratis and it would have been a bit cheeky to have
asked for another. So for now we are
back to using an adjustable spanner and our French neighbours must have thought
we were right antisocial pigs leaving our washing up water running all over the
carpark.
We retraced
our steps back along the scorpion tale to Argalasti, where we picked up a few
groceries, before we rejoined the “Green Route” heading towards the East coast
of the Pelion.
The road wriggled on
upwards through Neochori, then as soon as we crossed the spine of the peninsula
and started to descend the woodland noticeably changed from pine to predominantly
deciduous trees.
Our initial
plan was to head for Labinou Beach but no sooner had we left the main circular
route than the road deteriorated into little more than a dirt track.
I’d read reviews saying the access was “easy”
but we weren’t prepared to take that gamble so we doubled back and continued on
to our next penciled in port of call, what is reckoned to be one of the Pelion’s
most attractive beaches at Milopotamos.
At least
here the 6km road down to the beach seemed initially to be in reasonable
condition but as we zig-zagged our way downwards there were a number of places
where it had subsided or chunks had been washed away by previous floods. There was also a fair amount of debris lying
around from the rainfall of the last few days.
But we made
it and found ourselves a spot in the car park where we could get ourselves
reasonably level by maxing out the elevation on our ramps.
I know that this is often considered to be “camping
behaviour” and therefore frowned upon by wild camping purists but there is
nobody here to tell us off.
We had a
spot of lunch and then made our way down to the beach while the van looked on
mournfully like a left behind puppy.
The
satellite image on Google Maps shows this stretch to be chockablock with
parasols but we had it all to ourselves.
Some kind
soul has knocked a hole through the rock so you can access a second beach
without having to get your feet wet.
We had a
nose around in a couple of interesting looking caves.
And marvelled
at the forces of natures at play in crunching up the rock strata.
Unfortunately
the lack of sunshine meant that the usual incredible blueness of the water wasn’t
displayed to full effect, but you get the idea.
There are
some steps cut into the rock which take you around the headland we are parked
upon.
And lead
around into the next Bay.
A footpath
is signposted on towards the next beach at Limnionas, but to get there you have
to cross this fast flowing river.
And the
bridge appears to have been long since washed away, so we returned to the van
for a brew while we pondered whether to stay here for the night or seek out
somewhere else a little further up the coast.
Then the rain came and made our minds up for us because there was no way
I was going to attempt driving back up that hill in monsoon conditions.
The rain
has stopped now but only after 4 hours of near continuous downpour.
But there is more in the forecast for
tomorrow.
We like the Pelion.
The scenery is just stunning but you can’t
account for the weather, so rather than hanging around for one more day we are
thinking we will probably move on and make tomorrow a big driving day instead.
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