5 April 2025 – Over The Hills And Far Away
Miles
driven today = 135
Total Miles
to date = 2,919
I can’t
believe we only drove 135 miles today.
It felt like an awful lot more. We
got back up the hill from our overnight stop at Milopotamos with little bother
and on meeting the main circular 34 we turned right in order to complete the
120km Green Route loop. The road is
generally broad enough for two vehicles to pass without any drama but the
constant switchbacking and regular areas where corniches have given way and
half of the road disappeared, made this probably the most challenging drive I
have done in the van to date.
Having said that there was only one real moment of sphincter tightening where I mucked up and incorrectly took a right fork down a very narrow track at Makirrachi. I managed to turn around OK but on the way back up the hill I met with a pick up truck and with one set of wheels in a gulley and a slick wet road, I lost traction. We just about managed to maneuver ourselves out of the situation without exchanging paintwork but it was mighty close.
You can certainly see why they call this road the green route, especially after the rainfall we have had in recent days making everything lush and verdant.
It’s also a
big fruit growing area and as we climbed into the foothills of Mount Pelion we
could see terraces of cherry and apple trees coming into bloom.
Once we got through Karavoma we really started to seriously climb up and up through the woodland. And with the road subsiding ominously in places it took a lot of concentration to keep us going smoothly on our upwards trajectory.
We topped out at the winter sports resort of Chania, which sits at 1,200 metres above sea level. The illuminated sign at the local pharmacy was reading just 5 degrees and there was still a fair bit of snow where it had accumulated in northerly facing gulleys.
We were above the low lying cloud by this stage and occasionally could see glimpses through the gaps of the port of Volos way down below us as we dropped down to and through the attractive hillside town of Portaria. We would have liked to have stopped for a look around but there didn’t seem to be too many parking spots available and it was still rather drizzly from the low cloud.
Eventually we emerged from the clouds to see Volos, Greece’s 7th largest city by population, spread out before us.
Once we had found our way back around Volos we struck out on the non-toll road toward 6th placed Larissa. The contrast in the road with what we have grown accustomed to over the last few days couldn’t have been more striking with mile after mile of javelin straight tarmac. On reaching Larissa we headed for the nearest Lidl but all the locals were doing their Saturday big shop and cars were double parked in the car park so we tried our luck at the alternative on the other side of town where we found much more space.
Then it was another hour’s drive on to Kastraki, where we are booked in to Camping Vrachos for the next couple of nights.
We are under the shadow of the famous Monasteries of Meteora, which we will be heading out on the leccy bikes to see in the morning. I know what you’re thinking. Didn’t you learn your lesson last week about trying to look around monasteries on a Sunday? Well yeah but the fact of the matter is we only appear to have a one day window in the weather before it gets much colder and wet again on Monday so we are just going to have to take our chances.
Comments
Post a Comment