Visit Brightlingsea!

On Tuesday, CBC and I decided to make a visit to Brightlingsea.  This is a town on the Colne river estuary near Colchester which leads out to sea.  We'd heard that it has a nice lido so we decided to pay it a visit.  CBC used to work there for a time.  

It is a very small town but it has a beach, boating lake, small town with some nice shops, a Marina and of course, the Lido.

When we arrived, there was a huge queue for the Lido and we had no cash so we nipped into town where we bought some lunch from a bakery and had a cup of tea in a cafe.  The bakery had all sorts of interesting things including curried chicken Spring rolls and samosas.

When we got back, the queue had gone so we went in.  It costs £4 for an adult visit, which, considering you can stay all day, is very good value. Season tickets are also available- £92 seemed good for a 2.5month period.

Be warned, it can get quite crowded!

 There are changing rooms and a few showers in the changing rooms but no lockers, you just have to trust that your belongings are fine at the side of the pool.  There is a nice patch of fake grass to lie on if you want- the one time I think fake grass is ok since there was no grass to start with.

It was deliciously refreshing and, despite the large number of people at the time (around 4pm), there was room for everyone.  I could have stayed till the end, but sadly, CBC is a less willing swimmer than I.

 After we had dried off and changed, we decided to head for a walk to the beach.

 It is not a huge beach, possibly it has been brought there rather than being natural, but it is pleasant enough with a shallow pool and flanked by cheerful beach huts.

 This tower/lighthouse was an interesting sight.

 We decided to head along the waterside path along the Colne Way. 

 Such pretty beach huts!

 The light was really beautiful.  As it was getting later, the sun wasn't so intense and the clouds made it reflect beautifully on the water.

 There is Saltmarsh here which is a very important habitat for many creatures although it is gradually eroding. 

On the other side of the path was green and not so green fields.

 The walk is very easy and flat and there were blackberry bushes all along the way- I found a couple of ripe ones.

 There is various flora at stages as well.

 Eventually we made our way back towards the car, walking further along the beach.

 I always want to stare inside beach huts when you actually see people in them but of course, it would be impolite to do so! Pity!

The name of this hut appeals to my childish sense of humour!

It was a pleasant day and I would like to return to the Lido. If only it wasn't 1 1/4 hour's drive!!

Have you heard of or visited Brightlingsea in Essex? Do you have a Lido near you?

xx

Greek Adventures- Stone Bridges

During our adventures in Zagori, we saw a wonderful selection of Stone bridges. They are one of the features of the Zagori region that I was really looking forward to! I'd looked at some tourist websites of the region and they talked about picturesque stone bridges and rivers.

On our second full day in Papigo, we certainly saw our fair share of them.

We planned a route along the river Voiomatis which runs out of the Vikos gorge.  After yesterday's really hot walk, we decided to opt for a river walk which might be cooler and in shade. By the way, I found this highly unflattering picture of me on CBC's camera from that last hot walk I wrote about. You can see how unimpressed I look at having a photo taken of me in that state.

CBC was very noble that day. He drove me down to the village of Aristi where he dropped me by this Stone bridge.  This bridge is the only way into Papigo and is the start of the epic switchbacks up to Papigo and the way we had to go to go anywhere. Every time we drove there, we saw people swimming in it or at least, lurking by the water.  CBC drove off to park the car some 5 miles away and left me by the bridge.

It was gorgeously in the shade under the bridge which was welcome given the excessively high temperatures.  Having seen it as a swimming place I was really looking forward to sitting there reading and then having a swim- I had my cossie on. I settled and read.   

Eventually, I took my outer clothes off and shoes off and decided to walk in.  Alas, the average temperature of this river does not exceed 4 degrees celsius and it was utterly bone-chillingly glacial!

I persevered for about one minute before emerging out to go and sit back down.   I felt so annoyed at myself though.  I watched a large amount of people dive from a rock above the river after much umming and ahing and jeering from their friends! Every time someone made the epic plunge, there was a resounding cheer.  It made me more determined that I WOULD be getting into that water.

I really found it hard to capture the beauty of the reflections of the glistening of the water on the underside of the bridge. Eventually, I made my way into the river and sat myself down on a rock in the middle- my bottom half stayed in the water for a good 10 minutes but I wasn't ready for the full immersion yet. It took CBC arriving from his trek for me to go in and actually swim. I hasten to add that he didn't join me.

Yes, that tiny dot is me swimming.

Alas, my camera died fairly soon on the journey so I have to rely on CBC for photos.

I thought this journey would be easier given there was more shade but there was a lot of up and down and the start was a bit hairy as CBC decided he would try to find our way along the river from here rather than start the official walk further along the road.  This was a mistake. 

We had to build our own stepping stone bridge across the river at one point, it was rather like that scene in Labyrinth with the Bog of Eternal Stench and then we had to scale a really sleep slope with loose earth where I had a massive hissy fit at CBC for making me do this stupid alternative route when there was a perfectly lovely road ahead! The picture above is pre-hissy hit.

The trek was about 5km post upward scramble and I thought it would be easier than the Vikos Gorge trek since we would be in shadow a lot because of the trees by the side of the river. However, it was equally scorching hot and there was a lot of up and down steep stone steps so I was panting a lot.  And as you guessed - I ran out of water again despite carrying a lot. Today I was wearing shorts, vest and a light floaty top.  I don't know if wearing lighter clothing helped or not.  I had a wet wipe which I kept dipping in the water when I could to wipe my face on.

 Eventually,we reached the end where the car was parked, where there was a perfectly picturesque stone bridge.

 Here I am at the end of the walk.

 Along our walk, we met the Israeli man I had talked to the previous day at the Oasis during our Gorge walk.  He recognised me and we chatted.  Brilliantly, we were able to help him as his family had left their car back at Aristi, where we had started the walk, and they were going to have to trek back but we gave him a lift to Aristi so he could come and pick up his family (sadly there wasn't enough room for all of them to fit in!)

After buying some snacks, we went for a drive to a traditional village which our host had recommended though it turned out to be a little dull so we went in search of more stone bridges.

 This stone bridge was amazing- the river below had totally dried up.

 It just appears by this enormous rock face with caves and openings in it.

 Finally, we made our way to find the famous triple Stone Bridge at Plakidas.

 It was a little out of the way and didn't actually seem as picturesque as we would have imagined.

It was a bit overgrown and quite treacherous.  It was, again, surreal to be walking on a completely dry river bed.

You can see the amazing views of how the river has cut into ground with interesting strata of rocks.

It definitely was a day of beautiful stone bridges- that which I had anticipated before coming to Greece? Was all the walking worth it? Yes. Hard work but satisfying!

Have you ever visited Zagori?

xx

Greek Adventures- Walking in the Vikos Gorge

I shared our experiences of Corfu a week ago or so. I would like to move us onto the next leg of our journey- Mainland Greece!  This part of the journey was the main reason we had come to Greece.  CBC has been harping on about visiting and walking in the Vikos Gorge (Europe's Deepest Gorge) for years now so I mainly agreed to go to shut him up! (only kidding)

On the third morning, our host drove us to the port where we picked up the boat to Agoumenitsa, the port on the mainland.  It was very cheap and a very pleasant journey.  Unfortunately, reaching the port some two hours after our hire car was booked for, it seemed everyone was late for their cars at the Green Line Car hire place and we waited 2 hours as everyone had an argument with them about their car being given to someone else 'because they were late'.  If you ever hire a car from them, DO NOT TURN UP LATE or PHONE them if you are going to. Their customer service was terrible.  We finally got the front and ended up, luckily, not having to pay any extra and ending up with an Automatic car.  We drove and stopped in Ioannina for some lunch and then drove on to the mountainous region called Zagori.  We were due to stay in a wonderful village called Megalo Papigo which was utterly beautiful!  You did, however, have to drive up some pretty scary switchbacks to get there!  CBC did incredibly well driving an Automatic for the first time up them!

We checked into our home for the next three days, the Saxonis Rooms/Hotel which I heartily recommend if you ever wish to explore this beautiful part of Greece. It was a beautiful, quiet traditional hotel with wonderful hosts who provide information on walks tailored to abilities, great conversation and amazing walks.

On our second morning, our host, Vassilis gave us information on a route to take. CBC had already purchased what Vassilis described as 'The best map' so he was able to point it out for us.  We planned to walk from Papigo into the Vikos gorge and ending in the village of Vikos (will appear as Bikos on the maps in Greece as, contrary to popular belief, the second letter of the Greek alphabet is pronounced Veta not Beta!) 

Alas for us, it was rather late when we set off and extremely hot- 39 degrees celsius, to be precise!
The walls of the mountains and gorge were such an interesting set of colours.

The first part of the journey was relatively easy going downhill, although extremely hot.  The views were incredible.

I was immensely grateful for any shade that we could find to escape that interminable sun!

If you compare the size of CBC compared to the rocks which flanked us, you can see we felt very insignificant!

Seeing those very sloped stony looking paths in the distance filled me with dread. I do not like stony downhills.

Yes, that line in the middle was the path we were headed for.

Actually though, when you actually reach it, the path seems more safe and wider than at first appears.

We spotted the odd cairn about.  The vegetation was quite scrubby but was still welcome shade at times even if the difference in temperature was negligible.

The view across was where we were headed once we had descended down into the gorge.  We'd have to go back up at some point. I can't say my heart was filled with the most joy.  I think the phrase, "I'm so hot!" was uttered a myriad times.

At long last, we reached the bottom of the Gorge.  We had been told there should be a beautiful spring or river at the bottom but it was completely dried up- we were standing on a river bed.  I confess to feeling disappointed as I had brought swimming clothes.

Here I am- sweaty, hot, exhausted and hair all over the place. I covered up with this shirt as I didn't want to get too burnt.

CBC thought that we might have to walk a bit further on to find a Spring and decided to be intrepid and seek it.  He started to set off and I saw this little fellow.  We met some other people then. Some Israeli teenagers who also sought the Spring and were equally disappointed.  (This was the first of MANY Israeli tourists we met- it seems that Zagori is very popular with Israeli folks).  At this point,a French family came along also seeking the Spring.  I set off after CBC, going very slowly.  The French dad went ahead like CBC and myself and the rest of the French family trailed along, slightly in despair. I confess that I felt it was a futile endeavour...

Luckily, CBC and the French guy weren't so defeatist and came back to tell us that the Oasis was ahead!

There were plenty of explorers there.  We wondered why they weren't all in the water.  Then someone brave went in... and came straight out...

The water was wonderfully blue.

I took my shoes off and walked in....It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo cold it actually hurt. This water was direct from the mountains.  The odd person dived in.  It must have been a wonderful relief but no one stayed in for too long.  Our hosts had told us that the water is so clear and pure that you can drink it.  We collected some in our now mostly empty water bottles to supplement our meagre supplies for the ascent up to Bikos.

I chatted to an Israeli guy and his family before reluctantly donning my very sweaty walking socks and boots again.

The canopy of trees had been such a welcome respite.

Now we had to climb up again and the heat, if anything, seemed more pronounced.

Looking back over the Gorge was sensational. I wish I could capture the sheer scale of it. I felt very small.

We looked across  to where we had come from.  That's where we were towards the beginning of the walk.

The final leg of the journey was extremely tiring. I was dripping with sweat and we had drunk all our water and had to keep stopping very few minutes as the steep ascent was most arduous.  We seemed to be playing relays with other walkers. You would overtake someone and then they would find you sitting panting on a rock and then they would go ahead and then vica-versa.    

When we finally reached Bikos (my camera had died, alas!) we were so utterly grateful to have finished the 7mile trek in scorching heat.  There was a little wooden shelter at the end of the trail onto the main street and we sat there panting talking to a guy and filling our water bottles from the very welcome tap there.  I drank normal tap water all the time in Greece- I know they say you should drink bottled water but I was none-the-worse for drinking river water, tap water and spring water.

We ate a delicious Greek Salad and a portion of chips and bread in a Taverna and, thanks to Vassilis' tip, arranged for driver from the Taverna to take us back to Pagigo.  It was a long drive as there is no quick way between the two sides of the gorge. It was, definitely, the best 20 Euros I spent all week, not having to walk back!

It was an amazing walk, despite its difficulty, and I was glad we had done it,despite wanting to give up on many occasions!

Have you heard of the Vikos/Bikos Gorge and would you like to visit?

More anon...

xx