Activities – Judy and Valerie On the Road

Biking across the Golden Gate Bridge

Not far from our hotel we happened upon Blazing Saddles, a bike hire shop so we hired e-bikes and cycled along the coast to the Golden Gate Bridge stopping for a coffee along the way where we saw a heron (it’s tradition to see a heron on our bike rides). As is often the case, the bridge was covered in cloud as we rode across and it was actually quite chilly but we soon warmed up when we arrived in Sauselito on the other side. After another delicious empanada at Copita Tequileria y Comida, we cycled up the coast a bit and then inland to the Old Mill Park in Mill Valley where we saw lots of giant redwood trees and huge very expensive looking houses hiding in the sides of the hills. We then cycled back to the coast passing lots of houseboats which looked nothing like those on our canals. They were more like actual houses built on concrete slabs sitting in the sea. We put our bikes on the ferry to Fisherman’s Wharf and that evening treated ourselves to margaritas at Barrio, a restaurant on the waterfront.

Big Sur

Part of Highway 1 (the Pacific Highway coast road) was closed because of rock falls due to the heavy rain earlier in the year, but we drove down for the day from Monterey. The coastline is amazing with rocky coves, crashing waves, forests dropping into the ocean. There was one place where it was possible to drive down to a beautiful beach where dozens of people were enjoying the sunshine. As we were leaving more people were arriving to see the sunset.

We hiked along one of the paths into the forest up to a waterfall. When we stopped to eat our lunch we were joined by a beautiful Steller Jay perched on the edge. As we walked we were surrounded by huge redwoods reaching to the sky.

The redwoods are extraordinary trees and here is some further information about them.

Finally we had some refreshments at Nepenthe a delightful restaurant, cafe and shop in the woods. The place is owned by family of Kaffe Fassett and the shop contained colourful displays of works using his materials.

A brilliant day.

Charleville-Mézières

After leaving Luxembourg we drove west into France and stopped at this town where there’s a very good motorhome park next to the river (49.7789, 4.7200). The old town has a beautiful square and restaurants where we found delicious monkfish with vegetables and risotto with scallops, with chocolate mousse and creme brûlée to finish off.

This area has lots of cycle tracks and the Trans-Ardenne Voie Verte. We planned to go on a cycle ride along the river but after getting the bikes off the back discovered that one tyre had a puncture, we didn’t have a spare tube or a repair kit and it was Sunday so no shops open. So we walked instead along the river to the next village (loads of cyclists, walkers, roller blade skaters, runners ) and got the train back.

Pindos Mountains

Papigko

In the Pindos we stayed again in our favourite spot at the side of the road next to a spring between the two Papigko villages (N39.9691, E20.7229) and on our first evening were joined by a suprise visitor come to take a drink.

The man who runs the health food shop that we like in Ioannina, Nature and Life, recommended a lovely cafe/bookshop in Megalo Papigko called Koukounari. Giorgos who works there was very friendly and welcoming. The cakes looked wonderful but we managed to resist.

Hike to Astraka Refuge

We decided to try the hike up to the Astraka Refuge where people walking the long distance Epirus trail are able to stay overnight. It was going to be quite a strenuous hike climbing about 1,000m up to 2,000m and it was very hot. We started at 7am having prepared our breakfast and lunch the night before to take with us. The trail starts from Mikro Papigko so we first had to walk there across the old stone bridge and then start on the trail proper. It is about 6k in length and has several springs on the way up with covered areas to shelter from the sun. It was the weekend and what we didn’t realise was that this was a favourite hike for local people. We must have seen over 100 people on the way up and down, including runners! Of course, as you go higher the wind is cooler which helps and when we got to the top there was still snow on some of the peaks. It was a beautiful walk, and the higher we reached, the more wild flowers there were.

The refuge gets it supplies via a group of pack horses and on the way up we met the string of horses coming down. When we reached the refuge we met them again coming up.

Via Natura Voidomatis

We moved on from Papigko to a new ‘campsite’ on the edge of the Pindos national park by the Voidomatis river (39.9694, E20.6612). The site is still being established and they also do river rafting.

We went for a walk called the ‘ Ice Age Trail’ which follows the river . There are many information boards relating to the Paleolithic Age 15,000 years ago when the world was emerging from the ice age and our ancestors lived along this river.

The Voidomatis river is amazingly clean and clear and an extraordinary colour. The walk was beautiful but more strenuous than we’d anticipated – quite a bit of scrambling and it was very hot, so we ended up getting a taxi back.

Along the way we climbed up to see the remains of the small Agii Anargiri monastery. All that remains is a tiny chapel with a small door and when we went inside we discovered the remains of beautiful frescoes covering the walls and ceiling.

And then on our way back to the river …

Mount Olympus – home of the Gods

We camped at Sylvia Camping on the coast under the mountain. The campsite is pleasant with its own little beach and coffee bar on a beautifully situated terrace, but there is little else within walking distance. We found a restaurant further along the shore where we were entertained by a turtle and numerous kittens.

The following day we cycled to Litochoro at the foot of the mountain (a journey which was much longer than we’d anticipated and a continual ascent) and discovered that this was the day of the International Olympus Marathon – Running with the Gods!

The runners start at midnight from Dion – the sacred city of the Macedonians, run up Mount Olympus topping each of the three peaks and then down the other side. Runners come from all over the world – amazing! We saw them coming in throughout the afternoon.

They’re very keen on mountain running and marathons in this part of Greece. The Ursa Trail has a marathon, and when we hiked in the Pindos up to the Astraka Refuge at 2,000m we met a number of runners going up and down the mountain.

We then wild camped overnight at the Old Monastery on the mountain. That afternoon we walked to the Sacred Cave, and in the the morning hiked up and back to Prionia – a beautiful walk

Cycle ride to Porto Koufo

One day we had cycled from the campsite to Kalamitsi and although it was very up and down found it quite manageable. So then another day we decided to cycle to Porto Koufo on the other side of the ‘finger’, said to be the most beautiful cove on Sithonia. After passing Kalamitsi it wasn’t so much up and down as up up up! After 4 miles of continual ascent to about 900ft we came to a taverna and stopped for refreshments. I concluded that my leg power wasn’t enough to get up the hill coming back and decided to stay at the taverna with a beautiful view and have some lunch.

Valerie, being more intrepid and with stronger legs, continued. It took her 10 minutes to get down the hill and 1 hr to get back up. But Porto Koufo looked beautiful.

Paklenica

Here’s a picture of the view from our campsite in Paklenica. (Campsite NacionalNI Park). The campsite was very near the entrance to the Paklenica National Park. We didn’t stay long there because thunderstorms were forecast but we managed a short walk in the morning while the weather was still good.

As it was a public holiday for Croatia National Day (lots of red, white and blue flags 🇭🇷 everywhere), a lot of people were out and about. Many of them – some of them quite small children – were rock climbing or learning how to.

Extremadura

We eventually reached the campsite just outside the Monfragüe National Park where we came a few years ago. Lovely relaxed campsite with good facilities and a restaurant. On our first day we went for a walk in the national park alongside the beautiful river Tajo.

Dehesa

The countryside in Extremadura is known as the “dehesa “. It makes very good pasture for sheep, goats and cows. Its main trees are holm oaks and cork trees.

Transhumance

Part of our walk in the Monfragüe National Park was along a “cañada” (drovers’ trail). These drovers’ trails criss-cross parts of Spain and date back to the time when “ Transhumancia” (Transhumance)” was common. This is the practice of driving herds of cattle many hundreds of miles from their winter pastures to their summer pastures and back again. For more information about transhumance and how it is being adopted again, see this BBC article https://www.jamon.com/pig-raising.html

Cycling

Spain has 126 via verdes spread throughout the country. Cycle paths, mainly on old railway lines and the campsite is just next door to one. We went off on it the following day, but rather than follow the route we turned off to the nearby town of Malpartida de Plascencia and there we discovered the town square just right for coffee, and in addition various sculptures.

The cycle path sometimes followed alongside the railway line (we never saw a train)

Donkey on cyle ride — Donkey along the way

Valerie’s adventure to Monfragüe Station

After Judy and I finished cycling along the via verde from Malpartida de Plasencia, I decided to continue on to Monfragüe station since I had read online that there were some interesting buildings to see there. When I got there I did see quite a few big buildings which all seemed empty, then I heard talking and laughter and wondered if there was a café so I wheeled my bike round the corner and found a whole group of people sitting at a long table, drinking coffee and eating cakes.

As I like practising my Spanish, I said hello and asked if it was someone’s birthday. They said it was and I was immediately invited to join them for a coffee. They sat me down next to the birthday boy, Antonio, and brought me a wonderful cream cake to eat with my coffee.

Antonio told me that he had been born there 22 years previously (I think there was a bit of poetic licence here – possibly add a further 50). It turned out that they were all cousins and they had all been born there. In its heyday Monfragüe station was an entire village of about 1000 people who all worked for the Spanish railway company, RENFE, because Monfragüe was a major hub. The trains from Salamanca to Cáceres and from Madrid to Cáceres went through there. It had its own church, school and doctor, all paid for by RENFE. However now only a very few trains go through there. With the demise of the steam train, and a new railway line was built.

Some of the cousins still live in the area, but many now live in other parts of Spain or even further afield – Antonio lives in San Diego, California, and another of the cousins lives in Miami. Whenever they can, they all meet up at the station for a family reunion. They were sitting outside what was the village school and inside on the walls they had put up lots of black and white photographs of family members over the past 50 years, including lots of class photos of the school children.

As I made my goodbyes they had just put on some music and two of the cousins were singing into microphones while others started dancing. It looked like the party was going to go on for quite a while still.

Family reunion lunch — Monfrague station buildings

Hike in Eastern Pelion

We started from our campsite at Papa Nero intending to follow the trail over to Damouchari and then up to Mouresi where we would have lunch. Imagine our surprise on finding that we had reached our lunch goal at 11am. Then we realised that this was only half of the walk and the second part went up to Kissos the other side of the valley and after a quick Google discovered it was the highest village in East Pelion. Never daunted we set off, now doing our ascent in the hotter part of the day … and that’s not all.

I was using a map from Avenza Maps downloaded onto my iPhone which then tracks your progress. Sounds good but the map is a simplified format and the way marked red arrows and dots on rocks and trees only seemed to appear when there were no options. The path went across a large stream, but the stepping stones were submerged. Fortunately neither of us fell in but Valerie did get rather wet feet. Then of course we lost the path. After wandering around following tracks for about an hour we came across the right path again and followed it down to the river crossing. “Oh good a proper bridge” … and then we saw it close up!

But it was a lovely walk with lush vegetation, flowers, ferns, sweet chestnut trees, lovely birdsong and beehives.

By the time we’d had something to eat it was about 4:30 so we decided to get a taxi back. My iPhone thought I’d climbed 187 flights of stairs!!

Hiking the Loussios Gorge and Menalon Trail

Found an amazing gorge and hiking trail in the middle of the Peloponnese. Stayed at a camper stop at Taverna Koustenis, Dimitsana (evidently the birthplace of the Greek struggle for independence against the Ottoman Empire in 1821). Walked the first section of the Menalon Trail 9.5 miles, total ascents of 3,000 feet and visits to three monasteries ( one from 983AD built into the rock face now just ruins, and the other two still active. The monks at the Prodromou monastery provided coffee and loukoumi.