I slept better than I thought, gel earplugs are amazing at keeping snores out especially when they are close vicinity! The pillow is not bad at all. I am awake at 530 am so we rise as alarm was going off at 6. Russ goes down to the bakery and brings back coffee and croissants. It is pitch black with the stars and moon shining bright over the sea. As we get ready the sun lightens to purple pink tones of the sun rise.

I set to sorting the ‘toe’ out. I place plasters criss cross to ensure no movement of the flap of skin. I am hoping this will work... I take my flip flops in the ruck sack in case, I can see my self walking with one Keen Sandal and one flip,flop!!

We head down and find the bus stop has changed to the end of the village and we walk on down along with a few others heading for a walking day.
The bus is full and we start in the sun but as we rise to 2800ft we were in the mist. I have done this windy journey many times before but today I have never felt so sick. I’m relieved to disembark for a few minutes as we change buses. The rest of the journey was Russ spending his time talking to me to try and distract me from wanting to vomit. I really thought I was going to have to stop the coach!

We purchase some fruit and a can of coke at the cafe before starting the walk at 0834. It is warm, we did not need to bring another layer. I had a scarf with me in case and only used it for 5 mins. It later came handy to shade me when I found the sun too hot.

This is our third time and we have seen some sights, I thought I might be one of them....walking in flip flops but for now the toe is ok. One lady had a wool, 3/4 length coat on......

As we descend walking amongst the pine trees shading the path with the fragrant smell of temperate pine we reach the river bed in around 1.45hrs

I try not put pressure on my toes which I thought I would find hard but I don’t, the Keen sandals kind of turn up at the end, this is good news, maybe the toe will last.

We reach the Agios Nikolaos church by 10am. The temperature is still lovely and still mostly in the shade. The gorge is a lot quieter than the last time we walked but this may be due to the fact it had been closed 2 days due to rock falls the last time we were here with friends.

Water appears in the river bed and disappears presumably underground. Reaching the old village we use the WC and attempt to eat. I say attempt as we were immediately surrounded by wasps, hundreds of the useless winged nuisances, fit for nothing “what do they do” he barks....so my husbands states! I couldn’t bite my sandwich as so many on it!
In the end we moved away across the bridge and ate whilst walking. We stopped in the shade for about 5 mins before they were back so we continued on.

Due to not stopping we make good time but are not rushing and we take in on many occasion the high gorge walls surrounding us. It’s very hard to capture the scale, you just have to be there.

The last parts of the gorge are more in the sun and by 1pm it was very hot. We had already put 2 lots of cream on but paste some more.

By 245 we had reached the check point and gave in our ticket and eagerly drank a fresh orange juice longing for that dip in the sea...

As we were had more than couple of hrs we take some sun beds, have a couple of drinks, food and dips in the. lol refreshing sea.

As the ferry approaches we get changed and head over. Russ had bought ferry tickets at the gorge and when we presented these he said another company, come later. We are confused, we ask again and he shuns us away trying to get everyone on so the cars can embark. We check the time on the ticket it says 1700. It is past this, we do not want to chance another boat coming later, if it doesn’t we are stuck here till morning.
Russ quickly goes to the ticket office and it feels like he is gone forever. I stay on the ramp of the ferry, texting him to hurry up with the tickets as the last car embarks.
At last he comes scurrying along with new tickets and we are allowed on! Apparently there is another smaller boat but as the time said 5pm we did not trust that it would be there later so another 20 Euro’s was well spent! So if you want to catch the large ferry then DON’T get a ticket at the Gorge Cafe!

On the ferry I inspect the ‘toe’, now I am away from the sand I think it is time to let it breathe. I tear at the layers of plasters to reveal a pure white patch of skin. Perfect, not a bloody mess I thought it may have been last night.

It seems everyone gets off at Sougia, streams and streams of people. Mostly to get into tour mini buses or coaches with some on the local bus queuing for tickets. It is a great feeling to be able to just walk 3 min stroll back to our room rather than face another coach journey up that long windy road. I was really glad of that. I had hardly eaten all day, one croissant, banana, mars bar and some nuts.

The wind is very strong tonight, thrusts of gale force coming from the north blowing the waves in the opposite direction.

We eat at one of the tavernas at the port end as the others are always busy and are entertained by next doors live music. The wind is really blowing and every now and again sand is blown up into the taverna from the beach!

I am looking out at the sea, you can’t see it, it is so black. I can’t imagine being at sea at night, it would terrify me.

So my tea is here so I will sign off, 20:25 in beautiful windy Sougia.