I had intended to get back middle of June, but, George`s shoes had worn out, and so I`d have to get to a town to get new ones, and by the time I`d done that, it`d be time to go home.. so I decided to leave out the going to a town and just get home by using the spare shoes I had, and hoping the others would last. In 2004 his shoes didn`t wear out over the same distance, so I hadn`t calculated for needing a full set of replacements. Actually it was that the shoes I used were of inferior quality, though I couldn`t know that when I set off. But I had one shoe as a spare, which I put on somewhere in the Peloponese, and this shoe was one of the old type, and this shoe didn`t wear out....
The music for this post.. the wonderfully elegiac Last Roundup. Just substitute the word George for Paint.
Since we (well I) are in to cheesey cowboy music I also include another song-my tribute to George, Cowboy music can`t much cheesier than that - but- it is also true on some level of sentiment.
I thought we would need a day and a half to get to Katerini from Prosillio, that we`d be stopping for the night somewhere. George had other ideas, though he did agree to stop after we`d made the truly knackering climb up Mt Pieria which is so often a feature of our route home to Katerini after rides.
This time I saw that the Servia Hunting Association had built us a nice little shelter and paddock. We stopped in that for lunch. There were clouds around, and I thought we may need shelter from rain...no please no..but luckily the rain dropped elsewhere, and we were Ok.
Oh yes, I found an interesting fungus there. Don`t you think there`s something about it`s shape that is somehow appropriate for a Hunting association refuge?
I sat and ate my lunch in a distressed state because I had just failed to protect a Large Whip Snake from being stoned to death by a couple of oafish louts who had seen the animla on the road, jumped out of their car and were killing it with rocks when we reached them.
They thought I`d be impressed by their manliness too. They were really expecting me to congratulate them for saving me, and the rest of the world, from this menace.
There were far less snakes on this trip than I saw 6 years ago.. They are subject to endless ignorant persecution and they are getting wiped out. Its not just in Greece, but worldwide that snakes are disappearing. The ecological consequenses are sure to be seriously bad.
A friend of mine who runs a ecological group in a village near mine is sure that mice and other rodents will soon be at plague levels because people will NOT realise that snakes are a vital predator in the control of small mammals.
But I didn`t manage to protect this snake.I just said "That is not a poisonous snake. Why did you kill it? Such ignorance in 2010. You should be ashamed" I DID say this loudly.. but ...
What I SHOULD have done is: 1. take a photo of their car number plates. 2 Take a photo of the dead snake. 3 dial 100 to report a crime to the police.
There were some reasons that I didn`t do what I ought to have done:
There were two of them in a car and there was just me and George. They could really damage George with their car. Not to mention giving me a proper sorting out.
In the past I have been beaten up by people and then arrested by police friends of theirs when it was they who had committed a crime, so dialling 100 and getting these guys` policeman brother in law could be futile. In addition I couldn`t remember the Greek words for "Presidential Decree", nor the number of the decree that protects this snake. I couldn`t remember the Greek name of the snake, nor its Latin name. This meant I couldn`t force the police to act by naming the laws that were being broken.
But, in the past, I`d have given it a try anyway.
Perhaps I have learned discretion?
I`ve got a bad burny feeling that my failure to act was not discretion but cowardice.
And THATS why I felt so rotten when I sat down for lunch.
After lunch we continued up for some time, and then we were at the top of the pass. Downhill from now on!Unfortunately the track now became a road. I have written about this disgraceful road before.. but now it is finished and is WORSE than I could have imagined,,which is, as you can imagine, pretty bad.I`m so choked about the part going down from Fteri to Foteina that I can`t even talk about it. It was once the most beautiful track in Greece. That`s not me using hyperbole. It was, to me at least, the most beautiful track in Greece. The view of Olympos is still beautiful, so I concentrated on looking at that, instead of the wrecked landscape around me.
The road has hardly been completed for two years and is already collapsing, falling apart, or causing very largescale landslides. The signs say you can go 50 km per hour. But don`t - unless you want to die.
I have included one picture I can`t bear to look at any more of them.
The ONLY part of this road that has not collapsed in some way is the part that they haven`t quite got round to "improving". This, carefully and economically built, can stand up to any number of lorries and heavy vehicles, though when it was made only horse traffic used it.
Actually what they have done to this track breaks my heart. I didn`t want to come home this way, because I suspected the worst. But then, you never know what they might have done to OTHER tracks... like the one from Deskati to Elati, for example.
To look on the bright side, there were still lovely flowers where the sides of the road hadn`t collapsed, including this unusual foxglove. Long may they remain.
Because there was an environmental catastrophe that could have meant the end of them just round the corner...Fteri`s own BP catastrophe.Someone had had a herbicide spill. He had deliberately or not killed all the plants on both sides of the river. He was growing potatoes in a field, and somehow chemicals intended for them had got in the river. Even BP has to pay for environmental destruction.. possibly... butt his guy is never going to get even a fine.
It was getting dark as we reached Foteina, but George had no intention of stopping. So I dismounted to festoon him with lights and hiviz stuff, and I phoned Niko and Lily in Katerini."I don`t know what time I`ll get back" I said to their answer machine, "but it`ll be very late,I`ll camp in the feed room and I`ll see you for breakfast."
The next thing we were lost in the dark. I normally make my way from Foteina to Katerini using a dirt track which bypasses most of the villages, and leads to a crossing place over the River Mavroneri. Somehow I missed it and after a long tiring time we arrived in a village called LOFOS. from there there is an asphalt road to Katerini, a road which I will do almost anything to avoid. However, because it was so late there was no traffic, George was really going for it, and we reached the stables JUST as it started to rain, at about 1.15 am. . I couldn`t see to take George`s shoes off, so I turned him out with his friends after giving him a meal.Listening to the rain hammering on the tiles of my refuge I ate a healthy supper myself. A bar of chocolate. Then I crashed.
In the morning I took off George`s shoes.
In the photo you can see him Glad to be home.
A dear friend kindly said she`d come and get me by car - so I wouldn`t have to get the bus.
Nikos and Lily gave me coffee and food.
Nikos and Lily gave me coffee and food.
When I got home I found my garden was a trifle overgrown.
I put silk sheets on my bed and wore my best silk nightie.
I read a book that wasn`t "A Charming Man" by Marion Keyes - this was the only book I could find in English in Amphissa and I know it off by heart now- and I sank into a most delicious sleep.
In the morning I made coffee -just turned the kettle on and there was boiling water. I didn`t need to wind up my torch (environmentally friendly but time consuming) I just switched on lights. I played music. I checked out my pond.I wore kitsch nail varnish on my toenails(nailvarnish a welcome home gift from Lily, who understands the importance of nailvarnish) and sandals with heels.
Happy to be home? yeah.
The picture of the Large Whipsnake was taken in my garden, where they are safe.
Cowardice? Nah. Ever heard of discretion being the better part of valour? Nuff said.
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