Birthdays usually last just one day. This year, mine has lasted from the time we crossed into Greece, until today.
Over fifty-five years have blinked by since my first and only other reading of My Family and Other Animals. My so apt birthday prezzie. Courtesy of Sue and Dave. Beautifully bound. Gold-leaf edged pages. A Biblical look and feel to it. A Testament no less. A timeless story of family, farce and fauna. Exquisitely related. There are some birthdays you just don’t want to end.
The map indicates today’s relatively short journey of 110K will take just over two hours. Camping Mystras near Sparti (aka Sparta) our host for a couple of nights. Five days in one spot runs down onboard stores. We take time out to restock. Give Lidl a miss. Go fill the coffers over the road. Seek a Greek chain we prefer. Name totally unpronounceable and unfathomable – Σκλαβενιτης
Red roads are usually good. Can be a little boring. Free of tolls though. With no places for a Beastie sleep-over, the red National 82 takes us past Kalamata. Home of Mary-Ann’s favourite pitted olives. And mine. The 82 turns out to be anything but boring. 20K of slow gradual twists & turns sees Beastie gasping at every hairpin, like a fell runner short on training. Latent lactic lapping and sapping limbs. Lungs and legs on fire.
Forty-five minutes to peak. At over 1300 metres, this Taygetus mountain pass just about fits beneath the grizzly grey clouds above.
Downhill we quicken. Not without some interest . . .
It’s fair to say Mrs S is not comfortable when I’m multi-tasking. i.e. steering and filming simultaneously. Hairpins a definite no-no. I get away with this lot though. We need to invest in a hands-free system for next time.