Team Basil has been round more Ubends today than Mario and Luigi and we’re dizzy.

Overnight I had found recommendations for a better walk in the Lousiou Gorge than we had been planning. It started 8 miles further down the gorge and promised a walk to a monastery. The journey to the walks starting point turned out to be one of the must gut churningly precipitous roads Sarah and I have ever seen. Sheer drops, hairpin bends so tight I had to coax Basil to perform 3 point turns to get round and rock falls all over the road. To top it all the trees and bushes had overgrown the road so much that poor old Basil was getting a right old spanking as we travelled along.

Basil Says “Not Again!!”

At times Sarah literally had here hands over her eyes, and she has a good head for heights. We finally pirouetted down the last few hairpins and reached the end of the road. The starting point for the walk.

Rock Fall on the road – typical

The walk along the gorge was beautiful. Initially just above the raging river which was a lovely crystal blue. The gorge was heavily wooded with a great diversity of trees and we were constantly stopping to look at wild flowers and flitting butterflies. Then we crossed a bridge, with missing planks, which did not give much confidence and started our ascent to the monastery. The path just went up the side of the gorge in much the same way as the road we had just left behind. Zig-zagging up through hairpin after hairpin. It was a well maintained mule track, but very rocky. Plucky little Melek brought up the rear, constantly surprising us with his ability to jump and clamber over steep rocks.

Lousiou Gorge Footpath

We eventually reached the Prodhromou Monastery. It is a relatively modern monastery, but built in the same area which has been the home for hermits and monks for over 1000 years. Although the buildings are not particularly impressive, the location is, as they crouch under a cliff high up the gorge side. We were too late for a tour of the monastery, but we saw monks working in their gardens.

Prodhromou Monastery

Monks Clothes Drying

The journey back was mostly downhill, but made more difficult by Mabel’s insistence on constantly trying to throw herself off cliff edges. The paths were narrow and often with big drops, but that did not stop Mabel, on a lead, running about, following any scent, without regard for the dangers involved.

Lousiou Gorge

Church in Lousiou Gorge

When we got back to Basil we found someone had blocked us in, but luckily the owner was present and able to let us out.

We then drove to the town of Andritsena. Michelin guide’s description of Andritsena as being a “charming market town with old wooden houses …. where goats, donkeys and pigs roam at will” had whetted my appetite and I had thought it would make a good overnight stop. When we arrived it was clear that the last time Michelin visited was probably 1956! It was a scruffy workaday town, where everything seemed to be shut and there were certainly no giddy goats!

We moved on to our resting place for the night – the car park for the Temple of Appollo Epicurious at Bassae (37.429615, 21.900759). The parking area is flat, large and empty with great views over the mountains. The only people we have seen here have been very friendly so I don’t think staying the night will be a problem and it will enable us to be in to the site early tomorrow.

View from Basil tonight

I’m hoping tonight I will be able to get to sleep without nightmares of today’s journey. Basil has already asked to see a psychologist!