preveli, palm beach

This morning we drove to Preveli, and after dodging the morning shepherding, we descended the ~450 steps down to the palm forest and beach at the mouth of the Kourtaliotis gorge. We went for a short walk along the river gorge in the cool shade of the palms and settled into a small cove on the beach. Ah, some rest between long hiking days. We didn't last long in the still heat, but returned to Damnoni for another lunch and sprawl on Amoudi beach. (No, I'm not complaining that it was hot - hot is a welcome break from the extended French winter).

This was one of the few nights we returned to the villa before dark. Home for the week at Aoritis Villas (with a perfect balcony for breakfast):

lefka ori

Today we ventured a bit westward to Crete's White Mountains (Lefka Ori) - not so white at the moment - more like a stone desert. We started in Ammoudari to make the ascent up to the plateau of Niatos on up the spine of Mount Kastro. The trail was well marked with painted lines on the rocks, as we switchbacked up a forested trail. After passing over the plateau, posts just close enough to see from one to the next, guided the way up the rocky terrain and provided points to pause and look out while working our way up the vertiginous spine.

Plateau of Niatos:

I'm usually pretty confident in the mountains, but something about the steep, rocky spine and narrow ledges took me a little while to gain comfortable footing, maybe just being early in the hiking season or the remoteness. After a few deep breaths, focussing on the trail instead of the tininess of everything below, the spine became fun as we mountain goated our way up and back down from rock to rock. Retracing the trail back to town, we hiked a strong 8 hours, finishing, as usual, just as we run out of daylight.