It’s been a lazy few days as we move down the coast. Today we are in the little town of Gialova, just across from our next destination at Pylos. And today, Ta-Dah, first swim of the European summer! If you know Niki you’ll know her virulent opposition to cold water. Hence the wetsuit top. Nevertheless, thoroughly enjoyed the swim on a sun-swept beach, hardly a breeze, but with a thunderstorm building over the mountains behind us, with a near constant roll of thunder.
We are at the Erodios Campsite, a little luxury afforded as this is our first paid campsite in 10 days, and necessitated, in part, by our need to get some washing done. We are spending two nights here as the campsite is great and we have a section 2 meters from the beach. The view from the van is simply stunning: Headlands sweep round both right and left, aquamarine waters, islands in the bay, and the town of Pylos to the left, spreading up from the small harbour.
We took the bikes out yesterday and cycled along a good gravel road, sea to the left, marshlands and lakes to the right, to arrive at a stunning headland. Not content with our short cycle we headed around the lakes to what has been described as Greece’s most beautiful beach. Wow!
The road there went from good gravel to rutted gravel to no gravel to farmtrack to deply gouged mud track … You get the picture. I captured this on film, with Niki coming off her bike as the front wheel sticks in mud at the bottom of a deep rut. Unfortunately, due the the language it contains and the fact that Niki teaches young children, I’m not going to post it – but boy, is it worth a laugh! So, with mud spread all over Niki’s neatest shorts we arrived at the beach. On the way home we decided to avoid our original track and proceed on tar, before heading across to the campsite along another track. Bad move, as it turned out that the track simply disappeared into the marsh. Backtracked, took another route, same result, backtracked … Eventually back home before sundown to enjoy an unlimited hot water shower and more wine.
The last few days we’ve been in the company of two very nice German couples, sharing campsites as we migrate down the Peloponnese. It’s been very stress-free as everyone has met in the afternoon, having shared GPS coordinates earlier in the day – Thanks Niki. It has provided a bit of security, but now we are back on our own as everyone has set off according to their own timeframes and agendas.
We are definitely not going to rush down the coast but it probably means fewer posts over the next few weeks …
Contented-Campers.com 
This looks amazing. I am taking notes as I said. So many places I already want to visit that you have been too!
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