Skopolos
Arwenofbosham
Rob and Jacky Black
Wed 10 Aug 2011 07:12
|
39 08.2 N 23 38.5 E
Friday 5th - Tuesday 9th August
Nea Klima (Elios)
We decided to miss out the main harbour of Skopolos
and headed round the southern tip keeping close to the coast so we could view
the various
anchorages en route for Nea Klima where we had
pretty much decided to end up. The coast line was lovely with steep hillsides
covered in pine trees which we could smell from the sea.
There were some delightful looking bays for
anchoring and we were tempted to go in for a lunch stop and swim but decided to
press on to try and make sure we found a space on the quay
at Klima. (we find if we get to a harbour after mid
afternoon it tends to be full!). The attraction of this place is that it is not
listed as a harbour in the pilot book so not so many folk know about
it
especially the fact that it is free to berth and
there is free electricity and only a small charge for water. With the weather
being so hot we wanted to get along side to use the power and run the
air-conditioning for a bit
so Rob could sleep below instead of in the cockpit
which is where he has been most nights for over a month and it's not that
comfortable.
On arrival there seemed to be a couple of options
so we dropped the anchor and backed into a space which turned out to be
alongside a UK flagged boat called Gillie B owned by Graham and Gillian Bush.
Needless to say we ended up spending some time with them and discovered they
know several folk that we know and in particular Rob and Sarah Bell from
Serafina. We shared some piloting information with them when they came for
drinks with us and the following day we joined them on board Gilly B and heard a
bit about their sailing experiences over the years including doing the Arc and
the Rally Portugal.
This little hamlet is lovely with a tiny beach just
behind the quay so a stroll of 15 metres saw me in for a swim several times each
day; there was even a fresh water shower on the beach so that meant we didn't
have to waste our water
from the tanks. The village had a couple of
butchers, bakeries and supermarkets dotted about the narrow lanes and 3 tavernas
with terraces above the road, overlooking the harbour. In addition the local bus
service stopped in the village so on Sunday we took the bus at 10.30 to
Glossa the second town of Skopolos (just a 30 minute ride to the north). We met
up with our French friends from Odyssee, who had sent us an email to say they
were in Skopolos town and would be on the bus. We all disembarked from the
bus in the hillside town and explored the narrow lanes and tiny shops before
taking a taxi across the top of the island to see the Mama Mia church set up on
a steep pinnacle of rocks. The journey was very scenic, the island is full of
steep ravines and almost totally covered in vegetation - not sure what trees but
many small pine and loads of wild olive. The road twisted and turned and went up
and down - so I was very glad not to be doing the driving. Once we arrived at
the small taverna and car park at the bottom of the rocky crag where the church
is situated we arranged with the driver to collect us in an hour. It was a
fairly strenuous climb up numerous steps to get to the tiny church but the views
were marvelous so it was worth the effort. Our taxi came back for us on
time and on returning to Glossa the driver recommended a small taverna with
a wonderful terrace looking out to the west and over the harbour of Loutraki
some 100s of feet below us. We had a good light lunch and enjoyed a kilo of
local rose wine ( which led to plenty of siesta time when we got back to the
boat!). We caught the bus back to Klima and arrived back on board around
1600.
On Monday Jacky took the bus to Skopolos main town
and met up with Alain and Anne again for a coffee and chat before exploring the
delightful alley ways and lanes of this most picturesque place.The houses are
usually on 3 or 4 stories with wooden balconies that jut out over the lanes.
Many have profusions of flowering shrubs growing to add colour to the already
charming place and occasionally there is a small square with large trees
provided .shade. The main harbour is quite extensive and was packed with sailing
boats as the North Aegean Yacht Regatta is being staged from here. not long
after I arrived I watched around 50 boats leave the harbour and later I climbed
up on to the our harbour wall to watch the race starting. It all looked very
competitive with lots of shouting being carried across the water on the brisk
breeze!
We had one more night at Klima and left on Tuesday
morning with a vague idea of getting to the west and finding a good sheltered
anchorage as the weather forecast indicates some strong winds for Early on
Thursday. We passed a couple of bays on the southern end of Skiathos but they
looked busy so we decided to press on for the gulf of Volos where we think there
will be good shelter from the almost gale force NE winds expected.
|