Muskrat - 37:07.683N 26:51.348E

37:07.683N 26:51.348E

Muskrat

Chris and Alison

Mon 27 Sep 2021 19:34

There are definitely too many jobs to be done on a small yacht, you cross one job off the list and another one gets put on, so fed up with maintenance we decided to have a day off, hire a scooter and go off around Leros to see the sights.

Our scooter arrived at the boat on time - no helmets, they don’t do helmets in Greece, but I have never driven a scooter before so I was feeling a bit concerned at the prospect of not having one, so the day started by calling into the hire shop to get a couple of helmets. There was no extra charge for these so that was a plus especially as I was having problems getting used to driving a scooter that did appear much heavier than I was expecting.

When we had sailed past Alinta bay I had noticed a castle on the top of a very steep hill and having read about it in the pilot book I wanted to visit it, so this was our first stop. A very wobbly trip with the Greek traffic overtaking us we made our way up the hill and thankfully made it unscathed. Pantilio Castle has had a very checkered history, like most of the Dodecanese over the years, but a fascinating talk by the guide brought all the history together and we were enthralled by his knowledge and passion for the Greek Islands and their history. For two Euros each this was well worth the visit. We then visited Panteli bay. This was charming, very picturesque but probably very touristy in season, amazingly we are now out of the tourist season despite it still being 30’ during the day. We had lunch before carrying on with our journey.

We decided to go onto Ag. Marina, that despite its name, is not a yacht marina but a port where the ferries go to Kos and the surrounding Islands. Having experienced the Greek main roads, we decided to use the smaller, hopefully quieter roads, so turning off the main road we started climbing using a minor road at first, but at least we were on our own. We had just entered a very small village and Chris said we had to go right. This then became a lot tighter and steeper between houses on a cobbled street. I was still getting used to the gears that needed a lot of throttle in order to make the bike go, so I put on the power but unfortunately was not able to negotiate the corner and the steering went from me and we scraped into a wall, bouncing back onto the other side before coming to a stop. We didn’t come off the bike but I grazed my toe and was a little shaken to say the least. The bike had a broken front indicator light but other than that there appeared to be no other damage apart from my pride and confidence. Amazingly Chris was back on the bike (on the back of course) ordering me to get going again, so we drove back down the hill, the wrong down a one way street, back to the main roads. We didn’t attempt a back street way again after that.

Ag Marina was a bit disappointing especially as it is the capital of Leros. It was a bit run down and not much to see. So we moved on to Kokali another small bay with a small church just off the bay with a causeway leading to it. On the way back to the marina we motored past some of the other bays, passing the hire shop on the way to confess the damage we had done to the bike. We await the bill!

Me on the hire bike berfor the days adventure