Kalamaki    4 – 5th Sept

 

The good ship Tioram anchored outside the south entrance to the Corinth Canal in the bay off Kalamaki at about 7.00pm. It had been a pleasant motor up the estuary from lunch at Korfus. True to form we had lingered a little too long in Korfus as it was a beautiful bay and hence evening repast was late-ish. The wind was gusting off the hills to the north so eating in the cockpit was vetoed on the basis that the food could be blown off the table. This was the first meal downstairs on this trip .....an omen of the changing seasons perhaps?

 

The crew were eager for the challenge of the canal, so were up early with the skipper to receive his final blessings and instructions. Some thought the skip had lost his marbles in the night as he asked me to take charge of upping the anchor and motoring over to the start of the canal and the waiting pontoon. This one however has a bit of a sting in the tail as it is here that you have to pay before they open the swing bridge and let you through. Reputedly the canal is the most expensive per mile in the world, which explains the Skips heavy gait on his way back to the boat from the office.

 

Then we had to wait for a little band of three yachts to assemble and the convoy through the canal was complete. We were given the off as the middle of the bunch. The Skippers poor state of mind was confirmed when he asked me to steer through the first bit of the canal.

 

Imagine a 300 ft high hill which someone has sliced open with an axe leaving what seems to be an ravine which is barely wide enough for Tioram to squeeze through. That is the Corinth canal. It seems you can almost touch the walls on either side and above you are shear rock faces. There is no chance of turning around should the boat in front stop. This deep chasm has the effect of you wanting to be cautious and take things slowly and carefully. This must be a regular occurrence as unbeknown to us we were being watched! The Canal police were on the VHF telling me to hurry up.

 

Although the canal is only 3 miles long it seems a long way as the steep walls draped with ropes and steps cut into the rock for maintenance loom overhead. I was getting nervous by this time so a change of helm was required with Tina taking over to see us through.

 

Eventually the walls relented, daylight returned and it seemed like Tioram was released from Mordor to continue her travels, reborn as she was ejected from the jaws of the “darkside”.

 

It was with a sigh of relief we passed over the sunken bridge at the end of the canal and into the beautiful Gulf of Corinth.

 

Cheers John