Jungle walks and bad timing

I might have mentioned we’re on our jollies in Corfu at the moment. We’re staying in Ipsos again, in a little village where we’ve had the chance to get to know some locals and some ex-pats. Nisakiman, living in Greece himself, has friends who own a restaurant not to far from where we are staying

I say not too far. It’s ok if you own a car, preferably a four wheel drive, but walking is quite a chore. We’ve walked from San Markos in Ipsos, to Kato Korikiana where these people live, the last time we were over here. I did all the Google maps business and picked a route that took us straight across as the crow flies, rather than walking the main road route, which is quite out of the way. We got lost that time and the road dumped us back onto the beach, so we just walked the main roads. Including a couple of stops for a pint, that route took us roughly six hours.

I did the Google maps business this time, figured out where we had gone wrong and we loaded up with provisions for the journey. I had a rucksack and my cowboy hat and one of the locals in the bar where we had breakfast called me Indiana Jones. He was clearly taking the piss, but I’ve been called worse. They thought we were barmy to be setting off on a long trek during the hottest part of the day, but we’re not mad, we’re just British. As it turned out, he was quite right to get a few digs in before we left.

Google maps said forty five minutes. Two hours later we were in the foothills of a mountain on dirt tracks with no sign of civilisation

So we had gotten ourselves lost again, only this time, in the other direction. It took a full three hours of trekking through redneck country before we found civilisation and our first bar. Which was closed

We were still a good two miles north of our destination and our supplies were running dangerously low. Worse than that, we hadn’t had a beer for a very long time

Eventually we made it to Kato Korikiana and found a bar that was open. While we were waiting for our beers, I had a wonder to look for this restaurant, ’60 Needles’, that Nisakimans friends own. It’s only a small village but I had no joy, so went back to the bar and asked the waitress. It was right next door. To quote George Jones, If my ship’s docking in the East, I’ll be heading west. Indiana Jones, I ain’t.

Anyhoo, the place was closed, so I couldn’t say hello to these folks as they weren’t there. My suggestion that we come back the following evening was met with utter derision

So Nisakiman, we tried, but no luck. Maybe next year

The route back down the other side of Ipsos was much better. We managed to stock up, have a meal and stop at a few bars to break up the journey. I’ve got calves of steel this morning, so it’s going to be a relaxing day doing bugger all

We’re off on a boat trip tomorrow. If we don’t return, avenge our deaths