Phew!

We set off today for a 14 km walk up to a monastery. 1,500 ft up. From our hotel on Paramonas Beach we walked up through olive groves to reach this village, Aghios Mattheos. We continued uphill getting very hot and sweaty, till in 2 hours we reached the monastery (which was derelict). However we had a magnificent view to both the east and west of the island. We could watch the rain clouds which luckily did not plop on us. We walked a different route back, stopping to admire wild cyclamen, oregano and thyme. The nets were being brought out for the olive harvest. On our return our first stop was at the little terrace by the sea where we had a most welcome, and well-deserved, beer. We then cooled off by having a swim. It has cloudy over and thunder in rumbling. Hopefully we won't have storms tomorrow for our long trek to the next hotel. The forecast I read is not very good for the whole week - I must look for a more positive one!

Sent from my iPad