The Gulf of Patras

We left Astokas on the 17th July for the 34 NM sail to Messolonghi, downwind through the Echinades Islands in a NW to W Force 4 to 6, with a brief visit from some dolphins before they headed off for breakfast at the local fish farm, until we rounded the corner at the entrance to the Gulf of Patras, gybbed and continued into the Gulf with the Westerly 6 pushing us along nicely. We even had our own mini race with a 46ft Bavaria, slowly catching him, us under a reefed Genoa, him with full sails, David on the helm and loving it, like Hamilton catching Rosberg, completely up to the point when, with too much sail out, a gust of 28 knots spun them around completely 180 degrees (much like us on our approach to Astokas) and we sailed past, camera on the ready. David, the clear winner  clapping Seaclusion as Hamilton claps his F1 car!! very funny.

Messolonghi.. the approach was 2 1/2nm up a narrow channel, the westerlie 6 now on our beam (sails safely tucked away) but challenging enough as we could see the grass poking through the marshland either side of us… The canal was also lined with interesting fishermen houses (pelades) standing on stilts in the shallow water, looking like something out of South East Asia rather than Greece.

The town centre lay about 1km from our safe anchorage and harbour, and once we had passed the newish buildings made of reinforced concrete, we found the pedestrian area and old square had much more character than we had initially envisaged.

We stayed here on anchor for a couple of nights, enjoying the peace and quiet and practicing on our paddle board, until we left in much calmer conditions, heading towards Patras. Sadly we also learned that our friends Don and Dee weren’t going to be able to join us after all.

It would have been a fab sail, Close haul in a Force 4 to 5, but having got our main sail out and set, and then our Genoa, our winch decided it had been overworked recently and came apart when David tried to take the winch handle out. Keeled over, and rather than risking losing key parts overboard we carefully put the Genoa away and motored the 3 hours to Patras where we managed to secure a berth, with the helpful hand of Dimitris taking our lines, the wind still blowing a healthy 5! We then managed to fix the winch, which was best done in the marina than out at sea !

Patras is the largest city in the Peloponnisos and third largest in Greece, and had been described as grubby but lively, so we were pleasantly surprised when we found our way to the centre to see some lovely architecture, pedestrianised streets, lots of cafes, bars and shops. Lively definitely grubby, absolutely not.

Patras

We ended up staying 4 nights here, 2 days spent travelling inland to explore some of what the Peloponnisos has to offer, having hired a car, and I have to say, it is  not what you know, but who you know here in Greece, with Dimistris’ help we hired a BMW 1 series Sport for less money than our normal crass colored Fiat Panda’s of late!

First stop with David, aka Lewis being behind the wheel, adopting very quickly the Greek way of driving, was Olympia, which for 12 centuries was the most important religious and athletic centre of ancient Greece and is now the place where the current day Olympic Torch commences its journey to each of the Olympic hosting cities.

From Olympia we drove westward to the coastal town of Kallithea, not realising that this is where all the cruise ships stopped for Olympia. As 3 were in harbour, dwarfing everything around them, we didnt stay long!

And instead decided to wind our way back towards Patras and visit the famous Achaia Clauss Vineyard and had a wonderful tour and history lesson, the vineyard being started by a German over a century ago and has been under Nazi Protection (because the owner was German of course) during the 2nd World War and so was left completely intact during the occupation ! So having had a great tour, we tasted a number of their wines and settled on a couple of cases, went to pay only to realise that we had left our credit cards at home, so we would have to make the journey again first thing in the morning.

We then crossed the Rion-Andirrion Suspension Bridge,  which covers the 1 mile straight that divides the Gulf of Patras and Gulf of Corinth. This bridge was completed in 2004 and is the longest cable-stayed bridge in the World at 2,252m long.

Once over the bridge we drove to Navpaktos, where we had intended to go by boat but that Dimitris had warned was notoriously hard to get into and anchoring outside was not ideal for a comfortable night. On arriving at the old port we understood exactly what he meant there being room for only 3 yachts maximum. Navpaktos is a minute medieval harbour bordered by old plane trees and sitting under the shadow of an old Venetian Castle. The locals were an animated lot, and so we decided to stop for a drink and dinner here, watching the sunset and the old harbour light up!

After a long day we made our way back to Seaclusion, had a late coffee and crashed. Setting off the following morning via the vineyard with a a credit card in hand, we had then planned to drive to the mountain village called Kalavrita and catch the old rack and pinion train through the stunning  Vouraikos Gorge to Dhiakofto. It was a beautiful, windy drive, David loving every minute of it and Kalavrita was a sweet village, also said to be a ski resort in the winter…. note the ski piste map below before you are thinking about booking a ski holiday there though! Unfortunately on arriving at the quaint old station house we were told that the train we wanted was fully booked and if we wanted to do the trip we had to drive to the other end and catch the return train from there, but if we wanted to do so, we needed to book then and there as there were only a few spaces left. This we duly did and then went on a walkabout through the town.

The drive down the mountain to Dhiakopto was equally as exhilarating and we arrived with half an hour to spare. The uniqueness of this railway is the mechanism that it uses to climb safely on steep slopes, crossing 22km  of stunning scenery, at times running alongside and other times crossing the Vouraikos Gorge so deep that we were running above the tree tops ( and they were very tall trees)! The journey up was fantastic, carriage all to ourselves, homeward bound, not quite so much fun, as the train was indeed full, and the Greeks are somewhat shorter than us, so leg room was at a premium!

We finally got back to the car late afternoon and took a leisurely drive back to Patras and the boat, passing the Bridge once more, and stopping on route to provision the boat!

Tomorrow we will set sail for the Gulf of Corinth!