We leave Plataria and travel along the Ionian Coast trying to decipher why Greek Speed signs under estimate actual Greek Driver speed by a factor of -50 kmph. Radar cameras everywhere but judging by driver actions both on approach and departure they must only take happy snaps. They have an interesting habit of driving partially in the emergency stopping lane to allow other vehicles to overtake on single lane roads as there are no overtaking lanes. We saw some amazing near misses and the whole thing looks like rafferty’s rules, but it seems to work for them.

I love the mountains and forests the coastal areas range from quaint towns away from tourists to rather dusty run down places. Seems some towns take great pride in their appearance and others do not. I see where money is more important, environment and general appearance to decline. It’s a shame because the Greek west coast is beautiful.

We saw plenty of snakes today and they have a bright green lizard. At times we have crossed and unfortunately run over catipillars in their 10’s of thousands crossing the road. It seems they are pine processionary caterpillars, Thaumetopoea pityocampa, which are a highly destructive pest (for pines) and dangerous to touch. Frogs we have heard are raucous and the ones we have seen are bright green, they are calling outside our room tonight. The swallows we have seen nesting are from Africa, they are the harbingers of spring and the ancient Greeks had a festival to welcome their arrival.

In the ancient world, the birds were particularly associated with the household gods and their presence was looked upon as fortuitous. Conversely, any harm done to them could bode evil for the household. The largest bird we had seen in Athens and Thessaloniki was the Common Swift, Apus apus, noted for its screaming call and amazing aerobatics high in the sky and aerial combat like antics through suburban streets.

We cross the bridge that links mainland Greece with the Peloponnese, its a massive engineering feat and attractive bridge.

We then travel onto Ancient Olympia, the origin of the Olympic Games. To walk among the ruins and track visited by athletes across Greece and thousands of spectators since ancient times is pretty amazing. As we arrived late in the day in the heat the tourists had mostly vanished from the site and we had the whole track to ourselves – the gods were kind to us as this site is generally full of people acting the goat running up the track.

We finish the day with a walk along the beach on the Ionian Coast a section that forms part of Gialova wetlands, one of Europe’s important wetlands.