Author Archives: BarryH

Wild walks in Greece on hold

Posted on June 2, 2013 by BarryH

My diary for Sunday 2 June reads “16.35 Aegean Airways flight A3603, arrive Athens 22.10”. But I won’t be on it. This was to be the start of a 2 month trip around mountains, gorges and waterfalls in the Peloponnese. … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Grey Britain, Mountains, Reflections, Wales | Tagged Bible, Book of Proverbs, changed plans, Greece, Lake District, travelling by bus, Wales | 1 Comment

A Welsh Spring and clichés of violence

Posted on May 26, 2013 by BarryH

Back in Wales and spring has at last arrived. Before I left Arctic blasts whipped across the tops of the mountain ridges dumping snow and lowering temperatures so that buds stayed tight shut long past their usual seasonal opening time. … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Monmouthshire, Mountains, Pontypool, Reflections, Spring, Wales | Tagged apples, bees, black currants, bluebells, brecon beacons national park, bud burst, cliches, coat of paint, environmental triggers, explosion, fruit production, leaves, oak, oak trees, Pontypool Folly Tower, riot of colour, spring, temperatures, trees, violence, Wales, winds, wire fencing | Leave a comment

Kalymnos: last walk, last explosion

Posted on May 17, 2013 by BarryH

I was unusually apprehensive setting out for the mountains on Wednesday. Since I arrived in Greece towards the end of April the weather had been hot and sunny, more so than might be expected for early summer when it can … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Reflections | Tagged bombs, col, dodecanese, explosions, explosives, Greece, Italian Path, Kalymnos, mountains, Pothia, Profitis Ilias Kalymnos, sun lover, Vathys | Leave a comment

Kalymnos: mountains and traditions

Posted on May 11, 2013 by BarryH

After the Easter celebrations it was back to the mountains and a change of plan. On Tuesday I caught the morning bus to Chora, the old village above the harbour, then set out to walk up a narrow gorge and … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece | Tagged Agios Ioannis Theologos, castle crag, caves, Chora, Chora castle, crickets, Crusader castle, dynamite, Easter, easter celebrations, explosions, filoxenia, goats, Greece, Μουούρι, Kalymnos, knights of st john, monasteries, mountains in greece, Mouri, pasture, Pothis, Profitis Ilias, Profitis Ilias Kalymnos, quarry blasts, spider, tradition, wells | 1 Comment

Kalymnos: Easter with a bang … or two

Posted on May 6, 2013 by BarryH

Clean Friday Pothia, the main town and harbour of Kalymnos on Good Friday, ‘Big Friday’ or ‘Clean Friday’ as it is known in Greek gave a faint inkling of what it must be like in a besieged city like Sarajevo … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece | Tagged carnival, Clean Friday, dynamite, Easter, explosions, Good Friday, Greece, Καλό Πάσχα, Kalymnos, Kastri, Pothia, pyrotechnics, Resurrection | 1 Comment

Kalymnos: rock and more rock

Posted on May 3, 2013 by BarryH

The main thing which strikes you about Kalymnos is …. rock. Craggy mountains rise steeply above the harbour and are the dominant backbone the whole length of the island. Much of the rock is precipitous and this plus warm, sunny … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece | Tagged Emborios, Greece, Italian Path, Kalymnos, Kastri, Pothia, rock climbing, rocks, Stink Lily | Leave a comment

From Symi to Kalymnos: from peace and quiet to tranquility

Posted on May 1, 2013 by BarryH

On my one full day on Symi I walked across the island to Agios Vasilios, a bay on the far side with a tiny monastery nestled into the cliffs. It was always a favourite with my late wife and I … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece | Tagged Agios Vasilios, Emborios, Greece, Horio, ησυχία, Kalymnos, Lapathos Bay, monastery, peace and quiet, Pothia, Symi, tranquility, Yialos | Leave a comment

From Rhodes to Symi: new beginnings and a whiff of death.

Posted on April 29, 2013 by BarryH

No problem getting to Rhodes’ Colonna harbour for the 08.30 high speed cat to Symi , nor in buying a ticket (more about which in a later blog …. maybe). On the way it was heart warming to see a … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece | Tagged Agia Marina, Dracunculus vulgaris, Dragon Lily, flies, Greece, Octopus, Pedi, Rhodes, spiders, Stink Lily, Symi | Leave a comment

Greece: a beginning in Rhodes.

Posted on April 27, 2013 by BarryH

I left the cold and April showers of Manchester and landed in Rhodes in temperatures still above 20oC at near midnight. Very pleasant. It is still pre-season over here and the Old Town, which in the summer makes Blackpool at … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece | Tagged Greece, Rhodes, Rhodes Old Town, town walls | Leave a comment

Greece: on the edge

Posted on April 27, 2013 by BarryH

Apologies. The last week or so I have been rushing around like the proverbial, if biologically unidentified, blue arsed fly. Constantly under time pressure. The main reason for being in Grey Britain these days is to be with family and … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Monmouthshire, Mountains, Pontypool, Wales | Tagged brecon beacons national park, gardening, gardens, Garn Wen, Greece, growing season, Mynydd Garn Wen, plants, triangulation pillars, trig point, trig points, vegetables, Wales, Welsh, welsh name | 1 Comment