Wednesday

A short walk for me yesterday, just out on the mountainside and back again. While wandering that way, I spied Neil and Clare on their way over the top. They were heading to Kokimithes, which is, I believe, the second-highest monastery on the island. Please correct me if I am wrong. You can also walk to it via the road, but you know Neil: always likes to go over the top.

You can’t really make them out on that zoomed-in photo, but they were both wearing red, which is very sensible when going off-piste, and they were quite high up. A path leads from just over the Ag Marina bridge, around terracing and up the hillside to the ridge. Along it, you suddenly come across a set of steps like you find in the village, and you have to wonder how old they are. It’s only a short stretch of steps, after and before that, it’s across the boulder fields and scrub, though parts are worn away so you can follow the track. You’ve also got the red dots kindly provided by Frances and her Symi walking book, still there after so many years. I’m not sure if they are updated and redone now and then, but they have weathered well in the main.

For me, it was a pleasant stroll along the side of the hill while I dreamt up my next chapter. I was greeted by Araby, the sheepdog on my way back, his owners, and their puppy, who bounced and barked all over me in a good-natured way. I think I heard him/her called ‘Poppy’, but I can’t be sure; it might have been something else. Still, a nice welcome on the hillside, as they say, before trudging home again to put the washing on, sort the laundry and write a book.

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Symi Hinterland

We’re currently watching the Welsh crime drama, Hinterland, and the word, not the series, made me think of Symi’s hinterland. So, today, I thought I’d share a couple of shots Neil took on a recent walk to Stavros tou Polemou (the Cross of the War), the highest church on Symi. Apparently, the ‘war’ of the church’s title refers to a family feud of the past rather than a world war. At least, that was what I was told many years ago by a chap who seemed to know.

You can find this church via a fairly lengthy walk from Horio, along the main road, cutting off a corner with the old calderimi (above) if you want. About halfway across the island, where you enter the woods, there’s an unfinished building on the left. Opposite, you can take a woodland path to the side of the hill on which the church sits, or, now, you can take a carved-out track. It’s been a while since I went that way, but like many other tracks on the island, the ones around this area are being improved to make access to the farms and churches safer and easier.

There’s a bit of a scramble up the hillside as far as I remember, but nothing too strenuous as many people do it in their ‘best’ for festivals. (Wear proper walking shoes and take your high heels with you for when you get to church, for safety.) From up there, you can see across to Panormitis and beyond, around the south-east side of the island and across the sea to other Dodecanese islands too. It’s a lovely walk, very rewarding, and took Neil roughly six hours from Horio to there and back, though he did stop for views and photos along the way, and timing depends on which path you take, how fast you walk and so on. Maybe something to consider for the cooler earlier and later season months when you can next get across here on holiday.

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An office view

I’ve been working in the dark for a couple of weeks – shutters closed, curtains drawn, so, yesterday, I decided to throw wide the gates and open up the view again. There’s a noticeable difference as the room chills; though the heater is on, the view is the thing.

The first thing I saw was a whacking great goat investigating the neighbour’s courtyard and wandering around on their outbuilding’s roof. A very impressive beast he was, and on seeing me, leapt on the wall as if he’d done something wrong. After a rummage around in the abandoned, walled garden next door for a while, he went on his merry way.

And that’s about the highlight of my Monday morning, as it’s all very quiet and calm out there. The sea, as you can see, is flat and silver as it often is in the early morning, and although there was a Blue Star calling during the early hours, it’s long gone and you feel as though you could skate on the water. No such fun for me. I have typesetting work to do ahead of a new release later this week.

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On with the week

Here we are back to Monday again, back to slightly warmer weather, and back to work. Over the weekend, I posted on my other blog, the one I update every Saturday with something relevant to my pen name writing. This Saturday, I had a celebrity in the house. We had a short interview with author Russell Edwards. Russell runs the Jack the Ripper Tour Company in London and wrote the book ‘Naming Jack the Ripper.’ I have a copy of it on my shelf. Russell answered some questions about his books and his research, and to me, that was akin to having Stephen King over for a cup of coffee. Of course, there was a reason for him popping in, and that’s for me to talk about some of the historical facts behind my historical fiction. If you’re interested, you can click over to that blog and have a read. The Real History Behind the Clearwater Mysteries. The link opens in a new page, so you won’t miss out on my photographs of stray cats.

That was something else I did at the weekend. I popped up the lane to drop off the rubbish and feed the stray cats and chickens. As You can see, there are quite a few of them, but a lot fewer thanks to the SNiP and SAW programmes we have on Symi. I must say, those acronyms do sound rather severe, but they are both compassionate and friendly charities. The cats appeared healthy, noisy, happy to see me, and no-one complained that they had biscuits again. Well, maybe one of the chickens might have, but if so, I chose to ignore their clucked protestations.

Apart from all that, I also finished off my edits for my next instalment and have that ready to be laid out and readied for printing, a job I shall start on Monday. In other news, the Spanos boat did a marathon day on Friday, doing two days’ worth of journeys in one to catch up on the days missed because of the rough weather. A gentle fall of rain early on Sunday morning left the air fresh, and the week ahead is currently forecast as warming up to 17 degrees with light winds and plenty of sunshine. And so, on with the week…

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Friday Photos

Here’s a collection of some of Neil’s recent photos to see you through the weekend. The wind had died by Thursday morning, though there was still a stiff breeze up here in the village and the thermometer read six degrees. The shutters are still closed, and the heaters are on as the house cools down and takes a while to warm up even once the sunnier weather starts. It’s something to do with the stones retaining the cold as they retain the heat of summer when they act as storage heaters. A weekend of final readthrough lies ahead for me as my latest story is back from the proof-reader. That means 90,000 words to reread in case I need to change anything, and then a day of formatting before I can release the ninth book in my Victorian Mystery series. Meanwhile, I have already started plotting book ten. So, I intend to be busy. Have a good weekend.

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