A long walk accompanied for much of the way by a dense cloud of small flies.
As I had 39 kilometres to walk plus a 770 metre total ascent I started early. After doing some exercises to free up my back I left just as the sky was beginning to brighten in the east to compete with the moon. A few kilometres down the road I stopped in the village of Rodopoli at a cafe for a welcome double expresso and at a bakery for some lunch snacks. As I walked on, the house martins were massing on the telegraph wires.
On entering the next village the E4 leaves the tarmac road and heads uphill into woods of scrubby oak. Over the hours I walked through these woods I was surrounded by a dense cloud of small flies or gnats. While they did not seem to be biting (other insects were) it was highly irritating to be surrounded by this buzzing collection of black, fast moving insects. I killed quite a few by clapping my hands on them but they were just replaced by others. Stopping was out of the question as it was an opportunity for them to land on my sweaty body so I just kept walking. I guess this meant I went faster but it was not pleasant. Eventually as I was heading out of the hills, and the path was in sunlight with the suggestion of a breeze the flies dropped in number and I could eat some of the food I bought earlier.
Leaving the hills altogether I entered the village of Myrophyto where I bought a Coke and a creamy sort of snack. A wasp soon spotted me, five others soon joined him and I had to resort to covering my Coke with my hat to stop them getting into the can. Next stop was the village pharmacy where I acquired an insect repellent made of eucalyptus and lemon oil. Don't know if it will work but it made me smell quite fresh. There were a number of areas in the village where they seemed to be drying tobacco leaves under plastic sheets.
As I had 39 kilometres to walk plus a 770 metre total ascent I started early. After doing some exercises to free up my back I left just as the sky was beginning to brighten in the east to compete with the moon. A few kilometres down the road I stopped in the village of Rodopoli at a cafe for a welcome double expresso and at a bakery for some lunch snacks. As I walked on, the house martins were massing on the telegraph wires.
On entering the next village the E4 leaves the tarmac road and heads uphill into woods of scrubby oak. Over the hours I walked through these woods I was surrounded by a dense cloud of small flies or gnats. While they did not seem to be biting (other insects were) it was highly irritating to be surrounded by this buzzing collection of black, fast moving insects. I killed quite a few by clapping my hands on them but they were just replaced by others. Stopping was out of the question as it was an opportunity for them to land on my sweaty body so I just kept walking. I guess this meant I went faster but it was not pleasant. Eventually as I was heading out of the hills, and the path was in sunlight with the suggestion of a breeze the flies dropped in number and I could eat some of the food I bought earlier.
Leaving the hills altogether I entered the village of Myrophyto where I bought a Coke and a creamy sort of snack. A wasp soon spotted me, five others soon joined him and I had to resort to covering my Coke with my hat to stop them getting into the can. Next stop was the village pharmacy where I acquired an insect repellent made of eucalyptus and lemon oil. Don't know if it will work but it made me smell quite fresh. There were a number of areas in the village where they seemed to be drying tobacco leaves under plastic sheets.
More road walking and a dirt track brought me to the edge of Lake Doirani. The "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" is on the other side of the lake, where there appears to be a lot of urban development. Much of the Greek side has been left to the many birds that occupy the reedy margins of the lake. As I sit here writing this, the plane tree in front of my balcony at the Hotel Doviros is full of twittering birds of some kind and house martins are swooping down on the flies.
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| House Martins on the telegraph wires |
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| Walk through the woods where I was plagued by gnats |
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