Woke up to an eerie red glow in the bedroom, so pulled the curtains back and got greeted with this view! What a stunner start to the day!
When a day starts like that, it seemed remis to not stretch out by the waters edge to digest your breakfast. After warming up like lizards we had another lovely long swim. I forgot to mention but the other morning while swimming mid way to the island, three things whizzed by me. At first I thought they were birds, kingfishers perhaps due to their speed, but then as they closed in on Clare, some 10 metres away, they re-entered the water - they were flying fish! Amazing!
There is a mountain behind where we are staying called Mt Didyma. It's the height of Snowdon, but with a road leading all the way to the summit, built to service to several antennae. It was quite a wild drive as the road, although tarmac, was in a bit of dis-repair and with some very steep drops off the crumbling verge!
After a small goose chase (owing to the fact that the guidebook had the crag marked on a different mountainside!), we eventually reached the top of the correct peak, parked up and found the crag as the cloud blew in from below.
Being over 1000m higher than this mornings swim, it was about 10 degrees cooler and the blowing mist and cloud blocked any feeling of apricity.
Even without the glorious views promised by the guidebook, it was perfectly warm enough for climbing with a jacket on. We chose a few steeper routes to keep warm on too!
The rock was good quality, but short. we had a list of routes in the guide, but they seemed to be listed in no particular order, so we had to rely on the names of some, which were printed in faded red paint at the base of the climbs here and there. Eventually, the clouds came in even thicker and we decided to loose some altitude and get back into the sunshine below rather than keep climbing in the mist (we are on holiday after all!).
A few switch-backs was all it took to loose enough height for the views to open back up.
Although there were still some misty sections to concentrate through!
And some big rocks to dodge that had fallen onto the road from the crumbling embankments!
Soon enough, all we had to do was coast down hill while enjoying the sunset...
On the way home we stopped briefly at a different beach near a town called Kilada. The view of the bay was beautiful, but spoil by the fact that the coastline was strewn with rubbish.
We left just before last light and made it home before dark...
Didyma Climbs:
- A good Crack, 5a*
- A Funny Turn, 5a*
- J-J, 6a+**
- Powerline, 6b**
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