Almost Final Days in Kalymnos

The past three and a half weeks in Greece, or possibly it is an accumulation of the previous eight weeks in mainland France and Spain, is taking its toll.  We are both tired and a single rest day does not seem to be enough to revitalize us.  Unfortunately, time is not an luxury that we have left in Greece, so we are making the most of the time left and climbing as much as possible and taking as much rest as possible, hmmm, we've resorted to day on day off.

After a damp morning in Afternoon crag, we moved into a very crowded Grande Grotta.  The boys (Barry and Andrew) got onto a short 7a+ "Aphrodite", which Barry onsighted nicely and unforunately Andrew fell at the crux, the difference being a couple of inches in height, I think.  Unfortunately, they were climbing on someone else draws and I didn't get the opportunity to give it a try.  However, the grande grotta is a haven for photography so I did get a couple of nice shots.

Next up was another 7a+ (downgraded in the new guide book to 7a) "DNA" which I did get an attempt to top rope (I know I should have just lead it but I was cold and didn't think I had a good attempt in me, I regret it now), what a great route).  Andrew styled it, made good use of the rests and got it onsight. 

Shortly afterwards, Juan and Eoin came along styling up a number of routes, including Aphrodite, DNA and Ivi. 

And along came the tiredness.... we've been to Odyssey for the last couple of days for me to attempt a number of 6c's that I've been trying.  I managed to redpoint a stiff short 6b+ "Why Not?", onsight a second 6b+ "Atena" and repdoint a 6c "Imia" in two attempts.  Unfortunately, my other attempts at "Ciao Vecio" 6c, "Itaca" 6c+ and "Island Highways" 6c were not for me, I did lead them to the chains and get all the moves. It was simply a matter of not enough "green beans" to get me through the routes in one go.

Amidst all these climbing days, Andrew and I, rented a scooter for a day and drove around the island.  We headed to Palionnisos (end of the road to Sikati cave) and had coffee in Paradise Taverna with Nikolas the friendly (oh so friendly owner who usshered us in, regardless of what we wanted).  There we found a giggling bunch of Slovenians, Nikolas' life photo albums spanning the history of his taverna and his sponge diving career.   Lets say it was an interesting hour, we left shortly after he brought out glasses of ouzo for fear of what might come next and time for our island view from a moped was slowly slipping away.

The rest of the day was spent lying on a small pebble beach, shivering as the clouds covered the sun, a quick dip, a spin to Vathi and Rino (the idylic fishing village on the other side of the island) and back through Pothia to Massouri.