An Evening Walk (a.k.a. I Brake for Spiders!)

I hate spiders. I mean I really, really, hate spiders. Don’t you hate it when you notice something, file that little nugget of information for later when it will come in handy, get distracted, and then fail to remember when it matters most? When I woke up this morning I saw a big spider just outside the hatch. I filed that information…knowing I’d have to go up front there eventually when we left. And I forgot about it.

So, this morning after we helped the disabled sailboat back onto the dock we took our own leave. As I walked up to the bow to set up to bring the anchor up, I walked straight into the cobwebs. I didn’t really want to let out a shriek after there had been an incident already, so I just flailed wildly, apparently at nothing. Wonder what that looked like. Oh, there go the nice, helpful Canadians. Lets all watch the next boat leave and see what happens….what an interesting dance she is doing…maybe it’s their version of a lucky dance before setting out underway. No, no, it’s just the arachnophobe doing a little freaking out on the bow before smiling and pulling up the anchor.

Anyway, this evening we decided to go and explore that “path” we saw along the hillside and out to the chapel on the point. The “path” turned out to be the typical goat trail we seem to find ourselves on, and while the fall would not have been far into the sea…the real hazard was the spiders. Thousands and thousands of them. The snake was no issue…the spiders were. They have seriously strong webs that cross the trail at every bush, sometimes a half a dozen webs and spiders criss-cross the trail.

Hey Kirk…you go first!

Eventually even he can’t stand them and finds a branch to flail at them and clear them out. I follow along and every so often almost run right up his back when he comes up short against a particularly large one. Swish, off it goes. And on we go. The closer we get to the chapel, the more webs and spiders there are across our path. The going gets slower and slower and we clamber over broken spots in the path. This will be interesting returning in falling light. As usual, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when the Rough Guide says that there is a very narrow path that leads past the microscopic coves towards the headland and out to the chapel.

Yeah…narrow…that’s for sure. No mention of the eight-legged wildlife though!

When we finally get there, it really is a lovely little spot. And we really don’t want to backtrack as it is getting dark. The chapel is dated 1956 and we can see an older one up on the hill above, likely the original one and it was destroyed in the earthquakes in 1953. There is a set of stairs to a gate that says Private. Yes, it is trespassing….but we just want to get up to a road…there has to be a road….doesn’t there?

We find a widening path that twists around a bit and then suddenly we see a fork…and one path is freshly mown grass. We look around, there are acres and acres of manicured grounds and two massive mansions on the hill above. Shhhh, be vewy, vewy quiet…..they might be hunting Canadians….

We pick our way through the grounds, staying in the scrubby parts, and eventually find our way to a road that leads ever up.

Interesting side note. There is not a stretch of land on Ithaka straight or flat enough to land anything other than a helicopter…so there is no airport. Everyone gets here either by boat…or I suppose by helicopter…

We climb and climb, switching back over and over until we are at the top…and there is no straight path back down to where we need to be. When I mutter. Kirk says…”We can always go back…”.”no,no, that’s OK”

Eventually we find the gate, it says Private of course. But we are finally on a paved road that is heading down instead of up, and towards the harbour instead of away from it. I make a comment about how at least the only wildlife we have to worry about on the island are goats…at that precise moment a massive grasshopper explodes across Kirk’s feet and we both flail! Panic stricken over a grasshopper after defending ourselves against giant spiders all evening. Such big brave folk we are.

We make it back down to the boat…in the dark… but at least it was a spider free route.