From: Margarita
To: Igoumanitsa
Miles: 15
Total: 289
Today was our last day in Greece. The walk was very enjoyable with good roads, good weather except one brief shower, and a descent of about 1000 feet down to the sea port in Igoumanitsa.
After a weather day off yesterday, we woke this morning to clear skies above a thin layer of fog and temps in the high 30s. We bought some pastries yesterday so after eating breakfast in our apartment, we were out the door at 8:00. We walked about two hours and decided to shed some layers of clothing as the temperatures warmed up. We had not walked five minutes after taking off our jackets when it started to rain. Nothing heavy but enough that we stopped again and put our rain gear and pack covers on. That shower lasted about ten minutes. So after it stopped raining, we stopped again and took the rain gear back off. After a quick break at a gas station for a snack, we headed down hill all the way to the port. It was a breeze. After all our climbing the last few days we gave it all back in two hours.
After getting to the dock in Igoumanitsa we checked in at the ferry ticket counter to ensure they had our reservation. They did so we then had to find something to do for 10 hours before the ferry leaves tonight at 11:59 to take us to Brindisi, Italy. Dave reserved us a twin berth cabin so we can get some sleep during the nine hour ferry ride across the Adriatic Sea. When we get to Brindisi around 9:00 Friday morning we plan to walk on down the road about 18 miles.
Our 289 mile walk across Greece has been more than we ever imagined. The scenery has been amazing, the food very good, and even the places we’ve found to spend our nights have been better than expected. And the people here have been very friendly and accommodating. We’ve walked 16 of the 18 days we’ve been here and averaged a little over 18 miles/day. My feet have been sore most of the way but are on the mend. Dave hasn’t had any blister problems but has been understanding when I’ve slowed us down once or twice. Overall, we’re looking very much forward to getting to Italy and it’s 845 miles from bottom to top, but who’s counting? So it’s off to the ferry boat now. We’ll post again from Italy tomorrow. Thanks for reading.