D53 Messene to Kardamyli

And suddenly the big day was upon us. if all went well we would be remeeting wives in the luxurious accommodation provided by Stavros at Elies amidst the family olives. So it was a prompt start first coffee at the unlikely sounding village of Arsinal 5km down the valley then a roll down to Aras on the coastal plain for breakfast. We were in the city of KAlahari for late morning coffee with me pointing out to Alex such features as Durban cycle tracks and fashionable shopping streets. After so long on the road Kalamata seemed the height of sophistication.

We crossed the city, cycled the promenade and were suddenly faced with the first sign for Mani as weheaded.down the peninsula (West side of the middle finger of the 3 fingers protruding South of the Pelopponese not to be confused with the mirror like three fingers protruding from the Northern Coast including Mt Athos.)

We stuck to the coast as far as possible to reach the delightful fish taverns in the last little bay of Kitries where the coastal road ends and the only way is up! Having fuelled up.at Georgio Gaitanoros's place (to suitable amazement that anyone would be so foolish as to spend 2 months on a bike instead of hanging around drinking ouzo) we took our 600m of ascent on the chin knocking it off in under an hour (Christ my legs are strong after these 50 days) and reached a long imagined summit of the pass into Mani proper. This is where Geoff my blood brother filmed my show reek for Dr Matt's koroneiki olive oil only 21 months ago and here am I back with my brother by marriage... reminding me that brotherhood transcends death itself.

And then down, down those  hairpins which had been damaged by the Kalamata earthquake of 1985 the first time I descended to the glorious pebble beach of Ritsa and Kardamyli with its Palmolive soap factory chimney reminding us of a recent light industrial past which I rather like -a working town as my mother would have said approvingly- no longer true I'm afraid more of a boutique town peopled by real people who are first generation hoteliers and making rather a good job of it.
So we get to the beach and turn right for Elies.I

Then suddenly Susannah is there, the champagne is flowing (mainly on the floor) and that magical Mani light all combine to make me wonder whether it's all a dream afterall!