Stayed in a great little hotel in Pedoulas and had the best trout ever, cooked over charcoal.
Views across the village which unfortunately was limited by low cloud and rain! But the place had a ski resort in South America feel to it.As it was booked full the next night I was heading off to a local monastery and intended to find some where else to Kip.
Signs being Greek to me I followed a picture sign that looked ecclesiastical to a church in the valley bottom which wasn’t even there let alone open. Unfortunately the rain had caused rock falls along the road and despite caution I managed to cut a slit in the tyre which when pumped full of tyre glue sprayed over the road. A phone call and 3 hrs later tyre repair man turned up with new tyre. Very efficient and I was in the middle of no where some might say €350 was good value I disagree but was trapped. All repaired I headed off to the monastery.
Very impressive with massive statue of Cyprus’s founding father also a fine collection of saints bits and pieces stored in ornate boxes - not to be missed. Due to low cloud the views were non existent!
Plan then to head south and find a stop. My route took me to a small mountain village where I set off the churches alarm by parking in front of it then chose a road with a proper sign on it .
Hmmmm; this road then turned in to concrete then gravel then track with rock falls , sheer drops and slippery gravel pot holed surface. I’d gone too far to turn back but after 10 k’s I rounded a bend and there was a tree! 
Had to reverse a few hundred meters then do a 7-10 point turn. Thankfully there was a road sign at a small junction I hadn’t seen pointing to a closer town . I should mention that fuel was very low and I’m not adverse to driving on fumes and the light was going. First obstacle was a ford which didn’t look too deep , then just hairpins , ruts , cambers and boulders . Twice I got out to clear rocks and acknowledged that if there was another tree hurdle no way did I have enough fuel to get back to the road and in the dark driving was unwise. So the pressure was on to hit civilisation or sleep in the car and walk the next day if I had to. Aware that tyre man had let my tyres down to stop further cuts and I was grounding out on bends this little mountain rally was performed in an automatic Suzuki swift. It smelt of oil and brakes but got me to a proper road which transpired to be less than 5 k’s from where I stayed previous night and more importantly, though I hadn’t seen it there was a petrol station!! Home safe and sound.
Today the sun was out and Olympus was visible so I drove up there. Icy roads snow ploughs were clearing which makes it sound like there was loads of white stuff but not enough to ski. Enough to make the tyres slip around though 😃
Back to the boat today but not before the hire company told me I could only go an hour over or they would charge another day. This was the road rally section and she had the audacity to go over the scratches and dings like it was a pristine car when I picked it up! I had taken photos and she bollocked the dwarf who handed me the car for not annotating better. Now I wait to get my deposit back but she did give it a clean bill of health check though. A fine little break.
