Letter to the Corinthians

We left Athens on a very useful bike path, which avoided the traffic and whisked us down to Piraeus, by the sea. It was the last day of school for children in Athens and we saw many presents for teachers being taken to school.

One bunch we came across were obviously having a waterfight on the last day and were armed with super-soakers and water bombs. I have to admit to telling them a bit of a lie as we passed, claiming we were unarmed. In my defence, I doubt their English lessons had progressed as far as dealing with combat niceties, but I did get the final schoolboy in the row with a direct hit from my water bottle, an attach he definitely wasn’t expecting.

After that it was a pleasant ride out to the end of the peninsula to get a ferry across to the Island of Salamina. Using the island to exit Athens meant a couple of ferry rides, but missed out a lot of hills, and had a lot less traffic.

After that, we were tracking the motorway along the coast once more, but on the old highway, which has a smooth surface and very little traffic, as well as great views of the coastline.

The highway brought us all the way to Corinth, the ancient city of the Corinthians. It’s also the home of the Corinth Canal, a 6km long and 21m wide canal connecting the Corinthian and Saronic Gulf, and providing a shortcut to Athens from the Adriatic. It was originally proposed in ancient times, but it wasn’t successfully built until the end of the 19th Century.

We had the pleasure of being held up by the passing of a cruise liner through the lifting bridge at its northern end. The canal is too narrow for most modern boats, and this ship looked a little large to make it through as it approached. However, it fitted with metres to spare in the end.

So, we’re spending the night in Corinth, and had a very good meal in a fish restaurant.