Last night’s big storm , with an amazing lightnig show offshore, played havoc with the sleep. It also dented the confidence regarding handling the state of the track with its steep gradients, scree walking and boulder scrambling.

At our 700 am confab with mine host he suggested to be wary of the slippery conditions. Thankfully , there was an alternate forest walk, which although steep we took.

After breakfast the host walked us up the hill and onto the track which meandered up to about 600 metres, taking up the first hour and a bit of the walk.

Not surprisingly people were building houses high up into the hills, with magnificent views out to the coast. It was a similar trend on the way down over the other side. It’s interesting that they spend so much time having the best external walls, gates and fences yet make internal rooms so small.

Those farming up the valley have a mixture of crops. The persimmon crop must have been poor quality given the number left on the trees.

Shepherds continually moved the goats around with the help of what appeared to be fierce barking dogs. One attacked me and almost slobbered me to death.

It was a more pleasant experience than that a little further down the hill,  when two horse sized dogs made frenzied attempts to get over a 6 foot high fence and prove their worth. The sign on their fence said it all and if they are looking for stars in Kujo 2 – I know where they live. 

The mountain sides were scarred with rockfalls, including the one we are likely to walk in two days time, if we take the high route-13 Kms are scheduled to take 8 hours and hopefully it’s not raining. 

Worked our way off the mountain and the track went through a persimmon orchard, full with fruit and with deep clay soil that soon clogged the boots. Scaling 3 foot high electrified fences with slippery boots made protecting the private parts a priority.

One of the orchards was protected by a 3 legged dog- if you were going to pilfer anywhere, that was the one.

Down on the flat we came to a pretty river with restaurants having dining tables in the river itself. The town also sits right on a long sandy beach which even had a shore break.

Along with countless cafes and restaurants the place is obviously a holiday haven with multiple camping, hotel and B and B facilities. Being end of season it’s not particularly crowded.

The locals also operate offshore boat cruises, but strangely all, or at least most, of the boats are stored on shore on trailers and tractored  down to the beach.

There were five separate swimming beaches, each with a lookout tower, but not a lifesaver to be seen. Swimming at the beach means observance of a list of rules as long as your arm and the local gendarmes appear to police them, traffic movement and locals burning off rubbish.

Beach fishing is also popular, but sometimes it means crossing the narrow river inlet to find a better spot. One local fully dressed tried to do an Olympic medal winning long jump and failed miserably. Not sure a wet and bedraggled fisherman appreciated our whistling and clapping.

One cafe in particular caught our attention with a sign saying it sold “proper” coffee, which saw us immediately detour for a coffee , snack and dessert lunch.

Found our hotel, which essentially consisted of converted storage containers. It was spacious, well appointed and even had a proper bathroom configuration.

Spent more time investigating tomorrow’s route and there is a possiblity of taking a lower, but longer route , around the the mountains which we will investigate.

Went for a walk around the town and realised just how lomg this beach is, with 7 not 5 official swimming enclosures. Followed a couple of unlikely fisherprople to the end  of the seawall and luckily missed having our eye plucked out by a misguided cast of the fishing line.

Spent a lovely  2 hours in a beachside bar rehydrating while the rain poured down outside. Interesting time when a major traffic jam occurred when the local juice selling celebrity’s trailer laden with rocks snapped off the back of his traler. Most people were too busy laughing to help and we were 3 gins into our pre- dinner drinks- basically incapable of providing assistance. 

Being good customers bar owner offered us a ride home – but who would decline the opportunity to side step their way along the path for 300 metres to make home.

Dinner was an alcohol free one of stuffed aubergine and the usual plethora of salads and a foot long loaf of bread.

Suffice to say we slept well with no reason to get up early on a rest day.