Day 2          Santa Barbara to Paramonas      20km

Sitting outside our room after dinner last night we chatted to two middle aged blokes from the next apartment.  They were from Portsmouth and also doing the Corfu Trail but over 9 days only, which meant that unlike us they were not having a rest day at Liapades.  They had also found yesterday's walk in the heat tough going and one of them was already having foot trouble, which would worsen over the next couple of days.  Their answer to the heat would be to start walking at 7am every day, which usually meant missing breakfast, in order to arrive at their destination before the day reached its hottest.  

Leaving the Perfect Ten

This morning as we tucked in to our breakfast of yoghurt and honey, hard boiled eggs, fresh bread and jam and coffee we agreed that the early morning starts were not for us, we like breakfast too much.

The first half of today's walk was hard if, like me, you do not enjoy walking on sand.  We set off from Santa Barbara along the beach, walking north along the shore until shortly before reaching the houses of Agios Georgios, where we left the sand to join the road through the resort.  In Agios Georgios we bought water and fruit from a supermarket and then rejoined the beach to slip and slide through the sand until we became level with two islands at a point where the beach turned towards the right.  Here we struck off inland through sand dunes. This area can be confusing and I relied on my GPS to lead us safely to Lake Korrision.

Leaving Santa Barbara, Agios Georgios in the distance

Sometimes it was hard to find a firm path

In the sand dunes

Heading towards Lake Korrision

Lake Korrision

We now followed the lake's shore until we reached a channel that connects the lake to the sea, and here we crossed over the channel via a new bridge.  We then followed our track with the lake on one side and the sea on the other.  It was hot going but I felt much better than yesterday, perhaps I was acclimatising.

Reaching the channel between the sea and the lake

A new bridge

The sea to the left and the lake to the right, it was hot!

Leaving the lake behind we joined tarmac which led us to the sea.  Here we found the road had collapsed, falling into the sea, and we followed yellow trail signs inland and then into olive groves until we reached Alonaki.

Hot and hungry we were very pleased to come upon the Alonaki Bay Taverna and we stopped for cold beers and saganaki, a kind of fried cheese.

Running out of road

"Drink,drink..."

An oasis

Saganaki and beer

We relaxed for nearly an hour in the taverna's shady gardens overlooking the sea, before setting off to walk through seemingly endless olive groves until we reached Paramonas.  After dropping our bags at our accommodation we continued downhill to the taverna where we drank cold beers and booked a table for our evening meal.

A bit of shade while we check our route

Our balcony at Paramonas

The Sunset Taverna at Paramonas for dinner

To Day 3

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