The Long And The Shorts Of It

Photo©Nigel Summerley

Neither the weather nor I could make our minds up. It was an unpredictable day on Sikinos. In the end I packed some lunch and thought I'd head out from the Kastro, through the narrow streets of the neighbouring Chora and into the countryside to look for a place for a picnic.

What happened was no picnic.

On the footpath south-west of the Chora, in the area known as Stamatini, the day began to brighten up and I was tempted by a signed path to Agios Pandeleimon down on the south coast.

All went well for a while until the path began to peter out and storm clouds began to darken above. Heading down a ravine where the rocks became ever more treacherous, I felt the rain suddenly become intense. The downpour was cold and so was the wind whipping into me. I continued, looking for somewhere to shelter, but there was nowhere.

Respite only came when the rain eventually stopped, the wind dropped and I came down to a place that I figured couldn't be far from the coast. Wherever I was, there was no one else for miles. So I stripped off my sodden clothes and put them out in the sun which had now started to appear.

I used a stick to prop up my shorts (pictured here) in the vain hope they would become dry enough to wear. After a near-naked lunch, they were still wet through. So I carried them with me, flapping in the sunshine, as I finally found a decent path, made it to the church of Agios Pandeleimon, and then went north-east to Alopronia – where I put them on again briefly in case an arrival in underwear caused alarm.

The shorts came off again on the beach there, for a final bit of drying before the hike back north to the Kastro. What had started off as a short excursion for lunch had ended up as something of an endurance test.

Photo©Nigel Summerley