Island Time

After two days of climbing, I took a rest day on Saturday with Roger and Andrey. We were hoping to rent bikes to tour the island a bit, but the bike shops were closed for the day by the time we got our act together. Instead, we walked to the neighbouring village of Myrties to get a boat to the island of Telendos, which is directly across a small 700m channel.

Telendos used to be joined with Kalymnos until it was separated by an earthquake in 554 AD. Now it is home to a tiny hamlet with a few tavernas and residences... and a nudist beach. There are also a few climbing areas on the island. But today we were content with simply hiking around part of the island, enjoying the view and a drink by the harbour, accompanied by the neighbourhood cats.

That evening, I'd invited Andrey and Roger to my studio for dinner. I had made a pasta sauce the previous night and bought some Greek pasta and olives to go a long with it. Unfortunately, the hot plate in my room was not working as it should (or more accurately, I was misinformed of how to use it properly) so it ended up taking over an hour to cook the pasta. In the meantime, we ate olives, drank a bottle of wine and then got into the ouzo. By the time dinner was done, we were all pretty much in the bag, so all seemed quite good.

The next day, Sunday, we headed back to the Grande Grotto to try our hand at a few new routes and some repeats. I had to sleep off our previous night's shenanigans and didn't get there til around noon, but it still ended up being a great day.

Roger and Andrey were heading back to Turkey the next day, so we celebrated the evening at Fatolinis, along with Lena and Andrey from Germany.

I'm really glad to have met those guys; I had a great time with them. It turns out that Roger may be in Thailand at the same time as me in March, so we may see each other again. Andrey lives in London and I'll be sure to give him a ring when I'm there for a couple of days at the beginning of April.

On Monday, I'd made plans to climb with Helen and Nick, the Kiwis we'd met a fews days prior. We hit up a nearby sector called Iannis, where we climbed a series of moderate route and ended the day getting our nerves rattled on a tricky 20m 7a called 'Attitude', beside the cleverly-named Tufa King Pumped (say it fast). For dinner, Nick and Helen invited me to thier place for Thai chicken curry, which was amazing, partly because I'd not any spicy or Asian-style food since leaving Toronto.

And so it goes on island time.

Roger and Andrey on the boat to Telendos

Hiking the coast of Telendos

Cats of Telendos, enjoying my leftover sardines

Roger and I at Grande Grotta

Some dude crushing rock at the Grotta

Andrey belaying me at the Grotta

Me on a route called DNA (7a) at the Grotta

The other Andrey at the Iliada sector

Sheep and goats everywhere

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