Ormiskos Pigádhi

Leaving Skíathos

We left Skíathos on 28 June and sailed slowly around the south side of the island and then west to the mainland coast.

Plataniá

We took a look at a couple of small bays and the harbour at Plataniá looking for nice places to stop for now and in the future. Plataniá looked to be lovely but the quay has only a couple of spaces for yachts (most of it is 4-deep in what seem to be fully operational fishing boats, which we think is a great thing) and the only available space for anchoring overnight was already taken up by 2 yachts. We squeezed in for a short break for coffee but knew that we were uncomfortably close to the boats already at anchor and could not stay for the night, so we moved on quickly.

Quarry on Sarakíniko headland

Sailing along this coastline we saw some dramatic scenery. On the headland at on Sarakíniko there are huge skree runs down to the sea which stand out from miles away. As you get closer you can see the stepped tiers of the quarry which explain the rock debris. From the colour of the rock we guessed that it is marble that is being extracted.

Further along the Tríkeri peninsular the craggy hills rise steeply up from sea level; very wild and remote. At the western end of the peninsula we looked at Órmos Tríkeri and the bays on either side as possible stopping points, before deciding to cross the entrance of the Gulf of Volos to the western side so that we could anchor in the pretty bay of Pigádhi.

Approaching Ormiskos Pigádhi

Sadly Ormiskos Pigádhi did not look its best because grey clouds had rolled in. By coincidence we anchored right next to Snow Goose, the yacht that we had been anchored next to in Skíathos and which had left a day before us.

Nicky’s varnishing emporium

New freshwater pipes

When we arrived at Pigádhi there was a flotilla of charter yachts moored on the small quay. They moved on in the morning so on 29 June we repositioned onto the quay. The weather seems to be unseasonably poor at the moment with lots of grey clouds and rain. As a result we hatched a plan to stay in Pigádhi for a couple of days so that we could tackle a few more of the maintenance chores that we have been putting off. We lifted part of the cabin sole in the high wear areas by the galley and the chart table and Nicky diligently sanded them down and revarnished them. With the floorboards up I replaced the old and very grotty-looking freshwater pipes with new opaque blue ones [Ed: so that we can’t see any grot build-up?].

New sailcover

Moving to the quay allowed us to plug into shore power so we dug out the sewing machine and I set to making a new sail cover. The new fabric was laid out on the quay and we carefully marked out the new shape. The old sailcover was a bit baggy in a few places and a bit bit tight in others. Also, the zig was inconveniently right at the front which made it difficult to do up between the spinnaker pole and the mast. Our adjustments to the design will hopefully address all of those issues. [Ed: and it does and it looks very smart too!].

So it was a busy couple of days with me hidden under a mountain of fabric in the saloon and Nicky working in her ‘varnishing emporium’ (the emptied aft cabin) with brush in hand. With everything back in place and the new sail cover fitted we decided to walk up to the peak just to the west of us topped by Achilles’ Tower.

We climbed the steep set of steps up from the harbour but just short of the top the tracks ran out, so the last bit of the climb was off piste following, at best, some goat tracks. There clearly had been some sort of fortified town here and we saw lots of low walls from the derelict buildings and defences.

Achilles’ Tower

And, of course, at the very top was Achilles’ Tower. Legend has it that it was from here that Achilles set off for the war at Troy. This area of Greece is know as Pelion, after Peleus, Achilles’ father, who owned the area at the time of the Trojan War.

We had chosen to climb up to the tower first thing in the morning. That had the advantage of it being much cooler as well as providing great views of the surrounding countryside bathed in the golden early morning light.

Typically, having climbed up the hard way we found that there was a wide paved path to the summit, so we used it to go down instead.

Using the path it was a much easier walk back down to Pigádhi, which also looked lovely in the morning light. The bread van arrived in the village just as we got back to the quay so we were able to get fresh bread. We also took the opportunity to top up the water tanks from the tap by the quay before we slipped our lines and left. There was a nice 10 knot wind so we headed further into the bay to take a look at Ahilio before beating out of the bay and into the Gulf of Volos in idyllic sailing conditions. We were heading towards the island of Nisís Palaio Tríkeri where we intended to spend the night.

Leaving Ormiskos Pigádhi

Ormiskos Pigádhi, Greece