Monday 21 June Leonidio to Sparta

 On the road at 6:50 as it’s a long day and will get up to 37degC later. We climb for 18 miles along the mountain pass that follows the dried up Dafnon  river to start with before hairpin bending upwards passing the monastery of Elonas perched high in the mountains. The road just seems to never want to flatten out. It takes us 3 hours 40 minutes to get to the mountain village of Kosmas where we sit in the shade of giant plane trees . We have freshly squeezed orange  juice cappuccino and very sweet Greek cakes in the square whilst local men play cards. 

Even after Kosmas the road still seems to want to climb. Eventually though we make the majestic descent -  all 9 miles of it. We arrive at a crossroads and it seems like we’ve arrived in an oven. It is crushingly hot. The road is littered with dead cicadas. We take sanctuary in the cool of a little chapel and as there’s a hosepipe nearby we soak ourselves in cold water 

The Spartan plain is searingly hot as we plough onwards northward towards the town. There’s a bit of a headwind which for once is welcome  

We find our hotel in the centre of the town. Head off for a beer in the 37degC heat and then relax and cool down by the pool. Like being in Morocco. 

Another mountain pass tomorrow!