Loading search...
Sandra Goodswen travelled on our 'Crete in Autumn' tour and submitted this entry to our writing competition.
Crete
Were we promised thunderstorms? No, the pre-tour information advised us only that the weather gets less predictable in the autumn. Four thunderstorms seemed to be more than our quota of unpredictability!
With the weather ‘unpredictable’ we studied the forecast closely each morning before leaving the hotel, and on day 3, with a high of 24 degrees ‘predicted’, we decided we could chance the Omalos Plateau high in the White Mountains.
We stopped first at Agia Lake where the birds were few and the skies ominously grey. Not to be put off - it wasn’t actually raining - we started the climb into the hills. Up we went, and up, and up - into rain and low-hanging cloud. By the time we got to the plateau it was a full-blown thunderstorm. We’d been promised a coffee stop in a café, but the rain was so heavy that we were nearly drenched as we dashed the 20 or so yards from the minibus to the door of the café.
However, inside the café was a welcoming log fire, and hot drinks aplenty. We sat and watched the weather, as the gaps between the lightning and the thunder became closer and closer, and the rain became a torrential deluge blown sideways by the gale-force wind. It was unbelievable just how much water was coming down; how could the sky hold so much? The downpipes were overwhelmed and the plateau was awash. Still, we had some nature inside with us - a stuffed bird of prey was watching us closely, though the stuffed Beech Marten was rather aloof. Then we noticed the glassy eyes of the head of a Kri-kri, the ancient breed of goat, and David Tattersfield, our tour leader, was able to tell us all about these creatures - as well as the possible plants we might see, if only it would let up.
If only! It just went on and on, but snug and warm as we were, we were happy to watch the show of nature in the raw. We had our picnic lunch there eventually, and yet more hot drinks.
As the thunder began to move away and the rain ease somewhat, one at a time we all ventured out to the minibus for full waterproofs, intent on seeing at least some plants this day. The rain, though not the wind, did just about stop for a while and we found the promised Crocus laevigatus and Cochicum cretense in a field just over the road, though they’d rather suffered under the onslaught. David then drove us up to view the beginning of the Samaria Gorge (closed of course!) where horizontal rain was suddenly upon us again. A drive round the plateau sounded a good idea until we were faced with a torrent of muddy water and rocks across the road, quite blocking it, and even beginning to break down the edges.
All this was an amazing experience and quite unexpected, and I think we all agreed that it was the thing we would most remember about our trip!
That’s not to say that we didn’t see some fantastic plants (on other days!), many of them in flower, and we couldn’t keep up with them all on the daily checklist. One of the highlights was seeing areas covered in Cyclamen, but trying to decide which species they were - now that was confusing, specially so as one of them was actually called Cyclamen confusum. Thank goodness that David was there, (almost) always with the correct name for the plant we’d queried a hundred times already - how patient he was with us. And as minibus driver, picnic provider and guide he couldn’t have been bettered. How could we expect him also to organise the weather!
Read more about our 'Crete in Autumn' holiday.