Leonidio Reprise #3

The Red Cliffs above Leonidio

We first visited Leonidio in October/November 2017. The plan was to escape the crowds that flock to Kalymnos in the Autumn and to try somewhere new. We picked up Colin and Andy at Athens airport and drove the steady three hours to the small harbour village of Sampatiki - our base for a week or so. We headed into town for shopping and got the first clue we weren't alone - there were over 50 vehicles parked up under Mad Wall. It turns out it was half-term over much of Europe and a good % of the Continents' climbers had the same thoughts as us. We climbed of course but it was a bit of a struggle, finding both parking and free routes on occasions. The time we spent at Kyparissi and Nafplio were much pleasanter.

A lovely pad in town - complete with friendly cat

A year later we spent a couple of weeks touring the Peloponnese and didn't see another climber until we rolled into Leonidio. This time we were greeted by a thunderstorm and a lightning strike that cut the power to the town for 36 hours - no heating, no internet, and after a few hours, no water as the pumps weren't working - not a great start.

Sherri wasn't mad keen on a third attempt but after our Schengen induced Cyprus sojourn we needed somewhere to spend a few weeks, with a decent amount of climbing - and Leonidio came to mind. After a few cold and snow days at Frygani we rolled into town and were pleasantly surprised, the place had a much more friendly vibe than we remembered and it wasn't too busy. The nights were still cold - around 7C but the days were about perfect - I suspect we can suffer a month here :-)