It was a horrible awakening at 02:45 when the alarm went off and we hurriedly, but quietly, washed and dress and crept downstairs. It was above and beyond the call of duty, but Simon came down to wish us farewell and we drove off to Gatwick. The journey was a breeze - if only the M3 and M25 were always like that! It was almost worth getting up at that time to enjoy the empty motorways! The queues to check in at the Easyjet desks were long and slow-moving but we eventually got through and grabbed some coffee and a sandwich before we boarded. The flight left slightly late but still arrived early and we were soon in Henrietta heading out of the airport. We knew that there was a garage near the airport that sold Autogas, so I pulled into the first garage and asked. They directed us to the garage across the road and, with the tank full we headed off. We were heading for Asprovalta two thirds of the way between Thessaloniki and Kavala. We chose this area as it has two campsites and they are the nearest to our route to Bulgaria.
We didn't want to go on the motorway so headed off on minor roads, stocking up at a handy Champion supermarket on the way. We got lost, heading up a mountain past military barracks and eventually finding a 'no entry' sign on the road. We back-tracked to find the subtle turning that we had missed and headed past two lakes and on to Asprovalta, choosing the second, smaller campsite. It was very basic, rather run down and all of the shady pitches that weren't occupied by permanent caravans were on a considerable slope. We found the best that we could and, given that the temperature was approaching 30°C, we got out the chairs and put them in the deep shade. We had serious problems with the electrical supply that appeared not to work and my shaver blew up when I tried to test one of the outlets. We eventually found one that worked but when the kettle was switched on, all of the other electrical equipment refused to work, including the fridge that reverted to gas power. We have had this problem before when the electrical supply was very poor e.g. 3 amp but the ACSI guide showed this site as 6 amp, which should have been fine.
Photos: A modern monastery on the 'road to nowhere'.
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