Saturday 11 June: 90km Patras - Xylokastro

This morning the sun gleamed across the sea as our ship sailed parallel to the Greek coastline. In the distance grey hills peeked into the pale sky and sleepy coastal towns were beginning to awaken. The overnight journey gave the team a chance to rest well before docking in the town of Patras. A new day, a new country, and also some new harmony runners, brought a strong sense of freshness to the team.

Our first appointment in Greece was a meeting with three local marathon runners.

We met them at 13:15 in the town centre. They represented a team of one hundred marathon runners from a nearby club. After some refreshments they ran with us for 5km to the edge of town.

We ran onwards across the Peloponissos peninsula, with the striking coastline always on our left hand side. For the whole day we had three police cars each escorting different runners on these sometimes-precarious roads. With an escort we feel like true VIP’s! The sky was clear for most of the day and the temperature was high, but a light sea breeze saved us from stagnant heat. On the far side of the Korinthiakos gulf, which we followed, we could see the mountains of Delfi.

We lost a little time when one of the vans encountered a minor mishap after receiving a bump from behind, but this was quickly resolved and the van was again underway.

With only 20km to go to our destination we stopped briefly along a beautiful stony beach for a most refreshing swim. The policemen laughed and waved at us as we splashed around in the cool sea. We arrived in Xylokastro at 19:30 having started quite late in the day. Friendly locals waved and clapped as we ran down towards the centre, which opened into a nice plaza. There we were greeted by the Mayor, who wished us well.

After more than six hours of running the team had only one thing on their minds and this was food. We checked into a nearby hotel and after a quick shower and clean clothes we walked down to the main restaurant areas. With growling tummies we sat down to eat but these were very quickly tamed as waiters carried out a huge variety of dishes, which filled our table with nearly no room to spare. In total there were about 8 different dishes to choose from and we could eat to our hearts content! Full and happy, we slowly walked back to the hotel where we retired for a good night’s rest.

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