Our first day in Crete was a bit ropey! Interesting start to the day as James’ mix up with the hotel room meant that we were about 45 minutes late for the beach meeting but this pleased everyone else as they got to sunbathe for a bit. Whilst waiting, Chloe’s sweeping view of the harbour pointed out South Africa in the distance and James’ inability to name people correctly hindered progress as Danielle struggled to work the G.P.S which lead us up the wrong path and through two bees nests. We began our ascent up the Ilingas gorge feeling a little bit stressed and very hot. The first leg was incredibly hard which dampened spirits. We carried on up the gorge stopping every once in while for a bit of shade whilst experiencing some of Richard’s witty banter!
After stopping for lunch, we stumbled down the gorge stopping at five sites to collect the data that we needed, of which Chris and James made 450 measurements regarding the debris particle size and roundness. On the way down Danielle encountered her first ever bee / wasp / Cretan hornet sting. We finished collecting our data by measuring the wetted perimeter and slope profile at the flood defence system installed under the road. We headed back to Chora Skafion where talks earlier of horror movies came to light as we were offered a lift by a friendly Cretan man.
A section of the Ilingas Gorge.
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