Mount Athos

We set off from Limenaria at 6am on 8th May. It was a very grey morning with very light wind, starting northwest then going south. Our plan had been to sail across to the north of the east side of the Athos peninsular to take in all of the monasteries. However, it was very cold, the peninsular was shrouded in cloud and the seas were on the beam, so we rolled horribly. After an hour or so we decided to skip the east side of the peninsular and head straight for the bottom before heading north up the west side to Ammouliani.

Mount Athos was hidden in the clouds, with snow still lying in the gullies.

We saw four or five dramatic monasteries through the mist before we reached the bottom of the peninsular, where we saw our first monastery close to, Grand Lavra, the largest monastery and the first built on Athos in 963. It is the first in the hierarchy of monasteries.

As we reached the corner a fishing boat crossed us.

Along the south coast was a series of settlements, with churches surrounded by large houses, which we guessed must by sketes, monastic communities separate from, but subordinate to the main monastery.

We were a bit anxious about going too close to the shore, because any yacht with a woman on board has to keep at least 2 km from the shore. Lin disguised herself as a man, given away by her pink jacket. However, tripper boats soon arrived, with a lot of women aboard, and went close to the shore, so after that we didn't worry.

Setting off north, we clocked up the monasteries (sorry if you are not into monastery pictures!).

Agios Pavlou, founded in the 10th century, traditionally Serbian.

Dyonisou, founded in 1375, also traditionally Serbian.

Gregoriou, founded about 1395

Simonos Petras, founded in the 13th century, but frequently destroyed by fire.

Xiropotamou, founded in the 10th century, but most of the buildings date from the eighteenth century. Here, if you are male, you can find the largest extant piece of the true cross.

From here on the monasteries seemed rather soft, since they had quays and a regular ferry service, rather than being perched on precipitous cliffs.

Moni Ayiou Panteleimonos. You might have guessed that this is Russian. Founded in 1169, it was badly damaged by fire in 1968. In 1913 it housed 2,000 Russian monks, reduced by the 1970s to thirteen, now about 70 Russian and Ukrainian monks. Putin visited in 2005.

Xenofondos, built in the tenth or eleventh century.

Doheiariou, founded in the tenth century.

Moni Konstamonitou. Founded in the eleventh century, the lowest ranked of all the monasteries.

Zografou, founded in the late ninth or early tenth centuries by three Bulgarina monks from Ohrid, it is traditionally Bulgarian.

Having had our fill of monasteries, which we did not think were as impressive as those of Meteora, we kept on up the coast to Ammouliani. As we approached Ammouliami we smelt petrol. The fuel tank in the dinghy had flipped when we were rolling and the cap of the fuel gauge had come off, letting out five litres of petrol, which dissolved the glue holding the rubber pads on the floor. Rather than getting into the dinghy to sponge it out, we decided to let it evaporate before we cleaned it. At Ammouliani we tied up on the quay, which is normally full of tripper boats, but they are obviously not doing much business in this weather.

Ammouliani is not the most attractive town, and is a nightmare in summer when it is bursting with tourists, but we walked over to the other side to see the new caique harbour and bay beyond.