There is a lovely walk Simone and I do if we are feeling energetic. It takes us down and then across our valley, up the other side and through 3 quaint villages and then back to our village of Kabitsata via the ruins of old Kabitsata. It is about 5 miles long and the climb up the valley makes your head leak. Stopping at the ruins for a breather is required, but the view is breath-taking. The ruins are the result of the 1953 earthquake which devastated the island as well as the neighbouring island of Zakynthos. The island was lifted 600mm into the air and virtually all Kefalonia’s buildings were flattened, just a few were left standing in the town of Fiskardo in the North.
As you sit in the ruins you cannot help but think of how it used to look and how catastrophic it must have been when the earthquake hit. It is a place for meditation and contemplation and somewhere to remind us of how lucky we are.
So, I am resting, taking in the view and some water when Simone says, “There is a deer”. Now considering the car journey a while ago when Simone commented on the lovely sheep, which were actually pigs (granted, she was not wearing her glasses), my first reaction is to think “Yeah right”, and then I look towards the road and there I see the back of a deer. It trots past and then comes up into the ruins, but all I managed was a few shots through the olive trees before it disappeared. I must admit that I was shocked, as I had no idea that there were deer here. On Lundy there are sika deer and I loved to watch them and now I find there are deer here, this place just keeps getting better.
Another challenge had presented itself, and I was up extra early the next morning to lie in wait for the deer. I sat in the same place and waited. No deer, so when the sun broke over the mountains, I stood up hoping to see a snake or two emerge to take in the sun,(they never do when I have my camera, but I still persist), I had been standing for about 5 minutes when I heard hooves on the road below, the deer trotted past me, and I manoeuvred myself to get a shot through a gap in the olives. The deer stopped perfectly in the gap and hesitated, it must have sensed me, but I had got a couple of decent shots in and then it looked straight at me for an even better photo.
He was a stunning fallow buck who had recently shed his antlers, and I was an incredibly happy chap. I have been back every morning since, but he nor any of his herd have returned. Now that I know they are here, I shall be doing a bit of stalking.
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