Corinth Canal

We had a, well I was about to type quiet night in an enclosed bay about 7 miles east of the Corinth canal, then remembered the torrential rain the thunder and lightning. I was happy swimming in the rain and the thunder didn’t bother me but when the lightning started and two local boats headed into the bay, probably to shelter near the big metal boat I decided to get out the water. Sod’s law really as John had earlier removed the forward hatch cover to turn it around so it would open towards any breeze when we are at anchor, then it clouded over so he decided to wait before refixing so yes of course it was bound to hammer it down.
Next morning we head to the Canal entrance to tie up and pay our usage dues, thinking that by arriving early we would give ourselves plenty of time at the other end to get to an anchorage. No, as we approached the waiting pontoon I was sure I could see a working crane in the Canal, yes out comes an official to tell us to anchor up outside, the Canal wouldn’t open till the afternoon. OK this meant John could fix the hatch down so hopefully no leaks if it rains again but less time to travel at western end fingers crossed there would be space in Corinth harbour.
In the end we didn’t get to go through till 16:00 when the crane and barges have been dragged out. I think it took us longer than they anticipated, we were the third of three boats and were trailing a little when we got asked by radio to go at full speed and had to confirm that we already were 😄. It is stunning 3.2Miles long 25m wide, with highest point 76m up, it was originally lined with limestone blocks and had a sort of tow path but most of the blocks and path have fallen in. As we travelled along we saw the section the crane was working on, yesterday’s heavy rain had caused a fall and depth dropped from 20ft to 10ft under the keel. We were also lucky enough to see a kingfisher as were pooled along.Lue lisää