Right now I am in Kalymnos, Greece. Again. This place is as close as you get to my definition of paradise. The sun is shining, the sea is warm and the limestone rock is still orange and steep.
I got sick for almost a week when I got here, so my three weeks got a little amputated. But as my friend Rannveig Aamodt said “If you are going to be sick, paradise is the best place to be sick in.” And she is so right.
I am getting back into climbing shape, and today it was time to do some running again. Chris and I took a boat to the neighbor island Telendos and the goal was to get to the highest point of the island and safely down again. It was a hot day and we lost the path on our way up. It got steeper and steeper and we were not able to run all the time. Suddenly we reached a Via ferrata! We climbed it and reached a shelf with a cave above it with some steep sport climbing routes. We could either climb down again with the Via ferrata or we could free climb a route to get to the top. Our choice fell on a juggy slab route far to the left of the crag. It felt a bit weird to climb next to the bolts in trail running shoes, but it definitely wasn’t a problem. It was more scrambling than climbing. Soon we reached the plateau and found a path that led us to the highest point of the island. I am glad we didn’t have to wander around up there in the blazing sun longer than we did. It was so hot and we rationed our water because we were not sure we brought enough. I like to have something sweet and tasty as a reward when I reach a top and today a nectarine was the first price. My god it was so sweet and juicy! I had to try a naked yoga pose to celebrate.
From the top we found the right path to get down again and the descend went smooth. After passing the steepest part I could stretch out my long legs and run almost as fast as I could. I love the feeling when you have to concentrate 100 per cent to keep the speed and jump between the rocks. You don’t want to do a mistake and fall there.
When we reached sea level we stopped to have a swim in the clear blue Aegean sea before a boat took us back to Kalymnos. The water was so clear you could see the colorful fish from the surface and the temperature was not to cold but refreshing. Did I mention this is my paradise?
erikahesselroth 