Hermes, the messenger of the gods, may seem a rather obvious name for my bicycle but one which emerged from the mental 'flow' whilst cycling down the Italian peninsula two summers ago now. That Jung considered him the god of the unconscious chimes with this observation. I didn't really think too much further about his name at the time but it became well and truly attached as our shared adventures multiplied. I can vividly recall the night we were set upon by guard dogs whilst traversing the tomato plains of Puglia in the gloaming when I urged him/us/me on with 'winged words' as Homer would say. 

  

The Romans rebadged Hermes as Mercury and associated travel with trade (mercatura) from which are derived 'merchant' and 'merchandise'. But for the Greeks travel had deeper associations as we see in the Odyssey. Hermes, protector of Odysseus, is particularly associated with the Peloponnese and his son Pan is to be found in the wild upland beauty of Arcadia to the north of us. Down here in Messenia Hermes is associated with cattle rustling (long a pastime of the Messenians). Indeed one of the earliest descriptors reads  "of many shifts (polytropos), blandly cunning, a robber, a cattle driver, a bringer of dreams, a watcher by night, a thief at the gates, one who was soon to show forth wonderful deeds among the deathless gods." A son of Zeus with the nymph Maia he was born a prodigy and after being dragged to his father by Apollo for stealing cattle in infancy he blithely announced himself to be his herald and the twelfth Olympian God. Credited with a role in the development of the Greek alphabet (more prosaically derived from the Phoenicians and their trading activities) and protector of travellers, he takes us on our final journey as a soul guide... my perfect companion on my 'soul journey to a Greek olive grove'.

This Hermes was not begat by Zeus but built by Thorn of Bridgewater, equipper of the finest British Touring Bikes currently available to expedition cyclists. As I collected him two days ago from a friend and neighbour here, where he had lain for six months, I wasn't sure how I would find him. Well after a wash and oil as good as new is the answer. That afternoon I swooped down to the coast for our afternoon swim and 'enjoyed' the sunset on the way back up. Yesterday I 'enjoyed' a sundowner beer instead and can honestly report that the cycle experience was the better despite the climb!

For the first easy fifteen minutes the road up to our place winds along the coast leaving it just beyond Paddy Leigh Fermor's place which is visible to the right of Hermes posed to look his best above Kalamitsi bay (with Ritsa beach just beyond Kardamyli out of sight a km beyond the headland and its associated island of Merope where I had just left Sus enjoying the later afternoon light after our swim). 

The next fifteen minutes is a steady climb as the view to the South opens up overlooking the Frankish castle on the acropolis behind the brash resort of Stupa, down to 'Trachilla' the pleasingly named narrow neck of land which marks the end of this 25 km stretch of coastal paradise on the exo-Mani before the landscape starts to get more severe with massive coastal cliffs above the caves of Diros and the entrance to Hades beyond!

Turning inland the final fifteen minutes ascends through the gardens and stone houses of our village towards the mountains with the 2407m peak of the Taygetos range usually clear of cloud towering above. As we emerge from the top of the village the lane approaches the gorge of Noupadi dimly visible by the light of the moon in the gathering gloom beyond (its the dark void beyond the electricity poles).

For those who have followed our homemaking story the land we originally bought lies beyond the bridge (hidden from view) across the gorge 2 kms into the olive groves roughly where the descending ridge line of 'Kastro' the mountain to the left of this shot descends to the 'balcony' terraces at 300-400m. Our ambitious 'off grid' plans faltered with growing estimated costs and a better understanding of land usage in the area.

So here is Hermes' new home, our spitaki (diminutive from spiti meaning house/home), which came with water supply (invaluable), electricity (useful) and 2 kms less walking/cycling (clincher) everytime we want a swim! All at a fraction of the estimated cost of our off grid fantasy so all in all an excellent decision! 

Next up a shopping trip to Kalamata for domestic oddments which should be linguistically interesting. When I was equipping myself for olive picking I had to laugh when the scathing hardware man looked at me as if I was a moron asking the greek word for a ladder - scala of course!