Friday 30th October

We made a vain attempt to get to the ancient Olympia site early to avoid the crowds, but despite being the end of October there were already nine coaches in the car park, having deposited mainly German, French and Japanese tour groups.  We didn’t let it spoil our viewing as I imagine things are an order of magnitude worse in the height of summer, and by 1130 they had all gone, leaving just a handful of independent visitors like ourselves to savour the tranquillity of the location and try to visualise how the remains would have looked originally.

I think having the stadium to ourselves was a highlight, although I was somewhat knackered by the time I had sprinted its 120m length – bit out of shape with all the sitting in the Land Rover. SPOT

A visit to the archaeological museum rounded off the day, with coffee and chocolate covered (and filled) pastries on the way back to the campsite – we had been on our feet for 5 hours so deserved a treat.