Our final day of ‘activity’ here on the Greek Island of Evia. As has been a theme of the trip, it started with the short walk from bed to the roof top terrace for a morning brew and some sunrise appreciation. The wind had picked up today making it feel a bit cooler than usual, but still a delight to be out there. It almost put us off going down to the beach for a swim, but as we won’t be getting conditions like this for a while, back in Wales, we decided to head on down to the coast.

Soutsini Beach was the most sheltered option from the wind, so after almost turning back at the choppy waters at Kymi, I was rewarded with a good snorkel session.

The colour of the water was a deep greenish blue and I could dive deep and look up to see the rays of sun pushing through it. Weightless magic. There were also plenty of fish around the rocks.

We were back home in time for lunch, then swapped kit and continued up to the Manikia valley where the bulk of the climbing is. The long slabs that we’d first climbed on were empty, so we went there to climb the novelty of some 40m pitches. The rock was great and I’m starting to get used to the feel of it, which made the grades feel easier!

40m is such a long way though!…

Once the sun left the crag (around 15:45), we traversed the hillside to reach the ‘Rainbow Sector’, which we knew would stay in the sun for another hour or so. The rock in the central area is incredible. So sharp, it’s like Velcro and feels like it would be hard to fall off at times!

The climbs had great ‘broccoli’ features, tufus and small finger pockets, which made for some great fun climbing as the sun set, bathing the crag in a wonderful light.

We ate the last of our spinach pastries that we’d picked up earlier from the bakers, before walking back down to the car feeling tired and happy.

The final drive back to the pad was a slow one, due to several busy roads!

All the Universe Climbs:

• Neptune, 6b
• Venus, 6b***
• Mars, 6b+

Rainbow Middle Climbs:

• Six Gognes, 6a***
• Gay Pied, 6b+***