Breakfast, pack, coffee and travel. I am a little dazed with the thought that this is our last day together, and most of it will be travel. Yes. It’s time to take the next steps, with everything we have found, gained, lost or left behind here.
We are driven, so graciously, back to Ródos. We feel a sombre like drop in altitude strongly as we leave Monólithos behind. Heading straight for the ancient walled city, stones soaked in history, four of us celebrate newly found friendship with yet another delicious lunch. I cannot write in these few words exactly how profoundly significant the Poetry Retreat was for me, at a time of transition, about to start a new phase of my life. I feel like a gift has been placed in my hands or at my door. Four of us give voice to our similar feelings over lunch, extending the camaraderie for a few more hours before we, four poets, head off in our different directions.
Time for me to get this show on the road for the next leg. Off to the airport and to Crete for SwimTrek at Porto Loutro. I arrive late at night into Heraklion, and following our pledge to each other – put pen to page each and every day – I pull these thoughts together before retiring.