I recently returned from a family holiday in Crete where I had agreed to limit any SOTA activations to a maximum of two days. There was little enthusiasm from the rest of the family for mountain walks, so these would be solo excursions.
Before travelling, I had identified four possible summits, all within about 90 minutes’ drive of our accommodation, and hoped to activate at least two of them.
In the end, I managed just one.
Air travel is no longer something I particularly enjoy. Having flown extensively over the years, I now avoid it whenever possible. It had been some time since I’d travelled through Bristol Airport, so I was interested to see the progress of its redevelopment and the new security scanners, which meant I no longer had to remove every electronic item from my hand luggage. I knew, of course, that the return journey from Heraklion would be rather less convenient.
My hand luggage consisted of a small backpack containing my KX2 with its internal battery, two LiPo batteries and a few other electronic essentials. My pole, antennas, pegs and the rest of my SOTA kit travelled in the hold luggage. To my surprise, my backpack was the only one in our party that wasn’t selected for additional inspection.
A few days into the holiday I hired a car, initially for one day with the option of extending it to a second, and headed for SV/CR-032, Selena.
As I made my way towards the intended parking spot, I couldn’t shake the feeling that my presence might not have been welcomed by everyone.
My plan was to park beside the small chapel, around 2.5 km from the main road, where the start of the track is clearly visible on at least one of the photographs on the summit page.
With the temperature already climbing, I was keen to avoid adding unnecessary distance to the walk, so I decided to see how far the hire car would take me. The rough track was generally in good condition, with only a few washed-out sections requiring careful negotiation. The only real obstacle came near the sheep enclosure, where erosion had left a series of ruts across part of the road. Even these proved passable with a little care.
The owner of the sheep enclosure had parked his off-roader across the track and seemed both surprised and rather animated that someone intended to walk up to Selena.
Deliberately, I hadn’t set the air conditioning to full blast during the drive. Even so, opening the car door was like opening an oven. I knew immediately it was going to be a long 2 km walk with around 400 metres of ascent.
After pulling on my boots, packing 2.5 litres of water and shouldering my rucksack, I set off.
The path was easy enough to follow, with red way-markers clearly showing the route.
Apart from two rocky outcrops already occupied by sheep seeking what little shade they could find, there was absolutely nowhere to escape the relentless sun. Every time I reached the brow of one rise, another appeared ahead waiting to be climbed.
Before I even reached the summit, I had quietly decided that this would be my only activation day of the holiday.
I stopped frequently, taking a couple of swigs of water each time before carrying on.
The summit offers excellent views towards Malia and out across the Sea of Crete.
There is a three-sided shelter nearby, but I chose instead to set up directly beside the summit cairn. My telescopic Decathlon pole fitted neatly over my pole stake, and with a nearby rock serving as a comfortable operating position, a simple 20-metre dipole was all that was needed.
Even sitting still, the heat was relentless. I could feel the sun through my walking trousers. Towards the end of the activation a few low clouds drifted across, briefly providing some welcome relief, before disappearing almost as quickly as they had arrived.
I was pleased to make contact with Franz @OE5FSM for his complete, who activated the summit in September 2025.
After packing away the station, I began the descent, once again disturbing several sheep sheltering beside the rocks.
The walk down was steady rather than fast. By the time I reached the car, every one of the 2.5 litres of water had gone.
As I sat in the driver’s seat, I found myself calculating the timings of SV/CR-033. There was the drive, the walk, the activation itself, and then the return journey back to the hotel.
Then I remembered a message my best friend had sent after I wished him a happy birthday. He’s just two weeks younger than me and he simply replied:
“63 from '63.”
Those three words struck a chord, with both of us having celebrated our Beddian birthdays recently.
I’d already enjoyed a wonderful activation, so I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon with my family besides the pool instead of attempting to activate SV/CR-033.
Crete was everything I’d hoped it would be, and I’m looking forward to returning one day. Summits of Crete will still be there to be activated.
73, Robert