Introduction [by Richard]
If you were asked to name to top 10 most famous canals in the world, no doubt the Lefkas Canal would not make your list. And I’m talking about canals that allow boats to pass, not irrigation channels. They don’t need to have locks. Yet the Lefkas Canal is one of the oldest canals in the world. Not as old as Egyptian ones, but still constructed as early about 650 BC.
The first version was built by the new Corinthian colony of Lefkas town, and it turned this promontory of north-western Greece into an island. From then on, the island of Lefkas would be reached by a bridge. The canal was dug through a salt marsh, so probably a lot less daunting than attempting to cut one through deep rock. The Corinthians tried to dig a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth, around the same time, but gave it up as a bad job. To get to the Saronic gulf to the east (so that they could fight the Athenians for example), they had to haul their boats miles along the isthmus upon timber rollers. I wonder if they ever used elephants to help?
But who were the Corinthians, and why did they bother to build the canal at Lefkas? I don’t know. My sailing knowledge might help, but we also need to delve into my Ladybird Book-level of knowledge of ancient Greece. We haven’t really touched on ancient Greece so far in our blog, except when we visited the temple at Segesta in Sicily last season.
After the collapse of the Bronze Age Mycenaean civilisation, the Dorians moved southwards – probably from Macedonia - to settle in the Peloponnese (i.e., south of the isthmus). They bi-passed the Ionians, who had previously settled in Attica (north-west of the isthmus). The two tribes barely mixed:
- The Dorians were a military race, whereas the Ionians were a trading people;
- The Dorians built Sparta and Corinth, whereas the Ionians chose Athens;
- As new town and cities arose, the Athenians gathered these into an empire and taxed them. They expanded across the Aegean and populated the islands off Asia Minor, which became known as Ionia after them. By contrast, the Dorians tended to form city alliances, and Sparta was most often allied with its Peloponnesian cousin, Corinth;
- The Athenians had a strong navy, but it was actually the Corinthians who invented the trireme, based on an earlier Phoenician design; and
- Occasionally, the Dorians and Ionians would co-operate to fight a common foe, such as the Persians. But often the Peloponnesians and Athenians were competitors and fought a lot.
Corinth had expanded to the west and colonised Corfu. But to get from Corinth to Corfu you have to row or sail around the promontory that is now Lefkas Island (see the map).
Now, as a sailor and ex-trireme oarsman, I suggest it was a right pain to go all that way around. In addition to the distance, the prevailing wind - in the confusingly-named Ionian Sea, between Sicily, southern Italy and the Peloponnese - is north-westerly. Big seas can develop on the outside (west) of the promontory. Trying to row a trireme in anything other than a relatively flat sea can be problematic. The calm, sheltered waters inside the promontory would have been perfect for crossing by trireme.
Furthermore, the city states tended not to move their navies in isolation on campaign if possible, and a land-based army would have shadowed the fleet and help protect and haul-out the ships if needed. An inner passage would have helped the fleet keep pace with the land-based force.
So, the business case for the first canal looks pretty clear in my eyes.
The Corinthians established the town of Lefkas at the northern end of the canal, and this was probably fortified to protect the canal from enemy use: if the Athenians wanted to team up with a rebellious Corfu colony, they would have to row around the outside! (The later medieval fort of Santa Maura has guarded the northern entrance since about 1300.)
The original canal is no longer used. The Romans also built a version, perhaps along the same route. The ancient alignment is visible from aerial imagery. It runs east of the modern, early 20th century version. It was the modern version that Alix and I traversed southwards heading from Preveza to Ormos Vlikho on the south-east of Lefkas.
****
We left Preveza at 09:15 on the Friday morning. This was our first outing after getting Missy Bear back in the water. We had told S&T that we would text them as we were leaving. They legged it down to the beach area from where you can see boats going up and down the channel, marked with buoys from Preveza to the Ionian Sea. We could see S&T in the distance, and they waved at us, and we waved at them. I must admit, I had a lump in my throat, even though they are due to join us in early June.
As we came out of the shelter of the Preveza inlet, the sea started to get a bit rolly. And then a lot more rolly. But we didn’t have far to go to the start of the canal so we didn’t bother to get the main up, which would have given us more stability. Two other boats came out of the channel, one turned up towards Corfu, while the other headed down towards the canal.
As always, we faithfully follow Rod and Lucinda Heikell’s pilot guides. The first sentence introducing the canal states “The first approach to the northern end of the canal can be hair raising”. Oh great. They go on to say “With the prevailing NW wind pushing you down onto a lee shore with just the canal entrance to get you out of it, most people are on tenterhooks the first time around”. Hmmm.
The entrance to the canal is not easy to see from a distance. On the western side, there are three big yellow beacons, coming out from the breakwater. You keep the eastern-most beacon to starboard, and go beyond it until you see the red marker buoy. From here, you go between the beacon and the buoy, into the entrance of the canal.
Just to make things more interesting, the floating road-bridge lies between the entrance and the canal itself. This opens on the hour to let boats north or south. In peak season, apparently, there can be up to twenty boats milling around waiting to go in. Two hoots on a siren mark the fact the bridge is to open. We had timed our approach well having arrived with only a few minutes to the hour. Just as we were debating whether to venture into the entrance, the other yacht confidently chugged past us and we motioned for them to go first, as they obviously knew where they were going. We followed them in. Traffic was still crossing the bridge, and there was plenty of room for just us two boats to wait, although it might be hair-raising with lots of boats not used to close-quarter manoeuvres in the height of summer.
The siren sounded and the bridge started rotating around its central pier, leaving a very narrow gap. Richard asked me to go and put a fender out either side, until we realised that the bridge was still swinging around to leave a much wider opening. We two yachts chugged through, and the bridge started closing immediately for the waiting traffic.
Then we passed Lefkas marina to starboard. There is an enormous number of boats, so no wonder the Ionian gets so busy in the season. A large yacht came out of it into the canal behind us, and very quickly overtook us. But we were in no rush. The weather was warm and sunny, the water was calm, the scenery was stunning – verdant almost like an English countryside. We took our time, and enjoyed the journey through the marshes.
We eventually came out of the bottom of the canal into a large bay. Like the two boats in front of us, we got our sails up and tacked down the bay, until the wind died completely. With the engine back on, we motored serenely down into the sheltered cove of Ormos Vlikho, where we anchored up for a peaceful night’s sleep.
Comments