Monday 3rd December
Up when the sun came though my window. It's windy and wet outside as forecast, so brekkie down below for a change. Had a lovely hot wash, clean clothes and of to the marina office to book in and pay my bill. A very reasonable amount, as I'm now booked into the end of May 2013. In the water until Feb 18th then ashore in a cradle, until further notice. I picked up the marina plastic card, which you use to pay for showers,electric,water and washing machines, stuck 20 euros on it, just to see how it lasts. Asked about a hire car for the week as Andrea arrives on Sat, they put me through to someone who wanted 300e for the week, I declined as I had found Europcar on line at 160e? Back to Nanjo and the rains eased off a bit, so I'm straight into town for a look around and get some supplies. It's a lovely town, plenty of people about and just about everywhere open, tried another spinach pie shop and stopped at a small cafe for a coffee. Popped into a bike shop, but no luck with used ones. Had a nice walk back to Nanjo, and spent the rest of the day down below just relaxing. Dinner was meat balls and rice, with some cheap but very nice red plonk, 2e 50c for 1.5ltrs. Crashed out early as it was cold onboard.

Tuesday 4th december
Woke up early, but decided to stay in bed as it was so cold and damp outside. The interior of Nanjo was dripping, I wasn't expecting it to be so bad. Gave everywhere a wipe over while waiting for the kettle to boil, which probably does not help things with all the steam? Brekkie down below again as it's howling outside with heavy rain. It soon stops a little bit, so I'm of into town again, to check out quilts/blankets and heaters. Call into Carrefour, nice 2kw heater for 12e and into Elephant, they have a quilt for 16e. Believe it or not, both supermarkets had British xmas music playing, the same Wham,Frankie,Slade stuff we get in the UK. I was getting a few looks as I was the only person singing along? Went back to Carrefour and bought the heater,it should make a difference when I connect the electric up? Back on board, and the windows are still leaking badly, the chandlers here is closed so no chance of buying the Simpsons that was recommended to me. The winds howling and Nanjos being blown about a fair bit, I'm really glad that I'm here and not at Kalamos waiting for a lull in the weather. I have to pass my electric lead through the heads window, as Nanjo is not wired for 240volt, then I plug into a rcd and an extension lead. It should all be safe enough, as normally I only have the battery charger on. Because of the heavy rain I decide to play safe and leave the electric off for another day. So spend the evening in my jeans and fleece, trying to keep warm, you might be suprised to hear that the temps actually 13 degs in the cabin, but I'm really cold. Make a large spag bol with soya,pasta,onion and spag sauce for dinner all washed down with 3 large glasses of red. Delish. Another early night, in bed trying to keep warm.

Wednesday 5th December
Slept ok, but I really need that quilt? Brekkie down below again as it's rain and windy outside, maybe this is winter at Messolonghi? I must be honest that it's starting to wear me down a bit. Dig out my waterproofs and it's yellow top and leggings and walk into town, in the rain. I head straight for the Elephant supermarket and buy the quilt, I'm suprised that they only seem to do one thickness. The cash desk lady reckons I should just buy another if I'm still cold? Luckily it came in a big plastic bag, so no problem carrying it back to Nanjo, where it's quickly unpacked and placed inside a quilt cover. It looks the part for sure. Onto the car hire firm on the net, and as expected there had to be a catch to the cheap price, there is a delivery charge to the marina, as there are no car hire firms in Messolonghi. But even with the extra charge involved, it's still a 50e saving over the other quote. have to print of a confirmation docket, as I have no printer on board, it's a job for tomorrow and an internet cafe. Did a bundle of washing in the marina machines, 4e so not bad. I met an English couple in there, they also bought there yacht last year and have rented out there house for a year to see if they like the lifestyle. Chatting to them, we have both been through the same experiences and learning curve. They arrived here in October and have already bought the electric fire and quilt, and are going home for xmas and the new year, like so many others.The tumble dryer helps dry my clothes, and they are hung up on a line below for the last drying session. Dinners a popeye pie bought earlier and a beer. It's a dry night, so the electric leads through the loo hatch and plugged into my battery charger and the fire. I've already loaded the electric hook up with a euros worth. The big shock comes when after 90 mins my electric is used up? The cabins nice and warm though, so climb into bed asap. The Love blanket on top as well, and I'm really snug.

Thursday 6th December
I slept really well, and was warm all night. If it wasn't for the dripping condensation in the morning, it would have been perfect? Up early and give Nanjo a wipe around inside, to get rid of the condensation, I hope that I soon get used to it, as the others have. Brekkie in the cockpit as it's a dry morning. Sonny comes over for a chat, and he is arranging a lunch time get together for everybody tomorrow at a local taverna, so I put my name down. Quick wash and I'm into town looking for an internet cafe, find two and typically they both have broken printers? No problem as I had seen a printing shop and had downloaded the docket onto a memory stick. Into the shop and ask about the printing, show him my memory stick, youv'e probably guessed already, he won't accept it incase it has a virus? Have a walk around town and find a really nice popeye shop on the way back to the marina. Call into the office and explain my problem, straight away the girls offer to print it for me if I e-mail them it, then say I should have seen them first. Got chatting to an Italian who was flying back home, he asked if I needed a bike? Oh yes I said, so I follow him back to his boat and he shows me an old single speed, coaster braked bike with a rear basket and side stand. Just what I wanted, it's mine for 50 euros, so in my budget,it's nicely rusted as well. I agree to pick it up tomorrow morning. Back on Nanjo I send them the e-mail. Time to try and stop those windows leaking, I put plenty of duct tape on the inside seals and a plastic sheet over the outside, and keep my fingers crossed. The next rain is on Sat when I pick Andrea up from Athens, and it's meant to be 70mm worth as well. Cook rice and tinned meatballs for dinner, with a glass or two of wine. I've put 2 euros on the electric meter tonight, crank up the heater and the cabins nicely warm in the hour, so switch it off. Early to bed as I'm nice and warm now. Shame the bedrooms blooming freezing, I should have left the door open?

Friday 7th December
Slept great, I think I've cracked it with the quilt and love blanket, woke early and the temp is only 8 degs in the cabin. Give the heater a spin for 30mins on max to take the chill off. Brekkie in the cockpit again, as the suns out and blue skies. Pop over to pick up my classic Italian bike, hand over the money, and he offers to buy it back when I go home in March, I've already decided that I will keep it so tell him it won't be for sale. Pedal of into town to get used to the coaster brake (you pedal backwards to operate the rear brake built into the hub),buy a loaf of bread and some milk. The bike can do with a service, so will do that once Andreas gone. Back on board and go for a shower before my lunch date. Meet up with the others on the pontoon and exchange names, there are 10 of us. I'm the only Brit, lucky for me everybody speaks better English than I do, and probably spell it better as well? I'm the youngest in the group, but am amazed when they tell me how old they are, the oldest male is 73 and female is 70. Absolutely nobody looks anywhere there ages, the cruising lifestyle certainly seems to keep people young and fit? It's a gorgeous afternoon and we have drinks and tappas, the newest person has only been away for 2 years. All there yachts are considerably larger as expected, biggest being a 16mtr X 8mtr catamaran, the owners built the interior themselves. I had a great time and plenty to discuss while we walked back to the boatyard a few hours later. The sun goes down now at 17:15, and the temperature drops dramatically then, I've learned to make sure all hatches are closed and I'm tucked up inside, and am now convincving myself that it's really time to put the shorts away? Put the fire on for 20 mins to warm Nanjo up, and cook a nice pasta and plum tomatoes dish. Washed down with the obligatory glass of wine or two? I spent the evening reading my book. Turned in at 23:00, it's been a busy day. I'm getting up early tomorrow, give Nanjo a clean and have a long shower.

Saturday 8th December.
I slept great, nice and warm and woke when the alarm went mental at 7am. Straight out of bed and made a start cleaning the cabin and getting things ready for Andreas arrival. Of for a shower, and was gobsmacked to have only ice cold water to shower in, and I had to pay for the priveledge as well. I was tempted to go back onboard and boil a kettle. Had a long brekkie, then went to the marina office to wait for the car hire guy at 9am. I figured if he was on time it would be a miracle, 15mins late and about right, 30mins late and he's on Greek time, 1 hour late and he's taking the mick? He arrived 20mins late in the end, then we spent 30mins checking the Micra and doing the paperwork. I eventually set of for Athens at 10am, a nice slow drive out of the town to get used to the car then follow the national road for Patra bridge. It's a gorgeous road and the very impressive bridge soon turned up, the big shock was the 13e 20c toll charge each way. I ended up paying about 25euros in tolls in the end to get to Athens. I pulled into a service area just outside Athens on the motorway, and noticed a guy going from car to car selling stuff, he seemed to be selling a fair bit. He was on me before I could get out and head for the loo. Once I explained I was English, he broke into perfect English, and said he was Greek mafia? and had some stuff to sell. He brought out an I pad and an I phone, both wrapped in boxs. The I pad he wanted 300e and the phone 150e, I had to show him my wallet and say I was a poor Brit with only 130e to my name. He walked away, then came back and said I could have the I pad for 110e. Now, I've seen the programs on scams and this seemed like one. He showed me the box, all sealed up and a security seal on it as well. I asked to look inside, so he made a big fuss of ripping the seal and sellophane off the box. He then showed me the I pad in it's protective film, all the jacks and leads, plus the guarantee. Never having owned one, it all looked and felt ok. So I said I would have it for 110e,he then went onto explain that they were knocked of goods and I should know that? As he went away, he turned quickly and said I could have the I phone for my remaining 20e, we went through the same procedure of ripping the box open and showing me the insides, phone with charger and instructions, which were in Greek. So he removed them saying I would not need them? I left, thinking I had just either been put through a great scam or got a real bargain? About a mile further up the motorway, was an unexpected toll booth, for 2e 80c. Oh yes, I only had 1e 20c on me, having handed over all my notes earlier. My turn to pay at the booth and I offer a Visa card as payment, which is refused as they only take cash, by now the cars are piling up behind me. I explain that I have no cash, the booth lady shouts something to the cars behind and they start to try and back up. She probably said "He's a stupid Englishman with no money?". She lets me through and I have to park up on the hard shoulder and wait. I'm soon joined by a policeman and two women (I had hidden my I pad and phone under the seat). I explained that we don't habe many tolls in the UK so I was not expecting to settle the national debt driving to the airport. Checks on my passport/driving licence, then I get a large piece of paper with the 2e 80c charge written on it, and told I have 7 days to pay up, I can pay at another toll booth or send the money. 35mins later I'm on my way again. I tried several service areas, but they just don't have atm's the way we do in the UK. I arrived at the airport with 30mins to spare, and luckily the car park was a take a ticket affair and I managed to get some cash inside as well. Andreas plane arrived 10mins early, and I was soon greating her and taking her to the car, and telling her all about my latest buys. It was really great to see her again, and hard to think it was only a ouple of months since she was last on Nanjo with Debbie. She examined the boxs as I tried to find my way to the main road, luckily I only went wrong once, and we were soon on the motorway and paying tolls again. Andrea does not own an I pad or phone, she turned the phone on and it came up showing low battery, so we decided to wait until we got onboard to charge them both up. I was doing ok with the driving, then after 90mins and looking at the sea beside us, I was getting a growing niggling doubt we were going the wrong way, as the body of water looked a lot larger than I remembered and I thought we were heading out to the end of the coast and no chance of a bridge going over the sea? Luckily Andrea had a better sense of direction than I did, and we carried on. It's now dark, which makes things a 100 times worse. I was convinced we should see the bridge all lit up from a long way away. The rain started to fall and the driving conditions were not the greatest, your expected to drive on what we consider the hard shoulder, to let others pass. Nice in the daylight, but a different experience at night, I'm scanning ahead for any debris as another car forces it's way past. It's getting late now, and I'm telling Andrea we might be booking into a hotel somewhere if the weather gets much worse. Then up ahead she spots the lights of the bridge,when I came aross the spans were lit up in daylight, now it's dark they only have the red flashing top lights and the road lights on? We are soon paying the toll and driving across, now I know Messolonghi is not far. We follow a sign for a while, then typically it ends, nothing looks familiar, so we drive on and on in the rain on a single carriageway. Going through towns who's name does not ring a bell? We eventually come to a roundabout with signs for Preveza 120km, and Astakos 50km so I know I've travelled North to far, a 360 degree turnaround and I'm heading back. Meanwhile Andreas hopefully enjoying the drive, it's been a long day for her and it's not over yet? We spot a sign welcoming us to Messolonghi? Well,it's not a bit I've been to before, but we drive and eventually I spot a familiar place, the Carrefour supermarket. The choice now is, back to Nanjo to unload, or find food first? Andrea fancies food and a chance to get out of the car, we've been going for nearly 4 hours now. I remember Peter talking about a taverna thats open on the sea front, so we head there. The rains still falling as I pull into the carpark, it's open and we are the only people there. We had an excellant meal with wine, and were just glad to be out of the car, and I was very glad to know where I was at last. It was only a short drive back to the marina, all I had to do was not come off the road into the lagoon. Andrea was soon confronted with climbing over the bow, but it was a lot easier with the ladder and me pulling the bow in for her, we were soon below with the luggage and the first thing that I could see was the windows had leaked very badly, the tape was actually bulging where the water had gotten under it's edges and the settee was soaked. So much for the saloon sleeping area, I thought they might have leaked a bit, as we were driving through a lot of standing water in Messolonghi, and they had forecast 70mm of rain today. The heaters soon on and warming up the cabin, get out the wine and Andreas examining my new toys. It's not long before things are not starting to add up? The I Phone charger does not seem to fit anywhere on the phone, The I pad is not doing anything at all, then Andrea notices the I pad screen seems a bit lifted. Being very carefull not to damage it we lift a corner a bit more and can see wires leading to the body. It's now Andreas warning me not to break it, and the edge might have lifted after it fell off the lorry? It's only when I notice the double sided tape holding the screen in place, that things don't look right. We've all read stories of how these are made in the sweat shops of the middle east, but I figured that double sided tape is an economy move a stage to far? Andrea carefully lifts the screen up and it's as expected a fake I pad. The screen is just tinted perspex, there is a small battery leading to an led which will light up a Apple logo through the screen, alongside the electronics is a metal bar to simulate the weight. It's an amazing copy of the real thing, and it's obviously produced somewhere, and I should think in great numbers, purely to be sold to idiots like myself? I will take some picures and post them, so be warned, only buy an I pad from a recognised dealer. The I pad charger actually fitted the I phone? So we plugged it in, but nothing and the screen still saying low battery. A closer examination revealed the phone charger socket to be just a plastic insert. Taking the phone apart revealed pretty much the same electronics as the I pad, all clever stuff, and enough to fool anybody in a car park? It was a great scam and I will put it down as one of lifes learning curves. Meanwhile if anybody wants to buy a virtually new I pad and I phone for 100 euros, please e-mail me and I will post them onto you. We were both soon laughing about it all, as the cabin warmed up and the wine flowed.

Sunday 9th December
Woke to a cold Nanjo, so heater on and heavy rain as expected. Brekkie was tea/toast and cereal in the saloon, which cheered us up and made us both feel a lot better. A trip to the shower block, then back on board to plan the day out. It was Lidls for some food first, well, that was the plan, I did not expect to find every shop in town closed just about. It seems the Sunday trading laws are adhered to here. So we just went for a short walk around town inbetween the showers, and I could show Andrea all the places I had discovered already. Time for some lunch, so we drove back out along the causeway to the channel entrance and had a walk, in the very brisk wind, then found a lovely taverna along the beach. They had a roaring fire going and we made sure we grabbed the seats in front of it, the place was ran by a lovely couple. But we only had a drink and some tappas, but we decided that we would certainly be coming back for a meal some time. We spent the rest of the day just driving about and looking around until it was dinner time. We tried the small bars along by the harbour, and they were all packed, as there was an important football match going on. They only offered club sandwich as well, but it was the smokey atmosphere which put us of. Andrea had spotted a place earlier on our drive, so we went there. A large taverna/hotel, and sure enough the footie was on, but only about 30 men sitting watching it, and we could get away and sit in a corner away from the smoke. The owner gave us a choice of food, ranging from beef steak in a white or red sauce,chicken in white or red sauce and beef burgers. We settled for some toasted bread,tzatziki and meat balls for starters with a kilo of wine and the beefsteak and red sauce for main course. Well, it was obviously the chefs day off, we got a huge basket of lovely toasted bread,huge plate of tzatziki, huge plate of meatballs. It was a good job we were hungry, then 2 mins into our meal and the table pretty full up with food, our main course arrived. Our order for beefsteak in a sauce had miraculously changed into beefburger and chips? and plenty of it. We just looked at each other, had a laugh and tried our best to demolish the large pile of food in front of us, so not to offend the chef of course? The wine was really good, so we ordered another jug. The bill was a very reasonable amount as well. Back to Nanjo and my first priority is to top up the electric meter, then onboard and the heaters on pretty quickly to warm the cabin. My best 12 euro buy so far? Some more wine rounded of the evening nicely.