After a wonderfully relaxing summer and early autumn of sailing Neva around the Turquoise coast of Turkey, we have reluctantly decided to put her up for sale.

So if you are interested in a comfortable, safe, well-proven live-aboard boat, fully equipped to go anywhere, then check out this website :

www.theyachtmarket.com/boats_for_sale/57664

or email us at neva@mailasail.com

For our final walk with Ian and Viv before they flew home to the UK, we decided to try something a little more challenging. The walk up the mountain was slow and steady, full of the scent of gorse and wild thyme and oregano. The view from the top (picture) where we stopped for lunch was spectacular.

However, the directions in the walking book left a little to be desired and we had to fight our way through scrub and gorse (very prickly!) to get back down into the valley where we discovered that we were somehow on the wrong side of the mountain. Our expected 3-hour walked turned into 5 hours, although there was a consolation of a beer as we trudged through a village on our way back to the car!

As the Rally boats move off in their different directions, it has been strange and, of course, sad saying goodbye (or see you soon) to people with whom we have shared such an adventure over the last two years.

However, one of the boats has set up an 'alumni' website so we can keep in touch. Many of the boats will, like us, be sailing in Turkey this summer, and we have invitations to visit folks in Holland, France and Italy - so maybe we'll take a roundabout route to get there!

Near Chania is the Monastery of Agia Triada which was built in the 16th century in a stunning location amid olive groves and vineyards with snow-capped mountains on the horizon. The monks produce their own wine and raki (our sort of monastery, we thought!) as well as extra virgin olive oil which is "devoutly produced in the olive groves of the monastery".

We bought a can of oil and mooched around the beautiful grounds scented with orange blossom and happened upon a cat with 2 kittens nestled at the bottom of a very large Grecian urn! A picture for you, Kathy!