There & back again (part 2)
13 August 2008
What I did in my summer holidays, by B. Newbury age 59 and a quarter.
As opposed to my Winter holidays, Spring Holidays and Autumn holidays.
Did I mention I'm retired?
In response to many requests from our long suffering readership, this blog will be strong on pictures and sparse on writing. A slew of new photo galleries have been added and this entry comes with a promise of brevity suitable for Sunday Sport readers, if readers be the word.
The summer has been one long bout of blundering round the Ionian Islands playing a (usually unsuccessful) game of 'Dodge the Flotilla'. It's been very relaxing (most of the time) - no long trips and generally predictable weather patterns. The only real downside has been that it's so popular that all the anchorages and harbours get full to bursting with hordes of Italians, Germans, Austrians and flotillas.
To get round this we cunningly set our passage plans so as to arrive in harbours around midday when they've all gone out sailing. They have to leave sometime. As they get ready to leave, Birvidik and a few like minded cruisers cruise gently round the harbour like circling sharks. As soon as one leaves there's a berthing frenzy as the predatory cruisers fight for the available space. This tactic has been spectacularly successful, but has two main drawbacks:
1 - If any distance has to be travelled, then it involves getting up at some ungodly hour in the morning.
2 - The winds are, as mentioned, predictable. Calm in the morning, sea breeze builds in the afternoon to about a force 4 and then it dies off again in the evening. As a result, getting into the available berths means you miss out on the best sailing weather and tend to motor everywhere.
All the summer activity has taken place in a relatively small area, from Corfu in the North to Cefallonia in the South. We've not, therefore, updated the position map as it just show a mass of dots merging into a muddy blur. Position updates will resume next season when we get on the move towards Turkey.
Potted itinerary (Use an Atlas if you're really interested):
Lakka (Paxos) > Mongonnisi (Paxos) > Ormos Fanari (Mainland) > Preveza (Mainland) > Lefkas (Lefkas) > Vlikho (Lefkas) > Ormos Kapali (Meganissi) > Vlikho (again) > Spartahori (Meganissi again) > Matharia (Mainland) > Astokos (Mainland) > Petala (Mainland) > Atakos Island > Vathi (Ithaka) > Fiskardo (Cefallonia) > Picked up Paul & Jan > Vlikho (again) > Spartahori (again) > Vathi (again) > Fiskardo (again - dropped off Paul & Jan) then back to Corfu to meet Karen & Jaime - Vlikho > Lefkas > Mongonissi > Mourtos (No thunderstorm this time) > Petriti (Corfu) > Corfu (Corfu) > Gouvia (Corfu), where we now are. Off back to Corfu Corfu on Thursday to meet Karen and Jaime at the airport at 1:30 in the morning.
We're still undecided as to whether we'll overwinter in Lefkas or Gouvia, but it seems as if the decision is edging nervously in the direction of Gouvia. We hope to lift the boat out of the water at the end of February and spend a few weeks in Jersey and Portugal if we can sort out cheap flights. The back here for bottom painting etc before heading through the Corinth Canal, across the Aegean and on to Turkey.
Well, that's the plan.
So far.
At the moment.
Probably.