Enjoying the last of the sunshine at the Trypitos Arch

After the rain, the sun appears for a couple of days and we do some more walking – including an all day hike across to the spectacular limestone cliffs on the south coast – and the Trypitos arch. But the forecasts indicate more unsettled weather to come, so we head back to Lakka where we know there’ll be good shelter from the southerly winds and the company of Muskrat who’ve been in touch and are on their way south from Corfu. A good decision – as I write this, we’re about to spend our 4th night here and the weather is getting worse not better!

The town quay, usually packed with boats, is deserted - apart from the geese!

We stay in Gaios while stormy weather comes and goes. The North quay, where we find a space is very sheltered and it's only as we a watch a succession of yachts arriving with crew in waterproofs and life jackets that we realise how uncomfortable it is outside. When all the spaces are taken, boats must anchor on the other side of the creek and take lines back to the island. Even the ferry docks are full. The South quay in the middle of the town is deserted; it's exposed to the southerly swell which has made it a dangerous place to be. There's a bit of a lull in the wind and the 'Paxos Star' sets off taking tourists back to the mainland - 10 minutes later, it's back - they've seen what's about to arrive! Torrential rain! It doesn't last long, but it's heavy.

The anchorage and village of Lakka – idyllic

We arrive back in Paxos 22 years after the Skipper and I took our first holiday together here. Then we flew from Doha to Athens, Athens to Corfu and ferry to Lakka – how I wonder what my reaction would have been if I’d known then that we’d be returning together 22 years later in a boat we’d sailed from the UK!!
Lakka hasn’t changed much – it’s still idyllic. A few more villas, but still a lovely little village set in a beautiful bay. We’ve bought the ‘Bleasdale’ book of walks and do two of them before leaving to go Gaios – bad weather is on the way and we want to be tied up somewhere sheltered before it arrives.

We squeeze in between the rocks and the swimming area

When we leave in the morning we need to do some shopping and take LP to a much smaller beach nearer the town and anchor – there’s barely room for us between some aggressive looking rocks and the swimming area. We manage, but it’s quite tricky as we leave – not only does it seem to be a GPS blank spot, but one of the swimmers is intent on watching what we’re doing at close quarters!

The flotilla coming into the beach (The 3 ‘ladies’ on the beach are actually the male members of the lead crew – there was no apparent reason for this special dress code!)

Next stop is Parga. A bit of a tourist honeypot and we’ve been told there’s no space for visiting yachts on the town quay which is reserved for tripper boats but we need to go to an old harbour at the far end of Valtou beach. There’s a space and we’re soon tied up to the quay. It’s a long walk along the beach into Parga and it’s like entering another world – more sun umbrellas, bars, restaurants, souvenir shops and people than we’ve seen in a long time! When we return, there’s a Sailing Holidays Flotilla arriving – and they’re parking on the beach! There’s a quirk of the underwater landscape here that means the water depth increases so quickly, that a yacht can come in and the bow touches the beach before the keel hits the bottom. It really looks bizarre!

The River Acharon – no ferryman for us today

Before we leave One Tree Bay we have coffee with ‘Bonnie Blue’ - a boat we haven’t seen since Minorca last year, then it’s back through the Levkas canal and up to Preveza and the Gulf of Amvrakia for a few days. We find more boat crews to catch up with - we have a meal out with Athene, tea and cake with Muskrat and a BBQ onboard with Zimwi!
On Wednesday we set off North. Destination ‘Two Rock Bay’! For once we should have realised the clue was in the name – but we go straight past a little bay saying “look at those two funny rocks over there”, before it occurs to us that, well maybe, that was ‘Two Rock Bay’………..Rather than go back, we go on to Fanari Bay just S of Parga where the River Acharon reaches the sea. In Greek Mythology this was ‘The River of Pain’ one of the 5 rivers, including the Styx, that lead to the underworld. You had pay Charon, the boatman to ferry you across. All sounds very exciting and puts the Skipper in ‘swallows and amazon’ mode. We decide to explore in the dinghy to see if we could get LP up the river. From deep in the bottom of a locker, a lead line appears – an invaluable piece of equipment that we’ve managed to live without – until now! The line is all tangled up and it takes about 20 minutes to unravel it, taking the edge off our spirit of adventure, but un-daunted we set off for the mouth of the river where the crew obediently hangs over the front of the dinghy watching the lead weight and line disappear into the fast flowing river and trying to ‘feel’ when it hits the bottom. The skipper meanwhile tries to keep the boat at a standstill against the current – fortunately the engine is now performing much better! All I can say is that it’s with some relief that we both agree there isn’t enough depth to get the boat through! Our journey to the underworld will have to wait for another day!

A friendly fisherman tows us back to Lazy Pelican

We leave Mitikas for 'One Tree Bay' which is only 7 miles away - we sail for 4 hours and then put the engine on! The wind is right against us, but we have some good sailing and when we get there find it was worth the effort. A big sheltered bay - two big green trees stand out against the gold of harvested corn fields, the beach is white pebbles and the sea is turquoise. It's beautiful. Not surprisingly it's a popular spot, although for some strange reason the place isn't mentioned in the pilot guide - does Heikell want it kept a secret? In the morning we dinghy over to see 'Olive Branch' who were berthed next to us over the winter in Ragusa. But as we leave them, the outboard engine won't start (it's never been the same since that dunking in Siracusa) and it must be half a mile back to LP! The crew begins to row - this could take all day, and it's starting to get hot! Thankfully, a friendly fisherman takes pity on us and tows us back!

The pretty side of Mitikas

Appearances can be deceptive! I bought an olive loaf the other day and a piece of orange cake in syrup – they turned out to be a current bun and a helping of rice pudding! Mitikas is a bit like that as well. It’s a small town on the mainland opposite Kalamos – a little harbour and a white stony beach with waterside tavernas, it looks so pretty as we arrive in the sunshine. The setting is stunning at the edge of an agricultural plain backed by a semi-circle of mountain ridges. But go into town and it’s all a bit depressing – a muddle of houses and shops, some new ones only half-built, others built but empty, old ones abandoned and decaying or left half renovated. It’s as if the town was promised a boom that’s never happened. We suspect that this is the reality of mainland rural Greece at the moment, rather than the sanitised version we see out on the islands. There’s a teacher’s strike today, protesting at the austerity measures – things don’t look so good here. But in the afternoon we take the bikes inland, through prosperous looking olive groves, to a village that seems more tranquil – it hasn’t tried to move with the times, but it hasn’t been let down either.

Kalamos – after the rain, the sun?

The weather is changing. For the last 3 weeks we’ve had high pressure, clear skies and reliable winds. At times, it’s been so hot that it’s been a race to see who can get in the water first when we arrive in an anchorage, and on board, we fight for the space directly underneath the wind scoops – but all that’s changed! The pressure’s fallen. The weather’s changeable and localised. It can be blowing a gale on one side of an island and calm on the other. We had a one day when we were in Kalamos – we watched two flotillas come limping in on the first day of their holidays – having been through torrential rain and gale force winds. But by the evening it was beautiful and calm, boats not able to get into the harbour were anchored peacefully outside. We’ve had waterproofs and fleeces out some days, even a life jacket one day, but today it’s back to swimwear and shorts and too hot to do anything!

The anchor is re-united with the boat!

It’s one of those surreal moments – it’s 10 o’clock at night, it’s dark, I’m at the bow having dropped the anchor and the Skipper’s reversing the boat towards the key, the anchor chain is feeding into the water – when there’s a bang, and I see the end of the chain disappearing over the bow roller!!
That’s 100m of anchor chain and our lovely spade anchor – on the bottom of the harbour!
Fortunately there’s enough space on the quay, and with help from some folk returning from the taverna, we’re able to tie up side too. And work out what to do next!
We’d come round to Vathi, on Ithica having been anchored in Ormos Skhoinos, a wide bay to the NE of the town. As darkness fell, a spectacular thunderstorm lit up the mainland and we noticed that one of the other yachts, apparently settled for the night, had decided to leave. The Skipper checked the weather forecast – high winds were now forecast overnight – so we decided, for the second time in a week, to make a run for it in the dark! Bad mistake! (It never did get very windy!)
In the morning we get out the BIG magnet and go fishing!! OK, we don’t expect to be able to haul up the anchor, but we thought it might help us locate the chain! No chance. The skipper goes off to find a diver – the Port Police turn out be very helpful and take him to see Nikos – who shuts up his gift shop and comes round with his gear. It takes about an hour to get boat and anchor re-united, and we are mightily relieved – and €125 poorer. But much cheaper than having to get a new anchor!