Saturday 11th May
We had one final night on Skiathos planned, before heading on to Skopelos. The port, in Skiathos Bay, directly under the flight path,(yay)was just supposed to be an uneventful stop over, but it didn't turn out that way. Firstly the quay was full, then we were asked to 'budge up a bit ' from our anchorage as a large boat was arriving. Large boat ? Understatement of the year! It was a gigantic dredger, with it's own JCB looking like a Tonker Toy on its deck. How it manged to dock in such shallow water, on such a teeny fisherman's pontoon beggared belief. It felt really enormous and very close.

Sunday 12th May
We were out of there and on route to my highlight of our visit to the Sporades, the island where Mamma Mia was filmed-Skopelos. OK maybe it was also filmed in Pinewood studios (the 007 stage to be precise)and some on mainland Greece, oh and Turkey, but that was not going to take away any of the magic for me.

We anchored in the bay at Loutraki, on the North West side of the island, from where we hired a car, acquired a map and this Donna went on a quest to walk in the steps of Donna Sheridan. "Today Matthew I am going to be Meryl Streep, The Dancing Queen."

I had the best time ever! When I first caught sight of the little chapel of Agios Ioannis Prodromos, perched on the top of the 100 meter cliff I was as excited as a child on Christmas Eve. It was still early so we were actually the only ones there. I took my red sarong out of my bag, ordered the camera man to start shooting and having just sung 'The Winner Takes it All' to Pierce, proceeded to run dramatically up the stone steps. OK Pierce wasn't actually there, he was washing his hair and I wasn't actually running, but I was in the moment.'

The views from the top of the cliff were spectacular, well worth the climb. No wonder it has become such a popular wedding destination. Finally, we sauntered back down to sea level and as we approached the car, a bus load of 'True ABBA Fans' arrived.

Next stop Kastani beach where the cast sang 'Does Your Mama Know' and 'Lay All Your Love on Me' - Gosh now who sounds like a true ABBA Fan? The beach was very glammed up, enjoying their fame (why not?) The temporary wooden shack beach bar, built as part of the set, was replaced by a wonderful modern chilled out café bar, with expensive décor, immaculate green lawns and sunloungers spilling out onto the fine pebble sand beach. Ricky felt very outnumbered here as there were no other men around - anywhere! I half expected one of the sunbathing ladies to grab her towel and turn it into a nappy as he was the youngest by far. For those of you have not seen the film - That is not a weird thing to suggest, you just need to have seen the movie to get the reference.

We had brunch in the beach bar and enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere. After a few more photos, Ricky managed to drag me away to explore the rest of the island. We found the rocks that the cast jumped off into the sea, but sadly the travel books were right- there was no actual 'Villa Donna' built on Aphrodite's fountain, anywhere on Skopelos. It was just a stage set, at Pinewood. But hey ho -it was still an amazing day.

Seeking out film locations is such fun. Definitely on the horizon I see Austria... "The Hills are Alive with the Sound Of Music" - any takers? Pippa?