Blowing hot and cold

We have had quite a bit of "weather" this week. Last Sunday and Monday were very still and hot with muggy nights. Possibly as a result of air-conditioning demand there were power cuts on Monday evening.

Then came the hot winds, cloud and most recently the colder West winds. Only the very hardy went to the beach - we tried a couple of times, but no!

But every cloud....

Exiled from the beach we investigated the brand new taverna beyond the Water's Edge. In April and May we had seen it being fitted out and landscaped (including Astroturf). No expense has been spared, and there is a new little pebble beach across the road with fancy sunbeds.

They serve beautiful traditional food!

Czech mate!

This week the village is hosting an International Chess Tournament - yes - we have grandmasters! - and last night there was mass playing by youngsters outside the town hall!

We ate at P's only Czech-run restaurant! Mima and Giorgos - who had the kantina on the beach for so many years - have taken over one of the two grill houses between the Sunrise and Captain Jim's. There are some interesting twists to tradition on their menu, which get frequent translations into Czech!

Summer's here..time is right.. prancing in the street!

The weekend signalled the full arrival of the tourist season!
Eating at Calypso's 10 Euro night we were treated to street entertainers:

• The same old Romanian accordionist with repetoire of three short numbers
• New Age fire dancers
• The Italian troupe from last year involving dancing with a manequin partner velcroed to the legs!
• A puppeteer

We also a magnificent red moon on Friday - and (more muted) on Saturday.

The Annual Report

July 8th marked one year of this migratory lark!

This is how where we have spent the 366 nights:

Managing the UK properties, planning the next move, banking on the internet and bailing out the "Youth Wing" have prevented this being a year-long holiday.

The Treasurer reports that external factors - particularly the Euro exchange rate - have led to some dipping into contingency funds......

Hello, Sailors! (Yiassou, Nafti!)

.. although there are precious few in sight!

This has been Nautical Week with much bunting, several concerts at the little port, and on Saturday night an impressive fireworks display.

We have also had house-guests:- Ruth's niece, Kirsty and her friend Rebecca (both 17) stayed for the week. As both temperature and humidity have been high they spent a lot of time asleep and have gone home a bit red!

Sailors they are not!
On Sunday evening they went dolphin-spotting with Captain Manolis. They saw some, but the sea was lumpier than it appeared and they returned a bit green!

Katastroph at the Kantina!

We arrived in Paleochora midday Monday, and all seemed well! Obviously more tourists than in May, flags out for Nautical Week and the apartment suffering only from over-rampant bougainvilla on the balcony!
We even managed to get the Sunday papers that are unheard-of in Kissamos!
So we set off on bikes and Ruth was hailed by dress-shop John, who wondered what we would be doing for refreshments in the new circumstances! This was how we heard of the sad demise of the kantina at the end of the sandy beach.


















We had seen the current keepers doing some necessary renovations back in May and they had said they wanted to open fairly soon. In fact they opened around 9th June. Recently muscular Nikos had had a disgreement with non-English speaking Giorgos and left. Stakis (known to many as the Lebanese Lethario) began work there on Saturday. Sunday had been a busy day with Vicky's family having a celebation, Mike and Gail recently arrived and so on.
At around 5.30 pm a fire started on the road behind. The general consensus is that it was a discarded cigarette that set it off - although sunshine on glass is another possibility.
The high and changeable wind seems to have created a fire storm which engulfed the whole kantina. Customers fled and others on the beach were moved on by the police. Barry's twins and John and Cricket's girls were rushed away from the rock-pool leaving everything behind for later collection. Up on the heights of Panorama it was not clear where the centre of the fire was located and there were fears for the lower houses. Then a loud explosion took place - presumably a gas cylinder at the kantina - although some embellishments refer to wartime mines!! The fire crew took 45 minutes to get to the scene (it was Sunday!) but there was nothing to be saved. Fortunately no-one was hurt, but the area is now blackened and smelly!
The much-valued loo is still standing, but with no-one to tend it the Blue Flag status of that end of the beach is compomised. Giorgos and wife had paid out for the season's rent and lost everything! Any ideas that this was not an accident collapse under anlaysis. Just some terrible luck!
There are this year many more sunbeds at that end of the beach, so enterprising mobile drinks merchants could coin it in! Meanwhile it's rapidly warming tinnies, or a trek back to Jetee and Zygos!

Hot and Bothered!

We set out from Canet on Sunday 22nd to give us a possible three days to reach Venice for the ferry. On one of the motorway stops we noticed water in the passenger foot-well, just as had happened last year when the air-conditioning outlet needed to be fixed, so that was that! No AC till we could get it seen by a Fiat dealer. (As the electric cool box had also decided to break down a few days previously and the temperature was soaring we were a shade warm!)

On that basis we drove solidly through much of Sunday (most trucks banned then!) and made it to Le Cannet on the outskirts of Cannes. There is supposed to be a brand new Premiere Classe there, but we couldn't find it- (largely because it does not exist!!!) Instead we treated ourselves to the Etap Hotel with this view tothe sea. It is on an inpenetrable network of urban motorway and restricted turns, so our hunt for a modest beer after booking in turned into a Gallic fiasco of diesel-wasting navigational errors and recrimination, including an unwanted ascent to a historic village with one-way corniche car-park and 3 euros for a tiny bottle of Heineken. Next morning the Fiat dealer could be seen but not attained from the hotel, so we drove on with windows open!

Traffic on a Monday morning on the Cote d'Azur and in Northern Italy was heavy, and we saw a monstrous tailback in the opposite direction as a result of an accident in a tunnel. We kept on steadily in the knowledge that it would be just possible to get to the Venice campsite, sparing us the dreaded quest for an Italian hotel, and giving us most of the next day at leisure and the possibility of a Fiat dealer. We were doing well, including on the very busy autostrada from Verona, when the flashing signs started about an accident at Padua. Soon the traffic was at a halt. We decided to leave the autostrada and find an alternative route to the campsite. Still very congested and certainly adding time and distance, we will never know if it was the right thing to do! We made it to the campsite after a total journey of 350 miles. Immediately the owner's son bought us a beer and brought out his Dad for a chat, so that we were putting up the (small) tent at dusk. Next morning the consequence was clear. We were both smothered with mosquito bites. (Ruth had 35 on each leg!) That day they fumigated - but too late for us!

In the morning we drove to a small town outside Venice and found the Fiat dealer, who was very very helpful but could not replicate the problem - neither could we! It remains a mystery and we have been running the AC! We killed time back at the campsite and then went into Venice, being boarded early and taking possession our our very expensive cabin. Unlike last year we would have two nights aboard, so slumming it seemed silly! Also unlike last year we left from the proper port and so had the glorious early evening cruise along the Grand Canal! A good voyage, with room in the pool to bathe and only slightly "off" wine!

Staying on and the Great Treks!

It's catch-up time again!

The truckers kept us in Fuerte for four extra days, giving us a good day on the beach and the opportunity to go to the community meeting (debating designs for the swimming pool fencing, the new security cameras and our set-to about the bike saddle!) Some sort of agreement was reached between the Spanish truckers and the government so we felt it was safe to leave on Sunday 15th.

Easy flight to Girona, pick-up and car retrieval! We found diesel, albeit at an appalling price and set off for the border with France. On the way wehad a very heavy thunderstorm which stopped before France, and there were no hold-ups. We went back to Le Brasilia and pitched up just before some rain. Obviously a few more campers about now but still quieter than we imagine is the case at peak time.

On Monday it poured all day! We went to a hypermarket and spent lot of time trying to diagnose and solve the WiFi problem on the laptop. (Solution: a new adaptor, but dire warnings given about the age and inadequacy of the laptop!)

Tuesday was a little better, so on Wednesday Bob set off for the long-anticipated cycle ride on the southern extremes of the Canal du Midi, involving an overnight camp in Narbonne. (Route:- up the coast from Canet to Port Nouvelle, pick up the Canal du Robine which crosses the Isle St Lucie and joins the Midi above Narbonne. Thence along that and back from a rail station to Perpignan. 160 km in two days - lots of Savlon on the perineum!)

After his return we had two very hot days when the brilliantly regulated swimming pool was much used. In the evenings there was a series of Euro 2008 matches. As most of the Netherlands was camping there we had a ridiculous amount of orange stuff being worn!!