A (medium) rare sight!

Last evening we heard and saw two cows! This is significant as we were told when we started coming to Crete that there were none on the island - with all beef and dairy product being brought in from outside!

This pair (bullocks) are presumably destined to become stifado and mousaka!

Chez Nous 2

We have now been in the new apartment for a week and love it! The "back" is built right up against the town fortress, and the other side is smothered with bougainvillea - though as this is pulling down its supporting arches its days are numbered!

A great and surreal delight is being able to listen to Radio 4 via the internet (though with a two hour time difference of course!)

The weather until yesterday was more like late October - jackets needed in the evening and beaches cleared of all by very strong winds. It's much better now - but thoughts turn to migration!

Lily-livered Greyrockers abandon West Coast jape!

For 19 years we have wanted to visit Sfinari - a mellow fishing village and beach. This seemed feasible from our camping base. We made it to Platanos but 100 metres after that we saw what was involved in terms of narrow road and precipices so had to turn back. We won't get there in this life!
Instead we re-visited Falasarna after about 10 years. The drive to there from Platanos is hairy enough, but the beaches are exquisite and the place is still very special despite the development! A windy but very warm afternoon!

Big City!

On










On a particularly nice day we took the bus to Chania for lunch with Alain and Pascale who have built a house inland from Paleo in Kandanos. We nearly didn't make it having stood for half an hour at what we thought was a bus shelter on the new road close to the campsite. The bus takes a different route (through the villages) so a mad uphill cycle dash was made through an olive grove! (Freewheel all the way back!) In Chania we ate at a superb fish taverna on the New Harbour Blue Flag beach, having kakavia - Cretan bouillabaisse -, followed by free walnut pastry! We then took coffee beside the old harbour (above) with a roof top view, and Pascale showed us where to shop - on which she is world expert after years of practice with daughters Marine & Alize!
The following week we had an extra rather dull day up North as the new apartment was not ready, so we went solo on the shopping with the car - managing to locate LIDL & Champion for delights not found in Paleo. (We also went back to the fish taverna!)

Hello Campers!

There's no accounting for taste! Bob ensures we are solvent. And this is Splodge (our name for him, and still being used after our departure, thanks to Lotta aged 4!)
The site has a several families of cats and this kitten visited each breakfast time for milk and yoghurt pots.

Well maybe!

"I have nothing, I want for nothing, I am free!" - this translation of a famous Cretan quotation is on the back of an Austrian motorhome camped next to us! The owner's definition of "nothing" covered a huge motor cycle on the rack, three awnings and the kitchen sink!
Nice people, though - and helpful when our UK-purchased mobile power supply failed on the first use!
When they moved on they were replaced for two nights by a convoy of three German vans who arranged themselves as a ring of fire!
We were -we think- the only British campers - but there was an organised party of Yoga & meditation enthusiasts staying in local rooms and practising at the taverna. The vast majority of punters were single older women - reminding us of the weirder side of Paleo life. (See someone's comments on
http://paleochora-woowoo.blogspot.com/

Things are different Up North

.. a host of white sea daffodils!
In Paleo in the few daffs on the beach were destroyed by thugs. Up in Minithma - 5 km East of Kisamos - and just outside the campsite they grow profusely. We stayed here for ten days between apartments. Bob has used this site over the last ten years or so when cycling from the airport to Paleo. The beach is quiet with shallow sandy entry into the sea and (effectively!) free sunbeds. The taverna is excellent and the staff friendly.
www.campingmithimna.com

Inclement weather & consequences

On Thursday at 6am it rained. This was our 50th day in Crete so quite a shock! Hardly Tewkesbury or Oxford - there was a small puddle on the table at breakfast - but enough to throw routines and it has been unbeachable for two days now - leading to desperate measures such as sitting in beach bars and being given a tour of Avid's monster music collection on the laptop. (Seen here with Jo and two of several Amstel bottles!)
We are off to Kastelli-Kissamos tomorrow - supposedly camping but Meteo Greece is not too sure if we will have to pass through a thunderstorm. More later!

Of all the bars in all the towns...

There we were recovering from the Anidri drive when up walked Christine (Bob's cousin's son's ex-girlfriend) and new bloke Richard! Her son was here last year and had given a very imprecise description of where we might be found! It shouldn't have worked! They are staying on the North coast and had driven the notoriously impossible track from Elafonissi. They needed a few drinks! We helped and they stayed the night after dinner at the Crocodile. Here they are with Bob after breakfast overlooking the bay at the Almyrida.

Spot the Croc!

.. so we didn't walk the gorge! We drove down the mountain and along the dirt track to its mouth at Anidri beach. A new second cantina has opened this year carefully landscaped into the third bay and the tamarisks. The headland you see here is closer than in Paleo and it's obvious why its crocodile shape has become emblematic.

The beach is shingle - but easy to walk on - and the sea is perfect!

Shame about the route here! We promised Yvette she wouldn't have to go again this year. Bob can cycle!

Anidri - Upwards & Onwards

On Tues - faced with continuing wind &sand-blasting we drove up to our nearest mountain village - Anidri - a popular as a home for wealthy Germans & Brits. The kafenion there is in the old schoolhouse and beautifully decorated. There is a gorge to walk down - no plaque there but this where Ruth first wrecked her knee in 2002!