We drove up in very hot weather, and the traditional 3-supermarket run was a sweaty affair! We stayed again at a small hotel on the Nea Chora :- not such a good room this time, and with a horrible view over to a flat roof where a German Shepherd dog was imprisoned with little shade and barked a great deal at free dogs below. We had a pleasant afternoon on the beach, and then went to Shanghai Lily's for the long-coveted duck! Next day the wind came up. We took a bus into the Old Town and went for a stroll around places we knew like the Market, and that we didn't. The beach now was OK but the sea very rough. We were uninspired for dinner and ended up with souvlaki. We had been monitoring the weather situation, and were not surprised when we got a SMS from Jeffri to say he wasn't going to do the Azogires expedition because of the wind, so we cancelled the dinner date and booked in for another night. In Chania there was no real wind problem, but there was a lot of cloud and the sea was very rough indeed. At the harbour there were no operational boat trips, and the waves were almost reaching restaurant tables. We had an interesting long lunch in one of the least aggressively marketed places, and then walked back along the coast. Suddenly - a vision - the "French team" - the Kandonites - coming in the other direction! Later we had the most expensive bottles of Amstel in Crete. Grrr!
Going from North to South coast we were aware of clearing cloud and strengthening winds, and when we reache Paleo the talk was off the destruction on the Sunday. Women had been thrown from bicycles, palm trees had been uprooted and poles and road signs lay horizontal. Apparently there had been odd gusts at Beaufort 10. Our balcony and back patio were ankle-deep in foliage, plant debris and plastic. We made it down to the beach that day and saw drastic re-formation of the sand profile. The wind eased during the week. We feel we were quite clever and lucky to have been away during the devastation.
Click here for Chania habour webcam