Footnote on Knees

Just to round off July:
Yesterday Ruth mounted the bike and rode up and down the prom several times without pain!
The physio has loosened up the operated knee and the cortisone has eased the one in waiting.
This was the first ride in Paleochora since the Great Fall exactly a year ago!

A new phase opens.

Shocking Figures!

Paleo Summer: Part 1

42 degrees Celsius, Beaufort 7, 52 per cent Leave!

Greyrocks has been in Paleo some five weeks and things have not been quiet!

Having left Chania in a wind-free heatwave we were expecting to find a cooler environment, but were told it had been unusually still on the South Coast too! Soon after we arrived we were with chums catching up on the news and agreeing not to - except with chosen fellow-travellers - discuss the UK referendum which would take place next day!

We spent the next day on various jobs and the evening - until late - with interesting non-Brits. Ruth discovered the awful news in the early hours and Greyrocks hid away to nurse the wounds. We did however make contact with Steve in order to reclaim our stored items including sunbeds, so we had a short but emotionally-charged discussion before taking the beds down to the beach to try not to think about it!

Down at the beach "our tree" was available as an anchoring point with Yiannis the beach guy positioned even closer that last year. It was hot, and a bit windy, but the sea entry was difficult and the sea very cold (unlike on the North coast). There followed several days of very strong wind (sometimes from the South) so there was glumness on both fronts until strikingly on July 1st the wind dropped, a remarkable amount of sand had been shifted over the rocky shoreline to give good ingress and the water was lovely! we spent plenty of days down at the beach and some days were "scorchio" registering into the 40's mid-afternoon. winds were a problem on 4th and 5th but otherwise not so, then Ruth made a swift decision to fly back to help with her father's welfare and house-clearance. The Norwegian flight on the 7th was very cheap (and comfortable) but the return with Easyjet on 12th was another shocking figure! It was a busy, wet, cold and miserable trip but highly productive. Bob spent two days in Chania before coming to the airport and we returned together to resume the lifestyle.

After a few days the extremes also resumed with the period 16th to 20th having record-breaking winds. Greyrocks took themselves out of town on the worst day to a bolt-hole with a swimming pool and no sand, but the Force 7 gusts were inescapable. As the predominant direction was NNE it also undid the earlier sand coating and up to this point improvements to the shore have been slow!

Meanwhile the shifting sands of Brexit ...........

"What goes down in Matala ......."

We stayed four nights. The quality seems to have stabilised to a level well below the early years, but still worth the relative discomfort (even in a decent hotel), gross adolescent behaviour and limited eating options for the free music and festival atmosphere. The local Brits from the north coast gave a spectacular performance on the first night! On the Saturday we were walking the back streets when hailed by Barry (ex- Paleo-Calypso), one if his twins and Anidri Alan visiting fo the first time. Many hours and Amstels followed accompanied by barely(!)-acceptable remarks about passing buttocks (tattooed, painted or otherwise!) Later in the weekend we spent time with Barry and Judy who had peeled off from the ever-increasing Kalyves Krew. Down at The Lions Georgios was back after last year's absence and it was a good place to be!
It was very, very hot and wind-free, and one glitch was that our AC didn't work on one night:- the one when the nearby music went on until 5am!!
As they cleared up on the Tuesday we took a gentle drive over to Chania and the Nea Hora where we managed some sunbathing on the beach and a dip in the warm sea, followed by dinner and the move on the next day (the one before the referendum) to Paleo. The Nea Hora was having some problems with no Blue Flag and issues over illegal sunbeds. What we find down South?

"Are we there yet? - Migrating south in June

Departure day was blighted only by some thunderstorms on the M25 and an absence of pubs near Dover for time-killing. We have noticed this latter lack before and should know better, but we found an interesting farm shop instead and had the bonus of a look round their museum dedicated to the Land Army.

Back on "The Continent" it was five modest  hops to the ferry from Ancona:

Saint Quentin, Nancy, Luzern and Bologna

OK- this is Austria - but hey!

The first was a re-visit to a hotel used on the way "up" so uneventful. In Nancy we had great difficulty finding the place and then got lost again on the outskirts afer getting stuck in a hypermarket in a torrential downpour. This disorientation was as bad as any in UK and involved going in the wrong direction on the autoroute in the rush hour. We eventually hunkered down in the Campanile and ate one of their dinners for the second night running, which was never the intention. We had allowed plenty of time for the route into Switzerland and so diverted in Mulhouse (a place where we had stayed before) in order to collect Euros in cash in the run-up to the UK Referendum. More navigational errors!

Crossing at Basel, coughing up the 40 euros for the vignette and finding the Ibis were all simple. The nice manager sorted out parking that could handle the bike rack, the room was good and the WiFi strong. We set off in search of a drink and a place for dinner in the absence of Swiss francs. Oh dear! A McDonalds, a kebab house that was cash-only and a posh club/restaurant whose prices brought tears to the eyes!! The Kandonites, who also use the hotel en route,  now tell us we were warned! We ate from the very short microwave menu at the Ibis and sought out Del Shannon's "Swiss Maid" which had become an ear-worm! Greyrocks set off early next morning with much less impressive views than on the last such trip because of low cloud. and mist. We were through the St Gothard Tunnel with a wait of less than twenty minutes, entered Italy and made it unscathed round the racetrack that is Milan! Our one night on the outskirts of Bologna must be one of the best value deals yet! Pretty easy to find huge, new and almost deserted on a Saturday night! We had a huge luxury room and wallowed in it taking dinner in the restaurant and were off next morning after a great buffet breakfast for a simple journey to the ferry in Ancona! We made good time and had to kill time at a very tatty autostrada stop before check-in, The sky was darkening! We were told the ship might be a little late but we must queue at the appointed hour so we hung around the terminal and it began to pour with rain! We found a spot almost in the shelter of a bar parasol and waited! We then had to drive to the queue in spite of the weather. We waited and waited and waited! We eventually left about two and a half hours late and in poor weather and sea conditions. This was going to scupper our plans for an afternoon drive to the Chania ferry from Piraeus.

One aspect of the Greek stereotype is the refusal to give true but unpopular facts involving some loss of "face"! Well done, ANEK:- true to form the staff kept insisting the drive could be done in an hour and a half and all would be well! Greyrocks reflected for half the voyage and then emailed the nice person in the office in Venice and re-booked for the following night's ferry. We booked into a hotel we knew of old in Patras, told Lefteris in Rethymnon that we wouldn't arrive until the Tuesday morning and cancelled a scheduled coffee stop in Kalives with Judy and Barry. Then we relaxed and watched a film!

So we stayed overnight in a hotel we have used before, but it has been taken over by a group and is now all-inclusive and the few guests there were Russian,  The catering was very good for a one-night stand and the room and balcony very comfortable. Next day on the leisurely drive we saw the state of the National Road works and knew we could not have done it the evening before, so a wise move!


In Rethymnon for now just two nights we realised how foul the weather had been on the way down as we had to completely change our wardrobes! And we were soon in the sea! Two good meals - including at the excellent Noodle Bar - cheap sunbeds and a bit of a walk. It was good to be back and Lefteris helped us get the washing done!