Rats...guests...the regatta... and tomato challenge!

Ahhhh, the crystal blue waters of Port Atheni on Meganisi. AKA Rat Island, and yes, we got one. This year, everyone we have met has either had, or known someone who has had a rat on board. And I can tell you it's not very nice.

We discovered ours a week before mum was due to arrive, and he had been on board for at least two days before we saw any 'evidence' of him. However, once we had found the 'evidence', we couldn't stop finding the 'evidence'. He had been everywhere, and the problem on a boat is that there is 'everywhere' for them to go. If they can't find food, they start chewing anything in sight, wires, upholstery and even my favourite starfish sandals...this meant war.

So we went and bought four sticky rat traps - the idea being that the rat/mouse is lured by the food in the middle of the trap, it walks across the sticky stuff, and then its feet and are stuck firmly. That's the theory. The reality is that having placed said sticky pads in the obviously places Mr Ratty had been, the next morning we not only found evidence of Mr Rattyt in our cabin, but also paw prints straight throught the sticky stuff and out the otherside.

'Ah, you need to buy the cage traps...you need to put chocolate, no salami, no cheese...in it, that will get him, guaranteed overnight', so everyone said. So we bought two and no they didn't work. The chocolate, cheese and salami were still in place the next morning. What to do? Whilst scratching our heads and searching Google, for other options, we checked under the bilges to a sticky trap we had laid and forgotten to check. Well blow me down, there he was, stuck, flat on his side, still squeaking. It was all too much for me and I had to get off the boat while David sorted it out - sorting it out meant getting out his big, solid fishing gloves, a large plastic bag, and at arms length 'export said vermin'.

Now we had to find a quick and, dare I say, painless, way to put the poor thing out of his misery. And so we found another use for boat planks...they're not just getting on and off your boat...I leave the rest to your imagination. Needless to say the boat was scrubbed from top to bottom and we don't leave any hatches open, especially when we're on Rat Island.

Moving swiftly along, Before mum arrived we spent a few days with Ian & Jenny, and 'Franny Dog' and spent another 'awe inspiring' day driving around the stunning island of Lefkas. It also happened to be Ian's birthday, which made it all the more special while soaking up the views from the very top, before a lovely lunch on the edge of a cliff, under the shade of some trees.

At the top, we happened upon a chapel. Yes, right at the very, very top. The views of the islands were, as always, amazing, and inside the chapel was pretty stunning as well. It is obviously maintained by 'someone' as there were candles and incense burning.

One particularly interesting view from the top was of the 'Mickey Mouse' radar ears perched on another mountain top! I'm sure they do a very important job of receiving and/or transmitting, but I'm not entirely sure, so I asked David...he thinks they military communication dishes, but who knows! Of course, as we had a car for the day, we had to finish off the day with a trip to Lidl to stock up on all the necessary items we can only get from there...dinner in town was very nice too!

The following week mum arrived and we had a really lovely week with her on board, apart from the 'incident' which we don't mention. Needless to say she can now say she has truly had a 'boat bite' and what a corker of a bruise it was.


Hopefully the many friends she met helped her to enjoy her stay and forget about the 'incident'. Photos of the bruise are available on request, but require written authority from mum!

 

Then came our next guests on board - Jim and Lynda. The plan (always subject to change as Lynda soon found out). 'We'll stay on board three days, then move to a hotel for a relaxing final few days', Lynda said and this was the original plan. 'Ah, but its Regatta week and we have a spare space for a willing helmsman' came our reply...'we'll see how the plan works out'.

They arrived on Sunday night, around 9pm, but as this is Greece it took the to-ing and fro-ing of texts and about an hour's wait, to get Jim and Lynda to the right part of Nydri, but they arrived just as we were ordering another drink at the bar...After a few more drinks, dinner and a good night's sleep we planned the week's events.

The weather was forecast to change/increase that afternoon/evening and we had planned to get a spot on a dock in Nydri...that all changed. We took Jim and Lynda out for a sail and to show them their hotel from the sea. It was also a good way to get Jim back in 'boat mode' and see how much Lynda like being on a boat. The wind, as always was changable - for changable read 'direction boxing the compass and strength from nil knots gusting to 20 knots'. We had a reasonable time 'sailing to the wind' (unheard of normally as you are usually going somewhere and the wind is either non-existent or 'on the nose') for about an hour and then we looked at the clouds above the mountains...time to get back to a safe place for the night.

Too late! By the time the sails were in, the wind was howling and the rain was falling so hard that it was actually flattening the sea. We had to put full wet weather gear on in a matter of minutes and, for the first time ever, put our navigation and steaming lights on during the day. I can honestly say I have never seen rain like it anywhere in the world. It was unsafe to try to get back to a dock (not that anyone else had gone anywhere and there were no spaces), or even to the anchorage. Lynda went below, Jim and I kept a look out and David safely motored the boat around a holding pattern until a lull appeared and we could try to get somewhere to anchor. Vlicho was our only real option, and we weren't happy about it - it is known not to be a good place in a southerly storm (check out you tube and you'll see what I mean). We managed to get ourselves into Vlicho and anchored before the next burst came through. The anchor held fast, but the wind was so strong that it was pushing the boat sideways. We were wet, tired and hungry - only one thing to do in these circumstances - a bacon sandwich.

The storm passed in a couple of hours and we stayed safely tucked up in Vlicho for the night, having been treated to a lovely meal at the 'Seaside Restaurant', before planning the next day.

Tuesday was a very enjoyable day, a surprisingly nice sail in the morning over to Meganisi for lunch, and an even more surprisingly fast sail back. I made the suggestion to the 'boys' that perhaps they should go out tomorrow on Solent Clipper, as they were in fact going to be racing her on Thursday in the Regatta.

Not sure why none of us had thought of this before!

 And so it was that Ian (Skipper - middle), Jim (Helmsman - right), David (Tachtician - left) and Fran the Dog (Mascot - below) entered the Southern Ionion Regatta.

A race of 127 boats from mid-way down the Meganisi channel, around Arkoudhi Island, to the finish line in Sivota. (Lynda and I went to their hotel, had lunch and spent the afternoon round the pool - someone has to keep up standards).

The Team now have 'salty dog' stories to tell their friends and families for many ages to come. But when all is said and done, apart from the debarcle with a couple of catamarans 'which must have cost us a least 20 places...' they came a very well respected 58th. Lynda, Jenny (unfortunately missing the whole event as she had to be back in the UK), and I are very proud of their efforts. I do feel however, that they should have got 'Prettiest dog over the line'.

 

For the rest of their stay, we hired a car and drove Jim and Lynda around Lefkas, (one more time, but it is still an astoundingly beautiful island) and then left them to enjoy the comforts of their Resort Spa Hotel, with its many pools and restaurants before they headed back to normaldome of the UK. We had a great time with them on board.

Before I begin the finale of the tomato challenge, I wanted everyone to know that Fran the Dog is an exception dog. Loyal (not sure who to most tho', she can be found on anyone's boat if the incentive is right), friendly (especially to those who will give her as much fuss as possible) and attentive(? not if your name's Ian).

 

However, she is the most remarkable when she goes swimming. And I'm sure Ian and Jenny won't mind me sharing with you photos of Fran going swimming and then attempting to get out of the water when she has finished...

Finally onto the tomato challenge. Well as no-one actually produced a tomato, there is no actual winner.

Jenny's (off the boat Tashinga, who is now safely back in South Africa), hers went by the wayside weeks ago, something to do with a birthday celebration which overtook all efforts to keep her poor tomato plants alive. Jenny's (Solent Clipper - challenge setter), hers unfortunately, despite her best efforts, went by the wayside while she had to go back to the UK and Ian (Skipper) unfortunately mis-read her instructions of 'feed Baby bio to toms once a week until I return', and gave them an overdose of full strength Baby bio every day - at least they died happy.

Mine, after a great sadness, and the pushiness of my mother, made me give up one of 'The boys' to allow the strongest take all the nutrients from the soil. (Now I know why I grew up the way I did, being the baby of the family....).

As you can se from the photos (then above and now below), he grew and grew, he even grew four little flowers, but no tomatoes came forth. In the end, as we knew we were coming to Messolonghi this weekend, I gave him to a good home in Nydri, on the dock we use, they grow lots of flowers and vegetables. They have promised to take good care of him, and I can have visiting rights next year if we're passing! This is how big he grew - it may have been something to do with the size of the pot that wouldn't allow the flowers to turn into fully fledged tomatoes...who knows. But he's in a good home now.

We are now back in Messolonghi, getting the boat ready for winter. We have three weeks before our flights back on in October when we look forward to catching up with our family and friends back in the UK...but I'm sure I'll write one more blog before we leave. Watch this space!

 

Remake of 1975 British children's film...and the tomato challenge!

When we last spoke I was on the verge of becoming a fully fledged 'commissioned jeweller'. I am glad to say that I have become that 'commissioned jeweller', having sold my first necklace and earing set. Watch out winter boot sales, here I come. However, on more of a sailing/travelling note, what, I hear you cry, have we been doing for the last few weeks. Well the excitement here in the Ionian just doesn't stop. Well, it does when its 36 degrees and no breeze...but I will not complain.

We have been fortunate enough to meet up with some old friends - Steve and Jenny on Tashinga, new friends - Ted and Ginny on Suum Cuique (It's Latin for 'each to his own'), Bobby and Ian on Carlina (hairdressers who happily make you sit on the back of their boat, covered in a black hairdressing robe in 36 degrees, while you have your haircut with everybody looking on...). Finally Ian and Jenny, with Fran the Dog, on Solent Clipper. So if you get called Jenny, or a variation therein, it's because I've been surrounded by Jennys. What with the fact that we call the wind generator Geni W, the Honda generator Geni H and the genoa (headsail if you don't know), Geni S, all makes for a very confusing life, as in 'I wonder what Jenny's up to?' Am I referring to one of three friends or one of three bits of boat equipment...

Moving swifly on. For a change (and because needed to collect some large items) we rented a car for a day with some other friends - David and Lesley on Hie, note that she is not be called Jenny, but he is called David - even more confusion.


Lefkas Northwest Coast

After we finished our shopping spree of a) new razor for David, b) new USB cable for computer c) collection of Hie's sail from repair and d) some jewellery bits for me, we then went exploring the west coast of Lefkas.We stopped and had a lovely lunch on Kathisma beach. Unfortunately, at this time of the year, it is wall to wall umbrellas and Italians.

As we walked to our chosen restaurant (the one that had a space in its car park) we saw quite an imperssive sight - paragliding going on directly above our heads. We watched as they rode the thermals off the cliffs and then eventually landed on beach, between the umbrellas.

After lunch we continued to drive up, and through, the magnificent mountains of Lefkas, and back over the middle of the island and round the sometimes trecherous road leading back to Nidri.

We stopped to look at the stunning view over the islands of the South Ionian and down into Vliho bay, before continuing around Vliho Bay to get a different view from the one we normally see - from the land to the boat, not the other way around! In the picture on the left you can see Scorpios, owned by the infamous Onasis family, now rumoured to have been let on a 99 year lease to a very wealthy Russion who is going to build apartments...I bet you don't see them on Last Minute.Com when their built! But you do see an enormous mega yacht (power) in the bay most days. Now when you stop there fore lunch you can go ashore, up until now you could only swim up to the beach before you were asked to leave!

Anyway, I digress. Our remake of a 1975 British Children's Films...Let me explain further. As we left Nidri, one fine sunny Friday morning (we had received a call two days before to say that our new sail was ready for collection - horray!), we headed out of the bay and up the coast for Lefkas to collect said sail. On route, David, in his calm, collected fashion, commented that one of the oars from our dinghy had been stolen over night...'some bugger's nicked one of our oars' to be precise, 'what idiot would want to do that?' This would be very bad triming as we were about to to up a river to meet Tashinga and Solent Clipper, and would therefore leave us...wait for it....'up a creek without a paddle'... it get's better... 'Oh dear.' I replied (clearly already thinking of my punchline), 'does that mean we can make a remake of the film 'One of Our Dinasaurs is Missing', but call it...'One of our Dinghy Oars is Missing'. You can imagine his response - I thought it was very quick on my part! Anyway, as it turns out the oar was just hiding beneath the dinghy cover and was there all along, so we won't be making any remakes of 1970s kids movies - shame, I thought it would be fun.

So, onto more interesting things - WE HAVE A NEW SAIL AND IT SAILS - New sail up, through the 12:00 noon Lefkas bridge heading north, three and half hours sail. No problems, sail comes out, sail goes in, no jamming, no creasing, just a lovely bright shiny new sail (thanks mum!)

However, more interesting stuff was to come - we were about to enter the River Acheron on the mainland. It is supposedly the river that flows into the ancient Acheron where the souls of the dead were thought to descend into the underworld. As we sailed towards Fanari Bay, where the entrance to the river hides, we had been greeted with a reasonable wind on our nose and two meter waves - where did they come from? (The Adriatic, which is why they were so big). As you can see from the photo, the entrance is not very wide, less than 100m wide, quite shallow and with a 1-2 knot current flowing out. This current, meeting the waves created an interesting approach that we decided not to attempt before checking it out in the dinghy. We anchored, took the dinghy in (with both oars) to meet up with our friends who were already tied alongside the wooden quay that has been built about 1km up the river. Having riden the waves on the way out in the dinghy, we decided it was too dangerous to attempt at 7pm so we stayed at anchore that night. We took the boat up the river first thing the next morning.

The river is ice cold and spring water. On the quay they have provided ice cold showers for you to use, if your brave enough. Whilst in the river, we actually woke up in the mornings shivering and the floor in the boat was cold! The quay is set in the village of Ammoudhia, which itself is very pretty, tidy and full of very reasonably priced restaurants and hotels. Although it is a tourist village, it had a very calm and friendly feel about it.

The following day, we took the dinghys (photo of Ian, Jenny and Fran the Dog) up the river to see if we could find some lost souls trying to find they way down to Hades. All we found was a tripper boat full of holiday makers, a few birds, one sunken boat and not enough depth to go right the way to the entrance. But we had fun all the same.

The following day, Ian and Jenny (Solent Clipper) left the river. We knew this would be an interesting sight to watch, as the river isn't really big enougn to turn a boat around in - certain techniques would need to be applied. We would all watch carefully. For your information Ian and Jenny's boat is 4 ft shorter than ours. Firstly they tied a line to their starboard side (that's the one on the river side in this case), and took this back to Steve and David, who were standing on the boat that Solent Clipper had been rafted to... keeping up.

The current in the river flows between 1 and 2 knots, heading out of the river. The aim was to move the boat forward with lots of power, the boys would hold on to the line as Ian turned the boat back on itself, hoping that the current would take the bow once the boat had gone past the point of no return, and hopefully not getting caught up in the bushes on the other side of the river. Here's them just at the point of no return.

Now, we have to do this tomorrow, but with no spare room...to say it was going to be an interesting morning when we left would maybe be and understatement!

However, before Ian and Jenny left, she gave me and Jenny (Tashinga) a challenge. She has on her boat an Italian herb garden that she has been growing since leaving Italy at the beginning of July. So, out of the kindness of her heart, she left us both two baby tomato plants - the challenge being the first to grow a tomato. I have since repotted and named my plants (hereby referred lovingly as 'The Boys'), and am speaking and nuturing them everyday. Here's their photo.

Having had three wonderful days up the river, with both our paddles, we decided to move on.  Our exist from the river was as expected, interesting, and I feel that the new addition of foliage to the anchor and pulpit works well, even though David made me remove it. Luckily no photos available to show what a mishmash we made of it.

We decided to go the fifteen miles across to Lakka and we had decide to get there early to try and find a least a little corner to anchor in. Lakka in August is always full. To make our journey even more delightful, we were greeting by two dolphins just five miles out from the entrance to the bay.
As I say now that we are in August, it is Italian season, and there is normally no space available. WRONG. We arrived to find not one, but three spaces available on the town quay - unheard of in August. We call our friend Terry (Seadragon) who we had agreed to meet there and all slipped onto the town quay with no questions.

My main reason for going to Lakka, apart from the glorious colour of the water and the picture postcard cuteness of the place, is the bead shop...which has now closed down! Typical!  However, we did find a fantastic beach bar, set up in the trees, just off the beach, with sun loungers, free wifi and cold beer. So I suppose it is the next best thing. We met up with some more sailing friends from Messolonghi and we stayed two nights.

Since then we have been back to Vliho, Nidri, over to Port Atheni. We have decided that this will now be our weekend retreat. You can anchor in clear blue water, take two lines ashore and create your own private swimming area behind the boat, and there is a wonderful little beach bar, only a dinghy ride away. While we were there this weekend we met up with Terry (Seadragon), Bob and Jane (Bobcat), and the following day, Steve and Jenny (Tashinga) and their two guests joined us again.

On the first night we had 'progressive supper BBQ'. This took the form of Terry cooking everyones meat on his boat, I made a salad and Jane a potato salad. We transported all the food from all the boats to Bobcat (a lovely big catamaran with a fantastic outside eating area). We then played a very silly game called Banana Scrabble - much fun was had. On the following night we had a 'progressive supper chilli'. I made a chilli, Jane made a chilli and Terry made the rice. All the food was once again transported to Bobcat and we place Mexican Train Dominoes (appropriate for the chilli). And then we discovered the freshwater leak...

...watch this space to see if we've fixed it!

Til next time - Michele and Dave onboard Alhambra in the Ionian

Doesn't time fly...

...I can't believe we have only be back on the boat for six weeks, it feels like we've already had a full season on board. But don't think that we're complaining, it means that it feels like time has slowed down. That may just be us, it does take a while to get used to a completely different lifestyle - or it could just be the heat, in which case, I will pour another glass of iced water and get on with this update.

Dolphins around Oxia

So, what have we done in three weeks since leaving Messolonghi. On our first day out of the marina we were greeted by three enormous dolphins, swimming and playing in our bow wake. There is nothing more wonderful to see than dolpins. They really do put a smile on your face.

View from Georges
Restaurant

On my previous blog I mentioned that our first planned stop would be to Kastos. That plan, as all plans, was subject to change, and did so at the last minute. The town quay was, unsurprisingly at this time of year, full with boats, so we went around to the next island, Kalamos and went on the dock in the little harbour. We last visited Kalamos back in 2005 when we chartered a boat in the Ionian, long before we bought Alhambra.
     Back then a very nice man met us on the dock, took our lines and introduced himself as 'George'.  He explained that he had the restaurant at the end of the dock, showers and washing machines were also available. Well nothing much changes in eight years. We arrived, George took our lines, and told us all about his restaurant, showers and washing machines. After a hard, 40 miles of motoring we decided to have dinner in his restaurant - all very pleasant.

Glassy seas on the Ionian

The next day we set off for Nidri, about 17 miles north-ish. Again, so unlike the Ionian, there was not a breath of wind - no need to even think about getting a sail out. We got the headsail out twice the previous day, but as normal, the wind went on our nose and after rolling in the headsail twice my daily exercise was complete. David and I have agreed that even if there is no wind, we should still get the headsail out so that I can haul on lines and winch the sail away, all in the name of exercise...
    
However, I digress. We arrived safely in Nidri, got a space on the Neilson dock and spent the afternoon relaxing around the very welcoming swimming pool. That night, we attended the weekly Neilson Quiz (it raises money for Sail Cancer) and is held at one of our favourite bars - The Tree Bar. All was right in the world again.
     That night, whilst catching up with friends who run the bar, and explaining we needed to take our mainsail up to Lefkas,one of them very kindly offered to drive us there the next day - this meant we could take our mainsail to the sailmakers without having to take the boat there. And so it was that on Wednesday 10th July we ordered a brand new mainsail - hopefully it should be arriving by the end of July - yipee (we think).

Since then we have met with some old friends, been for drinks and dinner and generally enjoying the waiting around for a new sail. Good friends on Locomocean, invited us to join them for dinner at a restaurant half way up the mountain, behind Nidri. Nothing special about the menu, typically Greek, all very nice and inexpensive, but the view was wonderful, as you can see.   

 

A few days later, another set of very good sailing friends on Fritha, arrived back in Nidri. They, unfortunately, are going back to the UK soon, so we needed to get a whole lot of catching up and socialising sorted out. They invited us to lunch on their boat in One Tree Bay. This bay is so named, because there is one tree in the Bay. There's a lot of other bushes and greenery and stuff around, but there is a particuarly obvious tree, on its own, in the middle of a field.

When we visited last year, it was one of the few bays that still had nothing in it. This year a beach bar has sprung up - unsurprisingly. The bay is fantastic, it has crystal clear water, perfect for swimming and you can see straight to the bottom. It has fantastic views all around, and the back drop of the mountains to complete the picture, as you can see from the photo above. However I really must get a picture of the Tree!

     We continued the week in a similar vein, lunch round the pool, drinks at the bar, dinner with friends. However, in between all this exhausting socialising, I have been making jewellery and writing my book. There are photos of the new jewellery and 'wine glass bangles' (as I am told they are called) on the Jewellery page. I have also taken my first commission for a necklace and earings set. I will let you know whether they liked it or not.

 

     Finally, I have to add two photographs of the other creatures in life that make me smile - dogs. As we left Messolonghi, a German couple, who live in Crete, when not sailing in Greece (keep up), rescued this adoreable fluff ball. It just had so much energy and bounce, you couldn't help but like it.

Then, when we were another dock for a day, opposite us, on a motor boat, a young girl arrived. In her had was the tiniest puppy. She put her down on the boat - the puppy scampered around and nearly fell off twice, overboard, then ran around yapping to her 'mum' whenever she couldn't see her. She had so much character, I could easily have 'stolen' her away. We believe there is probably quite a bit of Huskey in her, but not sure what else - either way, I'm not sure how long this little bundle of fun will stay this small.

 

That's about it for this installment. Hopefully by the next one I will be able to put up a photo of Alhambra and her new mainsail. Hopefully all the engineering issues will be sorted and we will finally be able to go sailing - properly!

 

Michele and Dave on Alhambra - Nidri, Greece

 

 

Finally ready to leave

We always said it would take four weeks before we would be ready to leave Messolonghi, and nearly to the day, its been four weeks. And what a busy four weeks it has been.


Our original list of jobs were the huge things that needed doing. Primarily renewing the GRP and teakwork on the swim platform has taken most of David's time and I have being doing the usual 'boat jobs' like cleaning, cleaning, oh and more cleaning. Here are some before and after photos, first of Alhambra being lifted out of the water last October, and launched last week, and then a before and after photo of the teak work. To the uniniated, and those who don't know David that well, I can assure that the difference between the before and after of the teak is amazing - precision in all he does is shown in his work.

 

    

Last night we ventured into town, to a try a restaurant  recommended by our neighbours. An interesting experience in one of the oldest tavernas in town.

They have enourmous wine barrels situated around the ceiling of the taverna, which then have pipes flowing down the beams, to taps on the downposts, next to the tables (sorry photos not that good, but gives you the general idea). We went with a friend, Klaus, and enjoyed a variety of starters, tzaziki, ham and cheese patties (home made, not frozen I was informed by the owner) and courgette puffs, which went really well with the tzaziki. Christos, the owner then brought us a sample of this pork from the spit (the pork was from his own farm), which was unbelievably tender and very tasty, served with salt and freshly squeezed lemon. For the main course I had chicken from the grill, David had kebab from the grill and Klaus had an emormous meatball stuffed with cheese. We enjoyed a litre of wine from the barrels and finished with fresh water melon. All for €15 a head. The restaurant was well away from the main part of town, and only locals seemed to know it was there - you had to have directions to find it. A really good find which we will/have recommended.

 

     We have now been in the water for five days, our list of jobs was even longer - service the outboard, put up the headsail, install the log impeller and GPS head, buy new water containers and fuel, hose down the boat, pay the marina bill and check out with the Port Authority, tidy the cabins, put up the flag pole, Greek flag, life ring, and twinkly cockpit lights (a must for any cockpit), clean the bathrooms, sort out the hassle we've had with Skype, give David a haircut, reinstall the swim platform ladder, watch the tennis, then the Grand Prix...then we can leave. Oh, one final job is to see if the new folding bikes will fit into one of the cockpit lockers -

David can fit in there, so I don't see why they won't be able to - here's the proof. This was back in April 2007 in St Martin, an island in the Caribbean where we bought Alhambra, it was one of his favourite places... FYI I have been updating the Caribbean Page on this blog. I've been putting a selection of my original e-mails and photographs. I intend to update all of the new pages (as and when I have the time). At lest this way, all of our time spent on Alhambra will be stored in one place.
    
So the plan is to leave tomorrow, Monday 8th July, and take a pleasant motor up to an island called Kastos, around 35 miles (6 hours) away. It is a lovely spot which we stopped in on our way back to Messolonghi last year.
   There is not much there, a windmill on the hill that used to have a cafe, but we have been told that has closed now. However, there is a perfect little wine bar, in a stone building, from which this photo was taken, that is just a perfect place to end the day, with a glass of wine or beer, looking over at your boat, with a backdrop of mountains and the sun glistening on the water in the harbour....ahhhhh.

   Watch this space for more updates as the weeks go by...

Life continues on the hard...

This week continues to be extremely hard work for David, and enjoyable work for me. David gets to do all the physical stuff that makes the boat look nice and I get to do all the creative stuff such as writing blogs, books and making jewellery.

 

Last weekend proved to be a weekend of late nights; firstly in the marina bar on Friday night, secondly in town with friends on Saturday night and finally some ‘local’ colour in the form of the ‘The Monastery of Agios Symeon Festival’ which started on Saturday night and continued through to Wednesday morning. With help from the Internet I found out the following:

 

The monastery of Agio Symeon is 8km from Messolonghi, was established in 1740 during the Ottoman rule, and has great historical importance locally. Messolonghi played a very important role during the Greek uprising against the Ottoman Empire. In 1822, the Turks tried to take it but were unsuccessful. Four years later the inhabitants of Messolonghi unfortunately succumbed to the Turks who surrounded and besieged the town, and on 10 April 1826 they decided on the mass Exodus of Messolonghi. However, the Exodus was unsuccessful, most people were killed and only few managed to get to the monastery and then escape in the mountains. To revenge for this, the Turks burnt down the monastery, which was rebuilt 10 years later, by a local bishop.

 

The Monastery of Agios Simeon celebrates twice a year, on February 2nd and on the weekend of the Holy Spirit (movable festival, usually in June). The Festival starts in the evening of Saturday, when two types of groups are formed. The first are dressed as the former soldiers (armatomenos), also called kleftes. The other groups are riding on horses, the cavalry.

 

After the parade, everyone goes to the historical monastery of Agios Symeon in the mountains. This is the actual start for the festival. Gypsies playing music, people throw their money in air, and everybody is dancing, singing, drinking and eating all night and day. The festival goes on for four days and nights and lasts until Wednesday morning.

 

We ventured into town to see the parade, which we had been warned about. The horses are allegedly given ouzo or beer, and by the look in their eyes I would not have at all surprised. Although they are healthy looking animals, and most are dressed for the occasion, the route they take through the town is on marble cobblestones. The restaurants all take in their tables and chairs and the streets are lined with hundreds of people. A friend pointed out that it was strange that no-one stood in front of us, as in the norm in most parades. We were soon to find out why.

 

The horses have riders, some are saddled up, some bareback, all with someone on the ground walking them through by their reins. But the horses are unable to cope with the marble stones and as they round the first corner their hoofs start to slip and slide, one very nearly performed a re-enactment of Bambi on the ice; one leg in all four directions. This of course in turn scares the horses who then rise up on their hind legs, all within the confines of the narrow streets where we are all standing. At the same time, the gypsy bands are playing their whistles and banging their drums, all at a different rhythm and tune. The horses were dripping with sweat and frothing at their mouths, as they had to wait while the procession moved slowly through the streets.

 

We did not continue up to the Monastery, although free buses are provided both there and back, but you have to wait for everyone to be ready to leave before they come back to town, which is normally around 4am.  All in all it was one of those festivals which I am glad I have witnessed, but do not believe I would wish to see again as I found it quite daunting being that close to some very agitated, and very big horses. (I do have photos, but have not uploaded them from my phone yet - modern technology confusing me...)

 

And so back to real life. David is well on his way to finishing the teak work, the final caulking was squished in this morning, before breakfast, and is now drying before the final sanding down. Progress so far...

 

  

 Two coats of anti-foul have been applied to the  bottom of the boat and, although I look particularly attractive in my white smurf outfit, it appears 
 that my anti-fouling technique was not up the exacting Perrett standards:-) It seems that I do not have the strength to apply the paint sufficiently, and it would have been a rubbish finish, or it would have taken double the amount of anti-foul to complete and would have cost twice the money...so I made some more jewellery (see below) and wrote some more of my book, Island of Youth.

 

Our new bicycles have proved to be much more useful than first envisaged – popping into town now only takes five minutes, whereas before it took 15 minutes to walk there before you even got to the shops. However, they come into their own around the marina, especially as the bathroom block is some distance away and they can be a life saver for getting there as quickly as you need to, if you get my drift...

 

We are currently booked in to be ‘launched’ on Monday mid-day, so all going well we should be able to have our first night back on the water to see if everything else is still in order. Weather permitting, as always, we plan to make our way north on Thursday where we will stop off at one of two little bays before hopefully getting back to Nidri on Friday.

2013 sailing season begins...

Welcome to my new blog.

However, I must admit it took me a day or two to figure out how the whole thing worked and to get it set up. So if you have any comments please let me know.

 

I plan to use these pages to keep you updated about our adventures on Alhambra, although this year the adventures probably won't be very adventurous or very far reaching. For a start it is already nearly the end of June and we are still what the sailing fraternity class as 'CLODS', that's 'Cruisers Living On Dirt'. Yes folks, Alhambra is still on the hard. Although the view from the boat makes it just that more bearable...

 



Our journey back was as always exhausting, but the last part is always well worth the wait. The view from the magnificant Rio–Antirrio bridge is stunning, as is the bridge. Which Wiki tells me  'is the world's longest multi-span cable-stayed bridge. It crosses the Gulf of Corinth near Patras, linking the town of Rio on the Peloponnese to Antirrio on mainland Greece by road.'

However, that aside, we are late arriving back in Greece, and will be even later setting off. As always, there are a thousand and one things to do, plus all the additional things David wishes to fix while we are still out of the water. And that's before he starts on the things that need to be fixed once we are back in the water.

For those who are interested, and some of you will be, and I know a lot of you won't, he is replacing and recaulking all the teak work on the swim platform. He carefully took back a section to the UK to repair over winter.The pictures show what it started like...

 

The first stages of repair works...

...and the GRP repairs completed before we returned to the boat. Next step is replacing the teak...

 

When we do get going, please note I use the term 'get going' and not 'sailing', we will be heading straight to the sail makers, as we believe we need a new mainsail. We have no idea how long it will take to replace, let alone all the other things we need to get done once we eventually 'head up island' as they say.

 

I, on the other hand, have promised David that I will finish my book. For those who are unaware, I am currently, or potentially, depending on how you look at it, two thirds of the way through writing my adventure novel 'Island of Youth'. As with all novels, it is a long and arduous process, but not, I am assured, as arduous as getting published - so those of you out there who know of a good publisher or agent, please speak as highly of me as you can... a signed copy will be yours when it finally hits the shelves.

 

My second plan is to spend all my other time(?) designing a collection of jewellery, to be show-cased around the islands of the Ionion, ready to be sold when I get back to the UK - place your Christmas orders now...photos of said collections to be added as and when. Here are just a couple of examples of items I have made thus far...

 

 

 

 

So that's about it for our first week and my first blog. Next week I get to spend my time dressed up in an all-in-one white cotton suit - a bit like a onesie, only with much less class and style, and getting myself covered in blue anti-foul paint, all in 38degs. What more could a girl ask for.

 

In the meantime, your comments on my blog would be really useful, or should  I say, I would welcome really useful comments regarding my blog.

 

Take care,

Michele and Dave - on Alhambra, Messolonghi