An invasion of leprechauns – OK, grandchildren really!

Charlie, Lily and Jessica aboard "Rampage"

On Tuesday last week, in a state of great excitement, we left Gouvia for the airport. We stopped briefly to do some shopping and then found that we couldn’t get any money out of the local ATMs as they’d all stopped working for one reason and another. So we had to stop on the way and then suddenly realised that we were now running late…….. As we came round the end of the runway, there was an Easyjet plane taxiing round to the terminal, so even more panic began to set in with one member of the party.

In the event, we had plenty of time as the Dublin contingent had to collect their suitcase before coming through to join us. Much excitement all round, with hugs and kisses to celebrate meeting up again after not seeing one another for about 3 months. Ken collected the hire car and I took Naomi and the two big children (Charlie and Jessie) with me in the Fiat. We then travelled in convoy to their hotel in Gouvia town before moving down on to the boat for lunch. It was then made clear to me that the 2 big kids were staying on board, whilst Ken, Naomi and Lily would be using the hotel room……. Talk about a culture shock; no close contact with sub 7 kids for nearly 19 years and now there were 2 of them on Rampage. Massive adjustments of normal life patterns were enforced and I was quickly apprised of my place in the pecking order (somewhere between a butler and a chauffeur I think, with a side order of chef), so I metaphorically shrugged my shoulders and got on with it.

Charlie takes the helm

Wednesday dawned overcast and rainy but once Naomi and Ken had joined us from the hotel, we decided to set off for a trip down the coast to Kalami Bay. The rain held off for most of the day and we had lunch at anchor in the bay before we headed back into the marina for supper. The rain caught up with us as we travelled the last mile or so into the channel but had gone away by the time we were coming into the pontoon.

Jessica steers with encouragement from Naomi & Julia

Thursday the weather was improved and most of the morning was spent in the marina, pottering about in the tender and generally having fun. After lunch, I was left in charge of Lily whilst the remainder of the party went to Aqualand, a big water park in the centre of the island.

Grandpa and Lily

Jess and Naomi swim off the back of "Rampage" as Charlie makes his way down the ladder.

On Friday, the weather was even better and we set off down the coast to Petriti where we anchored overnight and had supper in one of the many fish tavernas in the village. The children had a lovely time on the sandy beach and in the shallows and Charlie & Jess were much impressed by the shipwrecked yacht on the shore. Coming back to the boat after supper in the dark was an adventure, as it was difficult to pick out Rampage from the other boats anchored in the bay. Rampage was packed out, with the older two kids sleeping top-to-tail in the passage berth, Naomi and Lily in the starboard cabin and Ken in a space cleared for him in the port cabin.

Ken takes the plunge and jumps off the pulpit

J and I got up at about 5.30 the following morning and sailed Rampage down to Lakka Bay on Paxos whilst everybody else slept on, down below. We arrived there in about 9am and spent the day down there, with much moving to and from the shore in the tender, messing about on the beach and learning to snorkel.

Jessie holding a sea urchin!

We set off back to Gouvia at about 6 that evening, eating our supper on route and I kept watch whilst everyone else slept soundly below (see what I mean about chauffer?). We made good time and arrived back in Gouvia by about half past midnight, when I woke J and we berthed Rampage without waking any littles!

After a long lie-in on Sunday, the day was spent taking things easy and in the afternoon, everyone except me went to the hotel to enjoy themselves by the pool and eat ice cream. I caught up on the sleep I’d missed from the previous night of boat driving and ensured a good tempered Grandpa for supper that evening, which we had a Zorba’s, taverna just by the marina entrance, famed for its very generous portions. Naomi was a bit upset to be told she wouldn’t need a starter but bowed to family pressure and confessed afterwards that we’d been right.

On Monday, I was up early and met Ken at the hotel to drive over to Paleokastrisa to go diving. I’d done an internet search and emailed all the local dive centres before they arrived and had been quoted a very good price with Achellion Diving Centre, so we’d booked a couple of dives with them and turned up at 10am. The only down side of the centre is that it is on the beach, whilst the hotel clings to the cliffs above it; this means carrying gear 50 metres down to the water’s edge (and of course carrying back up again afterwards). We had a couple of very good dives, one round a reef with lots of fish life whilst the second was into a cave where we could surface inside it and look up to see trees growing round the mouth of the cave above us. Having had our fill of dives, we then made our way back across the island to join J and Naomi at the hotel pool, where they’d spent the day.

Glyfada beach

Tuesday was nominated a ‘beach day’, so seeing as I don’t do beaches, I was sent into town to do various errands and the others went across the island to Glyfada, a lovely sandy beach almost opposite to Corfu town on the west coast. I spent a relaxed day in town and on the boat making a windscoop (a sort of ventilator to bring wind down into the boat when at anchor), whilst the others ate sand, got frozen in the sea and all that sort of stuff. (Actually the sea was not too cold and the snorkeling was great! – J) As it was there last day here, we all went into Corfu town that evening to look round the old town by night and have supper.

Naomi and Ken on their last evening

J & I accompanied them all to the airport yesterday morning and saw them off – one member of the group at least, in a high state of excitement at the prospect of her fifth birthday the following day (i.e. today!) Since their departure, we have been busy cleaning the boat, doing laundry and stocking up on non-perishables from Lidl and the local supermarket before we head off for the Southern Ionian and beyond.

Cruising Again

Well, the wilds of Greece (or at least the island of Paxos) expose the fragility of the mobile internet system in the country.  Since we left Gouvia on Tuesday, giving in to the unbearable wanderlust, we’ve not had very good internet access.  However, rather than leave you all with no account of our wanderings, we’ve decided to resort to a pictureless blog until we get better speed that’ll allow us to upload some illustrations of where we’ve been and what we’ve been up to.  You’ll have noticed that the last blog also lacked illustrations – that’s for the same reason.  It was ready to post before we left Gouvia but we hadn’t sorted the pictures out, so it’s been posted bare for the time being.

Paxos

So, what have we been doing?

Tuesday was a dull, overcast day with occasional rain flurries and quite a strong southerly wind.  Initially, there was no thought of leaving the marina; we intended to do a bit of shopping and wait out the weather.  In the end, after buying a mini sewing machine, we decided that enough was enough and we’d have a few days sailing before Naomi, Ken and the grandchildren arrive on 17 May.  So, off we set.  We didn’t discuss where we were going, nor did we do much in the way of preparation, simply made sure there was enough food on board for a couple of night and set off……

As we cleared the harbour, we held a brief discussion and decided to head to Pagania, a perfect little anchorage on the mainland of Greece about as close to Albania as you can get.  We sailed the whole way there on an increasingly small amount of sail as the wind built from the south.  It was a great sail, always at about 7 knots, and a really nice little shake down for us both.  It’s only about 8 miles to the anchorage and we covered the ground very quickly.

Unfortunately, the furling line for the foresail got in a tangle which we failed to spot.  This led to me putting too much tension on it with the winch and we broke all the little eyes which keep the line up out of the way.  This led to a little tension in the crew and hasty repairs when we got to Pagania….

After a quiet night at anchor, marred only by a torrential rain storm, we set off for Platerias, a favourite little port of ours about 20 miles south.  We motored to start with, then managed to sail for while before completing the journey on the motor.  In a break with tradition, we moored on the town quay as opposed to the harbour wall (‘cos there was space there – normally the place is full of flotillas).  It wasn’t as comfortable as the quay; as there is no electricity or water and it’s more open to the swell running into the harbour. 

The following morning, we had no real intention of moving on but by lunch time the swell was still running and we didn’t see any point in moving to the quay wall so we decided to head over to Paxos, which is where we are at the moment.

Our initial intention had been to go to Lakka, a sheltered anchorage on the north of the island but as we emerged from the lee of Corfu, we were hit by a force 7 wind from the north west.  We rapidly reduced sail until only about a third of the foresail was still up and we were still doing the best part of 7 knots.  Looking at the entrance to Lakka, I decided that the wave pattern was such that it’d be interesting to enter the anchorage and there’d be no guarantee that there wouldn’t be a large swell entering it as well, so we turned south and headed for the main port on Paxos at the town of Gaios.  We made it there in short order, furling the foresail as we approached and entered the harbour. 

Looking down onto the town of Gaios from the island opposite

The port is charming, a natural harbour created by a small island about 100 metres off the main island, giving a channel that runs between the two for about ¾ of a mile.  The channel is deep and there are quays built along the main island shore that you can moor to.  The town of Gaios, more a substantial village really, is built round the shore line, which rises steeply behind the town.  It is a delightful little place with the tourist activity concentrated on the waterside whilst the rest of the town is very much for the locals.

"Rampage" at anchor in the North end of Gaios harbour

Part of the old fort on top of the island in Gaios harbour

Duncan ponders a cannon - is it French or Venetian?

We spent 3 nights there, taking the place in and exploring the off-shore island with it’s ruined fort on the top.  We also went for a long walk, taking ourselves across the southern part of the island and then doing our best to follow the shoreline back to the town.  In the event, this proved impossible, as the paths either didn’t go where we wanted to go or they turned into dead ends.  The paths themselves are remarkable; they lead through terraced olive groves and are narrow, twisting and turning to follow the plot boundaries, and have steep walls on either side, at time up to a couple of metres high.  The wild flowers and butterflies were glorious and we saw some spectacular views of the coast.

Part of the footpath we took on Paxos with dry stone walls on either side.

The spectacular coastline and clear sea

When the footpath disappeared we had to scramble down the hillside to another which led on round the headland

A huge natural archway which came upon

We had intended to stay in Gaios until Monday evening before thinking about returning to Gouvia via Mourtos or Petriti but on Sunday there was a nasty discharge into the harbour, leaving the water stained and polluted by something looking a lot like farm yard effluent, so we decided to leave and move up the coast to Lakka.  We took the long way round, going round the southern tip of the island before heading north to Lakka.  We had another great sail with somewhat stronger winds than had been forecast.  After a late start, we dropped anchor in Lakka by about 5pm.

We’re now chilling at anchor in Lakka and will probably stay here for another couple of nights before we head back towards Gouvia.  Seeing as there’s a bit of work to do on the boat, the aim is to get back there by Thursday, leaving us time to get the jobs done before the invasion we expect on 17 May.

Where did the week go????????????

Easter Sunday seems an age ago now: we slept like logs after the enormous meal at the hotel and then just relaxed for the day.  It was just as well that we did, as the past week has been pretty frenetic for us.

We had expected James and Chrissie back in the marina on Tuesday but their plans had been sent somewhat awry, as Chrissie had to go back to UK unexpectedly.  With their 3 non sailing visitors on board, it was decided that the best thing would be for them to rent a car and spend the next few days exploring the island and staying in a hotel.  This suddenly meant that there was time to do a good deal more work on Bear Necessity, so I dug out my old clothes and prepared to do a bit more work….

James had compiled a list of jobs that needed tackling, put them in priority order and we set about them from Tuesday morning.  We made a mounting for a swim ladder out of a block of iroko (a lovely hardwood, something like teak but a bit easier to work), changed light fittings, replaced navigation light bulbs, scrubbed and rearranged lockers and generally finished all the start of season jobs on the boat.  I haven’t worked quite so hard for some time and was to be seen traipsing back and forth between boats, as I discovered yet another tool or part that I had on our boat that I needed to finish a job.  J got in on the act as well, making a new curtain for Bear Necessity’s aft head.

Wallace and Gromit

On Wednesday, we worked late and started early on Thursday so that we could finish about 11am, when James had hired a couple of motorbikes so we could make a tour of the island.  The rental agency on the marina provided a pair of Aprilia 650s, barely a year old and in very good condition, so we had a really great afternoon out.  We went south to Corfu town, where we sorted out an internet dongle, then headed out of town to Benitses, where we had lunch in a café overlooking the sea.  From there, we took a circular route across to the western coast, making our way by the back roads (not that there are any real ‘main roads’ on Corfu) to Paleokastritsa, the major resort on the western coast.

James aka David Bailey, takes pics of the view

We had a coffee there before carrying on up into the hills and on through to the northern coast, where we stopped to eat ice creams and drink hot chocolate, before taking the coast road back to Gouvia.  We arrived back at about 7.30, a little saddle sore but having had a fabulous day out.  We ate at Zorba’s, a taverna by the marina entrance that evening.

Stunning hilltop castle. Unfortunately the day was overcast and threatening to rain, so light not brilliant.

I was up bright and early the following morning to finish off the jobs on Bear Necessity whilst James did a last frantic bit of shopping and tided up the boat from our depredations.  All this was required as Chrissie was due back on the 1130 flight and their visitors would be rejoining the boat for a final couple of days cruising before flying home to UK.

In the event, we got the jobs finished, the shopping was completed but there was still some tidying up to be done when Chrissie appeared on the pontoon…….  As J had spent the morning sorting Rampage out, I foolishly suggested that everyone pop over to visit her whilst we finished off.  Well, that was a mistake.  J, Chrissie and Sally all wanted to see THE WEDDING and fired up the computer and spent hours watching via the BBC website.  In the meantime, James was champing at the bit because he had sorted the boat out and wanted to be off before it was too late, as he wanted to get to Platerias that night.  In the event, they set off at a reasonable hour and made good time to their destination.

In the meantime, J and I spent a hot afternoon in the car retracing our route of the day before looking for a misplaced hearing aid.  It had fallen out of my pocket at one of our stops but despite careful searches of the ground at all of the stops, we couldn’t find it, so I am now reduced to wearing single aid and asking people to ‘speak up a little’.

We got back to Gouvia just in time for what turned out to be a small dock party.  It had been decided to hold one to wish Alan and Bern farewell, as they are off cruising for a few weeks but in the event only about 10 people turned up; nevertheless, we had a very pleasant evening talking, eating a variety of nibbles and enjoying a few drinks as the sun went down and it got too cold to hang round any longer.

Yesterday, we stood heavily at ease, doing little other than some shopping.  During the night, it rained heavily.  As the wind was from the south, the rain brought with it a lot of Sahara dust, leaving the boat covered in red splodges as if it had caught some dreadful disease; so this morning was spent cleaning her topsides with the power washer.

Some of the more attentive readers will recall the chaos that descended on Gouvia Marina in late October as the Sailing Holidays fleet arrived back in the marina for the winter.  The boats (nearly 200 in total) were all placed on the hard for the winter and have been being lifted back into the water since the beginning of April.  This season’s flotilla crews have been arriving here too to prepare the boats for the season, taking Gouvia from a sleepy hollow of a place to a bustling working marina again after the winter layoff.

Bern and Alan depart for their summer travels aboard Sanuk

The pace of the work on the boats has been building to fever pitch as today approached, as the first group of paying customers arrived from the north to enjoy their week or two cruising the Ionian.  It has been very busy here and the on-site ‘supermarket’ has been open on a Sunday for the first time this year.  Tomorrow should be fun, as we can sit and watch as people depart in their boats, some of them handling a sailing boat for the first time – thankfully, we have a pontoon between them and us!  Alan and Bern are also off tomorrow, as they have friends in one of the flotillias and are going to cruise in company with them for a couple of weeks.

We intend to leave the marina later this week and spend a few days wombling about the northern Ionian before we come back here to meet up with Ken, Naomi and the grandchildren on 17 May.