An update

Blog to 31/07/17
We left you nearly two months ago, just after relaunch in late June. After a night in the anchorage off Preveza we headed south, planning to go down the Levkas canal. However we mis-timed things, so we were going to have a longish wait for the bridge opening at the northern end. There was a good north-westerly so we had a quick conference and decided to sail round the west coast of Levkada island. We had a great sail, getting into Sivota on the southern end at 7:30 that evening.
We discovered the next day that we had a problem with the throttle control but thankfully Duncan was able to sort it out since Simon, the local engineer in Sivota, wasn’t going to be able to help for several days.
For the next couple of weeks we revisited several of our favourite haunts: Abelike, Kastos and Vonitsa, managing to meet up with several sets of friends, including Clive and Ruth aboard Mr Whiskers and (briefly) Mike and Sandy aboard Eos. Incidentally, while we were still in the yard, we manage to meet up with our old friend, David Cosgrave who sailed with us for about two months when we first left the UK in 2009. He was on his way with a friend to Crete aboard his own yacht and we managed to meet up for a drink. Getting together with different friends, sometimes after several years, is what makes cruising such a fantastic way of life.
We decided not to head off round the Peleponese this summer because we knew Duncan’s mother probably did not have very long to live and we wanted to be near an airport. Sure enough, barely two weeks after relaunch, we had a message from his sister advising us to return home. We booked tickets on the next available flight out of Preveza the same evening, originally thinking we would return to Ionion yard and have Rampage lifted out of the water whilst we were away. However when we made our way back to Preveza we were swiftly disabused of that idea – the travel lift was completely booked up for the next several days. Not a problem, we thought and wandered round to Cleopatra marina instead – full. This was a blow but we immediately phoned Preveza marina instead, only to be told that they too were full but perhaps if we rang again tomorrow….? We were due to fly the next day so by now we were starting to worry. We phoned Levkas marina only to be told very firmly that bookings were not accepted over the phone and we must use their online booking system so we hastily got online and fired off a request before going to anchor off Preveza feeling distinctly anxious. We were not sure how long we might be in the UK and Duncan was not content to leave Rampage on a quayside for several weeks. We resolved to go into Preveza marina in person, first thing in the morning, explain our predicament and hope for the best.
Accordingly, the next morning saw us heading for the marina in our dinghy. Initially we were told by the woman in the office, much to our dismay, that she didn’t know if they had a space and would we please return in two hours? By now we were starting to feel desperate but thankfully at that moment one of the marineros walked into the office and as soon as he understood that we ourselves would not be aboard, he said they could find room for us – huge relief! Once safely installed in the marina, the rest of the day was spent packing and putting Rampage “to bed”. 
We were three and a half weeks in UK. This is not the place to describe our time there in detail but thankfully we were home in time to say goodbye to my remarkable mother-in-law of nearly 40 years.

Sorry, no pictures this time, not really got any.