Bouncing Along

Dawn brought the swell. Ligia had been beautifully calm the previous day and, to be fair, there wasn’t much wind that morning but it was out there. The dark clouds also promised rain so definitely not the sort of day I’d normally choose to anchor. And as the thunder rumbled around us on our crossing to Meganisi I seriously considered asking Neil to change our plans.

We had a rendezvous with friends we hadn’t seen for a while, however, and it did look brighter ahead. Low and behold, as we approach the small island it was like a different day. Even so, as we tied up to the quay in “Little” Vathy just to pick up supplies it did seem a shame to give up our spot.

But Abilike Bay was everything we could have hoped for. Tied to the rocks, nobly assisted assistant by Christine swimming out with our line, this was the very best side of Ionian sailing: great company, free flowing wine and the best night’s sleep I’d had in a long time. This is why we keep coming back. OK, so the next couple of evenings were a bit bumpy but even I wasn’tconcerned. Mind you, the plentiful barbecued food and more than enough free flowing wine might have helped.

We didn’t go far after that, just back around the corner to Vathy quay. Now that’s when the swell really came in! The waves had us bouncing quite violently and there was this occasional this. With the depth gage reading some 3 meters when we tied up it took us a few bangs to realise it wasn’t just the water hitting the bathing platform but the rudder hitting something very solid beneath it.

Lengthening the lines to shore and pulling back on the anchor away from the quay did the trick and calm finally returned in the early hours – lulling us into a second night of bouncing. At least we were ready to leave the following morning!

Lakka to Lefkas

When the window disintegrated I tried not to think of it as a bad omen. I was closing everything down in the heads as my last task before we got underway for Lefkas, a journey we estimated as taking some 7 hours. The window was the ultimate tick on my mental list and I gave it no thought until the perspex pane was free in my hand, completely independent of the frame.

No, I was not going to worry. Neil did a temporary fix so we were still able to leave without too much delay. It was a beautiful day and even outside the bay the sea was flat calm. We’d picked the day with the least possible wind following last year’s drama with force 7 throwing us about on the same journey.

Then the insulating lining of the fridge lid fell off, taking the opening clasp with it. Not a big deal, glue would sort it out in no time. Not a bad omen. Of course not. So when the water maker stopped working I actually felt better as at least the “Rule of Three” was complete but I’m not superstitious.

It even looked as if we might make an earlier opening of the Lefkas Canal than originally predicted. With a helpful force 3 filling the main sail and with the engine still running we were making good progress. It couldn’t last, of course. The swell hit us at about the same place as the unexpected blow the previous year and both increased wind and current were against us. Not pleasant but if we hadn’t had the the earlier bad experience I wouldn’t have worried.

In the event we made the original 3pm opening in good time, dropping the anchor in Ligia at the end of the canal for a tranquil and very pleasant evening. The next day, mind… Well that’s another story.

Old Corfu

With the weather remaining “changeable” we haven’t wandered far from the marina since we got back. A couple of excursions in the boat for nights out and bus trips for somewhere different to walk have been the only exceptions to marina life. That might sound a bit grim to some and if we were only here for a couple of weeks we’d probably agree but, to be honest, we’ve mostly enjoyed it. Frankly, if I’m going to be on a boat in pouring rain I’d much rather be on shore power than at anchor.

But with nothing much to report on the home front, I thought I’d share a few pictures of our current island home: Corfu.

Various occupiers have left their mark on Corfu the most well known being the forts on the headlands of Corfu town but there are others.

These are the remains of a Venetian boatyard survive amongst the tourist bars of Gouvia.

The British presence in the days of Empire left grand buildings, most of them now slowly crumbling away.

They’re still in use, though. This is the Swiss Consulate.

Despite the satellite dishes I wonder how much the lives of the people in these fisherman’s cottages has changed over the years. Whatever must they have thought when the huge marina was built in their quiet bay and the super yachts appeared only 500 meters away?

Back to the Boat

The glorious Early May Bank Holiday saw us heading for stormy Greece. Come on weather, what’s going on? A sweltering Sunday playing sardines and lugging luggage on and off trains and planes is not my idea of fun. But to be delayed due to the wet conditions at Corfu airport where they’re just not used to it, seems decidedly unfair!

Returning to a boat after the winter is always hard work. You have to unpack the boat before you can unpack any luggage for a start. Sails, dinghy and so on are all down below where there isn’t room for anything else so they get priority. Then bedding, soft furnishings and anything else that might go mouldy in the damp have to be taken out of their winter wrapping and beds made up.

By the way, making up a boat bed is a big enough job in itself – remember it’s only accessible from one side, the head end, so you have to crawl around on top of the bed to put the sheet on. Thats the sheet that has to go on top of the mattress you’re crawling around on. That’s right, underneath you where you’re on your hands and knees because there isn’t the headroom to sit up. Joy.

Having done that to a comfortable standard, the chances are you’ll find somebody needs access to the storage underneath and it all gets messed up again. You see, it’s at this point the realisation dawns that the space available to keep all those items that it seemed such a good idea in the UK to bring back to the boat is much less than you remembered.

For most crews the first job on arrival is fixing all the canvas that provides shade in the cockpit and the sun did indeed show its face the morning after our arrival. Shade for us was not to be however. We’d left the bimini and spray hood with a local couple to repair the stitching (it disintegrates in the sun). Was it ready? Of course not, but she’d deliver it at 5pm. Was it delivered at 5pm or even that night? Not a chance.

She finally arrived the following day (and had done a good job, to be fair) which is more than could be said for the character who was supposed to be repairing minor damage to the gel coat (not our fault, but that’s another story) while Desi was out of the water. Some work looked to have been done but plastic covering was still taped to her hull when we arrived. Neil has been ringing repeatedly and finally got a promise to be here at 9am today. This guy turns up at 11, borrows the dinghy, stays for about an hour and says he’ll be back on Saturday. Do we believe him?

River Carnival

Yes, another blog! I just wanted to share some pictures from today of the Hereford River Carnival. It has to be said, the weather made it really special.

The river busy with homemade floats and traditional coracles.

Beautiful spot to watch the raft race.

Last night’s theme was based on the mythical creatures on the Mappa Mundi.

Getting to Know Home

Much as we still think of the UK as “home” we don’t actually spend very much time here any more. However, as mentioned in “Choices”, we now have a base, somewhere to call our own and where we headed after our stay in Spain.

Although we’d managed to make it habitable over the winter there was still a lot to do and sort out to even begin to describe the house as comfortable. The main focus of April, then, has been scouring shops and the internet for cupboards and drawers, cooking and cleaning equipment along with all the smaller accessories like lamp shades and cushions. Not an unpleasant task by any means but we did still hit the “it will do” phase.

Along with all this we’ve also taken the opportunity to get out and about, discover something of our new surroundings. Hereford is Neil’s hometown, where he grew up. Although it’s been many years since he lived here he still knows it well, the back roads to avoid the worst of the notorious traffic jams, the little alleyways in the centre and seemingly every bend of the river. For me, though, this is all new.

So we’ve done the tourist bit:

a walking tour of the city centre – the chap on the bike is Elgar who lived in Hereford for a while, writing the Enigma Variations here,

a visit to the cathedral which was displaying the beautiful and moving “Weeping Window” as well as its famous Mappa Mundi.

and lots of walking along the riverbank when the weather allowed.

This is nearby Hoarwithy.

PS I did write a blog at the beginining of April, describing our last month in Spain. However it was written on the ferry and, stupidly, I didnt realise it hadn’t uploaded on the their limited WiFi. So that explains the extra long gap between posts, then. Apologies.