2012 another year, another adventure...............



Sandsend nr Whitby.

Whitby Harbour

Hello to all you who have been following us. I know there are at least three followers as they've been complaining I wasn't keeping up last year!! Will try harder to keep folks happy this year.

Whats going on then and get on with it I hear you say. It's the day before we set off back to Corfu, the car's semi packed and Mrs D has adjusted her return luggage for the last time. The packing has been made a little more complicated due to the fact we are flying back to the UK in May for a mini adventure overseas which I will scribble more on later. With this in mind though, we are trying to keep stuff here for our trip, trying to make sure we don't forget essentials for Corfu and checking the right paperwork for the right trip goes or stays in the right place.

We are heading back a little earlier this year so that we can get the roof built over the decking before it gets too hot. Well that was some of the deal from my dad who along with Lynns brother Reg are coming out Easter Monday to help us erect the aforementioned sun shade. We will also be spending our first Easter out in Corfu as it is a week later than here in the UK.

With all thats been going on with the Greek economy and such we are not sure what to expect. Probably a lot of shut up shops and businesses, we will see and report back accordingly.

The construction team are coming out on Easter Monday as I said and will be with us for just short of two  weeks. Hopefully enough time to get the roof up and maybe a cover over the car port (if we ply them with enough food and drink!!) 

We are flying back to the UK first Saturday in May for a couple of weeks before we head out to the Pacific north west of the USA. We are taking in Washington State, Oregon and northern California including San Francisco and Yosemite national park. Our route will take us down state highway 1 - the Pacific coast road and the after a break in San Fran heading back north inland via various state parks. We will be camping for the most part and in motels in the cities. After about six weeks in the USA we are then heading over into Canada by train from Seattle for a couple of weeks, where we are looking at Vancouver, Whistler and Vancouver Island. If all this goes to plan we should be back in the UK late July for ten days before flying back out to Corfu first week in August.

It will then be full on hot (hopefully) and time to get ready for a stream of visitors from August through to October. It is quite nice that folks want to come out an see us again and it is always a pleasure to have them stay with us.

So back to tomorrow. We are heading south to Marians hotel in Winchelsea until Friday when we we leave for Dunkirk Friday afternoon. Then a short drive to Leige in Belgium for our first night in digs. Saturday we have a long drive across and down into southern Germany and our second night in digs. We will of course be taking in the sights along the way and of course a visit to C & A somewhere in Germany. Sunday sees us crossing the Alps into Italy and down to Venice where we hope to find a cabin on a campsite (fingers crossed please.) Monday at 2pm is the ferry to Greece and we hope to be in Kopsocheilades late afternoon on Tuesday. This will give us a couple of weeks to get ready for the building squad and organise some materials.

Thats pretty much it for now so I will head off and get scrubbed up for the last night in Middleton for a while. This may well involve some food and a small drink. Well in anticipation of our drink, "cheers to you all and have a warm and healthy summer!!" Keep in touch and I promise I will scribble more frequently on here.

Hello again, where have we been?????

Hello there, remember us we used to scribble down our antics whilst out here in Corfu or where ever we are……………

Well what can I say, believe it or not we have been very busy. Since we arrived back here after a super stay in Slovenia we had three days to ourselves then from the end of August to the middle of October we had one set of visitors after the other. It started with Reg, then Wendy, then my mum and her sister, then my dad, finally topped off with another visit from Reg. Then last week in October we had a flying visit to the UK.

We are now in the process of planning the driving trip back to the UK which starts with the ferry to Venice on the 24th November. If all goes to plan we will be back in Middleton by the end of November armed with thermals and firelighters.

Yet again we have had another super summer. The job list as usual got longer but we did manage to get through some of the things we wanted to do this year. The sitting room is finished, the extra units for the kitchen are in, the apotheki is in better shape than when we arrived (which is more than can be said for the Greek economy) and we have managed a couple of trips along the way.

In July we went to Meteora on the mainland for a couple of days. In August we had 10 days in Slovenia near Lake Bled in a lovely house in a village called Krnica pronounced ‘Krinitsa,’ (that’s the end of the Slovenian for beginners.) We went with our good friends Mick and Sue. They flew out to Venice from the UK, we ferried to Venice from Corfu and all the connections worked out perfectly. We had a wonderful time in a truly beautiful country. We walked through gorges, down river valleys, alpine mountains, used cable cars, chair lifts, hired bicycles and even used local buses. We also swam in Lake Bled in a purpose made fancy swimming come sun bathing area roped off from the rest of the lake with fancy bouys. It is a fantastic place with so much to offer, well worth a visit. We went down the village shop 7.30ish most mornings and some of the locals were already sat outside the nearby bar with a beer!! A bit early for me…….We had a drive through the Karavanke tunnel and 8km long tunnel through the mountains into Austria, quite an experience. We also had an afternoon in the capital Ljubljana, an excellent time was had by the four of us.

On the way back we called in at Ikea in Padova near Venice and filled the car with kitchen table, chairs and another kitchen unit along with a few other things. We then headed for the ferry back to Corfu which wasn’t too bad for the middle of August.

We then had a string of visitors which went very well and they all seemed to have a good time to the tune that they all want to come again!! We must be doing something right or they just like Corfu, not sure which……….

We then had a week back in the UK before the direct flights finished to see the folks back home, sort out a few things, a couple of socials and I got to see my two grandchildren who arrived within two weeks of each other at the end of September and the middle of October. Max, Aurora and their parents are all doing well with their respective fathers smitten, giddy and very proud of what they helped to make!!!

That brings us up to November where we are on last minute jobs ensuring all will be OK for the winter out here. The weather is lovely with warm sunny days and cool evenings, a far cry from the 30dgs nights of the summer but very nice all the same. We are hoping for a day out this week down south of the island with a few jobs to sort in Corfu town on the way. Other than that we are managing a bit of cycling, walking through the olive groves, the odd social through the week and an occasional coffee in Acharavi.

Slim the cat is still knocking about and was here to greet us when we got back from Slovenia and the UK. It will not be the same back in the UK without his noisy scrounging tones at the back of the door! He is obviously being fed elsewhere, still catching birds and geckos so he is not entirely dependant on us. He will be fine, it’s Mrs D I worry about.

Mrs D has had a good summer I think, there a few things she misses but the weather does help. It’s not been the same for her this year without her friend Vonny. Feet have been the theme of the late summer but I wouldn’t mention them unless you have plenty of time. Her tomato patch was still ripening well into September and has been a success apart from a watering mix up with the neighbours when were away in Slovenia. Some fool left the hosepipe running for a couple of days!! We have limes, lemons and oranges all coming on the trees in the garden, the oranges which we will sadly miss but we should have some limes and lemons to take to Middleton.

The car has gone extremely well and we are very pleased with it. We hope it does the same going back to the UK as it did coming and all will be well. We have been using the motorbike quite a bit, indeed we used it for our trip to the mainland. It has also been a winner with the guests who have been out for a spin with me.

Not much else to say now apart from my apologies for not scribbling sooner and we hope we’ve not lost the small following we had.

I’ll do a return journey scribble when we get back to the UK and look forward to catching up with you all at some point over the coming months ‘Yamas’ Mr D

pictures from top are - Agia Triada Monastery in Meteora, Lake Bled and the church, Mrs D with Mick & Sue in the Vintnar Gorge near Bled, L&D looking down on lake Bohinj near Bled, Reg, Wendy, my mum and her sister Dot, my dad, Reg in October, Tom & Max, Sam & Aurora, Slim, sunset at Acharavi, beach near Acharavi and bonfire time in October.

Off again, times flying........

We're long back from our trip to Meteora, the sitting rooms finished and looks great, the toms are doing well and Slims' still hanging about. All these things, apart from Slim need a bit of a write up which I promoise I will do whem we get back from our next trip.

At 0545 tomorrow we head down to Corfu town and the 0700hrs ferry over the high seas to Venice. As you can imagine, Mrs D the seasoned sailor is beside herself with excitement......We will board the ship like a couple of refugees armed with food, drink, mats and sleeping bags for our trip up the Adriatic.

We are meeting our friends Mick and Sue, who are flying out from Leeds Bradford, in Venice at 1100hrs on Friday. Hopefully if it all comes together we are then heading east to the Julian Alps of Slovenia. We will be staying in a place called Bled near the Triglav national park. It looks wonderful so we will have to wait and see. This I guess will be another little scribble I will have to do on our return. I must get off now as we still have much to do before tomorrow so will hopefully be back in a couple of weeks to tempt you with some more travellers drivel before our autumnal string of guests start to arrive. Y'all keep in touch now....Yamas!!

The picture is in Meteora with St Nicholas Monastery in the background.

Where does the time go???

It's the 20th July already! Reg has been and gone, the Toms are coming on strong, the car port's done, Slim's still hanging about, the sitting room ceiling's up and Mrs D is painting - you guessed it, the sitting room ceiling. As you can imagine this task comes with a certain amount of complaining, it's above your head, it's hot, the paint's thin and it gets everywhere!! Enough said I think before I get in bother, easy for me to comment when I'm sat in front of a computer.....

Reg (aka Graham) went last Friday after a two week holiday out here with us. Well, that is if you call painting, labouring, concreting, swimming andd snorkelling a holiday. He seemed to have a good time and we did spend a lot of time by and in the sea. We had no choice tho' as it has been 44dgs daily for about ten days now. We had to resort to being in during the hottest hours and grafting and beaching at opposite ends of the day. I'm not complaining as I keep hearing that splendid word "unsettled" being muttered on the BBC UK weather....

This week I finally got to grips with the olive tree using the chainsaw, seemed to go OK and the only thing that got damaged was the ladders. They'll be OK just a bit of a dent. There are bits of olive tree in a heap in the garden now, some waiting for further sawing, later this week I think. The cycling's getting a little less lately due to the heat, sorry!

Next week, as long as Mrs D survives the ceiling paint job, we are going over to Meteora on the mainland for a couple of days. We are going over on the ferry with the motorbike to give it a bit of a run out. More on this when we are back.

We then have a couple of weeks to hopefully finish the sitting room altogether before we head off up the Adriatic to meet friends in Venice for our trip out to Slovenia. Another adventure which I am sure will  make it to this blog.

We were supposed to be having a beach day today (which in reality means we go to the beach around 2.30pm when it's cooled off a bit. However, it's a bit breezy out with some clouds and the chance of a storm so we decided to stay at home and get on with some jobs. Not much more to report at the moment so I'll sign off and probably be back with some more of this stuff after Meteora. Yamas.....D 

Tortoises, ‘Slim’ & toms.

With all currently rosy in the garden with George’s toms coming on strong and tortoises sneaking through regularly we have a new visitor to the garden……Slim is our new found furry semi-friend. An extremely thin black cat (hence the splendid name.) He is a wild cat but appears most days around dinner time to see if there’s owt going!! Some evenings he hangs around outside sitting in the olive tree so he can see in the kitchen window!! What a cheek.
What else is new…….we are in the process of knocking together a sun shelter for the car. One of those unexpected tasks. I know it sounds silly but yes we do need to try to keep some of the sun off the car or it gets too damn hot to get into (sorry.) Once we have finished that we will be setting about the sitting room ceiling. Reg is here with us now and he always wants a job so we’ve had him on painting before we start on with the ceiling.

We’ve been down to the sea a few times, came second in the quiz (again.) We are off to Arillas this afternoon for some beach and snorkelling. I almost forgot, we went down to Corfu town the other week to see Cunards Queen Elizabeth – very nice. Made Thomsons cruise ship look like a tug!! That’s about it for now so best get on and get sorted for the outing.

More soon - Mr D

The lemon song

I’m writing this in the shade of our umbrella-covered decking area after a Greek lunch of feta cheese, and olives which our neighbour kindly gave us off his own olive trees and they are delicious. Over the fence, also in our neighbours garden, is a very heavily laden lemon tree. He doesn’t give us any of these fruit because we have 3 trees of our own and more lemons that we know what to do with. I make a litre of lemon juice almost daily, I drink lemon tea, I make lemon cakes, lemon merangue pie and we have a slice of lemon on our dinner plate. Every so often we hear a ‘thud’ and know it is the sound of another lemon dropping off one of the trees. This humble fruit grows so prolifically here that we take it for granted – and yet it is beautiful. The fruit is completely untampered with and free from all ridiculous EU regulations. They are shaped just as nature intended, not regulatory size to allow them to fit into a neat little supermarket carboard package and they are free from all that awful wax. I thought they deserved a special mention.

Mrs D

(Thanks to Led Zep for the title of this piece!)

July already.............

Hello again, another round of overdue nonesense follows. It is the first weekend in July and we have been here little over a month. Apart from Greece being all but bankrupt all is surprisingly well out here. The garden is back to order, the house is aired, Mrs D aka George has put the tomato seeds out and all are doing well.

The bike is now working properly again after having a new battery fitted plus an oil and filter change. Also it is now officially Greek with its shiny new Greek plate complete with insurance and road tax!! It only took two years, well all in good time as they say. We are planning a celebratory trip over to the Greek mainland and maybe Bulgaria to mark the occasion, watch this space.

We’ve had a few ‘beach days’ done a bit of cycling locally but that’s dwindling now as it’s too hot during the day (sorry.) On the social front we are managing the quiz on a Tuesday eve with a friend Steve as the third team member. So far we’ve won three times and come second once after a three question tie breaker!! Not bad, with the prize being an English breakfast for two, we now have free breakfasts lined up for all guests all summer!! The Friday early doors ritual continues and we make the odd live music night down at Napoleans one for the road. All in all pretty good so far.

We are also watching with interest the Greek economy story. It is interesting to see what the media has to say and what is really happening here in Corfu with the locals – it would appear that with the Corfiot Greeks here life pretty much goes on as usual. We’ll see what happens on July 15th as to whether the Greek ministers having been telling the truth or not…….

What for the next few weeks, well Reg is here now so we’ll be entertaining for the next two weeks. Then we have the mainland trip before we head off up to Italy early August to meet some friends at Marco Polo airport in Venice before heading off to Slovenia for 10 days in the Julian Alps. More on that later. For now it’s back outside into the sunshine for some ground clearing where we’ve been strimming, could well be BBQ day today as well.

Y’all take care now and more of this nonesense later…………