Back to the UK. . . . .

It's the week we set off back to Corfu and we haven't blogged the journey home from Corfu yet!!! What are we like.

So how was it? Well, the Venice ferry was an hour late to Corfu, an hour late into Venice. We got on an A road instead of the motorway in Italy, we then found the motorway and missed the Brenner road over the Alps, a short double back detour rectified this one. We crossed the Alps into Innsbruck without any problems. The second section was the concern as there was snow about and snow forecast. We got across the second Alps section easily and the snow started as we got through. We made it to our first overnight stop in a lovely hotel in Altenstadt in Germany in reasonable time and without incident.

Day two we were heading for France and Metz specifically. We had the obligatory detour, this time 80 miles as we missed the turn for Stuttgart - what a pair of Muppet's! We did however make good time to our overnight in a motel in Metz. Friday was the day we were heading for Dunkirk and the ferry to Dover - more boats - was the complaint from the passenger!! We made good time and managed to get on the earlier ferry.

Coming off the ferry in Dover we heard some dodgy sound coming from the rear wheels so we made tracks to Marians where we were staying for a couple of nights. The following day the car went to Kwikfit in Hastings for repairs and I do not have the time or patience to go through the saga here which took five days to resolve. Thankfully Marian was extremely accommodating, looked after us well and let us use her car to get to and from the plonkers in Hastings who were allegedly repairing our car.

We eventually set off for home and got back to Yorkshire and our lovely cottage in Middleton, it really is a super place to come back to.

The last Greek chapter for a while . . . . .

Well this is it - captains blog, stardate 150309 (one for the trekkies among you.) Job list (for now) complete, route planned, ferries booked, digs booked as its too cold for camping sadly and UK stop offs confirmed. Its all systems go for the UK on Tuesday 17th March at 0600hrs. The ferry to Venice takes 24hrs and gets in at 0800hrs Wednesday morning. We then head out of Venice and we are hoping to cross both sections of the Alps in one day so we can put the snow worries behind us, approx 350 miles. So we head first towards the Alps, then up and over the Brenner pass - not too worried about this one as it is the lowest of the crossings and a major route through. We then drop into Innsbruck at the other side and head out towards Switzerland. Long before Switzerland, we then head north over the Fern Pass which we are concerned about as it has been snowing quite heavily there. We do have a plan B in case it is closed, along the valley and out through the lakeside of Switzerland and then up to the Tirol region and southern Germany. Our first nights stay is at Altenstadt in a small hotel. Thursday morning, another 300 miles planned and we head off towards Ulm, then Stuttgart and Karlsruhe all in Germany before heading south into France and Strasbourg. From here we follow the main A4 motorway towards Metz where we have a French type travelodge booked. Friday, another 300 miles and we are heading for Dunquerke and the ferry to Dover. Ferry booked for 1800hrs so we have a steady day to get there. From Metz we head towards Reims then up towards St Quentin, Lille then on towards Dunquerke. Ferry to Dover then down to Winchelsea where we will stay with a friend for a couple of nights. We head up north on Sunday to call on another friend and have a night with them, before making the last stretch up to Cowling on Monday.Well that's the plan, 1200 miles, the Alps, five countries and two ferry crossings - we hope it runs as smoothly as it sounds!! We will be sad to be leaving here but on the other hand so much looking forward to seeing family and friends in good old Blighty. The next episode of the blog will be from the UK reporting back on how the journey went so look forward to blogging the trip home when we get back. See y'all very soon love D & L x x

A couple of movies of the place . . . .

Well as promised, here are a couple of movies of the place, one from the outside and one from within. Last night and today we have been having one stonker of a storm - can't be much sand left in the deserts from where they came as most of it is in our house!! We had the door open this morning whilst we had some work done by an engineer. Mrs D was not best pleased, she nearly set up a bucket and spade stall as there was so much sand... What about our job list I hear you ask . . job list (for now) just about done - yippee!!!! Nearly time to start thinking about a route home and where to stay along the way as it may be a bit cool for camping coming back. We are looking forward to seeing everyone and catching up on whats been going on in good old blighty in our absence. Apart from the storm, weather generally picking up here with warmer longer days. Just hope it's a still and calm day for the ferry back to Venice - 24hrs of a crossing. Still Pushbikes stll out weekly and we have probably done more miles here this year so far than we did all year last year in England. Its time to get the fire going now - been cutting some more wood this afternoon - so will sign off and see y'all soon....D

A few pics for you . ..

A new job list . . .

It is almost the end of February already, where does the time go! We went for our weekly cycle run out to Acharavi last Saturday and the view across the bay to the Albanian mountains was wonderful - see attached video. We run out to Acharavi once a week to get a few fresh supplies and sit in a favourite Greek cafe with a coffee and watch the world go by.....

Well back to the job list and we now have a new job list - the ones we are not going to have time to do that can wait 'til summer. There are quite a few things on it too.
We have managed to get the posts in the garden for the barrier and the all the bedrooms have been lined out and are just about ready. We have a few smaller tasks to do before we start a quick garden clear before we set off back as it will be knee high when we come back again in summer.

We have had what we hope will be our last trip into Corfu town today DIY shopping to finish a few things off.

We saw the pre lenten festival on Sunday down in Sidari, there were floats and a parade but there was a biting northerly wind so as soon as the parade had passed and we had a quick look round the celebration area we retreated to the pub for a beer or two.

The days are mostly warm now but still early evening and morning it can be quite cool. There has been the odd frost!! A couple of weeks ago we went to the bottom of the island where there are sand dunes and a large lake - would be a super walk round, maybe in summer.

We promised ourselves a boat trip across to Greek mainland Igoumenitsa before we head back to blighty but that is now on the summer list . . . .

We will try to post again before we set off back and I promise I will put some house footage on for those who are interested!!

Well, hopefully we will see y'all soon bye for now .. . . . .D

One step at a time . . . . . .

It's now February already and the job list as usual gets no shorter. We've been sat here watching the news on the net of tales of woe and several inches of snow in the UK. A very pretty sight (easy to say when we here are sat outside in the sun and around 20 degrees) never the less your snow looks pretty. The only snow we see is on the Albanian mountains across the water from here.

So how are we doing, well another of our bedrooms is finished and we have made a start on the last of the three bedrooms. It is the biggest of the three and will eventually be our room so I'd best do a proper job or Mrs D won't be happy about moving back in there!!

Talking of Mrs D as you can see from the picture above she has been embarking on a bit of DIY herself. When I demolished the pantry and sitting room walls we piled the rubble up outside and used it as a sloping entrance up to the balcony. We then started to move the rubble to various places in the garden and up and down the drive to fill in holes. This left my splendid access rubble pile a bit short so in steps Mrs D to knock up some splendid temporary steps out of the remaining rubble and some old blocks. They are super (I wouldn't expect my mother to use them but we can manage with them for now.)

On the weather front we have had bucket loads of rain, some pretty awful winds and in among some really nice very warm and sunny days. The locals tell us this is unusual and that last year January was basking in sunshine. We are still managing early doors at the local in Sidari on Fridays and the bikes have probably done more miles here this year than all the time we used them last year in the UK!!

It is nice getting out on the bikes we have some laughs in and around this area of the island. We have a weekly run out to Acharavi for a coffee. It is a lovely ride along the seafront with no traffic.

The villagers here are lovely, still haven't a clue what they are saying once we get past yassas and kalimeera but they don't make us feel unwelcome at all.

There is a profusion of wild flowers coming through now and there is a sea of wild orchids just down the lane from us (see picture above.)

It is warming up now and the lizards are making a comeback out of the walls and with the flowers everywhere and blossom on the trees it really does have a spring feel about it.

Well its time to sign off now but I will try to put a video on next time of in and around the place here for those who are interested to have a nosey about. Yasou . . . . .D

Too much cycling and the job list just gets longer. . .

2009 has got off to a pretty good start out here, the weather has been good and we have managed to get out on the bikes a bit. So the job list has suffered and just continues to get longer. From the things we have to do before we come home list we have insulated 1 bedroom are on with the second, painted half of the barrier posts not done any mortaring or sorted the knackered door. We have knocked a hole in the apotheki (outbuilding)wall so we can get to it from the garden instead of going round the front and down the lane. We have also been spreading the rubble from the internal walls around the ground where we park the car as it was getting a bit soggy.

The door saga continues as PVC doors out here are extortionate and it may well be that we bring one out here from the UK as there is a lot of difference in price. That will be an interesting sight - a six door car!!

I've been chatting a bit with a guy who has a workshop at the back of us, he keeps his olive oil in it. He also has a veg plot in there, chickens and some super orange trees. He gave us a litre of olive oil at the weekend that he had just pressed the day before. Then we got a carrier full of home grown caulis and the best fresh oranges. All this is too much for Mrs D who is frantically looking on-line for cauli and cabbage recipes as we also had some cabbages a couple of weeks ago. Anyway the upshot of all this banter and receiving of fresh produce is that I have landed myself a job helping the guy - Spiros for a change - to move some bags of olives from his olive grove to the processing factory . ..watch this space well see how it goes.

Today has been a beatiful day so very little chore undertaking was done (a little graffting was done after 4pm when the sun started to go down.) We have to admit to sitting in the sun with a book and a drink and feet up. What a pair of dossers. The forecast for the next few days is wet and windy so we will be catching up on the chores. I hope to have the second bedroom insulation finished this week.

This isn't very exciting to you but last week we received our first letter from the UK!!!! It made a change to have a letter instead of a bill in the mailbox. Such excitement just shows what quiet lives we lead out here, an excuse for needing to get out more I think.

Watching the weather in the UK looks like you guys have had a bit of a rough time with the old cold and snow. We can see the snow on the Albanian mountains from here and we hope it stays up there it's OK like it is down here thank you very much!!

Well it nearly movie time on Greek TV, there are plenty of English speaking movies to watch with Greek subtitles, you get used to the subtitles.

So its away to get the wood burner cracking before the movie comes on - yes it does get cool here on a night. (We also now have a new fancy Italian axe for chopping wood - we know how to live you know.)

Will blog again soon.

Mr D