The Carpet Tiles have landed!!

17.56

Seems like a long day… despite a comfortable cabin, a smooth sea and a quiet dog, I didn’t sleep that well and was up and showered by 06.00 and watched the ship glide into Souda Bay.

When we got to the car deck, the usual tight parking meant I couldn’t get into the car and T had a bit of a struggle also.  He tried to make nothing of it but it really was tricky.

We were off and away surprisingly quickly joining the dual carriageway and then onto the mountain road.   Traffic was light to non-existent and we enjoyed cool temperatures and soaring mountains stretching skyward, craggy and bold.  Their sides were peppered with olive groves or Moorish scrub and heather. An absolute delight and privilege to be in their majestic presence.

We must have arrived at Grammeno soon after 09.00… lovely welcome.  Unsurprisingly our shed was not ready so pottered off to the bar for fresh orange and coffee. We sat there for an hour or so and then our shed was ready.

Oh, the nightmare of emptying the car. I left it to T.  Chris came to say hello and chat and bring us some of our possessions he had been guarding. (they are particularly valuable and coveted) T busied himself sorting his stuff and some of the General equipment.

My stuff is still in bags … I will take my time.

T had a swim… I had a shower .., all three of us had lunch at Houmas and I think some of us are having a snooze.

There are a quite a few families around and about, mostly with quite young children. The tents adjacent to us are now vacated though they may be re-occupied perhaps at the weekend.

Heidi has been dream dog … very very happy to see Chris again, but content to stay with us.  She and Oskar were very calm when they met up again spending an hour or two together until we went out for lunch.  Heidi and Dave have also exchanged brief kisses.

Heidi came out for lunch, snoozed under the table, the whole time even ignoring the toing and froing of the house cat.

These photos show what our area is like.  We have the cabin on the right.  Anne will have the one on the left.

Mess in front of our shed.

Once the adjacent tents are no longer there… we will have more space to spread.

H is now asleep at the entrance to the cabin.  She will get a walk later having been around the camping at least twice earlier.

There are some quite chatty people outside – arriving maybe, as a car door or boot is slamming.  Departing would be preferable.  Anyway, it is all happening where we are. ( They departed)

Nice cuppa chez Chris, as the moon rose over Palaiochora,  in the deep blue of the early evening sky, like a huge translucent pearl, motionless and weighty.

Heidi and I had a stroll over the beach to Houmas Bay, where the sea level has remained low enough to walk there along the sand rather than go rock scrambling.

I noticed that the large extended group of campers opposite us, friends/family … who cares… seem to have created their own private entrance to the beach. The fence has been opened up. They also seem to have ‘borrowed’ or adapted the campsite’s water supply to create their own private beach shower.

I must remember to do the same if/when we return with our tent.  Maybe everyone who had a tent beach-side should do the same.  No need for a fence at all really.

This collection of people are quite noisy apparently. Now, pots and kettles etc… but the two blokes sport huge tums which proudly lead the way whenever they go anywhere.  I admired them as they headed towards the BBQ area carrying the families’ titbits for the grill.

I joke.  This family must be the original Laestrygonians, (ref: Odyssey) because their titbits were loaded onto a spit,  which must have been over a metre long.

There can be no meat left for sale in Palaiochora because it is all wrapped around this spit – huge slabs of pink meat interspersed with the occasional vegetable and a massive potato at each end.

But the end of the spit, apart from the potato,  was a wonky blue motor which helped the whole thing grind slowly round.

I don’t think I mentioned their special lighting dangling from the trees, which you can probably see in Libya, or the drinks cabinet containing every sort of chemical and sugary fizzy drink. In triplicate.

TBC