SATURDAY 6-5-23

We were originally planning to be on the move today. We find three nights anywhere is about enough, but the weather forecast looked very promising and so we decided to make this a four-night destination. It didn't make sense to travel on a hot sunny day and then park up at another destination possibly in the rain.

And what a lovely day it has been, possibly the hottest one we've had since we left home.

First it was the housework, followed by my checking and adjusting the tyre pressures and the ride height on the air-assisted rear suspension. Then we invited our neighbours round to look at our vehicle before we got to look at what modifications they had made to theirs. It was a pleasant way to spend about an hour and a half, and as they are touring for six months I was able to give them the co-ordinates for the parking in Istanbul which they were interested in visiting.

Before lunch we had a quick look at BBC iPlayer to see how the coronation was progressing. We caught it at the end of the procession to Westminster Cathedral and the beginning of the service. We then had lunch (we're two hours ahead of the UK) and tuned back in to see the actual crowning. It was eating up my WiFi allowance fairly quickly, and so we had to be a bit frugal.

It was interesting to see that any attempt at disrupting the proceedings was swiftly dealt with by the police. It's marvellous what they can do when it suits them. Come Monday the protesters will be back out on the streets causing chaos to law abiding citizens, with the police falling over themselves to accommodate the scrotes wishes, including warning irate motorists that if they lay a finger on the protesters, they'll be charged with assault. Welcome to Broken Britain. I bet if The Chef and I went and sat in the middle of the road back in Ely when we get home, we'd soon be arrested and cleared off the road.

The afternoon was spent just relaxing in the sunshine, whilst enjoying some shade from the wind-out awning. I did take the trouble to photograph the label on the back of motorhomes belonging to the 'Follow my leader grand tour of Greece'. I think it is so if they get lost they can pull up and go round to the back of the vehicle and study the map.

We did wonder what we could eat this evening to be patriotic. We can't have jellied eels (there are some things even the Greeks won't eat), Coronation chicken, or a slice of that awful looking pie they came up with for this coronation, so we've settled for Coronation ham, egg, and chips.

Tomorrow sees us starting to make our way home stopping off tomorrow at Arta, then Dodoni, then to a campsite near the border with Albania. We may not get it all done in one day, but I expect to see us cross the border by Wednesday.

FRIDAY  5-5-23

It was a peaceful night and we awoke to a cloudy day but with the promise of sunshine to come.

I thought we'd agreed to do the washing and housework tomorrow, but The Chef was up and full of action as she was straight off to do her washing having had her shower. This left me in second place and so had to rig up the washing line before I could go over to the bathroom block myself.

Before too long all the washing was done and hung up, and we were sat outside having a read.

As it had turned out so nice it was a pleasure to sit outside in the sunshine and have the luxury of putting on some sunscreen. We've not needed to do very much of that on this trip.

After lunch we decided to go for a walk along the beach. Now this isn't Malibu or our own Holkham Beach in Norfolk, but it was a nice enough walk anyway, though I had chosen the wrong footwear - sandals which allowed all the grit and shingle to get under my feet were not ideal, but I soldiered on.

We hadn't gone too far before we concluded what lay ahead was just the same as what we'd just walked over, and so we rested before making our way back.

On our arrival at the campsite the first of the many jolly campers on a Seabridge Tours holiday. It's a German company, so naturally all the pitches around us which had 'Reserved' signs placed in them were eventually filled with motorhomers too chicken to get here under their own steam.

It wasn't long afterwards that I noticed we had an ants nest close to the front wheel of the vehicle and so I set about them with a very large can of bug killer. Soon afterwards our German neighbour across the way came armed with ant powder and liberally spread it over the affected areas. I was indoors at the time and so didn't get the chance to thank him, though I did a bit later on. I was heartened I have to say. This was camping as I remember it, with each camper coming to the assistance of another.

This evening we had another barbie. It was a good way to get rid of some of the meat (including good old British bangers) out of the freezer. The little portable French barbie tested me in its use, and I told The Chef that when we undertake our planned final motorhome trip next spring to Portugal and Spain, we're taking along our Weber Baby Q gas barbecue. I don't care about the extra size and weight, we're going to take along a proper barbie.

Whilst The Chef was up at the dishwashing station I observed all the German newbies, all with their stupid bloody identity badges on, making their way together to the campsite restaurant for what I assume is their meet and greet meal at the beginning of their costly tour around  Greece. Welcome to Deutschland-on-Sea.

I am a little heartened by our mobile data SIM situation. I went online in an attempt to top up my current 3Mobile SIM card and came across a bit which said that they had changed their policy, and instead of it being a maximum of 12Gb per card, it has been changed to a maximum of 12Gb per month, which suggests that we will be able to get home using our new May allowance on the card, but we shall see.

I have only just noticed that having been forced to migrate the blog hosting from Simplesites.com to one.com, we have picked up a https:// before the blog address, I only spotted it when looking through my settings a couple of nights ago. That will have to come out, but I won't touch anything until we get home.

Tomorrow we shall do the housework and then let the he-girls next door take a look around the vehicle, as we shall look around theirs, then we'll chill for the rest of the day, not forgetting to take a look from time to time at King Charlie's Coronation.

On Sunday we're on the move, heading north towards the Albania border with three stops to make on the way.

THURSDAY 4-5-23

Last night's television entertainment was the film 'Bad Santa' followed by a couple of episodes of 'Car Share' starring Peter Kay, then it was off to bed to await whatever Mother Nature threw at us.

Needless to say, it was another inaccurate weather forecast. There were no thunderstorms and the rain didn't start until 05:00, and that came in the form of heavy showers.

This morning, by having a lie in, we managed to get to the bathroom block in the dry, and to get the towels dry I rigged up the wooden rail in the bathroom to hang them over, and dried with the aid of our ceramic fan heater which was placed on the floor.

Then the weather got drier, and drier, until the sun was out and we got to enjoy a lovely bright, warm, sunny day rather than the non-stop rain they had predicted.

I took the opportunity to walk round the site taking a few photographs.

Soon afterwards the he-girls with the vehicle identical to ours moved pitch and came and parked next to us. It was an opportunity to take a picture of two such vehicles side by side. They came out and did the same, which then lead to a nice long chat. They've made a few modifications to the interior of theirs and so we have agreed to take a look in each other's vehicles before we both leave.

This afternoon has been spent sat in the sunshine reading our books. Mine is the actor Roger Moore's autobiography, whilst The Chef has made a start on 'Agent Zigzag'.

We had thought we'd go to the nearby campsite restaurant this evening for a meal, just to get us out of the vehicle, thinking we'd be spending the day stuck indoors, but no, instead, my darling Chef will produce another culinary marvel, which I shall wash down with a bit of liquid grapes. We could have had a little barbie over the next couple of days, but we didn't buy the bits we wanted from the supermarket way back down the road because the weather looked like being so unpleasant.

This afternoon I thought I'd dig out the television aerial and see if I could pick up some local television channels in anticipation of one or more of them covering the Coronation on Saturday. Although the TV screen showed the set picking up about seventy-five channels, it won't retain them. Maybe I'll continue to play with it tomorrow. Of course, if we hadn't had all the nightmare internet connection issues we could have watched it on BBC iPlayer.

Today back home there are the local council elections where the Tories are expecting a well deserved thrashing, though the opposition aren't any better. Only a week or so ago Smarmer Starmer was advertising that the highest Council Tax in the country was paid by residents in a Tory council, until somebody pointed out to him that the former Labour council bankrupted the London borough of  Croyden Council and the additional payments being paid by residents are to repay some of those debts. Whatever the outcome of those elections, at the end of the day, we're all the losers.

The weather forecast for the next two days is for sunshine all day long, which means on their current performance, rain all day. We shall have to wait and see.

WEDNESDAY 3-5-23

Having resorted to 'Plan D' last night, parking in the opposite direction along the seawall, we had a fairly peaceful night. We did get bounced around a little, but at least we didn't get the rain or thunderstorms which was forecast.

This morning it was to be a journey of about eighty miles along the coastal road to Glyfa. I had anticipated a difficult drive on fairly lousy roads, but fortunately the road was for the most part quite good, and we managed to complete the journey in good time.

We were also fortunate enough to come across a 'Shell' garage on our side of the road which was selling fuel at a very good price and so were able to top up the tank.

We arrived at Camping Ionian Beach (N37.835926° E21.134457°) in time for lunch. It is a very nice site indeed, 5-Star I believe, it certainly is by Greek standards. The campsite was a major award winner in 2022. It has a lovely pool area which is being enjoyed by families with young kids many of whom should  be in school, but then we could say that about our teachers.

We were soon set up and sat outside having a read, though the 'breeze' coming off the sea got a bit cool as the afternoon progressed. Two pitches along, there is a Brit couple with their motorhome. So that's now five Brits in three vehicles we've come across since Istanbul.

Later this afternoon an identical vehicle to ours arrived. We've only ever seen one other in the years that we have owned Freddie Fendt. It looks as if it is owned by a couple of German he-girls. I might just try and engage them in conversation to see if they have any useful information regarding spares etc for the vehicle.

Tomorrow is forecast to be wet, but then we've had so many duff weather forecasts on this trip that we'll just wait and see what we wake up to. If the forecast for the next couple of days is correct then we may stay an extra couple of days so that we can enjoy the good weather forecast for the weekend. After we leave here there won't be too many stops before we arrive at the Albanian border, so we should try and make the most of the time we have in Greece.

Plan 'C'

Plan 'B'

Plan 'A'

TUESDAY 2-5-23

Having posted the diary notes early yesterday, I missed out the performance by our German next door neighbour, Wandering Wolfgang Wurlitzer. He was quite good actually strumming away on his guitar and singing songs in English throughout his one hour repertoire.

We had decided to go for a meal, and on the way out I told him when we returned we would be moving the vehicle, not because his singing was bad, but because we wanted to watch the television and the vehicle on the other side of us had parked very close and as a consequence would hear it. I told him the last song he sung 'You Can Leave Your Hat On' was nagging me, as I knew it had been in a film and I couldn't remember which one. He suggested 'Nine and a Half Weeks', but I said that wasn't that one.

We wandered in to the village and found one with a menu which interested us, though we did say that in future if we were to do this we would come out and eat at lunchtime when it's busier and more restaurants open. As we sat waiting for our meal to arrive the answer came to me - it was the finale song in the film 'The Full Monty'.

As the sun set and became cooler, staff lit those gas powered space heaters with the large flames protected by a steel grill, except that those in our area were moved towards the other end of the restaurant for the benefit of the punters spending a lot more money than we were.

On our return we moved the vehicle and then settled down to watch a DVD performance of The Mavericks, live at The Royal Albert Hall. The night before it had been the 'Top Gun - Maverick' film starring Tom Cruise, The Chef quite enjoyed it, though I thought the original film was better, as they often are.

This morning The Chef asked me if I was popping up to the Vodaphone shop before we left, and I told her I just couldn't be bothered, it would resolve nothing, and that I'd sort it out with them when we returned home.

Our first stop was the supermarket just out of town. It didn't take our breath away, but we did manage to buy most things on the shopping list, though amazingly it didn't sell bread, well not bread as the civilised world knows it.

Then it was on the road heading for a small beach along the coastal road heading north. When we arrived there it was very disappointing and scruffy, which seems an odd way to describe a beach, but it was indeed scruffy, with one equally scruffy DIY van converted motorhome. We decided to give it a miss and move just down the road to choice number two (N37.119577° E21.576257°), not much better, but there was no third choice.

We parked up (Plan A) and had lunch before enjoying being bounced around in the strong winds that moved in as we read in the 'conservatory'. It's a term used by The Chef for the cab area where she can sit and soak up the sunshine streaming through the windows. Then we have 'the lounge', the area either side of the table with the cab seats swivelled round. There is also 'the kitchen', 'bathroom' and the raised king-size bed over the rear garage which is 'the mezzanine' , and the locker up there which has all the paperbacks in it becomes 'the library up on the mezzanine'. Who would believe that so much living space could be squeezed in to just seven metres.

The wind didn't let up and so I turned the vehicle around to point in to the wind (Plan B), but still we bounced around as the wind went and changed direction, leaving the locked-down roof vents to chatter as the wind got under them.

In the end whilst The Chef was 'in the kitchen' I moved the vehicle just along the road on to the quayside for a bit of protection from the wind (Plan C). Only The Chef could hang on whilst cooking the meal as I moved the vehicle on Greek roads. Eat your heart out Gordon Ramsey.

Needless to say, we are staying here for the night, though I may well move the vehicle again (Plan D) because the cobbles around us are rather wet, which I assume is from sea water which has crashed over the quayside wall, and rather than go to bed wearing a lifejacket, I may well move us away from the water's edge.

Tomorrow will be a busy day at the office as we plan to head north to Camping Ionian Beach (N37.835926° E21.134457°), an award-winning five-star campsite, a journey of about eighty miles. That's if the bloody Germans and Dutch have left us a space. The road to get there is nothing special, but we have all day to make the journey. This will then put us in a better position to enjoy what are supposed to be a few sunny days, and to put us within striking distance of the Greek mainland.

Thankfully my 3-Mobile SIM card continues to function. Whether or not I get any further use out of the Vodaphone twenty-two euros for one month, SIM card is probably in the hands of the Tooth Fairy

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Location is everything

MONDAY 1-05-23

The rain started this morning at about 02:00, though we had prepared for it by stowing everything away ready to leave this morning. It didn't stop and was quite heavy at times. This morning I was expecting The Chef to question the wisdom of moving off the site in such weather, but she didn't and so that was that, we were on the move.

I must say I have been impressed with Camping Thines (N36.804823° E21.795088°), which is part of the ACSI scheme offering discounts to campers out of the peak season. The location is very good, close to a typically Greek village, is right on the beach, has clean toilets and showers and as much hot water as you need. At just nineteen euros a night, I think it represents very good value for money.

By the time The Chef had returned from the showers, having washed her hair and had the luxury of using her hair dryer knowing it may be a few days before she can do so again, I had dumped the black waste and topped up the fresh water tank using the tap across the way next to the caravanners, who clearly think they're pretty important people and consider that tap theirs, even trying to restrict easy access to it with 'stuff', which is exactly why I made the point of using it.

Once we were ready we made our way round to the dump station where all I needed to get rid of was the grey water. That was to be deposited down a rather small manhole and so I parked as close as I could and then used a short flexible three inch diameter pipe to connect to the grey water outlet at one end and drop the other end in to the drain. Whilst there I took the opportunity to use the fresh water hosepipe to wash the roof off, as we had collected numerous catkins about two inches long off the trees. That done we went to park near Reception to pay, only to find that the roadway led right out of the campsite. The campsite owners are obviously very trusting people as all they had was my name when we booked in, and if we had wanted to we could have just driven off without paying. But we never betray those who trust us, and so I parked outside the campsite entrance while The Chef popped in to pay them.

Then we were off down the road to Pyros with the intension of having a look round and spend the night on a freebie. It was only a short journey, and our first stop was the car park for the castle (N36.912715° E21.692221°). I thought that would offer us a stress free parking area away from the maddening crowds. Having parked up we went for a wander around before spotting numerous motorhomes parked up with tour coaches. We thought we'd go and take a closer look to see if there was any signage that would ban us from parking there overnight. There wasn't and so we made our way back and moved our vehicle to join them.

We decided to have lunch before we set off again.

So a bit about Pylos:

Pylos has been inhabited since Neolithic times. It was a significant kingdom in Mycenaean Greece, with remains of the so-called "Palace of Nestor" excavated nearby, named after Nestor, the king of Pylos in Homer’s lliad. In Classical times, the site was uninhabited, but became the site of the battle of Pylos in 425 BC, during the Peloponnesian War. After that, Pylos is scarcely mentioned until the 13th century, when it became part of the Frankish Principality of Achaea. Increasingly known by its French name of Port-de-Jonc or its Italian name Navarino, in the 1280s the Franks built the Old Navarino castle on the site. Pylos came under the control of the Republic of Venice from 1417 until 1500, when it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans used Pylos and its bay as a naval base, and built the New Navarino fortress there. The area remained under Ottoman control, with the exception of a brief period of renewed venetian rule in 1685–1715 and a Russian occupation in 1770–71, until the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence in 1821. Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt recovered it for the Ottomans in 1825, but the defeat of the Turco-Egyptian fleet in the 1827 Battle of Navarino and the French military intervention of the 1828 Morea expedition forced Ibrahim to withdraw from the Peloponnese and confirmed Greek independence. The current city was built outside the fortress walls by the military engineers of the Morea expedition from 1829 and the name Pylos was revived by royal decree in 1833.

Having wandered around the shopping area it was the turn of the numerous restaurants then up to the headland behind the castle walls.

Then it was a walk around the marina area admiring the sailing boats tied up there. Among them was a beautiful catamaran. During my unhappiest times in the past it was on just such a boat that I dreamed of escaping on and sailing away to cruise the world.

We'd noticed a number of Brits chatting in that area, and then we came across a few sailing boats for hire and concluded that they were on sailing holidays, which I'm sure if you can sail, must be a lovely way to tour Greece.

On our way back I was pleased to see they had a Vodaphone shop and so I think I might just pop in there tomorrow morning before we leave and give them some honest customer feedback.

We are in two minds whether or not to go out for a meal this evening or not. If we don't then we'll treat ourselves further up the road.

Today is my youngest daughter Nicola's 50th birthday. I've sent her a card, just as I sent her elder sister Clare a card two years ago. I'm estranged from them both these days, but they are always in my thoughts and prayers. Sometimes life doesn't always work out the way we would wish.

Often in the past I've wished that I'd done something different as a career. I accepted the 24/7 commitment of working for the emergency ambulance service, and in doing so forfeited the right to moan and groan about working nights, weekend, Christmas, Bank Holidays and Easter, but that meant that my wife and kids paid the price for that commitment. I used to feel so sorry for them when I'd be working on public holidays while their friends were off out with their families for a day out, and they were stuck at home. I missed a lot of them growing up because of all that shift work, and the overtime I worked to help pay for Christmas and a holiday of some kind each year. I just don't think the public appreciate the price paid by families of those in the armed forces, emergency services and other public services who serve them around the clock.

Tomorrow we plan to continue northwards on the coastal road, and if we're lucky, come across a quiet beach where we can have that barbie, and maybe a log fire.

SUNDAY 30-04-23

Well, that was another inaccurate weather forecast. It was supposed to have been dry overnight and a clear, bright sunny day today. Instead we had light rain showers in the early hours and a cloudy day today. We're so pleased we chose to do the washing yesterday.

We didn't rush to get up and out, and neither did anybody else, but we still beat them to the shower block to enjoy subtle blue LED lighting over the shower cubicle doors and piped restful music. All that for nineteen euros an night.

We did the housework before sitting outside to do some reading. I finished 'Agent Zigzag' by Ben Macintyre, who also wrote 'Rogue Heroes' which was dramatised in a TV series recently, which The Chef enjoyed watching and has also read the book since we've been away.

Lunch was, of all things, toast and jam. It was a way of using up leftover bread, and the remains of the strawberry jam I bought as part of a Cornish cream tea we gave our ninety-three year old next door neighbour just before we came away.

After boredom set in we decided to go for another little walk round the corner to Finikounta. It certainly didn't look as nice as yesterday when it was viewed in warm sunshine under a clear blue sky.

The weather forecast for the next couple of days is a bit wet. We did consider staying here another night to soften the impact, but with possibly two or three days on the run there seemed no point. We can't sit it out until the weather is nice enough before moving on. Tomorrow we now plan to go up the west cost of the peninsular, stopping first at Pyros, where I think we'll be able to get a freebie night in a car park, before continuing up the coast.

I've guesstimated that we need to present ourselves at the Albanian border on 13th May in order to be back home in time for Charlotte, The Chef's eldest granddaughter's University degree presentation. What we've agreed to do now is make our way up this coastline, stopping off as and when we choose,  if we arrive at the border much sooner, then so be it. There's no point in hanging around killing time. That way if we've days in hand we can spend them in Croatia on the way back.

Due to the weather we've decided not to have that barbie this evening, instead we'll have it in a couple of days time when I'm hoping we'll find that quiet beach where we can relax, though maybe whilst holding an umbrella, and who knows, we may even get a Vodaphone connection.

SATURDAY 29-04-23

It was a lovely peaceful night. We're too far from the beach to hear the tide coming in, but we'd just enjoyed that back at Monemvasia.

Today was to be washing day followed by a walk out. The washing was straightforward enough given that the weather was perfect, and there is limitless very hot water to all taps and showers.

I rigged up a clothes line along two sides of our pitch and then we made a start. When everything was dry we took the opportunity to change to the summer-weight duvet. I just hope we don't find the nights a bit chilly having done so.

The campsite is very peaceful, apart from the young Dutch family next to us with two very young children, but that's fine, that can't be helped, and as a bonus the children each bought us a painted pebble as a gift, and so I gave them a sweet out of our box as a 'thank you'. It's so nice to see young kids being bought up properly.

We don't normally eat lots of sweets, but when we undertake trips involving long period of driving we'll have a suck or chew on a few in the afternoons whilst listening to recorded music on the MP3 player, the same one, with the same recordings as we took with us to America in 2008. Given the price of sweets these days, and the amount I bought, I think I should have added them to the vehicle contents insurance.

This morning we had a new neighbour across the way - Brits. They keep a caravan in storage here and it was sited by the staff ready for them to occupy. In typical caravanner fashion, they arrived in a hire car and parked it in a vacant pitch next to theirs, and there is stays. That's why I get annoyed when we go on to campsites looking for a pitch and a number of them are occupied by caravanners cars. Needless to say I won't be engaging him in conversation.

This afternoon we went for a wander to Finikounta, the village along the beach. We've been to it before, only this time it looks a lot smarter. It has a truly Greek feel to it, and why wouldn't it - it's in Greece.

So it's been a nice restful day, which is what we needed after yesterday. My internet access is now causing some concern as I look to have just exceeded my 12Gb allowance of the 24Gb I paid 3-Mobile for, and the Vodaphone SIM card which I bought to take the pressure off the 3-Mobile whilst in Greece cannot be used in most places we've been to because of poor coverage, so if my postings suddenly stop it will be because we've lost connection and will have to sort something out.

Tomorrow will be a chill day with just the housework thrown in, and I'm hoping we can have a little barbie in the evening, maybe down on the beach, as the little one I bought is totally portable.

Hopefully everyone back home stays healthy as I see the nursing unions are on strike again tomorrow until Monday. How very sad that their loathing for this government is greater than their concern for patients. If nothing else, this trip is giving us a welcomed break from Broken Britain.

FRIDAY 28-04-23

It was a nice peaceful night with just the sound of the waves lapping against the sea wall only feet away from where we were parked.

The plan this morning was to have a nice hot shower using the water we still had left in our tank, after which we would go up the hill to the East gate of Monemvasia, where there was a public toilet block and a hose pipe. However, lying in bed this morning I thought to myself that the sole purpose of that hose pipe was to wash down the toilet block, and did I really want to put said hosepipe in to our tank?

Having had our most welcomed shower I was ready to start getting rid of 'stuff'. What was holding me up was the one vehicle across the way from us who would be able to see what I was up to. Eventually the Dutch motorhomer blinked first and came out with half a bowl of washing up water or something and tossed it over the sea wall. That was my cue, what was good for him, was good for me, and so I began disposing of forty litres of grey water.

I was convinced the Dutchman was waiting until we vacated our prime position so that he could jump in to it, and who could blame him. The problem was the wind was quite strong and it was blowing in to our habitation door, and it was considerably cooler, so even if we had stayed, we wouldn't have been able to sit outside.

Off we went, heading for a campsite near Methoni. The satnav is set for 'Fast' when it comes to working out routes, in the hope it will avoid sending us up narrow winding roads and goat tracks. All it had to do was take us back to Sparti before sending west on the '82', past Kalamata, and on to Pylos (other spellings area available) and Mithonia. But no, 'Fast' meant taking us on two sides of a triangle, both sides being toll roads, eventually delivering us to the Messini area.

Heading towards Sparti we topped up the fuel tank and for a two euro tip filled up with fresh water. This was desirable because the tyre pressures and ride height on the air assisted suspension is set up for the vehicle being fully loaded, but because we had little or no fresh water in the front tank and no grey water in the back, we were bouncing around a bit.

I don't carry a length of rope on the vehicle, and for very good reason, because today it would have been put to good use.

This new satnav, all things considered has been performing very well. But today it had a complete and utter mental breakdown. Let's forget the joyride we had on the toll roads, I have to try and understand what else went wrong. I have to throw my hand in the air and confess that I have no idea what it was doing, only that we used up a quarter of a tank of fuel, and spent much of the day up in the mountains on crap, narrow roads. What it was doing was beyond belief. At one point we pulled in to a builders yard, wound up the laptop, went on to Google Maps and checked the GPS co-ordinates we had put in to the satnav. They were correct, and yet it was taking us miles from where we wanted to be. I won't dwell on it further because it has been a totally shit day, but by feeding in three separate co-ordinates one after the other we managed to find the campsite.

So here we are - Camping Thines (N36.804823° E21.795088°). We've been here before, and it didn't light our fire then, but it is right next to the beach, a good price at nineteen euros a night, and gives us the opportunity to get washing and  chores done as well as soaking up a bit of sunshine. Needless to say, we are surrounded by German and Dutch campers. Everywhere you go, you get Dutch and German campers, and they are all the best of friends, or so it seems.

When we leave here on Monday morning (we thought we'd sit out the weekend to avoid any more Greek brat kids enjoying an Easter holiday before going back to school) we will head north on the coastal road in the hope that we will come across that elusive parking space by a deserted beach.

In the meantime my 3-Mobile SIM continues to eat much of the 12GB I am allowed to use of the 24GB I paid for whilst the Vodaphone SIM card I bought continues to be utterly worthless as the Vodaphone coverage in Greece is about as good as that of the dark side of the moon.