The End!

We arrived in the Champagne region in the dark, so although we drove through plenty of lovely villages, we didn't get to see them this time. I can't believe I didn't even indulge in a glass of bubbles, I don't know what was the matter with me!!

Next morning we made our final tracks to Calais. A quick supermarket sweep, some cheap diesel and in the queue for the ferry. This really is the end of our Adventure before Dementia. We've had an amazing ten and a half months. Seen some gorgeous, and fascinating places, met some lovely people and made lots of great new friends. We've loved having visitors, so thanks to Roger and Julie, Chris and Lin, Dot, Paul and Pip, Barbara, Susie, Jackie and Lisa, and Charlie who all came to visit us in the Dordogne. Chris, Lin, Roger and Julie who also came out to Kefalonia, and Chris and Lin again who met us in Brittany. We loved sharing our adventure with you all.

 

 

We've got lots of favourite memories, probably too many to mention, but these are amongst our best moments:

 

 canoeing near Brantome, France

  les Calanques, near Cassis, France

  turtles in Argostoli harbour, Kefalonia

 

 looking inside Mount Vesvius, Italy

 

 

         Pompeii, Italy

 

 Rocamadour, France

 near Bardonnecchia, Italy

 'No Shoes ' beach, Kefalonia

 overnight on Myrtos Beach, Kefalonia

 Soca Valley, Slovenia

 Italian Dolomites

 

Sand dune at Arcachon, France

 l'Abyme, Dordogne, France

 

........... and many, many more!

 

The End!

 

 

 

 

 

Six countries in six days!

Whilst on Lake Konstanz Dave was keen to visit the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen. It traced the history of the airship, both in it's civilian & military roles, and it's passenger carrying Trans-Atlantic crossings, one of which finally ended in disaster with the explosion of the Hindenberg in the U.S.

 

 

This shows the size of the Hindenberg compared to the Queen Mary and a jumbo jet.

 

This model shows the cabins and restaurant on board.

 

Leaving there we drove around the lake, leaving Austria and into Germany, before finally crossing over the border into France. I'd always wanted to visit Colmar, south of Strasbourg, known for it's beautiful timbered buildings. Today was a cold, wet November morning, but we enjoyed a stroll around the town, and coffee and croissants in the square.

 

Typical colourful timbered buildings in Colmar.

 

Worth coming back here in the future to see the wine trail and the Vosges mountains.

 

From there we continued north towards Calais, stopping off about halfway at Reims in the Champagne region.

 

6 countries in 6 days.....Greece, Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Germany, France!

The Italian Job!

We ate very well in our Slovenian hotel. Can't remember what some of it was called because my knowledge of Slovenian let me down, but it was all recognisable, wholesome and cheap! The hotel Gostilna Pre Martinu in Kranjska Gora comes highly recommended by us.

 

Next morning we left in glorious sunshine and deep blue skies, past the ski slopes where I learnt to ski, and ventured back into Italy.

 

They hope the ski season will start next month.

 

The drive to Cortina de Amprezzo in the Italian Dolomites was spectacular. High rugged mountains bathed in sunshine with beech forests turning all the impressive autumn colours was stunning. We are lucky with the weather.

 

 

Coffee stop with a view!

 

The town of Cortina,  was the playground of the rich and famous many years ago, and inspired Ford with a name for their newest model of car.

 

Always unhappy with the rising costs of fuel, Dave seeks alternative methods of transport!  How long would it take us to do our 1200 miles in this, and would I have to travel in the back???

Overnight in Italy in a hotel run by Germans, very confusing, and not entirely sure what we ate last, (but don't tell Dave that!).  Just about to leave now, drive through Innsbruck in Austria, and into Germany to Lake Konstanz. Sun is still shining, hooray!!

 

Autumn in Slovenia

We said our goodbyes and left Kefalonia in glorious sunshine!  Typical, once we'd decided to leave the warm weather returned. We enjoyed the 3 hour ferry crossing from Sami to Astikos on the mainland, docking briefly in Ithaca. The drive north then hugged the coast and was a lovely drive as far as Paleros,  after that it was dark but we continued on to Igoumenitsa which is on the mainland opposite the island of Corfu.
We were happy to be able to swap our tickets for the ferry to Trieste in Italy, bringing the crossing forward by two days. Whilst we were waiting to board we were treated to an entertaining game of 'hide and seek' between the Greek port police and some illegal immigrants who were hiding on the axles of some juggernauts!! It was a long crossing, 26 hours, but it was very calm and we had a comfortable cabin.
We docked in Italy at 2 am, so we drove for an hour to the border with Slovenia, then pulled in for a sleep for a few hours because we wanted to drive along the Soca Valley in the daylight. When we woke up the scenery was breathtaking, we were high up in the Juliana Alps. We headed for Bovec first and took a track up into the mountains for some fantastic views, but the best bit was the drive still following the river Soca up through the Vrsic Pass.

 

The river was an amazing light turquoise blue colour, and crystal clear, with the autumn trees as a backdrop it looked very impressive. The level was low, but normally this is an excellent area for kayaking and rafting, as well as walking and cycling.

The Vrsic Pass rose to an altitude of 1611m and consisted of 50 hairpin bends, but well worth it.

This lead us to Kranjska Gora which is where I enjoyed my first skiing holiday, about 30 years ago. A pretty alpine town where we had an overnight stop. Going down to dinner now for some typical hearty Slovenian cuisine!

 

 

Final Fling!

So, after a busy three and a half months back in England, as predicted we were ready for the final chapter of our gap year.
We arrived to a sunny Kefalonia on Tuesday, and were collected from the airport by our friends Jim and Denise, and taken back to Pessada where we were eager to change into shorts and flip-flops. However, the sunshine was short lived, and almost straight away the blue skies gave way to clouds. Big, black clouds, full of torrential rain, laced with lashings of thunder and lightening! Not quite what we were hoping for, and sure enough the plot quickly turned into a claggy, wet quagmire. The overcast skies meant that there wasn't enough sunlight to make much solar power, so we had virtually no electricity. I slipped over in the mud wearing a pair of white jeans (which are now cut into shorts!!), and the prospect of a weeks swimming and snorkelling suddenly seemed highly unlikely.

Having survived the storms, we got out and about and did some local walks, met up with friends, and finally got a swim in at St. Thomas' beach, well Dave did, I wimped out on that occasion.

On Monday evening, with the weather more settled we invited Jim and Denise over and had a bonfire party. It was a lovely evening sitting out under the stars, supping local wine and eating chilli and potatoes baked in the embers. A bit like bonfire night in England, but warmer!

Anyway, the weather isn't going to improve much over the next week, so at the moment we're making plans to get off of the island (easier said than done this time of year!) and get an earlier boat from Igoumenitsa, near Corfu up the Adriatic Sea to Trieste, east of Venice where we plan to have a look at Slovenia. Fingers crossed!!

The Final Chapter!

 

This is the beach at Louguivy de la Mer, just a bit further to the west than the Ile de Brehat  where it was a bit touristy, so we didn't take a trip over to the island. We spent the afternoon on the beach and then found an overnight stop on the river at Lezardrieux. Chris and I went off exploring on our bikes and found a great little camping spot nearby for the next night.

 

The next day was very hot so we dozed on the beach at Sillon de Talbert, a huge long shingle spit. The tide was so far out that none of us could be bothered to swim, we ate ice creams instead! That evening we returned to the freebie camping spot we'd found and barbecued our dinner.

 

 

We were right on the water's edge and had the place to ourselves, and it was another freebie!

        At Ploumanach we saw enormous smooth, pink granite boulders in all shapes and sizes. It was a very different scene, but very picturesque. Dave swam off the rocks near the lighthouse in the waves.

 

We had lunch in a Creperie in Tregastel on Saturday, and then Chris and Lin headed off towards Roscoff.  For various reasons Dave and I have decided to return to England a few weeks earlier than planned, so we set off for St. Malo. We met up with Paul, my brother and some of his friends in Cancale on Sunday morning for coffee and the final 'pain au chocolats' of the trip.

 

At noon on Monday 7th July we boarded the ferry from St. Malo to Poole. Neither of us really queried the journey time, so were surprised, yet quite pleased to find we had a three hour stop-over in Guernsey. That was enough time to do a whistle-stop tour of the island although we were totally unprepared. We had no map of the island, the sat nav didn't register. We had no English money, got confused having to suddenly drive on the left, and didn't know if the island was on French or English time!

Anyway, we finally arrived in Poole, had fish and chips on the quay, and set homeward bound to Ringwood.

 

By October we'll be needing a holiday, so the plan is to have ' a final fling'. We'll fly back down to Kefalonia, and drive back leisurely via a route that hasn't yet been planned.

Until then, this will be the final blog. Thanks for reading it and sharing our big adventure!!

 

 

The Brittany coast

Leaving Limoges and heading north we found a lovely town with a chateau called Montreuil Bellay. It was good for a ( free) overnight stop on the banks of the river.

The next day we continued on to Dinan, and found another free camping aire under the huge viaduct which runs over the river. We enjoyed great views and were well placed to explore the old, cobbled medieval town centre.

On Saturday we met up with Chris and Lin on the beach at Erquy.

 Beautiful, vast, spotlessly clean sandy coves bordered by jagged, rocky coastlines. On Sunday we explored Cap Frehel and the light house. Great climbing down to the water's edge.

Monday 30th June ... Happy birthday to me!! We cycled along the coast path back into Erquy and found a great little restaurant on the harbour front. I had moules frites which were delicious, and everyone else ate well too. That evening we had an impromptu cheese and wine party. It is still light until at least 10.45pm in the evenings.
We followed the 'Circuit des Falaises' around the coastline. The sea scape is interesting with hundreds of rocky islets everywhere you look.
At Paimpol we were the only people on the campsite. There was a crazy golf course there but no-one to lend us any equipment so we improvised with a potato and a golf umbrella! When the potato didn't roll through the holes and tunnels you had to use your best snooker skills instead!

Good fun, and I was the crazy golf Champ!! Will continue round the next headland tomorrow.

Leaving Kefalonia

Since we came back from Ithaca we've been working hard to finish all the jobs we'd started. It's been about 34 deg C every day, so we've had plenty of late afternoon swims to cool off.
We have spent time with the neighbours, Jim and Denise and their German Shepherd dog, Lexie. Dave's been helping Jim to do some pool maintenance jobs, and Jim's given us a hand with things. It's been really nice knowing them and spending time together. I had the most amazing fresh tuna salad for lunch at Makis' restaurant on Trapezaki Beach. However I must say that the island is getting busy with tourists, so it's time to go!! We've been spoilt having the island to ourselves.

On Monday evening we left the island and headed back to France. We have now been reunited with the campervan near Limoges, and are spending a couple of days there with more friends, Mike and Rosie at their campsite.
Tomorrow morning we'll start heading north towards Brittany where we'll be meeting up with Chris and Lin at the weekend for a 'holiday' !!

Ithaca

We arrived in Ithaca early in the morning to 34 deg C. and glorious sunshine. First we did a drive around the northern chunk of the island. It's incredibly steep and mountainous, and around every bend you see sheer drops into beautiful turquoise bays, many only accessible by boat or swimming. We stopped off at Polis Beach in Stavros and walked around the old fishing harbour.

From there we went inland up to the village of Exogi which is very high up and gives fabulous views back across to Kefalonia and the Greek mainland.
In Friskes, and again in Kioni we arrived at the same time as some yacht flotillas which proved to be very entertaining to watch as they floundered around trying to moor up on the quayside. There were very few moorings left, and a squall had blown up making it more like a game of dodgems.

We found some accommodation in Lefki, and went down to the beach for the evening, and were delighted to see a dolphin swimming close by us in the bay.

Next morning we went inland again, very high up to the Katharon Monastery, and enjoyed incredible views of Vathi, the island's capital.

 

Then a picnic lunch and a swim on Filatro Beach before getting the evening ferry 'home' again.

 

A spectacular island. Small, unspoilt, very like Kefalonia but not for the faint-hearted if you don't like hairpin bends and very steep roads. Would you trust the Greek safety barriers?? I think not!!!

The Swordfish

We've become friendly with  Makis, the owner of the restaurant on Trapezaki Beach, as featured in my last blog and whilst we were having lunch there earlier in the week he invited me into the kitchens to watch the chef fillet and prepare a freshly caught swordfish.

It was huge! It weighed 29kg, and was about the same height as me including the sword which was about 60cm long.

 

                                   ςίϕίας ( swordfish )

Georgos had already cut a 15kg fillet from a 107kg tuna, and was telling me that the largest tuna ever caught in greek waters weighed about 700kg! Wow!

We've had some lovely walks this week around the village. I particularly enjoyed seeing all the fruit growing; figs, oranges, lemons, apricots, pomegranates, almonds and even bananas and a broad bean tree!

 banana tree with flower

 broad bean tree (ok, not really, but what is it?)

 

We've decided to go on holiday .... abroad!  So tomorrow we are going to take the ferry to Ithaca for a couple of days. It's the island to the east of Kefalonia, and neither of us has ever been there before, so guess what the next blog will be about?

 

 

Back in Kefalonia

We have been back on the island now for two weeks, after a long trek from the Dordogne. Springtime is in full swing and the island is a blaze of colour from the wild flowers growing everywhere.

 

We have had a great week with Chris, Lin, Roger and Julie who came out to visit us from Ringwood. We showed them all around the island, and have swam, snorkelled or bobbed about on lilos every day on various favourite beaches.

We also found a fantastic new restaurant on Trapezaki Beach where we enjoyed dinner and lunch.

 

 

 

I chose cuttlefish and squid ink risotto because I'd never eaten either before. It was delicious, even though it looked unusual and I had to endure the comments about my meal looking like it was cooked in sump oil!!

Also enjoyed visiting Myrtos Beach, Assos  and Fiskardo again, and watching the turtles swimming in the harbour at Argostoli.

 

( Photos courtesy of the lovely Julie Jones! ) Thanks Julie.