The weather has turned slightly damp. Unpredictably so. Sarah was determined to get our weekly washing done and so we unfurled Basil’s wind out awning for the first time this trip to allow things to dry. As it happened we had an hour or so of sunshine in the morning and with a bit of juggling everything is now clean and dry for another week.
We had a chat with Sarah’s Uncle, who was a motor mechanic before retirement, about Basil’s ongoing problems and the bottom line is that we need to keep a close eye on the big lad. With luck it is just air settling out of the cooling system, but there are more troubling possibilities!
Sarah’s Uncle and Aunt have both been to Greece many many times and so they were able to give us some tips on places to visit and a particular wine to try. In parallel I have started going through my guide books and campsite and wild camping databases and marking places to visit and stay during our first couple of weeks in the area of North Western Greece which we haven’t visited before. If any of you have looked at the map section of the blog you will know that I make considerable use of customisable Google maps. That is the way that I also do some of my planning – mark places to visit and stay, using different coloured icons, on a Google map and if necessary place a comment with the icon to save me having to constantly refer to books and databases once the planning has been completed.
It turns out that I will have longer to plan than I anticipated because when I tried to book our ferry crossing it turned out that the first time we can cross and camp on board is Thursday. Camping on board is a great way of crossing from Italy to Greece at this time of year. From 1stApril each year people with motorhomes containing an on board toilet are allowed to sleep in their motorhomes on an open car deck, the ship even has plug in points to give the motorhomes electricity. I looked at the difference in price between us camping on board and getting a cabin for us and the two dogs and it saves us over €300. We even get to sleep in our own comfortable beds.
Rather strangely when I first tried booking online the price with Superfast Ferries was €340 one way, but when I subsequently ticked a box saying we were members of an international camping organisation, without being asked to say which one, the price went down to €288. Nothing about the discount is marked on our e-ticket so we will have to wait and see if they check. We are, of course, members of ACSI and the UK Caravan and Motorhome Club, but whether they qualify I haven’t a clue.
I have had the least active day of the trip so far. Sarah and I set off for a walk this afternoon but it started raining as soon as we stepped off the campsite so we returned to base. I was going to say that Sarah won’t even get her 10,000 steps in today, but she’s just told me that she already has! Apparently when she took the dogs out for a walk first thing she had a long walk on the beach while I was still slumbering.
Because I suspect we are not going to be doing anything of note on this campsite for the next two or three days I may not publish another blog until Wednesday, when I will update the site with anything of interest.
For fans of the Scops Owl, you will be pleased to know that we have at least three within earshot. Three of them squawking away together, but at slightly different times, does break up the monotony a bit. When one calls it sounds a little like a sonar blip in one of those World War II submarine movies, but then when the second and third start up it as if the submarine has made a sonar contact with an incoming ship!!