Slowly people were putting their boats to bed for the winter and heading home but not us. We had jobs we wanted to do and were likely to be messy and thus better when no one was on their boats close by.
The treadmaster on the deck was more worn out than in place and we had decided to remove it and paint
the decks. Easy peasy you say - if only! After nearly 5 weeks of Gordon on his knees with either a chisel, file or sander taking the stuff off, then masking up the deck prior to painting "sand beige" deck paint. All in amongst the rain showers, it does however look great and really tidies up the boat.
That job done saw some inside work of varnishing and headlining resticking. Days were shorter and cooler with the temperature dropping at night. The cockpit tent, which hadn't been used since Kalamata was a God send, keeping the wind and rain off and enabling us to use the cockpit for jobs as well as sitting in the dry. The flat screen telly that we had treated ourselves too came in handy on the long dark nights too, although it was films we were watching rather than Greek telly.
The marina was very quiet with only 5 boats with crew on for the winter and all on different pontoons and all different languages - thankfully English was the universal language. There were some nights socialising on each others boats and in one case in an old Italian style house on the island that a crew were housesitting. When Christmas arrived we headed to one taverna on Christmas eve, a long walk there but with fantastic food and some Greek dancing, it was worth it. On Christmas day all the boat crews headed in a different direction to another taverna, many of us had been frequenting each month for lunch. Poppy served up excellant food and lots of it, with plenty of wine and beer, traditional spit roast pork, pies, pasta, soup and salads all for 15€ a head. No supper was required that evening.
We packed up the next day and as a treat stayed in a hotel for the night before flying back to the UK. We were staying with Anne-Marie of Matapan for a couple of days prior to New Years Eve in London for the fireworks.
Some planning at Anne-Maries was required for the return trip of Matapan to the UK. Gordon was going to help Anne-Marie, with some others, deliver Matapan from Turkey to Slovenia prior to overlanding Matapan
to Holland and then finally the English Channel. After planning we spent a day in Cambridge and with a bright sunny winters day went punting on the Cam! Cold but entertaining.
Our time with Anne-Marie ended all too soon and we headed to London to stay on Taransay Mhor with Sandi and Colin in St Katherine's Dock. We did some sight seeing, went on a tradition London bus and managed 5 Whetherspoon pub's during our stay. We walked along the Thames for a great view of the fireworks on New Years Eve with all the crowds, it was spectacular and an experience but probably done on telly next time!
Finally time to head back to Portsmouth to work, P at the hospital and G to whatever he could find which turned out to be sorting some leaks at his Mum's house, decorating, driving and builders mate. Oh and the
delivery of Matapan in early March across the Aegean and up the Adriatic flying back to the UK after only 3 weeks away.
With all the mod cons we were able to speak to each other almost every day. Matapan took another week to get back across Europe, dropped in the water and sailed to the east coast where she is now based and up for sale.
Some house sitting for friends made the time left go very quickly and what with working it left little time to catch up with all the people we would have liked to - next time! For now it's back to Crazydream for the summer.
The treadmaster on the deck was more worn out than in place and we had decided to remove it and paint
 |
| The new decks |
 |
| varnished inside & new telly |
That job done saw some inside work of varnishing and headlining resticking. Days were shorter and cooler with the temperature dropping at night. The cockpit tent, which hadn't been used since Kalamata was a God send, keeping the wind and rain off and enabling us to use the cockpit for jobs as well as sitting in the dry. The flat screen telly that we had treated ourselves too came in handy on the long dark nights too, although it was films we were watching rather than Greek telly.
The marina was very quiet with only 5 boats with crew on for the winter and all on different pontoons and all different languages - thankfully English was the universal language. There were some nights socialising on each others boats and in one case in an old Italian style house on the island that a crew were housesitting. When Christmas arrived we headed to one taverna on Christmas eve, a long walk there but with fantastic food and some Greek dancing, it was worth it. On Christmas day all the boat crews headed in a different direction to another taverna, many of us had been frequenting each month for lunch. Poppy served up excellant food and lots of it, with plenty of wine and beer, traditional spit roast pork, pies, pasta, soup and salads all for 15€ a head. No supper was required that evening.
We packed up the next day and as a treat stayed in a hotel for the night before flying back to the UK. We were staying with Anne-Marie of Matapan for a couple of days prior to New Years Eve in London for the fireworks.
Some planning at Anne-Maries was required for the return trip of Matapan to the UK. Gordon was going to help Anne-Marie, with some others, deliver Matapan from Turkey to Slovenia prior to overlanding Matapan
.JPG) |
| Punting on the Cam |
Our time with Anne-Marie ended all too soon and we headed to London to stay on Taransay Mhor with Sandi and Colin in St Katherine's Dock. We did some sight seeing, went on a tradition London bus and managed 5 Whetherspoon pub's during our stay. We walked along the Thames for a great view of the fireworks on New Years Eve with all the crowds, it was spectacular and an experience but probably done on telly next time!
Finally time to head back to Portsmouth to work, P at the hospital and G to whatever he could find which turned out to be sorting some leaks at his Mum's house, decorating, driving and builders mate. Oh and the
 |
| G working, delivering a yacht! |
With all the mod cons we were able to speak to each other almost every day. Matapan took another week to get back across Europe, dropped in the water and sailed to the east coast where she is now based and up for sale.
Some house sitting for friends made the time left go very quickly and what with working it left little time to catch up with all the people we would have liked to - next time! For now it's back to Crazydream for the summer.
