Ramping up time...

Lou and Pete go through the swing bridge.

 I think Summer has finally got here to Lefkada, after some very iffy weather over the last few weeks we are now up to a more usual high twenties and the afternoon wind is also getting warmer, long may it last!

Sanny & I just inspecting the dredging work.

Mountains of dumped dredgings

 Sandra and I went for a bike ride around the lagoon the other day to inspect the work going on in the channel which has been dredged over the last couple of months.  Mountains of shale, sand and pebbles have been piled up just behind the old olive factory and much more down towards Milos beach where they seem to be bringing the level of the land up several feet where much of the kite surfing takes place.  The wild life and flora must have found it a bit of a shock to find twenty feet of hardcore over their heads.  Although it does look like there have been several spaces deliberately left for the plants and animals to coral prior to taking over this new alien environment.  Or is that just me being optimistic.


Anyway the road is now fully open around the lagoon so people can get back on their bikes and enjoy the ride.

We stopped off at Milos beach for an expensive coffee but we deserved it for all the exercise, note to self: must eat more to make up for it!

But the wild flowers still seem to survive.

We have been doing lots of jobs around the boat as we only have just over a couple of weeks left before we go back to the UK for three months.  We have been doing drawings for the new upholstery, mattress and curtains (we have no curtain rails on the boat) and they need to be a precise fit otherwise they'll look crap.  We have found several suppliers for the seats and mattresses in the UK but getting them to vacuum wrap the things to make them easily transportable is another problem.  We are also awaiting quotes for the work to be done here in Lefkada as this may be the better solution and we can kick ass if things ain't done right.

Refreshment needed.

 Last year we had our markers on the chain done with cable ties, this proved to be very difficult to make out so I've painted fluorescent red and green bands on the chain every ten meters to indicate the amount of chain out.  The only problem being that with all the chain out on the pontoon, I painted the wrong end first i.e. my ten meter mark shows when I have fifty meters deployed.  Never mind at least I now know how much is left in the chain locker!!!

Glorious techni-coloured anchor chain.

As a side affect of the bright colours we wondered if we could use them as fishing lures whilst out at anchor?  What do you think??

Having painted the chain I decided that the chain locker itself was looking somewhat shabby so decided to make it somewhat more bright and beautiful inside, mind you, you need to be a bit of a contortionist to get into some bits of it with a paint brush.

"Kapsali" moored off Palairos.

We decided that after a days strenuous work we would go across to Palairos last night to rendezvous with Deb and Jez and have an Indian meal just for a change.  We drove across, having no anchor fitted with which to moor, and took the scenic root through the deserted village.  It's quite a while since we went over that way but the journey is so beautiful it's well worth going very slowly over the less than ideal road surface.  As we approached Palairos we spotted "Kapsali" moored in the bay and took a sneaky picture.  A wonderful night out with D&J and also with "little Stevie" good laugh, good food, good company.

Liz christening the new washer - Long may she wash!

 Lastly for this week I got to add this picture of Liz, with her brand new washing machine being trialled.  I never thought the day would come as she seemed to be having a love affair with someone down at the launderette,  only joking Liz I know you only have eyes for one man.  Anyway it must have been mission accomplished as there are lines of washing blowing away merrily all over Timoni.