For the second time, Ursula, Tony and Steffi set off to meet Janne, Erica and me at a restaurant for a meal out. We went somewhere Erica and Janne had taken me previously and where Ursula and Tony had visited before. The restaurant is located in Paleochora, not in the centre but nearer to the main harbour. The nice thing is that there is nearly always parking and also it can be approached without having to drive through the main streets. Added to that, good surroundings and an extensive menu and that pretty much sums it up. Today I contented myself with a salad and some chestnuts. The chestnuts were particularly tasty and the portion size was realistic.
Earlier in the day, all but Tony had been engaging in fitness of some kind or another. Ursula and I took the dogs onto the Promontory just after 5 am. The plan was not to stay out for a long period more to give the dogs a bit of freedom and to run around. Kostas, the Salt Man, was already there and I think I could hear him pumping water into the rocky hollows. We released the dogs, Boris chased his ball but we didn’t hang around to run and walk. We returned to the camping so that Ursula could do her pilates and I could go for a road run. The road is far easier to run on than the soft sand of the Promontory.
I changed my sober top for the bright yellow one I purchased from Decathlon and set off with Obi attached on a long lead and carabina to a belt over my running clothes. Just as I came out of the compound gate, I spotted Erica coming around the corner of the storeroom bearing two walking poles. I started to run and then saw Steffi warming up outside her caravan. I set off in the direction of Paleochora at a reasonable pace. After all, I didn’t want these guys to catch me up and pass me! How embarrassing would that be!
I completed my 2.5km down to the umbrellas on the beach in a little cove not far from town and started back towards Grammeno. Obi was starting to flag but seemed pleased to be heading homeward. He had become my little drogue and had been pulling either in the opposite direction or tangentially: neither of which were particularly helpful. He will need to do much better if he wishes for me to take him again.
On the final leg back to the camping, I encountered Janne who was also running towards Paleochora.
I later discovered that Steffi ran to the filling station close to town, some 8km round trip and back, whilst Erica walked all the way to Paleochora and back at a good pace. Janne did the same as me and ran a mere 5km.
Ursula was finishing off her pilates as I got back and Obi fell into a heap on the decking. What a lightweight! We had tea and then I fed the dogs, had a shower and cycled into town for a croissant for Tony and some more vegan cheese for Ursula. The vegan cheese is really not bad. Unprocessed it certainly isn’t but contains no animal products or anything which adversely affects me.
The bulk of the day was consumed with odd jobs and some small IT tasks. And then it was time to get a shower before going out to eat.
I’m up at 02:45 so plan to get early to bed
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