Month: September 2019

I was surprised when my alarm woke me as I was convinced I hadn’t gone back to sleep having been woken on some pretext at 04:50. It was below 18℃ so I even reached for a blanket to put over my sheet. It was noticeably cooler when we went for the walk so our pace…

Ursula and Heidi joined us at the end of the Promontory as we completed the second circuit. Together with Oskar, who was tired out, they went for a less energetic walk as we embarked on the third round of our trek. We finally released all of the dogs and I went over the rocks with…

An annoying mosquito buzzed around in the night so I hid under the covers to escape its attentions. Other than that there was some event in the night which caused Luis some excitement but then it doesn’t take much to cause Luis excitement! We were up and out by 05:45 heading across the field and…

The last, flimsy fragment of moon was coming over the horizon as we walked up the Promontory. It will be darker from tomorrow until the middle of October. Only another month and the hour changes and Winter Time begins. Oskar was the first to succumb and sat out circuit two and three – lazy Oskar!…

I had to remember to turn on the water heater this morning as Maria rang me last night to ask me and to tell me she was unwell. I’ll spare you the details. With only six dogs the Early Walk was shorter than usual and we were back just after 07:00 having completed our three…

It was much warmer in the night as no blankets were required. The forecast storms or rain didn’t materialise although there were plenty of power outages and distant lightning flashes in the night sky. I’m not exactly certain how many power outages there were as all my light are battery or solar so I only…

I actually managed two Promontory walks today and came back with the same number of dogs with which I left on both occasions! The Early Walk was pleasantly uneventful and warmer and involved the removal of my fleece which I nearly left behind when I left. Skinny and I prepared to run and set off…

Luis kindly barked me to wakefulness at 04:55 in response to some external pussy misunderstanding. The mother of the kittens is less than friendly towards them however she usually only hisses at them and eats her food separately on top of the freezer. There are now some ginger interlopers, also kittens, who are quite aggressive.…

The Equinox – Equal Night, is the day when day and night are approximately equal. The actual Equinox falls between 22/23 September and it’s not really that equal anyway. It supposedly marks the beginning of autumn. Georgia’s dogs were particularly noisy last night so I shared that information with Maria. The first time was at…

It was definitely windy and a little cool for the Early Walk. I removed myself reluctantly from my bed. Skinny was waiting for me as eager as ever. He and IZO are the first to be marshalled, I then collect the others and Charlie, who still prefers his own company in the house outside. I’m…

Sascha, Steffi and Zora left at an ungodly hour to catch the plane back to Berlin. They have arrived safely and even lit a fire. I expect they’re already missing the warmth of Crete. We were out at the usual time however the first circuit was cautious since there was a car parked near the…

Warmer in the night as I needed only a sheet and no blanket. I was in bed and asleep quite early after all the excitement of going to eat out at Anydri. The Early Walk was, in many ways, rewarding. But then again, I know how aspirations can be dashed. No fleece was required as…

Noisy neighbours arrived back noisily at 03:15 and seemed to be getting up at 07:15 – hardly worth the money booking one of the enhanced cabins considering how much time they didn’t spend sleeping. They could at least benefit from the private loo and shower I suppose… Our Early Walk was moonlit, cool and still.…

I used a blanket! It was as cold as 17.2℃! It hasn’t been as cold as that in a long time. We had plenty of energy for the Early Walk, some more than others as there were some disappearances. Luis and Charlie had their freedom from the beginning of the Promontory unfortunately, the others didn’t…

The wind blew hard all night and was still going strong this morning. Not enough to prevent the Early Walk or Skinny and I running but cool enough to require a fleece earlier. There were no excitements and IZO didn’t go AWOL due to not being given the opportunity. Skinny and the others came back…

The Evening Amble was a struggle against the wind as it was this evening only less so. Yesterday was far windier than today but I’m now fed up with the whole wind thing. I needed to put on a fleece last night and survived outside long enough to eat my meal but went inside after…

Fido needed to go out at silly o’clock this morning so I got up to let him out. Then I got up to let him in. This disturbed my blissful slumbers so it took a little while for me to go back to sleep. It was still very breezy when the alarm sounded and I…

A blustery cool morning but with some moonlight from a rather watery orange moon heading for the western horizon. At least there was a little more light and the view of the moon as it disappeared into a distant bank of cloud on the horizon. There are still storms in the Med which are either…

Janne & Erica arrived at 23:10 yesterday and were welcomed by a lot of noise from IZO. I anticipated their arrival and was asleep but just lying on my bed. I got up to welcome them and to shut IZO up. He was making the most noise so I asked him nicely to stop. He…

Windier and cooler this morning with no incumbrances in the way of cars, FreeLoaders or fishermen. I’m wearing my support for dog walking, running and other jobs requiring the use of my right hand. Most of the work is still delegated to the left hand as it will be a while before the right catches…

It was cooler this morning, there were no cars, FreeLoaders, horta-gathers or even Kostas so we had the place to ourselves. I let Luis go right at the beginning, he raced along, completed the first lap and then stayed behind for a rest joining in again at the end. The others were let off for…

My night with the elasticated hand protection was more comfortable than the previous. I may have got to grips with the correct tension to give myself sufficient protection without compressing my hand excessively. As usual, Skinny was raring to go so I gathered up him and IZO and took them through to the gate. The…

I put on my elasticated support to walk the dogs yesterday evening and took it off when I got back but put it on again at bedtime. During the night I found it too tight so kept it on to protect my thumb but loosely. This morning I had it on for the walk but…

We were out just after 05:40 on a quiet and cool Saturday. There were plenty of stars, no moon and no vehicles in the beach car park. Luis slipped his collar as we entered the Promontory and I just let him take his time as the rest of us were able to make more progress…

No distant flashes as the storms of yesterday have concentrated themselves over Turkey and Georgia, Italy and Sicily as well as Albania also a bit of northern Greece but not the south or the Aegean area. The thunderstorm season is undoubtedly approaching and also the time of year for those little Mediterranean storms of which…

Our Early Walk started in good time on this relatively dark morning. There were few if no clouds but it seemed darker than previous days. The dawn, once it arrived, as tremendous with a mixture of red and orange set against the black silhouette of the distant mountains. There were tracks from Kostas’ jeep but…

Skinny has been disconnected from his long line for over twenty-four hours so far attempting only once to scale the fortress walls. I had just gone out of the gate and he wanted to come too. I was on the outside of the fence so recommended he reconsider his actions before proceeding. One huge advantage…

Skinny was off his line all evening, from before the Evening Amble, as he’d got himself in a muddle under the decking requiring rescuing. He played vigorously with Oskar for quite a while. Skinny was doing most of the playing with Oskar joining in. It was then Luis’ turn for his playfulness and it was…

I was awake at 04:45 and finally got up at 05:15 in order to steal a march on the day. It was completely still as opposed to the previous morning. Skinny was ready to go but was good enough to sit patiently while I fumbled with his prong collar. IZO was as bouncy as ever…

I went to bed quite early last night. Possibly too early as I had somewhat disturbed sleep in the early hours. The strong wind might not have helped and the camping was fairly restless as it’s a weekend. We were out by 05:45 and we followed the usual Early Walk procedure. On the first lap,…