Hardly invaded

There were voices as I came out onto the decking at around 04:35. They appeared to be coming from somewhere within the camping. This is my time of the day so everyone else should be tucked up with teddy, snug in their little beds, not out annoying me!

There was a solo car in the beach car park so I was on the lookout for jolly campers but found none despite coving most of the Promontory during our two sweeps. There was no stopping, except for the obvious, and we returned after an hour or so via the top of the beach where more sunbeds and brollies were stacked. The ones moved out of the way the other day were also stacked beside them.

I later left, having fed the cats, with Skinny, Oskar and Isabella. A bit of a poor choice as I was to discover in the fullness of time. Oskar was up for it in a big way especially as he didn’t have a prong collar on. We followed the track parallel to the beach where I released Oskar as we met the river mouth. Isabella, on her training collar, was off from the start. Oskar and Isabella had a lot of fun ragging about noisily so the locals must have been delighted to be woken by other barking dogs at 06:10 on a Saturday. We didn’t pass in front of the savage guard dog but went up the east side of the river then crossed back over to the west side onto the main track. The one on the east peters out before very long.

Oskar can be quite independent so is liable to disappear on little missions of his own. I discovered that someone had deposited some unpleasant animal remains in a couple of locations by the river as well as elsewhere. Oskar disappeared for quite some time and was seen to be catching us up feverishly as we were returning from the 2.5km marker. He was also behind on the way back too. Isabella was on quite a tight virtual rein as I don’t want her to eat anything likely to trigger pancreatitis again. I know the symptoms now but we could do without another dose.

We walked down the middle of the beach and returned to the camping almost simultaneously. Not that you can have ‘almost simultaneously’ but I’m sure the meaning is clear. It’s a little like being partially dead!

I packed Skinny and Oskar into the van and was relieved to see Oskar had chosen to put himself on the floor where vomit is more easily removed. I got ready for my trip to Paleochora for some shopping as the fridge was a little light. There’d been a fresh delivery outside the store so I picked up a very nice cauliflower and some peppers then went inside for other items. It was only when I arrived at the checkout that I discovered Cauliflower is something like €4.50/kilo making my purchase €5.60! Had I known I might have made other choices as there are other, more interesting vegetables which cost less. As far as I know, Cauliflowers come from Kountoura so have not flown first class from Indonesia.

There were some cars in the camping car park as I came back on my bike. Nothing like the previous week but that was a holiday. I notice there are more cars now but the bar and restaurant are both devoid of all but the staff as I write at 19:30.

I let out the dogs and fed them, made breakfast and checked my emails. It was soon time for my weekly phone call home.

The remainder of the afternoon was punctuated by some Skinny Vomit carefully located on the step up into the van. Despite being on the end of a long lead, he’d thwarted my endeavours to prevent him grabbing one of the aforementioned trifles this morning but saved it until the afternoon to return it. I used the opportunity to vacuum and mop out the van which now scores lower on the Slum Scale.

Temperatures much the same as yesterday but 30℃ is forecast for Monday and the coming days are likely to be almost equally warm. The actual temperature in Grammeno is generally a couple of degrees above that which is forecast.

Peter, who has been researching at the east of the island, sent a text to say that he’s seriously considering purchasing a property in a mountain village down that way. He tells me it’s a new-build, fully fitted for €50,000 (£45,000). He plans to travel but could let it out whilst he’s away. He sent pictures of the village and it looks very pretty.