Topless

With a minimum temperature of 28.5℃, outside was the place to be last night. The inside dogs were on the floor as the seats were too hot even with the fan on. I discovered Isabella curled up in the brown chair which was out on the decking close to my hammock when I got up. It was only when I started to move around that she stretched out from the chair. I moved her and Obi to the gate first before going into the van to collect the others. Oskar has been absent from the past two walks so I wanted him to come out today. For some reason, Charlie disappeared into one of the houses and needed to be persuaded out on the walk.

With no apparent FreeLoaders and no Kostas, we completed our three laps and headed off altogether in the direction of the river valley. It was warm when we started the walk so I’d left my shirt with the parked dogs when I took the others. I continued topless for the entire walk. In the past few days, we’ve struggled up out of the valley through bushes and reeds to the track which leads to the road. Today, the fairies had been in the night to construct a new track with the help of a large machine. We simply walked up the ramp and followed a broad, even track as far as the road. I let Isabella, Charlie and Oskar off the lead and we walked past VGD who was again freely roaming his domain. He woofed at something but we’d gone past by then. Shortly after, there came the sound of an approaching vehicle bringing Bulldozer Man to work in his Mitsubishi van. It was light but still only 06:30 when he arrived. He probably wanted to get ahead whilst the day was reasonably cool. He drove past us, turned around and parked up on the verge where his machine was sitting below. We said good morning and went our separate ways. Interestingly, none of the dogs took any notice of him.

We walked on then clambered down to the river bed to walk back. More of the valley floor has been remodelled by the bulldozer making it quicker to walk. The earlier sections are fairly demanding due to large rocks and boulders strewn everywhere. The sound of the machine echoed up the valley so I was preparing to leave the valley floor to avoid having to get around the bulldozer. We climbed the loose rocks on one side and followed the track for a few meters. The bulldozer was pushing rocks up towards the track but stopped as we walked past. We slid back down to the river bed for the remainder of the valley.

It would appear that the plan is to remove a thick layer of material from the bottom of the river then spread it further upstream to strengthen the sides of the river which already have significant sections of netted boulders.

I think the problem is that water comes crashing down during torrential rain and carries all before it. There is a lot of runoff from higher up in the mountains feeding additional powerful streams into the valley.

We followed the sea shore for a while but moved up to the beach track to avoid a couple of maggots further up the beach. There, we encountered a woman with a small dog which she simply picked up as she approached. Some nice FreeLoaders were parked nearby so may have been jolted from their slumbers by some barking. The dogs with collars were not part of the barking group only those without for some reason.

Once in the field we had a slight detour to inspect the ongoing excavation works. There is a large, deep hole with concrete at the bottom. It looks as though it might be a basement. Another hole is nearby which might be going to be a swimming pool. This project is further up the field and not part of the CBV extension program. We’ll watch developments.

I took Luis for a swim in the sea when I went down to the beach. Having dunked him in the water, I tied him to one of the wooden umbrellas and went swimming. He was unimpressed about being tied up and deserted so told the world about it in a fairly subdued kind of way. He stopped eventually and there was only one other person within hearing range anyway. I dragged Luis back to the van and posed him inside with the others before going for a hosepipe shower.

I rode to Krios to see Gregor who explained there had been three fire helicopters the day before which had flown back and forth carrying seawater to the fire up the mountains. It appears that the fire is above Sklavopoula near to the top secret radar station which everyone knows about. I saw some planes carrying water up there earlier. There is plenty of smoke and the fire is fanned by the wind so probably quite destructive.

Gregor told me that he’d originally come to Greece to avoid military service as he didn’t agree with it. He went back to Germany after thirty years so now doesn’t have to worry about it. The time raced by and it was 09:25 so I left and rushed back to the camping to let out the dogs.

Other than being hot with a high of 38℃, the day has been fairly uneventful. There was a support call from Inter Sport in Lewes as well as a message from Caroline at LBS.

I’ve deployed the new SunBlocker which is not much different from the old one except it’s longer and isn’t ripped at either end. The additional length makes it cooler under the awning.

I made the doggy dinners including shoving them through the blender to turn them to more digestible gloop. That’s the plan anyway. I’ve developed a system to speed up the maceration process and keep everything cleaner at the same time.

The Elephants are resting after some decking ballet under the SunBlockers. It’s safely tied to the fence so away from the decking.

It’s the Thursday before the Holiday Weekend. There are quite a few people in the camping but from the camera, the restaurant looks quite empty. There will need to be plenty of arrivals during tomorrow to reach what can be classed as a normal Holiday Weekend.