I slept inside in the end and it wasn’t too hot. It was windy outside and might have been a little noisy and chilly. I was fast asleep when the alarm went off so it took a few minutes to engage my brain.
A stealth camper/van conversion was in the beach car park and the irrigation water was on full-blast. I think someone had been fiddling with it. The first walk was uneventful, warm but with a significant amount of wind so I hung onto my T-Shirt. We saw no one so moved on to the next phase to the river bed.
There was no one there either except for BullDozer Man found slouching in his cab when we walked back down to the sea. I could see I wasn’t going to go for a swim or a ride so we sat on the beach for a little while to admire the waves and the birds.
I shoved the dogs into the van then sat down to check emails. It was 09:00 when I woke up so I let out the dogs, fed them and made my breakfast. In a way, it was good not to be rushing off for a bike ride and then a swim.
The time slipped by until it was 12:00 and my weekly call home.
The afternoon was still windy. I contemplated taking Luis for a trip to the sea but considered how rough it might be so abandoned that idea. I walked down on my own to see and decided I didn’t want to be in the sea with all of those waves. My days of battling the waves of La Côte Atlantique are over. I remember trips there with the Van Asveld kids and our neighbours’ children from the camping we stayed at. Those waves were strong and very big!
I went for a bike ride to Krios and managed to go there and back, via the greenhouses on the mountain, in exactly thirty minutes. That included the time I waited for a flock of sheep to pass along the road herded by a couple of guys in their pickups. One of the guys had the Cretan Sariki or headscarf. I’ve seen him herding his sheep and goats before.
I noticed the people who arrived yesterday had gone yet some more people arrived to stay in one of the larger wooden cabins beside T2/T3. There was a little woofing going on when I got back but Luis had his bark collar on and Oskar, another inveterate barker, his collar from this morning.
I’ve been digging around on eBay and surprisingly won another, brand new, collar for less than half the retail price! Just getting the guy to post direct to Crete for less than the £20 he stated on the listing. I will now have three long-range collars capable of >700m line of sight. Soon, the majority of the dogs will be remote controlled which will make life so much more relaxing and convenient. No longer will I have to dread the possibility of encountering other people or their dogs.
The Elephants have destroyed the inner sole from an old trainer donated to Isabella for the purpose of honing her chewing skills. I’m not allowed to give her rawhide chews as they are too fatty for her delicate constitution.
She was a little poorly yesterday and had been throwing up. I gave her only the soupy part of her evening meal so as not to overtax her systems. She was quiet until this morning but appears to have regained her strength so is back to larking with Skinny and Obi and driving everyone around the bend.
There has been Ceremonial Concrete Shouting on the adjacent construction site. Concrete Shouting is a fundamental Greek Tradition dating from the times of Odysseus. The ceremony consists of a large concrete delivery vehicle equipped with a long arm for pumping the material into the various trenches. Part of the ceremony includes rattling reinforcing mesh and more shouting. If the shouting is successfully completed the concrete arrives in the correct locations, is smooth and level and everyone can go home. It is possible to employ Professional Concrete Shouters for larger projects.
It’s been blowing all day with gusts to 66km/h. The temperature made it to 31.7℃ with a minimum of 25.6℃ at 07:20.
I noticed the place at Krios was doing well, there were lots of vehicles in the Grammeno Beach car park and plenty of cars parked in the Houmas Restaurant car park. The cars were all Greek registered and not rentals so I expect there were few if any foreigners.
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