The fidgets were about at 04:00 so not much sleeping after that time. We were out and walking on a deserted Promontory although there were a couple of motorbikes, a car and a motorhome in the car park, the occupants were elsewhere. The walk was pleasant and cooler. The moon was overhead which gives a good, almost shadowless light.
We were done and dusted yet still it was dark so we made our way along Alonáki to the river valley. There has been a little remodelling by BullDozer Man since yesterday as he’s pushed much of the stones from the valley floor up the sides to deepen the river and improve the flow. The convenient entrance to the track which runs parallel to the first part of the walk where it crosses the main road is now blocked. We, therefore, continued up and under the road bridge however, I wasn’t keen on walking up and then back down the valley in the river bed. It’s harder work and it even counts for less on the September Challenge.
We scrambled up the loose side of the river bank and up onto the track which runs past VGD who seemed to be enjoying a Sunday morning lie-in. It was still not very light so I had to keep my eyes on the dogs as they disappeared into the shadows. Fido was naughty and sloped off to where there were so particularly nasty items dumped by the wayside. He ignored me when I summoned him so I brought Skinny and Obi back with me so I could attach him to a lead. Fido was the only dog without some device attached to him so I needed to employ more traditional methods to regain control. Fido remained on the lead for the rest of the walk.
We can probably assume Isabella has got over whatever was ailing her the other day as she spent much of the walk trying to annoy the others. Charlie and Oskar are the main recipients of her overzealous attentions so I need eyes in the back of my head to keep track of her misdemeanours. She is beginning to understand that they don’s like her to bite their ears and chew them around their neck, playful though it may be intended.
BullDozer Man’s equipment was locked up and there was no sign of life as we passed it on the way back down towards the beach and the sea. There was no one around on Alonáki Beach so we made our way back to the camping.
I posted most of the dogs into the van then set off on my bike uncertain of where my ride might take me. I’d considered riding to Petrakis via Krios or riding to Petrakis then up to Anydri or perhaps straight to Spaniakos with a stop off at Petrakis on the way back.
I considered these options as I pedalled eastwards. There was still quite a lot of wind so I’d need a full battery to ride up the long incline towards Spaniakos and then the even steeper ride up the mountain. That decision was quickly made when the bike battery indicator dropped one bar from 100% to 80%. Petrakis is was for just a couple of items. I’d only brought one saddlebag anyway. My couple of items grew so the bag was bulging as I continued on towards the port and the PAWS dogs.
There was plenty of life in the cafés and bars. Tables being served or wiped over and people enjoying a lazy Sunday breakfast. The port was deserted so I cycled around and back to the exit. There were some PAWS dogs, some quite young but no puppies. All were suspicious and I had nothing to offer them so they came for a sniff then went about their business so I left. The PAWS doggy village seems to have a rather unkempt air to it. I understand its days are numbered due to the encircling construction work.
There’s a great deal of activity on the land near to the port and along the coast. At present, it’s pretty unprepossessing. There is one very fine property which is surrounded by wastelands and now piles of excavated soil and rock. A machine was at work loading a lorry near to the sports area and another working further round. The tarmac road which leads along the coast back into Paleochora proper via the ferry dock is now blocked off. If the owners of the property are in residence they are probably pretty miffed as their domain is literally surrounded by construction work and their access blocked.
I mounted my steed to head off the way I’d come, past Petrakis and back to Grammeno. The wind was behind me so it was an easy ride. I was glad of a sit-down and a cup of tea since it was now 08:45 and I’d been on the go since 04:15.
I fed the dogs and prepared my own. I’m never alone when I make breakfast for myself as there are invariably a number of dogs waiting to share some grains, seeds, apple core or berries. They are very attentive.
I checked my emails whilst my breakfast cooked and I might possibly have fallen asleep!
The day has been fairly uneventful unless you count picking up the poo, watering the plants and making the Doggy Dinners amongst a list of exciting activities.
The Embroiderers Guild never sleeps so I created a new shared mailbox and dealt with a website problem which had gone unnoticed by me at least. No one had reported it.
The wind which calmed during the day picked up as the afternoon progressed and is now blowing quite strongly. The forecast had it blowing all last night however that turned out not to be the case. It was quite strong for a little while as we walked the Promontory and again as we headed up the river valley.
I spent some time tinkering with the wind alert feature I’d set up on my weather data logging device. The aim is for it to send an emailed alert once the wind goes over 4 Beaufort. It will then send further alerts each time there is a stronger gust. These alerts are quite useful and were intended to warn me to take down the fabric awning but now only the SunBlocker needs attention when it’s windy. It’s still good to know if the wind is actually increasing anyway. This feature has not worked properly for some time yet I’ve not felt the urge to find out why. I discovered today that the software in the logger has been changed which is why the alert would occur only once and not each time the wind increased. It now should work as expected although I’ll know tomorrow when the logger resets all the values at midnight so as not to mess with today’s readings.
The SunBlocker has been down since last night but I’ll put it up again tomorrow when it should be calm. More strong winds are forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday which will be unhelpful in keeping customers in the camping.
There have been departures throughout the afternoon and a brief foray into the upper section of the camping shows that it’s mostly empty other than the deserted rental tents. I’ve not been down the front of the camping since Friday as that was the last time I went into the sea.
It’s getting chilly so I’m going to turn off the large fan just leaving the ceiling fan to stir up the air. I shall go inside to prepare some food for myself now that the Elephants have finished their evening ballet on the decking. All the dogs are suitably quiet although there are still some squawking children somewhere nearby. There has been no further Concrete Shouting today but I’ve heard hammering and voices so the new villa project is progressing apace.
Leave a Reply