Thanks to the imperfect weather conditions I had an excuse not to leap out of bed at 06:05. The forecast was on about showers and there had been some heavy ones earlier, however, none occurred between 06:00 and 07:00.

I was awake a little in the night as Fido made it his mission to see how many times he could go in and out of the van during the night. I let him out three times but in again only two. This was bad luck for Isabella as she accompanied him on his last outing. Despite his grizzling on the other side of the door, I left him outside in the coolness.

I got up just before 07:00 so it was nearly 07:30 by the time we were out the gate and crossing the field. The dogs disappeared onto Grammeno Beach returning shortly after with The Rug. This was good news as she is good at wearing out Isabella being of a more compatible size and weight. Skinny doesn’t often like to play with her and then only in short bursts. The Rug is quite playful considering she is older and bulkier.

The sky was changing rapidly so I felt it better to remain on the Promontory. We crossed the rocks and the causeway a couple of times. The wind was strong and the sea was a little rough and unpredictable. Nevertheless, our feet remained dry.

The sun came out after a while making the temperature more agreeable. The wind was not only strong but cold. I ran a few laps around the sandy bit by the rocks with some of the dogs following in relays. It was heavy going as I was wearing heavy boots and a coat due to the cold and the wind. We wandered around aimlessly for around 90 minutes but an approaching rainbow concentrated my mind on getting us all back to the camping dry.

We headed back but The Rug peeled off and continued along Alonáki Beach Road as we crossed the field. She’s not a problem even if she comes with us as she comes in the field gate and I usher her out of the gate into the camping. She either finds her way home or wanders onto the beach to further annoy Georgia’s dogs.

We went inside away from the wind and rain and I fed the dogs before preparing my own breakfast. The sun reappeared and nicely warmed up the awning area so that the dogs could get the benefit. This was the scenario for the remainder of the day.

As time went by, the showers were more frequent and the sunny intervals less so. However, there was 7.16kW of PV but not quite enough to fully charge the battery due to all the cooking yesterday.

Alma and Urmas took their van for a spin to Paleochora as Urmas has been feeling under the weather lately. Apparently, according to Alma, he often feels poorly during the winter which is one reason why they go away to a warmer climate. The doctor has prescribed some medication and suggested additional tests so they may have another day out sometime next week. The grotty weather is not helping either I should imagine. Alma says that Urmas is not a very patient patient and visits the doctor only as a last resort.

I decided to remove some of the excessive ventilation from the van. During the summer, there was a problem with one of the electricity cables so I’d removed one of the ventilation grilles to get to the socket behind the fridge. This provided a great deal of unnecessary additional wintertime ventilation which I wanted to reduce. I also found the winter ventilator covers which essentially reduce the ventilation for the gas fridge. The fridge is now a normal domestic electric one so the ventilation is not required during the winter.

There is also a door ventilator to provide for the various gas appliances. Of these, I only occasionally use one, the gas heater if I’m a little low on electricity. Otherwise, I use the fan heater which I’ve rigged up to a thermostat positioned where I sit. This keeps the temperature between 19 – 21℃.

I blocked the door ventilator and also fixed the fasteners on the galley window so that it can be closed tightly. Hopefully, these measures will reduce the heat requirement as well as increase comfort.

I’m going to take the dogs out for a walk. The distance and duration will depend on whether it looks like rain.

The Evening Walk was very brief and short in distance. We made it as far as the Promontory and the Big Beach however I could see the clouds in the west. They were extremely threatening and, having spent a chilly day, the last thing I wanted was a load of wet dogs and a wet me. I ran them back towards Grammeno Beach and then to Alonáki so they could go along there a little. I contented myself with running up and down the beach car park until it started to rain a little harder than the drizzle so far experienced. As we were within striking distance of the camping, I let them dawdle through the field but they were more interested in getting into the shelter and comparative warmth of the awning.

The dogs have been fed and I’m waiting for my lentil and cauliflower concoction has finished cooking. Then some nosh and watch the box.