We were back at the camping before 07:00 having completed a very pleasant Early Walk over the usual route. It wasn’t windy or cold, the sky was clear so we could see reasonably well from the outset which is always a bonus. The sea was calm and the beach was fairly even to walk on. I discovered that the newly-exposed sandy areas are superficial with more shingle just below the surface. Only Skinny was a little late in coming back so I needed to nudge him along a little. He returned from the Promontory so hadn’t absconded.

I left the camping and headed towards Krios to meet up with Gregory and his dogs whom I’d not seen for a couple of days. Bella was pleased to see me as was Boy. It was good to sit in the sun without being blown away. The sea was calm but there were few birds. A couple of ships passed close to the coast, one of which was the container ship Buxtehude on its way back to Haifa from Napoli in Italy. We’ve seen this ship several times so it appears to have a regular run between the two ports.

I left around 09:30 and headed back to Grammeno for some breakfast. I fed the dogs before getting on with some other small jobs. Luis, Charlie and Oskar were a bit noisy so I put them in the SDC (Small Dog Compound) with Luis having the added bonus of an automatic bark collar a little later. It was very peaceful all day. Initially, Luis didn’t dare to bark but then became a little more adventurous as time wore on. There was something exciting on the road which caused Oskar and Charlie to bark whereupon Luis joined in. Woof, woof, ouch! The others shut up too without him to carry on the chorus in his inimitable fashion.

Elias took his family out in their huge truck for a day at the beach. The girls were feeding the cats so we had a quick rundown of their names and their various traits. The girls then had breakfast so I left them to enjoy their day. Tony has been working down in that area of the camping with is strimmer so it will be clear of greenery when they return either later today or tomorrow.

The Austrian couple who arrived on Friday may stay another night so I need to amble down to see what they intend. They’ve paid for two nights anyway.

I spent time updating my Raspberry Pi’s and the Unifi software which manages the WiFi in the camping. I’d taken frozen bananas out of the freezer to defrost with the plant milk I’d decanted from the carton. The ‘milk’ only keeps 5-7 days but freezes well enough as did the bananas kindly donated by Elias who’d bought too many so needed to offload some of them. I’ll gift them some banana bread in return. This iteration of the banana bread has taxini as well as some extra chia.

Looking at the client list on the camping network, it would appear that Georgia, her entourage and friends have departed as there are far fewer devices registered now. Either that or they’ve all turned off their phones which is unlikely. It was a little cold for some of their stay but it’s not been bad today or yesterday.

I parcelled up Nikos’ package containing a flexible exhaust for his van’s heating system which was delivered to the camping after he left. He tells me he’s not planning to come back to the camping so has asked me to forward the parcel to his brother who lives in the north near to Chania. I’ll drop into the post office tomorrow morning and then visit Petrakis.

Last night, I watched an episode of Heartbeat which portrayed an outbreak of foot and mouth on a dairy farm. The farmer couldn’t understand how his prize herd of Angus cattle had become infected and was devastated when the Ministry Vets confirmed the diagnosis. He’d brought the herd from nothing so it was his life’s work. Some while later, it became apparent that his neighbour, who’d been very vocal and blamed him for the outbreak, had purchased some sheep from Carlisle. However, the sheep originated from a part of Wales where there had recently been cases of foot and mouth. He tried to move the infected animals from his farm but was stopped in a police roadblock and taken back for questioning. His sheep tested positive but there was still no reason why the infection had manifested itself on the neighbour’s land. Until we discover that the Angus farmer’s wife had been in a clandestine relationship and likely brought the infection back when she visited her lover, the sheep farmer.

The Ministry officials arrived, destroyed the herd and made a massive pyre to dispose of them. The farmer just looked on in utter disbelief. Shortly after, he worked out how the infection had arrived on his farm. The loss of the cattle and his wife’s infidelity was more than he could bear so he went out for a walk with his shotgun. Nick Rowan and a posse arrived too late as the farmer had already taken his own life. A good story and well presented I thought.

The Doggy Rice is cooked. I need to put something together for myself and then take the dogs for a walk. I’ll wait until it’s nearly dark as I should imagine there are quite a few people still about and it’s better for everyone if we have the Promontory to ourselves.