There were two reasons to be awake at 02:55. One was an important mission on my part and an equally important mission for Fido. At least I didn’t have to go outside for mine and he was quick to return!

There were plenty of stars and no need for a torch as it’s full moon so plenty of light in the mornings as long as the sky’s clear. The same flashers were with us and Skinny proved he could cover much more ground as I could see him almost at Azzuro when the rest were just leaving to walk up the beach. Admittedly, I waited while Charlie returned from an exploration of Grammeno Beach where he was charging around.

We were all present and correct at Azzuro where there remains one umbrella well away from the shoreline with three loungers underneath. Someone is still clinging onto memories of summer. We walked back down the beach to the end of the Promontory via the rocks. Skinny was delayed by something midway up the beach but obviously had no problems catching up. He rarely gets out of first gear.

There were two vans on the beach, one of which is now in the camping. The German couple with the Mercedes 508 who were here a few days ago. They’re staying one night before going to Chania, Kissamos and then Elafonissi. The other was there yesterday even though I reported no vans on the beach. Another German, who looks as though he’s travelled far and wide by the designs on his vehicle.

I eventually got the dogs back into the compound as they dawdled across the field. Strangely, they’re a lot quicker going out than coming back in. I did my meditation and then went for my bike workout to the top of the mountain. I was watching the weather carefully as the stacking clouds were approaching ominously. I could see rain falling over the sea as I rode back towards the camping.

The guy from Oban came to empty his loo and have a chat. The German couple with the black van have decided to stay for a month although they’ll leave for a few days as they’re going off for a birthday celebration near Chania for a few days next week. We put on a large wash which is one of two so they must have extensive wardrobes.

I spoke to Michael Winkler who is concerned about the CoVID situation in German so is considering leaving his van, canoes and bikes at Grammeno and flying back for some important engagements then returning in the New Year to get away for the remainder of the winter. A British couple did this a few years back but they went to Australia to visit family.

I fed the dogs and myself taking some time to watch interesting videos. One was of a review of the Dacia Spring. Apparently very popular in France where it can be bought for around £12,000 making it the cheapest EV in Europe. At that price it’s just a basic no-frills car but it does all the right things and would make the perfect runabout with a range around 120 miles which is adequate for most local journeys. Ideal for supermarket trips, school runs and days out in the country. An ideal second car. Dacia is a Romanian company owned by Renault which incidentally owns 43.4% of Japanese company Nissan and is part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance. The French State has a 15% interest in the organisation. Renault have worked hard to accelerate the EV market and have now produced this affordable new EV. Alas, it is not planned to be produced for the UK market and I’m not sure how things stand with buying and importing vehicles into UK post Brexit. I know that I simply went to Belgium, ordered and paid for my car which was exempt from Belgian VAT and drove it back to UK. Later, I registered it in UK and paid 17.5% VAT to the lovely people at HMRC as opposed to the 24% due to Belgian buyers.

After a decent sunny interlude which produced over 4kWh of electricity, the sky clouded over and produced 0.5mm of rain. Later the wind got up and it back quite chilly.

The second arrival today was a Czech couple who stayed one week in October last year. They tell me they have a ferry booked for 15 December and will probably spend the time at Grammeno. They’re a pleasant couple and we had some good chats last year. I’ll do them a good deal anyway.

The forecast for the next week is unstable with some rain on Tuesday and the chance of some thunderstorms later on.