Season 2

The Ancient Peloponnese We are moored alongside at Kiparissia, next to ‘Money Penny’ and ‘Blue Eyes’ (our Belgian sailor friend, Daniel). We had a lovely sail down from Katakolon, accompanied only by the odd shearwater swooping low over the waves kicked up by the morning’s katabatic wind, dropping down off the Peloponnesian mountains to the warmer sea below. Kiparissia means cypress tree. The town is nestled in a natural amphitheatre below the high, wooded and pointy-topped m

Missy Bear at the port of Olympia Missy Bear has sailed from Sicily across the Ionian Sea, through the Inland Sea and arrived at Katakolon, on the mainland Peloponnese. Incredibly, this would have been the route taken by some competitors travelling from the Greek polis in Magna Graecia to participate in the games at Olympia. Those ancient athletes would have actually landed not at Katakolon, but at Feia, which is north of the peninsular. But that harbour sunk into the sea fol

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single Greek in charge of a kingdom must be in want of an island. " (Jane Austin, Pride and Prejudice) Many versions abound regarding Odysseus’ birthplace. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Ithaca know a good story when they see one, and even if Odysseus was born elsewhere, that hasn’t stopped the Ithacans adopting him as their own. Saatchi and Saatchi could not have improved the branding and merchandising. We have seen Odysseus S

Proof that Odysseus lived in Vathi, Ithaca? Well, we have seen the statue and found the street name in Vathi, so that must be definitive proof that Odysseus came from Ithaca. Alix with Odysseus in Vathi The locals would certainly have you believe that, because it’s terribly good for business. But I’m not convinced, as I explained last season in “ The Voyage of Odysseus ”. Not only does the theory not make sense from a sailor’s geographical perspective, but should Homer’s epic

Our first evening at anchor, in Ormos Vlikho, was slightly spoiled by one thing. The pump on one of our Jabsco marine heads (loo!) had developed a very slight leak. Richard discovered it at 18:45 and was already lining up screwdrivers, hammers [ Ed – really? ], his trusty Leatherman, and calling for containers into which to place screws, bolts, bits of loo etc. Forget the fact it would soon be dark, forget the fact we were swinging on the hook, he was going to take it apart a

Fiskardo, Cephalonia Spring wildflowers are ubiquitous Simple architectural form with pastel shades and red-tile rooves Fiskardo is a simply beautiful Cephalonian village, especially in early spring, well before the tourist hordes arrive. It is tiny with only 189 residents per the last census. It is peaceful and quiet now, with all but one of the tavernas closed. The sea water temperature is still only 17 degrees, so it’s still too cold for a swim, but the air temperature is

Introduction [by Richard] If you were asked to name to top 10 most famous canals in the world, no doubt the Lefkas Canal would not make your list. And I’m talking about canals that allow boats to pass, not irrigation channels. Yet the Lefkas Canal is one of the oldest canals in the world. Not as old as Egyptian ones, but still constructed as early about 650 BC. The first version was built by the new Corinthian colony of Lefkas town, and it turned this promontory of north-west

View from Preveza on the mainland to Lefkada island The origin of the name Preveza is contested, but is probably Slavic Albanian for “ passage ”. Maybe it means the north-south passage across the neck of the Ambracian Gulf, or the passage through the neck itself from the gulf to the open Ionian Sea? The vista I’m enjoying now is of the neck out towards the sea and Lefkada. In 1798, this vista would have been French, as Napoleon's French forces had taken Preveza, and the islan

The Greek Immigration Officer (we assume?) In these days of jet travel, you can get from Cirencester to Greece in about four hours. Our journey took four days. Admittedly, we took a circuitous route via Fleet, London, Fleet again and eventually Gatwick, so I suppose we shouldn’t complain (Amanda, perhaps we borrowed C’s satnav?). You may have seen on Richard’s post, “Back on the water”, which was the reason for our trip up to Town. When we found out that we had won the CA Ha

We had a lovely evening at Cruising Association House in Docklands. Although we have been members for a year or so, it’s the first time we have been to an event in person. In fact, it may have been the first physical, non-Zoom event there since Covid-19 rules have been relaxed? It’s really wonderful to be able to meet real people in person once again, as opposed to via the ethereal IT cloud. Because we live outside the M25 now – a vague region that an ex-City work-colleague d

The open sea One of the joys of sailing out in open water is that there are no roads, no road markings and no road signs. There are written ‘Rules of the Road’ you must know, in case you encounter other vessels and need to avoid an embarrassing collision. But subject to the wind direction, you can sail in whatever direction you fancy; as the bird flies or maybe as the fish swims? You very rarely come across a fence or a wall in open water causing you to stop or alter course.

The winged lion of St Mark It is said that Venice was the first true European colonial empire. It has also been said that Venice gave Britain the blueprint for its own future empire - both were small maritime powers that gained global reach. Do we see any other similarities in how Venice and the early British endeavours were organised? Let’s start at the end. Two main factors led to the waning of the famous Venetian Republic: i) a prolonged war with the Ottomans, which we tou

Missy Bear being taken by tractor to her dry berth in November. Our sailing plans have been thrown up in the air again! No, not Brexit. Nor Covid-19. Not even the crazy little Tsar. Yet! No, the delay to relaunch is actually for a much more pleasant reason: ‘ The Adventures of Missy Bear ’ has won the 2021 ‘Lacey Trophy’. This is an award by the Cruising Association (CA) “ for the best member’s website or blog covering cruising in the year” ! A cynic might say that we might h

Well, it hardly seems any time at all since the school bell rang in Preveza, and it was the end of term. We handed the boat in at the Cleopatra boatyard, and waited for the school bus to take us back across the channel to Preveza. It seemed ages until we would return. What were we going to do? Autumn evenings, cooking on the firepit. Cirencester Market Place, decked out for Christmas We felt it would be rude and ungrateful not to use more of our French visa, so first of all w

My paternal great-grandfather was a bastard. You don’t need to excuse my language, because it is a technical fact. My father is called Walter and his grandfather was also named Walter. But he was born out of wedlock in 1856, to Alice Crooks in Horsley Woodhouse, Derbyshire. Alice was about 19 years old when she gave birth. The registry of Walter’s baptism - well over a year later, on February 7th 1858 - simply names Alice as his mother. There is no father’s name. Alice was a

With the advent of Brexit, the freedom of movement within Europe came to an end: une fin; ein Ende; una fina etc. I’m not sure that I wrote a blog about applying for our French visas last year. We needed a visa because, as non-EU citizens, we can only spend 90 out of a rolling 180 days in the Schengen zone (named after the small wine-making town in Luxembourg where the initial agreement was signed). There are a few countries in Europe not in Schengen – e.g., Eire, Cyprus, Mo

Many crusaders travelled by ship without a compass I was very lost. I was on the top of a hill somewhere in Dartmoor and the fog had come down. I had an OS map and a compass, and all I had been doing for an hour or so was walking in a straight line up the moor. So why could I not just turn around and follow my reciprocal path? Well, the other piece of information you need is that I was carrying a load of plastic bags and a very large and heavy piece of metal – an augur. It wa

As we have seen in my previous two blogs, you simply can’t fully enjoy sailing around the Eastern Mediterranean without an understanding of the effects of several hundreds of years of Ottoman influence and rule. As Missy Bear will be there from Season 2, we will try and discover who they were. From the 9th century, nomadic, pony-riding ‘Turkmen’ from the Eurasian steppes started drifting westwards in waves. These Turks formed the Seljuk empire. They came into conflict with th

Hizir Reis did not have a red beard, unlike his elder brother, Oruc Barbarossa (real name Hizir Reis) was born in the 1470s on the Aegean Island of Lesbos*, then already under Ottoman rule, to an Ottoman father and orthodox Greek mother. Hizir and his elder brother, Oruc, were pirates. Oruc had a red beard. Their main target became the property of the newly formed Spanish state, which was busy expelling Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula during the ‘ Reconquista ’ of Ferdinan

[DN - Written at Aubeterre-Sur-Dronne, France - November 2021.] The croissant ('crescent') was invented by the Viennese On our Tuesday morning bike rides in France, Charlotte and the gang stop enroute for café et croissants at a local village épicerie . To be honest, I prefer a pain aux raisins, but I can happily rip off pieces of this buttery, crescent-shaped pastry and munch them, leaving a pile of large, flaky French crumbs on the table, and on me, and on the floor. Exce