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The forecast was favourable, the boat was ready, and Tony and I were set to do our 150NM delivery trip from Leros to Olympic Marina (it’s not far from Athens airport). Alix would fly and meet us there. We should have waited until the marineros arrived to help us exit our berth. But it was 07:30 and they don’t start work until 08:00. We had an empty berth downwind of us, next to an open channel, and we were almost pointing directly to the exit. Very low risk, although against

Sleeping on the chair of an airline departures lounge is never easy or comfortable. Despite being very tired, I think I managed just half an hour. We had set off from Cirencester late that afternoon on the National Express 444 to Heathrow (cheaper than a taxi!). And then our late-night departure on Aegean Airways had landed in Athens about 03:00 local time. Our connecting flight to Leros wasn’t until 07:30. Fortunately, the airport shops were open all night, and a coffee, san

Gabriella is from Puglia, you know, the pointy-heel bit of Italy. There are quite a few Italians around Leros; it was built by Italians after all. As well as being an avant-garde artist. she makes all her own pasta in her small restaurant here in Lakki. And it is delicious. I had ravioli, which was just one large one. It filled the dish - rather like a big soft fluffy pillow of joy, with a delicious, perfectly-seasoned meaty filling . Not only is Gabriella's Italian fare deli

No, we’ve not discovered a wine made from oranges. I think that Alix and I first drank “orange wine” in ‘Sam & Jaks’ one Friday night in Cirencester. It had a distinctive colour, no doubt, and a more complex taste than a straight white, but we thought no more about it. Perhaps it was fad, and a bit of fun? But a couple of weeks ago, we fell upon another orange wine, quite out of the blue, as it were. Our guests Tony and his new girlfriend Lynn had disembarked and were headed

When you have travelled around Laos for a while, one thing you notice is that there is always an ATM at the entrance to a hospital. Now I know why. Hospitals are a cash-based society in Laos. If you need an x-ray, or a bandage, or some drugs, you need first to hand over a large chunk of cash to the sister (the one I dealt with refused to smile, despite my best efforts). And when I mean chunks of cash, there are 26,000 Laotian Kip to the GBP. If you don’t have the cash at the