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Re-launch, Sep 28 A lot of thoughts pass quickly through one’s mind in an acute crisis, especially an emergency occurring in a foreign, third-world land, and involving one’s most beloved. Sitting there in the dark on a Luang Prabang side-street, in a small concrete storm-channel, holding and supporting Alix (whose lower right leg was hanging at 90 degrees below the knee) was one such event. In such occasions I tend to become slightly detached, and I am almost able to think an

Seasons I and II Missy Bear and the flotilla were anchored overnight in the very large bay near to entrance of Lakki marina. It was a calm and peaceful night, except when I got up at 04:00 to investigate a loud noise. I stuck my nose through the companionway hatch to find the bow of an enormous car ferry bearing down on us. I swiftly debated waking Richard, but the anchorage is well-known and clearly marked on the charts. At that moment, the ferry dropped its bow anchor and s

We arrived in Symi to a grumpy reception from the marinero, but a warm welcome from our friends on Money Penny, and our soon-to-be friends on Infinite Blue. To be fair to the marinero, he had prepared a nice, easy berth for us with a lazy line that he could hand to us from the quay. But it was on the opposite side of the harbour – and a long walk - from our friends. And we wanted to be next to them. So, he had to jump on his moped, whizz around the harbour, leap into his ding

After just over three weeks in Turkey, it was time to start our journey back to Bozburun, where we planned to check out of Turkey, and back into Greece at Symi. It’s been a fascinating time. We’d had a few nights in Turkey already when we arrived in the Bay of Fethiye, and had been blown away with the scenery, the friendly people, and the food. We were due into the D-Marin marina in Gocek on the Friday, so we had a couple of nights at anchor in the steep, wooded bays before h

As in the British Empire, if you lived within the Ottoman empire, you were first and foremost an Ottoman subject, and then secondly a Turk, or Greek, or Serb, or Albanian, or Arab, or Armenian, or Kurd etc. As I wrote in ‘ Meet the Ottomans ’, subjects living inside the empire - the ‘Abode of Peace’ - could have enjoyed a generally peaceful and tolerant existence. At the frontier and beyond – the ‘Abode of War’ – well, that was a different matter. Admittedly, peace and toler