Greece: Sailing and other Mishaps

Sailing:  If I had a Dollar...

I have just spent two weeks at the "Wild Winds" sailing school on Lefkada in the Ionian Islands.  If I had a dollar for every time the instructor said "Justin pull in your Main Sheet", I would be a wealthy man.

Kind of reminded of "Bend zee knees" every time I used to go skiing in the Alps.

The facilities and instruction were excellent.  In the first week I expended a lot of energy trying to get back into capsized boats.  Things got better in the second week when I graduated to a Laser dinghy - by the way Michele loves the hat! 

Thank goodness for the kindness of Greeks

I normally like to lean pretty heavily on Michele when we travel, because she really is a travel expert.  Consequently, travelling this leg on my own, is proving a bit of an adventure.

Here is a rough approximation of my current route.  I am writing from Argostoli on the island of Kephallonia.  The map is incorrect in that I am flying to Athens and Rome tomorrow, not going by land and sea - but it gives an idea of the geography.

I wish I could say that everything has gone according to plan.  Actually everything had gone to plan, until I turned the ignition key, on Monday morning.  To my horror, I discovered that the battery was flat because I had left the lights on all night.  To make matters worse it was a bank holiday for Saint Spiridon, and there were no garages in the tiny resort of Agios Nikita.

I was staying at the Olive Tree Hotel which is owned by a Greek Canadian couple who used to live in Toronto.  Helleni, the wife, took it upon herself to go begging from door to door for a pair of jump leads.  It took her the best part of an hour, but she eventually found some.  Turned out that neither I, nor Helleni's husband, knew how to use jump leads.  A couple of Romanian guys  drove out to my car and jump started my car.

Luckily I had built some flex into my timetable, as I missed the first ferry to Kephallonia.  I was still able to catch the six o'clock bus to Argostoli this morning.