I’d not been sleeping well, worrying about getting Jez out of his parking. Angles in tight lanes. Overhanging trees. But it was fine … what are a few more scratches!
We parked up at Kalives for me to shop and J to unload the car and fill with water. We hadn’t left the car in the parking, as we realised we’d left the spare van keys at home. J looked when he dropped the car home, but no show. We are being anal about where my set are!
We also had missing phone charging cables. I was sure I’d packed them. But we didn’t find them till the next morning when I went to pack the day walking backpack! I now have a list of everything to bring!!!
Soup stop en route
On arrival, J nanny napped and I walked.
Too many stray dogs. Friendly enough but Corrie doesn’t like her bum sniffed, who would! I heard her yelp when 3 tried to gang rape her.
I visited 2 of the 3 frescoed churches. Only one was open. Lovely 1455 frescoes. The next church was closed, but the bone box storage area was open. The Greeks rent a burial plot for minimum 3 years, then the bones are exhumed.
The Internet shows pictures of the reservoir full of water. Despite only being 1st March, and a lot of rain in February, it is virtually dry.
1455 frescoesLittle waterParking for the start of Roza Gorge
Roza Gorge
Sunday 2nd March
Thank goodness we took poles. Not a long walk but the ascent was ‘technical’. The second half was climbing. Corrie had to be helped / pushed three times. We did hear one whimper. A lot of it is a very narrow track and a sheer 300m drop on one side. Fortunately, strong barriers or it would have been lethal. But we did it. Slowly! We watched two ladies attempt to descend, all we could hear was nervous cries!
Signs top and bottom of the gorge do state that you enter at your own risk. 😆 The walk book authors, where I’d found the walk, declined to descend the same route, so we planned to follow suit.
Kera village at the top boasts two tavernas. We fell into the first one. It was busy with Greeks. The second, when we walked past, was empty. Delicious wood oven pork, chicken and waxy potatoes. 75ml of wine and raki
The easy walking route was further but so much quicker, passing Keras Monastery.
The monastery hosts a pilgrimage every September. C12 frescoes were only discovered in 1960. A C12 icon was stolen to Rome in 1498 and the copy was chained to a pillar as that kept getting stolen too. Jez is bottom rightMy boot sole just stayed on with the use of a hair band.
As we had delayed our departure for James’ blood test and a vaccination and a second trip to the Devon house, we decided to travel fast back. We flew from Crete on 15th August. Over 5 months is TOO long.
Day 1. This time when we set off, I didn’t chair dance to Abba, so refrained from driving off the road and breaking Jez! We drove to Le Shuttle via Fanham to drop our aging Merc. Maddy and Jordan have one car and having a second vehicle will save Maddy having to get up early to run Jordan to the station when she is on maternity leave and when the baby arrives.
J has 5 grandchildren, but my first
I was nearly run over by a horn tooting maniac. I had just come out of the Pet Check In at Folkestone and was walking back to James and Jez. It was Tim behind the wheel. We’d had a great boozy night with him and Meg in Kelso summer ’23. Blame the alcohol, but I called him a rude word. The cause was justified, but not my rudeness! He forgave me enough, to very kindly offer us a roof when I broke Jez. He was headed to Spain and Portugal, loosely I the company of some other motorhomers that we know.
We kept off payage, driving past Mons, Namur, Arlon and Luxembourg. Motorway diesel €1.55. Our first night was super quiet near a cemetary just north of Metz.
Day 2 was partly off free motorway, past Nancy and Colmar. Some lovely scenery of snow on the road margins and vast vineyards. At Basle, we used a QR code to pay £23 for the over 3.5 ton Swiss vehicle pass for 7 days, even though we we through Switzerland in hours. I’ve driven Switzerland a number of times in recent years in the middle of the night and said to J that I was looking forward to seeing the scenery. Not to be, a light grey mist blanket. The Gotthard Tunnel on Saturday was free flowing. And traffic was light all the way down.
Night 2 was a rendezvous just S of Como. Sue and Mick and Josie 🐕 had been not far away and had suggested a meet up. Very kindly, they had recce’d parkings and Sue cooked. There may have been a few 🍷 and lots of 🧀 too!
Park upI found a fit trail, but too cold is my excuse!
On day 3, we actually had a relative lie in. Didn’t leave until 9.30. Only 5.5 hrs driving time. A pit stop at an Ancona hypermarket: Marsala, parmesan and food for the ferry. Ferry departed only 30 mins late. Trip time to Igouminitsa is 22+ hours, so we pay for a pet friendly cabin. Picnic super in our cabin and bed. Single trip €680.
Day 4. Ferry was fine. If long. 23hrs. And yes, Corrie refused to even pee! No poop on the poopdeck. We passed the time with a hair dye, eyebrow dye, pedicure, manicure and beard trimming (J obviously!). Driving today was a mere 5 mins to a patch of ground only 5 mins from the port. Priority one was to allow Corrie to relieve herself. She delivered!
Brow dye on … they don’t stay like this!
Day 5 started a lot later than planned. I’d slept badly and switched off the alarm only to go into a deep sleep. No breakfast and late departure after 10.30 meant that we did not have time for the much looked forward to Greek meal in Corinth.
We need to remember that Anek’s Kissamos ferry is one of the best we’ve sailed on. Big comfy and clean cabin. We forced down a glass of 🍷 before braving the ferry restaurant. Box wine decanted into a flask 😆
The posh restaurant was actually very good. A decent bottle of Cretan red and excellent service. Ferry left soon after 9.00 p.m. Arrives Heraklion 6.00 a.m. €721 return. Although Chania closer to home, it would have been €799. Tolls €74.
Like a bit of table linen
Day 6 started with Japanese torture. Alarm for 5.00 for disembarkation at 6.00. They evict you from cabins before arrival. So the torture was standing before being allowed onto the car decks. All I could think about was coffee.
First stop to walk Corrie. She was very obliging. She’d only had to cross her legs and tail for 10 hours this time. Second stop for coffee! The alarm had woken us at 0500! I dropped J at the end of our road to fetch the car. Very lovely friends had taken the battery back up to theirs to fully charge it … despite the trickle solar charger, which is obviously useless.
J met me at Almyrida beach. We spent all day ferrying all the stuff up to our house. Nikki and Rob assisted with their big car. We met them later for supper at our fave taverna.
Lovely morning light in Almyrida
June and Karl popped by for coffee. Jez was cleaned and deposited at the secure airport parking.
So check out what we brought back. We left by air with 2 suitcases! And guess what we will be doing for the next few days … trying to find places to put it all!
We had decided to sell our holiday let house. Lots of good reasons to sell:
Last tax year, it made less than £5,000 profit.
We had paid for an expensive repair of over £5,000 for a leaking roof. But being part of a C17 Devon long house with daub and wattle walls ( insulation in parts was hair, as we discovered on the last roof repair!), there was an almost certain expectation of further costly repairs.
We had also had trouble with our housekeeper, who seemed to believe I worked for him. Not easy to manage when one is abroad or travelling.
Holiday rental prices have plummeted with oversupply of holiday properties, and competition from overseas holidays where sunshine is guaranteed.
Guests are now demanding and damaging. Definitely a lack of respect. So repairs and extra cleaning costs are higher. And much more likely to give poor reviews, often completely unjustified.
When we bought Tythe Barn House, we had thought we would retire to it when we were done with travelling. Devon is too wet with too many grey sky months (I suffer with SAD). We’ve made a home in Crete, certainly sunnier! 🌞
Yes, the right time to sell. For us, but not for the market. Every 6th house in Combe Martin seemed to sport a for sale board. We priced to competitivly. And hooked a buyer. Unfortunately, the sale did not go through before Christmas as everyone expected. Our buyers’ solicitor was rubbish, not returning calls or dealing with difficult enquiries. The up side of the delay, was that a) I did not have to fly home from our Morocco trip to clear the house, leaving James with Corrie alone and b) that we got to use it twice once we returned to the UK.
We do absolutely love the house, and it enveloped us like a blanket. We stayed over New Year, and Lin, Craig and Evie came to supper. Then Maddy and Jordan came for a few days and New Year.
Dog whisperer, Lin
With guests, we did not get much time to sort out what we might take to Crete in our motorhome, with an international removal company, or to dispose of items. So we returned on 10th January with the Aged Ps for 4 days. Robyn also popped over for a night. We managed to Facebook Marketplace a couple of items, a couple of charity shop and dump runs, and returned with a fully laden car … quite a lot of bulky but light stuff is now in Jez the motorhome for our return trip to Crete.
Whilst we were out and about, we reflected what a fabulous area North Devon is … when the sun shines! I took pix as I can’t see that we will return to the area. So this post, I guess, is an obituary to Tythe Barn House. No apologies for the number of pix; they are just for us.
About a week before the family arrived in Marrakesh, James received a notification of his hospital audiology appointment on 21st December. As he’d been waiting since the beginning of July for this appointment, we decided to push fast back to Blighty.
We left the Riad about 11.30 and drove straight to Tangier Med port, arriving at 6 p.m. Exchanged our ticket for a boarding pass for the 11.00 p.m. sailing to Algeciras. Plenty of time to give Corrie a good beach walk and for us to have a good meal out.
Fortunately we gave ourselves plenty of time to get through customs, passport control etc. Our car was put under a scanner, just as it had on arriving in Morocco. Guess they’re checking for illegals. Sniffer dog in at all the doors too. Think the whole process was about an hour and a half and the port wasn’t busy!
We had expected to have to show Corrie’s rabies titer test cert and her Spanish port documentation. All purchased at several hundred Euros. But just waved through. I wondered if the lack of officialdom was due to it being the middle of the night. But no, Brian crossed back in the daytime and wasn’t asked for Zoa’s documents either. At least we paid for peace of mind bringing the dogs back into the EU.
Having arrived in Spain, we just drove! We stopped to pee, buy snacks and change driver. We did both sleep parked outside a cafe for about an hour and a half.
Driving all day on the 18th, we reached just south of Bordeaux. Straight to the vet I’d booked for 6.00 for Corrie’s worming tablet and pet passport stamp. Onto the hotel and a nearby restaurant. So lovely to be able to drink wine with your meal!!!
Basic ingredients but quality cooking
I suppose it’s no surprise that we both slept well. The 19th was another none stop driving day. We arrived in Calais at 6.00 p.m. We’d booked a studio apartment on Calais plage. We could have made a crossing that evening, but decided not to arrive at the Aged Ps house in the small hours. Brilliantly equipped and comfortable apartment; I’ve kept the owner’s number. And it was a stones throw from a lovely restaurant. Still my birthday week, don’t ya know! So we elected to have the more expensive set menu! All three courses!!!
On the morning of the 20th, I did the booze and cheese shop whilst James and Corrie braved the icy sea winds. Premium lounge for lunch on the DFDS ferry. They had macarons… I won’t admit to how many I consumed!
J made his audiology appointment. Only another 2-3 months to actually receive his hearing aids. And it’s quicker, as he agreed to travel from Chichester to Portsmouth. Up to 6 months further wait at Chichester. So that will be nearly a year since he started the NHS application. Friends got theirs in about 6 weeks. It really is a postcode lottery, and it shouldn’t be.
We stayed with the Aged Ps until 27th. A family Christmas at my sister, Clare’s.
Had to be some socks!
Thank goodness, the Aged Ps seem happy to host us, as Jez had been delivered post surgery / repair back to our usual farm, but was not happy. Both engine and lithiums were completely flat. No electric hookup at this farm. But we eventually jump started the engine and moved it to a site with hookup. Followed by a trip to a motorhome service centre. Both services good and MOT passed. We move in tomorrow!
Check out day after a week in a lovely apartment. Our host liked us so much she’d offered us a proper home cooked breakfast, sadly we had to refuse due to time pressures.
Kerstin and I took a full car load from our apt to the Riad, which we’ve booked for my 60th birthday. Gated entrance. Long driveway. Staff assisted with unloading. We didn’t have time to look around but the vibes were good. Back to the apt to collect Corrie and James and onto the airport to greet family, all arriving on the same flight.
Aged Ps were first through at the airport as assisted.
I took the Aged P’s and Maddy in the car whilst the others went in a mini bus. The Riad had organised all our taxis / minibuses whilst with them.
On arrival we were given a tour of the Riad and chose our rooms. Two buildings around a large pool. Huge suites. Heaters on. Lots of break out areas.
The Riad had lots to do. Louis and Ellie both plunged in the pool. Then straight out. Four of us had a massage. Gran did well in the pétanque competition. Clare gave up on tennis as her knees gave up. Table tennis. And Chris had a minor meltdown on the mini golf. Lots of board games. The Riad was so relaxing, even the next generation weren’t bothered about spending time in the city centre.
We had booked self catering with 2 evening meals. We hadn’t expected a full time staff. He was the gardener, who seemed to work evenings so we only were ever aware of his shadow. She was a poppet who was in charge of housekeeping. She had 2 ladies to support her cooking the meals and breakfast every day. Our rooms were made up every morning… a bit of an embarrassment on the first morning for the untidy amongst us! We couldn’t have booked anywhere better.
Trips were a walking tour around Marrakesh. We hired our own guide so we could factor in a tea and pee stop. Informative.
And Marjorelle Gardens. Restored by Yves St Laurent. Expensive tickets. And so busy you have to follow a set route. Extremely disappointing. The YSL museum of dresses was one room only. Nowhere in the gardens to sit and ponder. Too busy. The Berber museum was cold in its presentation. Not good value. Wish I’d know as we would have taken the family to Anima gardens which was fabulous.
I was made a real fuss of for my birthday. Gifts, which I’d not expected, as folk coming over was gift enough. I am truly blest with my family. We had the Riad cook for us … best of Moroccan food.
We had two meals out in Marrakesh. Shams rooftop was very good with professional service. But the Clock Cafe was truly rubbish food and service. Wish we’d booked all evening meals at the Riad.
On the 17th I took Kerstin for an early flight. The family left the Riad at 12.30. J and I set off mid morning.
Clune Gap Years 