Leros, Thursday 1 September 2016

Well, we are here in Leros, but it is nothing short of a miracle.  We had a 7am flight from Heathrow to Athens to catch on Wednesday morning.  We usually take a taxi to Paddington and then take the train to the airport.  However, because we had to leave so early we decided to take an Addison Lee car straight to Heathrow.  So we booked a car for 4:30 am.  Richard said he set the alarm on his phone to wake us up at 4am.  All we had to do was brush our teeth and fall into the clothes we already laid out and get the car.

Still in the dark R turned over in bed and looked at the lock.  It was 4:45am!  No alarm had gone off.  There was no sign of a car waiting for us outside.  Then Richard tried to work out why the alarm didn’t go off and couldn’t find his phone.  In the end he found it in the pocket of a pair of shorts he had been wearing and put in the laundry!  We managed to get another A&L car and it picked us up at 5.  We made it through check in, baggage drop, security and managed a cup of Starbucks coffee and got on the plane.  I am still not sure how we did that.

We were exhausted when we finally got to Athens airport.  We had reserved a room at the airport hotel, so that was OK.  R had thought as we had all afternoon and evening we might take the train into the city, but we were just too exhausted, physically and mentally.  So we just hung around the hotel and had an early night.

No traumas about catching the plane into Leros, but it was a bumpy landing because the wind is up again.  In fact the wind is so bad that it was mentioned on BBC World News which we watched in the hotel in Athens.  Yes another strong Meltemi.  What is it about us that brings about the bad weather.  Anyway the weather report shows high winds and big seas up to 3 meters  until next Monday or Tuesday.  So we aren’t going very far.

But we have accomplished a lot.  All our repairs are done.  The boat was very dusty so we gave it a good wash, which cooled us off.  Despite the wind, it is very hot, over 30C.  We unpacked and then went into town.  There we recharged our Greek sim and the internet device and hired a car for the next two days, during which time we know we will still be here in the Marina.  We will do a shop tomorrow and then see how things go.  At the moment it looks like we could venture out of the Marina to anchor locally on Sunday and try to get to Amorgos on Monday or Tuesday.  But it must be a case of watch this spot.