Kardamena
Before leaving Kos we stayed at Will and Angela's apartment in the infamous resort of Kardamena and were pleasantly surprised by the town . Out of season, during the day, it is pleasantly quiet with good restaurants. However, in the evening it livens up quite a bit, is noisy and brash and it is compulsory to have all drinks served with sparklers in them. We entered into the spirit of the place (along with the wine of the place and the beer of the place) and had a great time before we said our sad goodbyes to Will and Angela and rode off into the sunrise the following morning on our smoky, clanky scooter.
 
Kos Town again, an old friend from Gigha and the world becomes smaller
On the 19th we were strolling down to the port police to sign out of Kos when someone seemed to shout "Bob". I assumed it was someone else they were calling when a breathless, smiling guy ran up to us. It was Lindsay, the co- patron of the Boathouse Bistro on the island of Gigha who I had worked with for a couple of years. I was absolutely delighted to see him - small world or what! Sadly he and his girlfriend were leaving the next day and we had to get to the port police before they shut up shop for the day .
 
Back to Lakki and the world shrinks again.
We left Kos on 20th September and headed back to Lakki on Leros to sort out a Winter berth for Tiercel and a flat for ourselves in February while we re-commission her. The pilot boat extracted us from our tight berth and the crew wished us bon voyage.
 
Gentle headwinds meant we had to motor to Lakki and got there in time for lunch. The new Leros Marina has moved on a lot in the month we have been away. Many boats have already been hauled out and the facilities are being completed at a rate of knots. However it does still have the feel of being a boatyard with a marina as a sideline but there's nowt wrong with that.
 
We hired a scooter to get about the Island and search for a flat for February. Many places on Leros advertise apartments for rent but these turned out to be studios with a bedroom, en-suite kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen was generally a fridge and a two ring electric hob - pretty useless really. We eventually found three properties: a luxury villa and two village houses . The villa was perfect but a little far from Lakki and had no regular taxi or bus services. One house was lovely but had even less cooking equipment than the apartments. The last wee village house was situated under Pandeli Castle, near the village square and overlooking Pandeli bay. It was also in use as a holiday home and had a Scottish couple staying there who, we discovered, had friends in Tarbert and on the West Coast yachting scene who we knew well. Naturally we have booked this house.
 
While here we found the 2nd World War cemetery in Alinda Bay for the British and Commonwealth military who died on Leros in 1943 in one of Churchill's less well thought out schemes. They were poorly led and lacked air support. The eventual defeat was inevitable (for further info read 'Churchill's Folly' by Anthony Rogers). The cemetery is in a lovely, peaceful spot by the bay and left us reflecting on how young these men were, most of them being younger than our son.
 
Lipsi, goats, donkeys and other terrorists.
On Wednesday 26th we woke to the sounds of a terrible brass band and noticed that the navy and coastguard ships were flying more flags than one could shake a stick at - that's right, it was Fiesta Time!
 
By 08 .50 we were on our way to Lipsi and the more Northern Dodecanese islands. This decision really had nothing to do with the fiesta. It was the fact that we had a good weather forecast - honest.
 
After a windless, sunny journey we arrived in Lipsi. From the sea it looked to be a beautiful fishing village with a very sheltered harbour, lovely anchorages, white and blue houses clustered around the bay and around 10 to 15 blue and gold domed churches.
 
Lipsi island is very small (we walked round it in a couple of hours) with a residential populace of about 600 and about another 2000 living permanently abroad. It's only claim to fame is the recent arrest of the head of the leader of Europe's longest lived terrorist organisation (the 17th November brigade). Apparently he had been living here for 17 years and was regarded by the islanders as being rather nice and terribly helpful in helping them with their problems with the Greek bureaucracy - now I see why the Greek civil service arm their bureaucrats!
 
We moored on the visitors pontoon (€5 .00 per night, but free if you don't want water or electricity). The village is a delightful maze of narrow winding streets with shops and tavernas dotted illogically among them, an awful lot of churches, and at least one monastery.
 
For the two evenings we were here we strolled around the island and really enjoyed the views out to the other islands. Lipsi is supposed to make some really good white wines but we could only find one tiny vineyard, and it was up for sale. All that there seemed to be were lots of thoroughly thuggish looking goats, with giant, bells round their necks which wouldn't have been out of place in an English village church. The goats (Osama Bin Laden look-alikes ) were quiet most of the time but, when approached, would ring their bells in a thoroughly threatening manner. There were also sinister looking donkeys who lurked quietly behind rocks and bushes then suddenly brayed as one passed. If one donkey brayed then all the other donkeys on the island seemed to take this as a signal to do likewise . Is it possible that these animals are actually other members of the 17th November Brigade hiding in a cunning disguise and playing subtle mind games with tourists?
 
Patmos again and the world shrinks further.
After two days at Lipsi the weather took a turn for the worse so, rather than be gale bound with terrorist goats, donkeys and German charter boats, we decided to head over to Patmos again.
 
After a pleasant 3 hr sail we arrived in Skala Patmos harbour. When we were last here it was crowded to capacity. Now it was virtually empty. We moored up with space to spare and had a lazy day.
 
The next day we were cleaning the boat when a familiar boat appeared in the harbour. They Peter and Kaye)waved and shouted as did Gina. I asked her who they were and she wasn't sure . As I helped them moor up I realised that we had never set eyes on each before. The reason that the boat, Wild Thyme, looked familiar was that it was the same as ours, another Westerly Falcon - probably the only other one in the Med.
That evening, and subsequent evenings, over a steady inflow of alcohol, we discovered that we were all members of the Cruising Association and the Westerly Owners Association . I had also read some Falcon related articles that Peter had written - the world shrinks further!
 
Patmos is the most important site for the Greek Orthodox Church and therefore most people only come to Patmos for the Monastery and the Cave of the Revelation where the Blessed St John the Theologian set down the Book of Revelation - aah bless. However, nowadays many people also come here for the nudist beaches and cause tyro theologians to meditate on a completely different kind of revelation.
 
We revisited the lovely Monastery and found the Cave of the Revelation which we couldn't find the last time we were here. It had been cunningly disguised behind a sign which said "Cave of the Revelation"!
 
We ended up being nearly a week on Patmos due to strong winds and a gradual attack of sloth. I think that we are getting a little demob happy prior to our 3 month trip back home. We hired a motorbike (more of a moped really) and looked around the parts of the island that others don't get to.
 
We found many villages in the hills, valleys and bays which haven't altered much since medieval times . Even Gina enjoyed her day out despite having to ride as pillion to a 57 year old born again Rocker.
 
Lakki yet again.
On Friday 5th we surrendered to our sloth, abandoned plans to head further North and returned to Lakki to be met by June and Richard on Caladh who were decommissioning their boat prior to going home.
 
The boatyard was suffering another problem, The yard's Bulgarian crane driver had a heart attack and was in hospital. There was a queue of boats waiting to be lifted out and only one qualified driver. Somehow, in good Greek fashion, it all now seems to be sorting itself out and Caladh got hauled out, roughly on time by Greek standards.
 
We have decided to start our winter maintenance work now and I decided to start with the plumbing for the bog and the holding tank, a thoroughly awful job. Gina has somehow picked up a cold and does not look too kindly on my efforts to distract her with a combination of swearing, disgusting plumbing artefacts and the consequent creation of eye watering odours. She is being remarkably stoical about the whole thing - terrifying!
 
Later in the week we hope to head South for a few days to see some of the islands that we have missed in our travels. We will then return to decommission Tiercel for her Winter break before heding back to Scotland for 3 months on 30th October.