THASSOS
We left the peaceful anchorage at Neos Peramos and headed for the Isle of Thassos - about 18 miles away . The sail was noteable only for the couple of oil rigs we passed and the fact that the wind was unpleasantly on the nose.

On arrival at Port Thassos we found a large harbour sitting under the most glorious green mountain scenery - not for nothing is it known as the Emerald Isle. It has an abundance of natural springs which keep it's luxuriant vegetation up to scratch.

There were only a couple of other visiting yachts so we had loadsa space to moor up, sit down, have a beer and rattle on to one another about the scenery. We decided to eat out on our first night. So, after a wander around the town we discovered that there were a lot of British visitors here which means that there were a few Brit bars offering cheap beer and "English Breakfasts". We decided to have a couple of beers at the "Cheers" bar. Half litre glasses of chilled Mythos lager were only about 2 quid, a read of the breakfast menu had us making a booking for the following morning . Cheers is run by Peter and Jane who hailed from Bradford 4 years ago, are great hosts, really enjoying themselves and earning a comfy living .

After leaving "Cheers" we went to a harbour side taverna and watched the most amazing sunset, rainstorm and thunderstorm combined. Needless to say this put a damper on our al fresco meal.

The next day, after a remarkable marathon breakfast at "Cheers" we set out to do the sights and sites of Thassos. A walk in the hillside forests brought us to an ancient 5th century BC amphitheatre, castle and temple all dotted scenically along the ridge line with amazing views to the azure seas below and the mainland in the distance.

As we had found the way down the precipitous rocky slope we noticed that the Greek health and safety commission had been at work by providing a rickety staircase made of old gas pipes and chicken wire - almost as safe as crossing the M25 in the rush hour on a skateboard!

The town is full of historic sites haphazardly dotted around to be discovered by the unwary visitor . Sadly, for them, most visitors seem determined only to discover the route from hotel to beach to bar to taverna thus missing out on some lovely peaceful places.

In the 19th century a French amateur archaeologist/journalist/royal toady dug up and removed some beautiful and historically important marble carvings from Thassos and other places in Northern Greece. He then shipped them home as presents to the Emperor Napoleon the 3rd. Unfortunately he forgot record where they came from and how they were constructed. As a result the Emperor got the equivalent of 6 giant Airfix kits, muddled together and with no instructions. Consequently these valuable artefacts were slung into the basement of the Louvre and have only recently been re-assembled and put on display. Lord Elgin eat your heart out!!

On the 3rd day we were there a Brit boat - "Full Flight" - appeared next to us and, after the usual greetings etc Tony and Pat invited us over for a glass of wine or two . Slowly it dawned on us that we had met before, for about half and hour, on Sardinia -- small world innit?

After emptying one another's drinks lockers and swapping loadsa books we parted company, them to the West and us to the East.

Kavalla
While in Thassos we took the ferry the 20 miles to the city of Kavalla on the mainland coast where we wanted to see the Ottoman castle and some of the old buildings. The ferry is a hydrofoil albeit an ancient Russian one designed for river use, not open sea passages. The fare is an eye-watering 40 euros for the return crossing and, frankly, ain't worth it. The city is a modern port with a very attractive Ottoman quarter topped with a fort and Roman aqueduct. It made for an interesting, if expensive day out.

We didn't take our boat to Kavalla because the pilot book said that the only available moorings belonged to the Kavalla yacht club who had no space for visitors and even less manners!

Back to Lagos - Porto Lagos
On Thursday we left Thassos and headed to Porto Lagos where the salt marshes play host to a large bird sancuary and a monastery .

The views along the East Coast of Thassos were stunning, only spolit , or maybe contrasted, by the large scars caused by the marble quarries, ancient and modern. We arrived at lunchtime in strong winds and, after looking around the bleak and characterless port, moored at the back of the commercial quay where a Turkish cargo vessel was unloading. Gina commented that there was a strong smell of oil. Unbeknownst to us the engineer on the Turkish vessel had just turned the wrong tap and released fuel oil into the water.

Slowly creeping down to us, like a rich silent fart in a warm school corridor, was a treacly black oil slick. We only noticed it when the boat was surrounded and we could do nothing about it. Very rapidly the port police had erected an oil boom to protect the bird sanctuary and then co-opted the whole Turkish crew to clean the mess up. They did this quickly and efficiently. Sadly Tiercel's white and red hull now had an uneven black,tarry, stripe of fuel oil on it - disgusting . 3 hours of scrubbing by Rob managed to get rid of most of it but the rest will have to wait until we are again on anchorage.

On our second night, in the wee small hours, there was a strange noise in the saloon. Clearly we had a visitor. Gina woke up instantly and roused a tetchy Rob. Something white was running about under the saloon table then on the walls, the ceiling, the galley shelves, the bookshelves - it was a very frightened white cat who had fallen through our mosquito netting hatch cover. It eventually escaped as Rob drowsily opened the main hatch. That cat clearly would not need a laxative for a few days!!!

Porto Lagos is a characterless port village/town but with, inexplicably, very expensive houses. The people are very friendly but it is not somewhere one would tarry for more than an hour or two. It's saving grace is the bird sanctuary where we spotted various kinds of heron, egrets, pelicans and even flamingoes . The monastery in on the of the inland lakes is also very attractive.

On Sunday morning at about 6.00 we heard the sounds of activity on the dockside. By 8.00 a full blown Sunday market was on the go with about 100 stalls. Hundreds of punters seemed to appear from nowhere. It was amazing to watch. By 15.00 it had packed up and left a terrible mess of cardboard, plastic bags rotting vegetables and by 17.00 a cleaning company had left the area immaculate - amazing. We decided to recover from all this activity and have a meal in the only taverna that was open it was a very basic scruffly wee place in an industrial dockland but was stowed out with locals.In this simple establishment we had the best seafood meal that we have eaten since leaving Scotland.

Samothraki
On Monday morning we left Porto Lagos at dawn and sailed the 35 miles to the island of Samothraki. Up until recently the island has not had a safe port so was rarely visited . When we arrived at lunchtime, after a glorious sail, we were the only visiting boat in the harbour.

That afternoon a sodding great Bulgarian (don't mention Basil!) motor cruiser appeared - probably owned by a senior Bulgarian Mafiosi. The skipper screamed at us "Problem, engine problem - help. We went over and helped him and his family moor up as we would for any other boat. They were very gratefuland a few minutes later a bottle of Bulgarian red wine was passed across with another word of thanks. Nice eh! Don't ya luv a happy ending!

Samothraki is renowned for a site called the Temple of the Great Gods where the seafaring Samothracians in very ancient times carried out some secret rites which went on until Roman times. They were so secret that, even now, one gets the impression that the historians haven't much of a clue what went on. However the site of the temple is quite stunning. It is set in a hollow on the side of a craggy mountain with a 5000 foot peak in the background and views over the Aegean Sea to the mainland on the other side . The museum with a copy of the winged victory (a sort of angel like figure) which was taken from the island by the same bloody French archaeologist who had hit Thassos and is now displayed in the Louvre.

To see the island we hired a scooter - a very battered an bruised 50cc Peugeot - at a testicle shrinking 20 euros a day. It lasted about 1km before grinding to a halt before we could get it to a petrol station. The brakes were decidedly iffy and it had going-up-hill phobia.Good customer service or what! Nonetheless we had an enjoyable day out on it and saw a lot of this small but beautiful island. We had lunch in the village of Therma in a cool shaded taverna where they did the most gorgeous home made cheese pies and creamy puddings.

The island only really seems to come to life when the ferries arrive twice daily. Visitors are mostly young, German and very laid back. It is a sleepy place that only really has a 6 week tourist season. It is a lovely harbour to sit back in, stare at the all domineering mountains and reflect on the vagaries of life - philosopher or what !!

We are currently stuck here by strong winds waiting to head back south to Limnos and the Eastern Sporades before going back to Turkey.