Days 55-58

Palaia Epidauros

This weekend we had a visit from Beth who flew in from Cyprus to spend a few days roughing it in the van with us.

It wasn’t exactly rough , we went back to Camping Bekas in Palaia Epidauros, (the sunken city location) as it is a great spot to chill and catch up.

The weather was kind to us and only rained in the evening if at all.

We took a couple of foodie walks to the port, on one occasion searching for some tombs that we never did find .

Meg loved having another human swooning over her and actually liked being out of the van this time. We did choose a spot with minimal ant invasion so all she had to worry about was where was the coolest spot.

Spending some time chilling on the beach when the heat got quite intense, so much so that even I had to go into the sea to cool off! Happens about once a year so stand down the media I wish I was a big brave soul but I’m not. I love the thought of getting in the water but I don’t love the cold on my middrift .

The great thing about Beth’s visit, other than herself of course, was that there was someone to play games with. We started with Backgammon and then tried a new game called Bumfuzzle. If you don’t have it, get it. It is hilarious. All I can say is, it takes up most of the night (especially with a couple of old farts like us playing) and is very frustrating but such fun. The added bonus is that it’s just a card game so no lengthy setting up.

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Having a guest gave me the chance to serve up English breakfast on both mornings. We had saved some tins of heinz

Beans especially . You can buy smoked bacon here but it’s definitely not the same as home produced, though it did the job. All that was missing was some sausages from our local village butcher .

I also took a backseat in the van for pick up and drop off for Beth and rather enjoyed not being in the front. If anything, it was nice to have somewhere to put my feet. Meg takes up all my floorspace normally and this time that was Beth’s pleasure .

We saw some lovely views again on our drive (Gareth and I have been on the airport road so many times we feel we were living here!) enjoyed pointing out the Corinthian Canal and finally spotting the Hexamilion wall.

We weren’t sure if we could access airport drop off in the van so pulled over in a layby next to the passenger skybridge from long term parking. Saying a fond farewell to Beth, we watched her climb over the barrier to get into the car park , she’s a resilient girl!.

Waving goodbye we set off for our next stop using the truck’s (still out of date) sat nav, which took us around and up to passenger drop off!! The female security officer asked where we were trying to go and Gareth said ‘we’re lost, so just away from the airport ‘. She gave us a big smile and directed us to the exit and main Athens road.

It was lovely having company and even lovlier for Gareth to have his youngest daughter around for a few days .

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We are now continuing our journey and heading for Thessalonika. Tonight we are at a free spot opposite a beach in Arkitsa (also opposite the top part of the island of Evia).

There are about 3 other vans on this spot, spread out and parked on grass under trees. There is what looks like a very smart beach bar on this strip which isn’t open yet. I think it would be really busy here if it was, it’s a lovely spot .

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