Tuesday 27 June 2017 – Patras

Well we have had a very successful day.  The idea of being here was to do all the domestic chores that we have not been able to do in the small ports we have visited.  So we were up fairly early.  We took delivery of our laundry, which is fine.  We then made our way to the Vodafone shop.  The marina staff looked up the address of it and gave us a map.  It was a bit of a trek to the other side of the commercial port and then inland, but we found it right away.  We also discovered that we had not run out of downloads.  We must just have been somewhere with poor coverage.  Anyway we needed to extend the period of availability because it was due to run out on 1 July.  So we put another 10 euro on it and that should keep us going until we go home.

Then we had a good walk around the town going along the main shopping street.  Yesterday Richard realized that his trekking sandals, which he wears most of the time, had just about given up the ghost.  The soles were coming away from the uppers.  He tried gluing them together, but he really needed new ones.  We never thought we would find anything suitable here, but we found a shop selling Clarkes shoes and he found a perfect pair.

We also found a bank to get cash.  We were running very low because we find here on the mainland no one takes credit cards, not even the marina.  On the islands we were told that the traders had all been told to take credit cards to stop tax cheats.  Obviously they cheat here on the mainland!

We then found the supermarket.  I don’t want to buy much, but I do need a meal or two on board.  So we stocked up a little.  Just on the way to the supermarket we found another Vodafone shop.  So our long trek wasn’t necessary, but it did result in getting R his new shoes.

Back at the boat, even though it was boiling hot we had tasks to do.  I cleaned out and re-stacked the fridge.  I also cleaned the floor of the heads.  There is a slatted wooden floor that fits over the whole area, but with showering on board it gets filthy underneath with soap scum and hair after a few weeks.  The job was overdue.  Finally to cool ourselves off we got into bathing gear and washed the boat, spraying ourselves with water as we went on.  The water tank is now full, and the water is drinkable, so I don’t need to make coffee with bottled water any more.

After all that I didn’t want to face cooking when it was still over 30C below.  We were told that there was a decent restaurant at the end of the marina.  Another long trek to find a very poor taverna.  We had some fried fish and squid because we just couldn’t find anywhere else.

So off tomorrow to a small island off the tip of the Mainland.  The weather report is for no wind, although it has been breezy here on and off all day.  The problem is that strong winds are forecast for Sunday when we are supposed to set off north into the prevailing wind!