On Monday (14th October) we left Abelaki bay and motored the relatively short distance to Syvota. We had visited there previously, in the spring, and it’s a nice starting point for sailing around the island of Lefkada to get to our final destination of Preveza. Normally it would have been a one day trip to Preveza, through the Lefkas canal, but the canal was unfortunately closed, so we would have to go the long way around the outside of the island. The canal was closed for a very Greek reason, which seemed to do with paperwork going out of date for the canal bridge. Apparently the licence for the canal bridge, which is essentially a boat, went out of date, so it had to stay closed until this was renewed. It seemed that no one in Greece actually knew how to renew it. No doubt it would require lots of form filling, raised voices and rubber stamping. It’s heavily bureaucratic in Greece!
Syvota is a strange place. It only really exists for yachts, so doesn’t feel like a real place. When all the “yachties” leave for winter the place must be dead. All the many pontoons are either owned by charter companies or tavernas. We went on the Stavros taverna pontoon, which means we have to agree an unwritten contract to eat at their taverna. In exchange we get to stay there for free. It works well, but we feel that we are always under their watchful eye in case we sneak into one of the competitor tavernas, which might have bigger pork chops. Anyway, I got a cold beer at Stavros on arrival (just to show good faith!).
Stavros taverna is a lovely place to sit and watch all the fish swimming at the water’s edge. Everyone throws them bread, so they certainly look very healthy. The bread disappears in seconds, so I’m not sure what would happen if you were to dip in a finger or a foot. After the beer we found somewhere to swim, dropped the smelly clothes at the laundry, collected them again, then hung them all over the outside of the boat to dry. By then it was nearly dinner time so we could watch them dry as we ate. I’m not sure if this did the taverna business any good though, as Barberry was moored right next to all their customers, and their appetites may have been damaged by the sight of our underwear!
After Syvota we set off the long way around Lefkada. The weather was lovely and the scenery spectacular. Many huge cliffs and inacccessible beaches. Some of the inaccessible beaches had camper vans parked on them. No idea how they made it down there!
After just over 6 hours of sailing we arrived at the Lefkas canal bridge. We knew from previous visits that there were places to tie up there. Since the bridge was closed we thought there might be space to moor Barberry there, perhaps even with no mooring fee. That is if no one had the same clever idea. We managed to squeeze in, just, between some rather larger yachts and fishing boats (they always are…).
We were way ‘out on a limb’. Almost on an island really, except there was a road causeway all the way to Lefkas town, about 3 km away. We were next to a old fort as well, which was quite exciting and also there was a really nice swimming beach on the other side of us. The only issue was food. We like food, we like a lot of food, and we were down to our last few tins.
We would need to go to Lefkas for food. It was cycle-able distance, but don’t forget Kerry’s e-bike was broken (i.e. she had to pedal it) and her knees were still sore from her bad toilet mishap at Trizonia. We did manage cycling a few times, but it eventually became too much and we gave in and got a taxi, which was rather luxurious.
We stayed at the canal bridge (let’s call it Agia Mavra, after the name of the fort there) for a few days while I gave Barberry’s engine a service. Maybe not the best idea as I had to cycle all the way to Lafkas to dispose of the old oil and antifreeze. It took two runs, plus the first run I did with Kerry to buy the new oil and antifreeze — kept us fit!
We met this formidable couple at Agia Mavra Fort
Then I got sick, so we stayed a couple more days. Nothing serious, just a funny tummy, but I tend to moan a lot when I’m sick as I’m not used to it. Kerry is not exactly a natural nurse, but she did put up with my moaning! Barberry is a small place when one person is sick. My illness-induced farts where horrific in such a confined space. I don’t know how Kerry survived. That’s the first time I’ve felt sick in Greece, never even been sea sick here.
Once I had regained my strength and quit my moaning, we sailed the short distance to our final destination of Preveza, where we would leave Barberry for the winter. When I say winter, I’m not really thinking of it getting particularly cold in Greece. Every day in October here seems to be sunshine and heat. It’s still around 25C, just perfect.
It had been our wedding anniversary on 19th October, the day I got sick, so we decided to treat ourselves to a late celebration in Preveza to make up for this. We went to our favourite marina taverna — Celeste — and shared a meat variety meal (how romantic!).
We then got stuck into all our pre-liftout boat jobs: there was a very long list. Cleaning, laundry, storing away sails and anything else on deck that might get damaged by the winter sun or wind (not worried about frost!). We also treated ourselves to new fenders, so had to find somewhere to store them. Not easy, but Kerry’s e-bike was flying home with us for repair, so we used the gap created in the cockpit locker. We managed the odd meal out to keep up our nutrition. Kerry even ordered an XXL pork steak one night, so that kept her fuelled up nicely.
All good things have to come to an end. Barberry was lifted out at Cleopatra Marina on 25th October and we flew back on 27th October. What a trip! Barberry had done us proud and looked after us once again. We were sad to leave her on her little cradle, in the middle of so many other yachts, but we were also looking forward to getting home and catching up with family. We weren’t so much looking forward to the Northern Irish weather though!
