So the summer was nearly over and we needed to leave our beloved Abelaki Bay and head north, back to Preveza, where we had booked into Cleopatra Marina to store Barberry again. We hauled up anchor (i.e. pressed the button on our electric windlass) and set off for the Lefkas canal. We stopped off at Lefkas town for a couple of nights before the final passage to Preveza. Due the forecast rain we decided to take the sails all off in Lefkas, as we didn’t want to be putting them away wet in Preveza. Unfortunately the next week was due to be rain almost every day.
Once the sails were down (Kerry’s least favourite job!) I headed out for a jog to try and gain some fitness before getting back to NI. It’s cooler now in October, so jogging is just about feasible. The main problem is getting a shower afterwards. There were none available in Lefkas, so it was going to need to be a boat shower. It is sort of like showering in your bathroom with no shower curtain or shower tray. A lot of drying needed afterwards and soggy toilet roll if you forget to put it away.
After Lefkas we set sail for Preveza (motoring of course, as all the sails were put away). We had booked just over a week in Preveza marina, before the lift out, and were really looking forward to the luxury. It’s not cheap, but everything is spotlessly clean and we get endless showers included. Plus the marina taverna, Celest, is our favourite and we have tried nearly everything on the menu.
We went there the first evening and discovered they had new things on the menu. Mainly beef, which is more unusual in Greece (more usually lamb, pork and fish). Kerry found a ‘lump of beef’ dish that she felt she would never bore of (she didn’t…).
It was a week of boat jobs. Some were maintenance (Barberry is an old boat and endlessly needs TLC) and some were jobs to ready her for winter storage. There was a memorable cycle to the laundry in pouring rain too. In between boat jobs and rain showers we managed a tourist trip to some Roman ruins. They were about 7km away, so we reckoned we could make it on bikes.
We have visited a lot of archeological ruins around Greece, but these ones scored very highly. Mainly because we had the place very much to ourselves and could explore wherever we wanted. The ruins were over a vast area, so we still needed the bikes to see it all.
Finally it was time for lift out. What a dramatic morning for it. Thunder, lightning and lots of rain. The marina staff were great though and Barberry was smoothly lifted out of the Mediterranean Sea and transferred to her winter home in Cleopatra Marina.
So another amazing season over and we are already making our plans for the next one. Maybe sailing around the Peloponnese and back to the Ionian via the Corinth Canal? Spoiler alert: Barberry might go ‘lithium’, i.e. high tech batteries with the possibility of even having electric cooking on board!
