Our northern tour - part one

Simon was very keen to start the summer with a northern tour, before the northerly winds set in, to visit islands we had never sailed to before, towards his project of visiting every inhabited Greek island. 

Thymaina

We left Arkhangelos at 7.40 on the morning of Thursday May 3^rd in a light southeasterly wind, so we motorsailed 28 miles up past Lipsi, Arki and Fourni to arrive at lunchtime at the little island of Thymaina, between Fourni and Ikaria, where we anchored in the bay off the village. 

On the way up we didn’t see a single other yacht, but in the afternoon a German-flagged ketch came in and anchored in front of us.

After a bit of lunch, we went ashore to explore and walked up the hill to the church on the headland, 

which had very good all-round views.

 The village was very quiet and the majority of the houses were shut-up -  probably holiday homes of those who had left the island. 

There were a few men drinking in a couple of bars, but there was no taverna open and only a tiny shop. Another meal on board and an early night, ready for an early departure.

On Friday, May 4^th, there was again little wind as we set off at 6.30 to motor-sail up to Chios. The previous day there had been quite a bit of swell, which had us rolling, but today the sea was flat. Again we met some dolphins, though these ones just gave us a couple of rolls and headed off. 

Karfas

At lunchtime we anchored off Karfas on Chios and rowed ashore to meet Costas and Lin, who had put up Majd, Manal, Luna and Dana in their house before the latter went to Athens to go to Germany. Costas and Lin had done a huge amount of work supporting the refugees, setting up and running a ‘people’s kitchen’ to feed the refugees and to give them something to do, preparing and cooking food. Costas video phoned Manal, who was so excited to see us all together.

Kardamyla

We rowed a long way back to the boat (the bay is shallow so we had anchored a long way out) and motored up to Kardamyla on the northeast coast of Chios, arriving at 5 having covered 65 miles. 

Statue on the quay dedicated by a shipowner's wife, Irene Tsakos

There was one other boat on the quay, a British couple in their yacht, who had arrived a bit before us. Kardamyla, although quite a big town, was even quieter than Thymaina, though the Port Police were active, coming to ask for our papers and charging us 6 euros harbor dues.

On Saturday morning, May 5^th, the gas ran out as we were making coffee for breakfast and Simon could not connect the other cylinder because it had an idiosyncratic fitting and he did not want to strip the thread of the regulator, so we set off at 6.30 without any coffee. There was a bit of wind to start with, so we motorsailed for a while, but the wind soon went round and died, so we had to get the sails down. We had planned to go to Plomari, on the south coast of Lesbos, but then decided that it made more sense to go to Mytilene first, especially as we wanted to get gas, so we motored across to the southeast corner of Lesbos, then round the corner and up to Mytilene, logging 46 miles and arriving at 1.30. 

Mytilene

On the way in to Mytilene harbor we were summoned by the port police on the ferry quay, who quizzed us about where we had come from, obviously checking we were not people smugglers, and told us where to go in the old harbour and then to go to the Port Police. We went stern-to the harbour wall, the only yacht there, 

and went to have lunch in a little taverna in a back street. The food was OK, but the pigeons flying around were a distraction, especially when they shat on our table.

Mytilene old harbour

There was a big naval presence in Mytilene harbour, with the costguard boat, the tax police, two gunboats and Teresa May's contribution to patrolling Europe's borders, HMS Valiant

After lunch Simon went to the Port Police office only to be told that we did not need to go until we left – the port policewoman phoned the guy on the ferry quay and gave him a balling out. Simon then went off to find gas, ending up at the marina at the other end of town, where the receptionist called the gas man who brought the gas. While he was waiting Simon went and chatted to Paddy and Sally on Skylark, who had followed us up from Kardamyla. By the time Simon got back to Mia Hara the noise in town was horrendous – music blasting out from speakers in a disco on the quay – so we decided to go into the marina to get a bit of peace. The marina was half empty and the staff called us to go alongside, which entailed a rapid reorganization of fenders and lines.

We had come to Mytilene to meet Lin’s second cousin’s son Michael, who is working with the refugees in Lesbos Pikpa. We invited Michael to join us for dinner. He was not feeling well, but recommended a restaurant, Nan, which has been established by the women from Pikpa to provide a way of giving work to refugees and integrating them into the community. The food was wonderful, mostly middle eastern and Indian. On the way back the noise had got far worse as a large crowd blocked the harbor road, singing, chanting and letting off flares to celebrate the narrow victory of AEK in a football match. We were very relieved that we had moved to the marina!

The night was not entirely quiet, as we had the anticipated thunderstorm. We decided to stay another night in the marina and arranged to meet Michael for lunch in a nearby tavern on Sunday. Over lunch Michael told us about the organization of Pikpa, which sounds very impressive. It was set up by four women and now runs a centre for vulnerable refugees, just north of the airport, which has accommodation for about 100 people, living in a former children’s summer camp; a support centre, Mosaik, in Mytilene, which provides a wide range of classes, in English, Greek and Arabic, IT and Yoga, with a literary workshop and storytelling for children and adults, all for refugees and the local population, and has a bag workshop, where refugees make bags out of old lifejackets and bits of material; and the restaurant Nan, where we ate last night. Michael was not feeling well, but he offered to show us around Pikpa the next morning and told us how to get to Mosaik.

It was a grey and rainy day, so after lunch we went back to the boat to do odd jobs and have bacon and egg for supper, after our large lunch.

On Monday morning, May 7^th, after doing some shopping, we walked into town to see Mosaik, which was very impressive. On the way we passed a large mosaic, on the wall of a building. The squares of the mosaic were made by refugees from many countries and by locals and put together as the 'magic carpet'.

In Mosaik were invited to come and see the bag workshop, where two men and a woman were hard at work sewing. 

There was a display of bags for sale, of which we bought several. We looked around the main building, where several classes were in full swing, with a lot of students, and saw the library. 

We then took a taxi to Pikpa, where we met Michael, who showed us round.

Pikpa is very choosy about who it takes money from and who it takes as volunteers. Volunteers have to work for a minimum of two months and to have relevant skills and experience. There are about fifteen volunteers at any one time, in addition to the permanent staff, who include two nurses and a psychologist. There was a range of buildings, the residents living in wooden cabins, of which they were building more. There was also a large kitchen, in which the refugees could cook their own meals, and a kitchen and dining area where meals were cooked for them several times a week. When we were there they were preparing food packs for distribution to the residents. There was also a very well stocked and organized clothes ‘shop’ where refugees could come to get clothes and shoes, a kindergarten for the young children, a vegetable garden and a forest school.

 Michael was obviously feeling unwell, so we did not stay too long. We then went down to the main road to catch the bus back, but hailed a taxi, which turned out to be the same one that had brought us there!

Plomari

We left the marina at 11.30 and motorsailed, then motored, to Plomari, on the south of Lesbos. On the way we passed a fishing boat, hauling its nets.

In Plomari we moored on the quay in the harbor. 

There were two other yachts already there, so we went between them, because we were not sure of the depths, and later a Gibraltar-registered Russian skippered charter arrived. 

Plomari was once an industrial town, with a soap-making factory, a factory making brikettes from olive stones.and many others, nearly all of which are now derelict.

Plomari is where Lin’s favourite ouzo, Barbayanni, is made, so we walked a mile or so along the coast road to their museum and factory tour, which was very interesting. Barbayanni is still owned and run by three brothers, the sixth generation of the family, and is the longest established ouzo factory in Greece. The guy who showed us round explained that their ouzo is 100% triple distilled and made to the highest standards, not topped up with industrial alcohol, like the cheaper competitors. In addition to aniseed they use a secret recipe of local herbs to give their ouzo its distinctive taste. We sampled the ouzo, of course, and bought a bottle of their strongest ouzo, Aphrodite, 48% alcohol, which was delicious.

We walked back to the harbor, showered, and went out to dinner at a local taverna. The one we had planned to go to, top of Trip Advisor’s list, was not open, but the one we did go to was friendly and the food was quite good.

Sigri

We left Plomari at 7.30 

to motor round to Sigri, at the southwest corner of Lesbos. At first there was no wind, but later it got up to ten knots on the nose, so we kept motoring. We got to Sigri about midday and anchored in the bay south of the town. 

The harbor is being reconstructed and a naval ship docked on the quay soon after we arrived.

Sigri is a quiet town with a Turkish castle 

There was a large mansion in the centre of town, which was some sort of (ecclesiastical?) museum, but was closed up.

We visited the wonderful geological museum, featuring the petrified forest of Lesbos, but covering much more than that. 

The garden was full of butterflies.

When we got back from the museum we had a swim, which was not too cold, and cooked dinner aboard. Late in the afternoon a Swiss yacht arrived and anchored in the bay, the only other yacht we had seen since leaving Plomari.

Agios Evstratios

We left Sigri at 6.30 on Wednesday 9^th May with a moderate southerly wind and motorsailed to Agios Evstratios on a clear sunny day, arriving at 1pm after a quick 47 miles. 

Agios Evstratios was a prison island under Metaxas and then under the Junta, the most famous prisoner being Mikos Theodorakis. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 1968 and rebuilt. In 2009 it was declared that by the following year Ag. Evstratios would be a ‘green island’, powered entirely by renewable energy and using only bicycles and electric cars for transport. We didn’t see a single bicycle, electric car, solar plant or wind farm, or any recycling bins, though we did see some wind vanes lying on the ground by the cemetery. But this is Greece!

We tied up behind an Amel 54 alongside the big new harbour wall 

and walked into the little town for lunch, having delicious oven-cooked lamb and potatoes with peas and tomato salad. 

We then walked up the hill to the cemetery, which had a good view over the town, rebuilt after the earthquake.

On the way up, we passed the Museum of Democracy, which was completely shut up, then went back down and round to the beach and back to the boat. It is a pleasant little town with few tourists and, it seems, not many visiting yachts.

Soon after we got back to the boat two men arrived from the Port Police and told us that we had to move because a very large ship was coming in at 4 in the morning. They told us we should go inside the entrance to the fishing boat harbour, assuring us that there was enough depth and offering to help us, which we accepted because it would be tricky getting on to the quay with a Force 4 wind  blowing off it and little room to maneuver in the harbor entrance. We cast off and motored round to the fishing harbor, intending to turn in the harbour entrance and tie up along the starboard side. However, we ran aground on the approach to the harbor entrance, so there was no room to turn and we had to reverse onto the quay, which was tricky with the wind blowing the bows off and little steerage in reverse. Fortunately, the port policemen took our lines and hauled us in and we managed to tie up without hitting anything. The French Amel 54 decided that they did not want to risk the manouevre and so would leave before 4 in the morning.

An early summer

We flew out to Athens from London on Tuesday 24^th April and stayed the night with Lena. On Wednesday afternoon we took a taxi to Piraeus and boarded the Superfast ferry to Leros. We had booked a luxury cabin, which was still cheaper than flying, 

and celebrated by having a very good dinner in the a la carte restaurant.

We arrived in Lakki at 4.30 am on Thursday. Costas had left us a car on the ferry quay, so after a coffee in the café to let the lorries leave, we drove up to Partheni and parked outside the gate until the first workers arrived at 6.30 and we could go in and board Mia Hara. Everything seemed to be in pretty good condition – less dust than usual outside and the salt that we leave to combat the damp had absorbed very little water – they had had a pretty dry winter. After a bit of unpacking, we drove into Lakki for shopping, to get our new DEKPA (the Greek cruising permit), to see our friends and for a beer and lunch at Poppy’s before coming back to start work on the boat. When we got back we finished unpacking, Simon washed the outside of the boat while Lin started to clean and polish inside. For dinner we had an excellent takeaway from Marietta. When we came to light the oven, we found that the cooker, which had been repaired, had been returned without the oven shelf. Next morning Simon went to ask Tony about the shelf, he phoned Thomas, who had repaired the cooker but had now left the yard, who knew nothing about it, but it was soon found lying around in the workshop.

From Friday to Monday we worked on the boat, mostly sorting things out, cleaning and polishing inside and out and fitting the sails, bimini and storm hood. This year, fortunately, there were very few repairs. On Saturday night we went to Pandeli to have dinner on the beach with Al and Kitty, on Sunday we went for dinner at Milos with Frank and Lin, and on Monday we met Julie and Jad and went for dinner with them in Alinda. We apologized to Julie that we would miss the launch of her book (Hitler’s Island War: The Men WhoFought for Leros) on May 10^th, but it looks as though a lot of people will be there. On Monday we did a major shop, because Tuesday was bank holiday so all the shops were closed.

On Monday evening Simon committed a serious blunder and, not for the first time, left the shower gel in the shower. Lin was not pleased. When Simon went back the shower gel had gone, so he put a post-it on the door asking whoever had taken it please to return it as Simon’s life was at stake. Next day it reappeared in the shower, so Simon’s life was saved.

Rumours have been flying around, spread by their competitors, that Agmar is bankrupt. It obviously is not bankrupt at the moment, but it is clear that its financial difficulties have increased and there is a danger that it will close as a result of a long-drawn-out court case which is due to come to court in November. We decided that we could not risk the boat being trapped in a bankrupt boatyard so have taken a contract with Evros, the other marina in Lakki, from July. On Monday Irene called Simon in to the office for long lecture about the falsity of the rumours, that Agmar was clearly not bankrupt as it was still operating, and that they had great plans for the future. Simon told her that we did not believe the rumours, but it was obvious that they were in great difficulty and we felt that we could not take the risk of renewing the contract. Irene did not persist and did not seem in the least surprised by our decision.

On Tuesday we finished the jobs on the boat to be ready for launching on Wednesday morning, 2^nd May, allowing ourselves time to go into town, say goodbye to Anna and Poppy and to go and see Galya in Pikpa. Galya was very pleased that she has now got her asylum and is off to Athens for a month to sort out her papers before coming back to Lakki.

We launched without any problems in the middle of the morning on Wednesday. Our plan was to head north before the northerly winds set in and the forecast looked good. After launching we motored across to anchor off Arkhangelos, followed by a family of two large and two small dolphins, who played around the boat. When we arrived we rowed over to Stigma for a lunchtime beer. Evropi was there alone – Georgos had gone to the mainland to meet Tasos to deal with a problem with his water boat, which had been drive ashore by a winter gale. The taverna and jetty had suffered a lot of damage in the strong winter southerly winds so Georgos had had a major job remaking the roof of the terrace, repainting, and rebuilding the jetties.

We had our first swims of the year in the afternoon. 

Usually it is too cold to swim until late May, but a week of hot sunny weather had warmed the water up to 21 degrees and swimming was lovely. Georgos came back in the afternoon and we rowed ashore for dinner with them before getting an early night, ready to leave early next morning.

end of season

Annie arrived on the Superfast ferry at 10.30 pm on Thursday 21^st September. Unfortunately it was a bit windy and Annie does not like a bumpy ride, so we stayed in Lakki for the weekend. On Friday we pottered around Lakki and Lin and Annie went for a swim on the town beach. We cooked a prawn saganaki for dinner on board. On Saturday we hired a car for the weekend. We spent the morning on the beach at Xerokampos, which Annie loved, and had lunch at Aloni. After lunch we drove to Belfouti, but it was quite windy so we decided to try Gourna, which was equally choppy, so we went instead to Merikhia beach, where Lin and Annie swam, though Annie found it difficult getting out and almost pulled Lin in when Lin helped her. We went to Ostria for dinner, where we saw Mary and her new baby daughter for the first time. 

Richard was having dinner with Mathieu, Claus, Sherry and Carsten’s daughter. Mathieu had been sailing in company with Carsten when Carsten fell on his boat and broke his hip. He had to be airlifted to Germany, so Mathieu had arranged for his boat to be lifted on the south of the Peloponnese and Mathieu had sailed back to Lakki with Carsten’s daughter and his dog, Paul, arriving this afternoon. Mathieu was going to lift his boat, take Paul and Carsten’s daughter to Samos to pick up Carsten’s caravan and drive dog, daughter and caravan back to Germany. One of the greatest pleasures of cruising is that people (cruisers, though rarely charterers) are always ready to go out of their way to help, even strangers, but Mathieu has taken it further than most people would!

On Sunday we went again to Xerokampos and had lunch at Aloni, 

coming back to Lakki for showers in the late afternoon. After a big lunch we decided not to go out for dinner and just had a salad aboard.

On Monday morning, 25^th September, the wind had dropped so we motored straight up to Arki. 

 When we went in to the harbor there was nobody on the quay, though a few boats came in later in the day. 

We had lunch at Nikolas and went to the town beach for the afternoon, coming back for showers at Stella’s and dinner at Nikolas. 

As Annie had to leave on Wednesday we motor-sailed down to Arkhangelos on Tuesday 26^th, where we picked up a buoy. A fishing boat had his nets out just off the jetty.

Lin and Simon swam over to see Simon and Christiana, who were leaving for Lipsi. Annie swam ashore to join us for lunch at Stigma, but she found it very difficult getting in and out of the dinghy on the way back, so we decided to get a takeaway and eat aboard in the evening. Georgos was back from Athens, where he had been for an operation on his hand last week, and had gone out fishing in the morning, catching nothing. He was back when we went to get our takeaway and was very pleased with his favourite wine that we had brought him from Agathonisi. He said the operation had been an instant success – he was no longer in pain and could sleep soundly at last.

On Wednesday morning, September 27^th, we motor-sailed back to Lakki and went on to the marina quay. Lin got the first two loads of washing on, to get ready for Gill’s arrival on Thursday. We picked up a hire car at midday, had lunch at Poppy’s, and drove Annie over to Aghia Marina to catch the catamaran to Rhodes. More washing and cleaning in the afternoon before we drove over to Pandeli to have dinner at El Greco with Al and Kitty, Kitty’s mum Jenny, their friend Cloe, and Helen, a guest in their hotel who lives in Samos. We had the usual excellent dinner (and the usual dishes and the usual surprise at how modest the bill was). El Greco is certainly our favourite place to eat on Leros – the food is at least as good as the up-market Milos, the atmosphere is much more relaxed and the bill is much less.

On Thursday morning there was stocking up shopping and final cleaning before Gill’s arrival on the catamaran at 12.20. 

We picked Gill up in a car and got her and her suitcase aboard. We had dinner in Ostria and left to motorsail up to Arkhangelos on Friday morning. After a bit of sunbathing on the beach, 

we went for lunch at Stigma with Al, Kitty Cloe and Kitty’s and Cloe’s mums, who had come over in Georgos's boat. 

Gill found getting in and out of the dinghy very difficult, so we got a takeaway dinner from Stigma.

On Saturday September 30^th we motored up to Arki and tied up on the quay. We had lunch at Nikolas, went for a swim on the town beach 

and had dinner at Nikolas. The next day Frank and Lin arrived from Agathonisi, with Frank’s daughter Natasha and son-in-law, and joined us on the quay. It was getting autumnal, but we still spent the afternoon on the beach, swimming and reading.

On Monday October 2nd we motorsailed down to Lipsi and got the last place on the quay, which was full mostly of charter boats, most of whom moved on later. It was cold and windy, so time for reading below! 

We went to the town beach, but nobody felt like swimming. We had dinner at Manoli’s. As the wind was forecast to increase we decided to go back to Lakki and hire a car.

On Tuesday 3^rd we had a good downwind sail under genoa to Lakki and went into the marina. Costas did not have a car available until the evening, so we took a taxi over to Xerokampos, which we thought was the best beach for Gill, given the difficulty she has getting in and out of the sea on rougher beaches. We met up with Simon and Christiana, who were having a long lunch with friends. We all watched a charter boat trying, and repeatedly failing, to pick up a buoy from the stern – apparently this is the method recommended by the charter companies, though people often run over the buoys and cut the rope. Eventually a Finnish man rowed out to hand them the buoy – he sat there in his dinghy waving it to them, but they went off an anchored further out (the holding is very bad in Xerokampos because of thick weed). Apparently they dragged in the evening and drifted halfway to Kalymnos before they reanchored. Costas arrived with the car about 6pm, so we could go over to Pandeli for dinner at El Greco.

On Wednesday 4^th we drove up to the Deposito di Guerra, a private war museum with a huge and very well organized and presented collection. Then we went up to the castle and went for the first time to the ecclesiastical museum, where the curator, a Texan of Lerian ancestry, gave us an interminable, though very interesting, lecture on the history of Leros, but this prevented us from looking at the exhibits, apart from a black Madonna icon, which was a feature of his lecture. Lin and Gill excused themselves to go outside into the sun, because they were so called. 

Meraviglia and Alinda Bay from the castle

Agia Marina from the castle

After walking round the castle we drove to Pandeli, which Gill loved, and had a rather disappointing lunch at Psarapoula 

before an afternoon on the beach. 

We went back to the boat for showers and had dinner aboard.

Gill flew out on Thursday morning and we had a day chilling. We had planned to sail down to Palionisos and Xerokampos for two or three days, but the weather was still cold, with strong winds and heavy rain forecast, so we decided to stay in Lakki and rest and gradually get the boat ready to lift out. On Friday we went for dinner at To Petrino with Simon and Christiana (bon filet all round). We went for a beer at Poppy’s every lunch time, where friends gathered. Sue and Steve arrived back from their visit to Santorini on Saturday night. On Monday we took Frank and Lin to dinner at El Greco.

On Tuesday morning we took advantage of a lull in the wind to get the genoa down and packed away, which went very smoothly. In the evening Simon had to go to the dentist to have a root canal filled. He had had a toothache for a couple of weeks and went to the dentist last Friday, who took X-rays and booked him in for the treatment. On the way back we had ouzo with Simon and Christiana at Poppy’s, before going home for scrambled egg. We had planned to leave for Arkhangelos on Wednesday morning, but Simon had to go for the second round of treatment on Wednesday evening. Instead we cycled over to Pandeli to have lunch with Al and Kitty and Al’s mum and dad at El Geco, then for a swim. On the way there Simon lost Lin – he had gone a little ahead and Lin had turned up a side round so that Simon missed her when he went back. Eventually we met up. Lin’s cycling has got much better as she has got more confident. She stll pushes up the steep hills, but does not use her brakes too much downhill. We had scrambled egg for dinner again before Simon went off to the dentist at 8.30, not getting back till after 10.

On Thursday 12^th October we left for Arkhangelos at 8am, motoring up into a Force 6-7 wind, though the waves were not too big as we were in the lee of the land. Georgos had put his water boat on the strongest buoy, so at first we tied onto the lighter one (which Frank and Lin had last week seen a catamaran testing by driving flat out in reverse, so pulling it inshore and closer to the othe r buoy). We heard a big thump and decided that this was not secure enough, so in the end we anchored off. It was still pretty windy even in the bay, but we had lots of chain and the anchor dug well in. Dimitra and Tasos were not there as Georgos is fitting a new engine to Tasos’s boat – he bought a second hand car engine from Athens and is fitting and marinising it down in Xerokampos. Evropi had, as promised, made us her chicken stewed with prunes and grapes, which we had on Thursday and Friday nights. 
On Thursday morning Simon climbed to the top of Arkhangelos

to see Gill's cruise boat arriving in Patmos.

On Friday night Georgos and Evropi had to serve dinner for 19 people, so they were rather too busy to chat! We swam on Thursday and Friday – invigorating because the water temperature is down to 18 and the wind is cold! On Friday we found a gas leak in the cooker, so we cannot make any hot food or drinks. We are hoping that they can fix it in the yard on Monday.

We motored over to Partheni at 6.30 on Saturday morning, September 14^th, 

picked up a buoy and waited to be lifted out. We were second and were on the shore by 10.30 ready to start work. We had tuna mayo for lunch and hard boiled eggs for dinner, boiled for us by Margaret. Patrick and Margaret came for drinks on Saturday evening. The wind was howling. We had a car from Sunday so we went for lunch to To Steki in Alinda and met Sue and Steve for dinner in Lakki at Ostria in the evening, Ostria's last day. On Monday Tomas came to remove the cooker. It turned out that one of the little rubber gaskets on one of the switches had broken when Simon knocked it taking the cooker out to clean. We have to try to find a replacement, not easy because the cooker is so old.
On Tuesday we went in to Lakki for lunch at Poppy's and to say goodbye to everybody. After lunch we went over to Pandeli for a swim with Al and Kitty and Kate.
We flew out of Leros to Athens on Wednesday morning. After lunch with Lena we took a tram and bus to visit Mahamad, Maysun and the children in their apartment. We had taken a big chocolate cake, which was great as it turned out it was Mahamad's birthday. Mahamad and Maysun are desperate to get to Germany, though Nagm would rather stay in Greece, where all the kids are doing well at school. Mahamad cut Simon's hair and we met their landlady, who has been very supportive. She is an unemployed actor and Syriza activist.
We spent Thursday chilling at Lena's before going to have dinner with Nikos and Fanni. Nikos is still very upset about his Lena's death, but overall is getting better.
On Friday we went for lunch at the Cretan taverna near Lena's before going to the airport to fly home via Paris. We had an hour to change planes in Paris, but there was no departure gate on the board, even when boarding and then Final Call were indicated. We raced around to find somebody who could tell us the gate - a technical fault- and then ran like the wind to get to the plane just as the gate closed. Becky and Charlie picked us up at Birmingham airport and we got home to the cold and wet English autumn.