Wednesday 14th May 2008

The strike is over! This means that we will be able to move on within the next few days but before we go, we want to be sure that we will be able to buy diesel on the way.
It is overcast today, there is not a breath of wind and the Gulf of Corinth is as calm as a millpond. The view over the Gulf was extremely hazy, no chance of spotting Delphi today!
Another lazy day writing the blog and sorting out photographs. Manolis (the site owner) very kindly allowed us to use his Internet connection, so that used up a couple of hours. I decided to clean and check out my bike but found that the chain locks were solid with dust and I couldn't even get the keys in. After much oiling and fiddling with the keys, I released the lock and got the bike off. After giving it a good clean and pumping up the tyres, I took it for a quick ride and, much to my surprise, it was fine and the gears worked well. Not bad considering that it is many weeks since I last used it and the gears were covered in dust.
Sat outside the van, we chatted with Pat and Sandy and then Manolis and his three year old son Yiorgos (George) joined us. Yiorgos was wearing a T-shirt that had “My dad is stronger that your dad” embroidered on the front. When I mentioned this to Manolis, he grinned widely and adopted a strongman pose – a typical Greek man. Yiorgos amused himself throwing pebbles into the sea whilst Manolis and I entered into a light-hearted competition of skimming stones. This is obviously an international sport and, of course, we played it to an international standard. Yiorgos remained totally unimpressed by the sight of the stones bouncing across the sea, then slowing down, until they arced in a multitude of minute skips and disappeared under the water. We had already established that Manolis was stronger than me (from Yiogos's T-shirt), but I told Manolis that he had the brawn, whilst I had the brain. This lead to much banter during the competition. Pat and Sandy judged that honours were even and we retired to some chairs to watch Yiorgos throwing stones – a great way of keeping boys (of all ages) occupied! Manolis wife Tula arrived with their younger daughter Cleo and the conversation continued. We watched three fishermen throwing lines from the beach and dragging lures along the sea floor. Manolis was convinced that they wouldn't catch anything but one caught an octopus, which was obviously what they were fishing for, and proceeded to kill it by throwing it hard onto the beach a number of times.
Tula told us that some of the truck drivers want to continue the strike, so it may not be over after all. Still, if we have to be stuck anywhere, this is a very good place – certainly the friendliest campsite that we have been on and very comfortable with Manolis's new, upgraded facilities.
Photos: Manolis admiring my skimming technique (it is all in the sway of the hips and the flick of the wrist!) whilst Pat judges and Yiorgos plays with pebbles.