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We had planned to spend some time in the Peloponnese but given the general absence of wind in the Ionian and the longer distances to cover in that region, we satisfied ourselves with a visit to Olympia (once the site of the original Olympic games, now just a selection of rocks and cruise ship tourists) and a day's car hire. That decision left us with more time than expected to make our way back up to Corfu for winter and a resultant shift into full-on holiday mode. It's been a perfect way to spend our last month here, with no stress and plenty of time to linger in some of the more attractive areas for a day or two - I think we've spent as much time scootering as sailing recently.
Incredibly a whole year has passed already and we celebrated our first anniversary on a cute little island called Kastos. Unfortunately it claimed Gerard's phone but it also afforded us our first turtle sighting (they've been promised but elusive for a while now) and my first ever ice cream breakfast (not sure I'd recommend it).
Annoyingly, although we managed to stay injury-free for that whole year, in the last 10 days of our trip I managed to sprain my ankle. Obviously being on a boat is not without risks so perhaps it was to be expected - except I didn't do it on the boat. After months at sea and gallivanting around South America, I'm ashamed to say it was an ordinary well-paved street that took me down. Given that Gerard and I are probably the two clumsiest people on the planet, we should probably be grateful that we got away with one sprained ankle and a few bumps and bruises. This was not quite the end of the excitement of our last few days since the job Gerard had been most dreading finally became compulsory when the toilet pump stopped working. I'll spare the details, suffice to say it fell squarely in the category "boy jobs".
With heavy hearts we made it back to Corfu and had Starfire lifted onto the hard again for winter. Unfortunately my ankle injury did not get me out of the 3 full days of hardcore cleaning and polishing that ensued but at least the latter was a good way to get over living on a boat! Timed to perfection, we literally stepped off the boat with our bags and into the taxi waiting to take us to the airport.
So that's it! After more than a year spent with my favourite person in the whole world, including just under 7 months of sailing covering 3,331 nautical miles (that's 3,833 miles, 6,169 kilometres or 1.2 Atlantic crossings), 5 amazing months in South America, the most incredible scenery and experiences we'll never forget - we're finally heading HOME. It's going to be very strange but can't wait to see everyone! England here we come...
Thanks for reading :)
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Mumsy & Bob Really enjoyed reading about your travels- have you thought of putting it all in a book for posterity? Soooo pleased to have you both back safe and sound- we missed you lots! Now get back to work!! :>))) xxx