Christmas Letter - Continued
During Easter,
while looking on the internet, I found that a boat called a Mirage 28 was
for sale in Nidri, on the Island of Keflada, in the Ionion
Sea, in
Greece. It was greatly reduced, but offered good reports
about
its condition. I immediately flew over to Greece and inspected it, as
well
as surveying the local area. The boat appeared to be in a
good
condition and the local area was scenically breathtaking. I
arranged a survey which confirmed that the boat was sound and after a
further brief haggle, I bought it for less than 10,000 Euro (£7,000) - a
bargain!
The 28 foot boat consisted of a main cabin, which can sleep
up to
three people, a fore cabin, which can sleep a further two people, a
toilet
compartment and wardrobe area. It is powered by
a Yanmar
inboard
engine.
At the end of June
we went on
a cruise holiday. We boarded the ship in Palma and over the
next
eight days travelled to Sicily, Italy (where we visited Pompei),
Corsica (visited a turtle farm), France (Marseilles & Cassis) and Spain
(Barcelona - where we visited some Gaudi buildings and met up with Rita and Ze). For
those who remember Rita, she and Ze have moved from the USA and are now
working near Barcelona. Cruising was a wonderful experience, where we ate wonderful meals 24/7 and watched a professional performed show every night - easily comparable to any west-end show in London.
Approximately, a week later, I left Ireland (Melly and Sorcha stayed in Ireland) and Derek left England, where we eventually met
up at Athens. The next day we made our way to the entrance of the boatyard, where Saracen - my boat was
situated. The temperature was around 40C and was to remain around that temperature for the next three weeks.
We spent the mornings doing the few jobs
that Saracen required and as soon as the temperature became too hot, this was followed by a few hours on Nidri beach. Apart from hiring some cycles, we also visited a waterfall and went on a boat tour around the nearby Islands. Food and drink was very cheap and we took full advantage at every mealtime.
In late August, Imelda, Sorcha, Sarah (Sorcha's friend) and I flew to
Disneyland, Paris, for five days. We stayed at a hotel in St
Georges de Bussey - a few miles from Disneyland. That day and the
next was spent at the Magic Kingdom, where we enjoyed the rides and
magic that is Disney. The temperature remained around 26C during this time. On
Sunday, we visited Paris and went up the Eiffel Tower. Afterwards
we visited our friend Dica and we all went for a boat trip on the Seine.
The next day we visited the Magic Kingdom in the morning and
spent the afternoon at the nearby Disney Film Studios. We
departed for Dublin the following day.
At the
beginning of this year, the weather experts had informed us that this
was going to be our hottest Summer yet! Based on
the previous year and that April was the hottest April
on record, I was looking forward to a mediterrean style Summer.
However, April was as good as it got! May was awful, June
and July was the wettest on record and August only escaped this
accolade by a mere fraction. We had a reasonable mild and dry
Autumn, but we still have the feeling that Summer never happened!
Thank goodness I spent four weeks in the Mediterrean with
temperatures of about 30-40C or I would have gone crazy, as I love the
warm/hot, dry weather.
