Home is the sailor ..

[Kate O Donovan]

home from the sea and the hunter home from the hill! Cant remember who wrote that .. its from a poem that I learnt by heart a hundred years ago. I have always loved those lines. Arrived back last Sunday ...departed Corfu early in the morning ..flew to London Gatwick and then on to Cork in Ireland.There wasn't enough time in Greece to finish the blog so instead I am just going to mention a few highlights. 

I travelled back in time while we were in Frikes on Ithaca island! In a little taverna run by an Australian I reverted back to 21 years of age! With the help of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Tom Jones (my ..my ..my Delilah) and the Proclaimers (I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more) we lifted the roof off the taverna for a couple of hours. It was tiny .. but we still managed to dance ..play the air guitar and do our versions of the twist and rock and roll. If a stranger had wandered in among us ..he would be forgiven for thinking that he had stumbled onto the set of 'Cocoon' ! Grannies and Grandads rockin and groovin! The more mature were wearing Tshirts with 'We are GODS' written on the front ...and on the back it read ..Grumpy Old Delivery Skippers!

We passed Skorpios Island early one morning on the way to the Lefkas Canal. You may remember Aristotle Onasis and Jackie Kennedy spent time there. I assume it is still owned by the Onasis family but there was no sign of life as we motored by.

In Parga on the mainland ..all boats anchored off the beach and we were collected by water taxi and deposited on the town quay. The short-sighted taxi driver addressed me as 'young woman' and then proceeded to steer in and out between the rocks! I had my first Daqari in Parga town, in fact I had my second one there too!

Our swim in Emerald Bay on Antipaxis island was awesome ...the water was the colour of emeralds ...very clear and we had the sea to ourselves except for a few Garfish ...long, narrow, little fish with funny eyes. 

We completed our mission on time and arrived in Gouvia marina Corfu on the Saturday ..the day before we were due to fly home. Boats were arriving from all directions ....heading for the fuel dock and then on to their final winter resting pontoon.

If you like history (I do) then you must go to Greece. I thoroughly enjoyed the delivery flotilla ..I saw much more than I would have seen on an ordinary summer one. Will I do it again? Absolutely

[Steve Knight]

Requiem By Robert Louis Stevenson;

 

Under the wide and starry sky
Dig the grave and let me lie:
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you 'grave for me:	5
Here he lies where he long'd to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.