The long road home

Well finally we are in Italy and heading for home after a very hot night camping on board our ferry.

Very little sleep so a bit groggy.

We are heading for the Col de Mont Cenis, a new one for us, we always like a change in route.

Below are some pictures we took along the way.

 

 

Heading up to the Col at over 2000 meters. At last getting some cooler air.

 

 

The views are spoiled by the cloud but it was a very nice road.

 

 

After three days driving we have arrived in Dunkirk for our ferry home.

We have been away since Christmas so are ready to see the family and looking forward to catching up with our other pals as well.

I think it is fair to say we will be going back to Greece again very soon.

 



Corfu day out and camping Drepano

Settling in to our final campsite in Greece , for this year !

Camping Drepano. Our friendly manager Nikolas remembered us from our first visit three months before, as we got him out of bed at 2.00am to let us into the site when we first arrived in Greece.

He let us in anyway.

 

 

This is the view of the bay looking back towards Igomenitsa.

 

 

There was a colony of Little Egrets nesting on an island out at sea and they came into the bay to fish each day.

 

 

Backing onto the sand bar is a lagoon which is a nature reserve.

 

 

We had lovely sunsets every night but sadly the mosquitos liked them as well.

 

 

As we had both visited Corfu in the past, me 40 years ago and Sarah 7 years ago we decided to take a day trip with our trusty scooter Wanda the Honda to revisit our past.

We set off on the early ferry to give ourselves plenty of time to see the island.

 

 

Our first glimpse of Corfu town.

 

 

 

The old fortress in the background.

 

 

 

Starting our hopeful circular tour of the island we head northwards up the east coast and Sarah immediately spots somewhere she recognised. She swam across to this peninsular in her younger days.

 

 

We pass by many lovely bays but are shocked at how busy everywhere is compared to the main land.

 

 

We located the Lawrence Durrell home, the White house, now a restaurant, in the small but beautiful village of Kalami.

We had a coffee there and tried to imagine how isolated it must have been in 1936 when they arrived on this lovely island.

Hardly any cars and  no roads to speak of, it must have seemed like paradise.

 

 

We continued northward and across the top of the island and started to see some wilder parts especially when we went off "normal roads"

 

We quickly realised that we could not see the whole island in one day so decided to return to Corfu town for a look around the old part.

 



 

The streets abound with bars and restaurants and the inevitable tourist shops.

It was too hot to do much so we stopped for a drink and ice cream.

 

 

It was nice to revisit this place but as for returning with our campervan for a longer stay I think not.

 



Meteora to Igomenitsa

Sadly leaving Meteora behind we head for Igomenitsa, out port of departure from this Beautiful country.

 

 

The scenery on route is as always stunning as we take the back roads over the countryside.

 

 

We are heading for Metsova and suddenly find our road is closed. Not believing this we decide to take it anyway and turn back if needed.

In all fairness it deserved to be closed as most of it had fallen into the valley below but we pressed on.

 

We met some workmen and asked about the closure, they just shrugged and said it was ok so we carried on.

 

 

Near the final few miles we found a section that had dropped slightly, by about two feet but they had rerouted higher up the hill so no problem there.

 

 

We could find nowhere to park in Metsova so decided to revisit on the scooter another time.

 

 

Sometimes the road was overgrown and became a single track lane but as it was now the National road it had to be OK.

 

 

Most of this is single track.

 

 

Beautiful rivers abound.

 

 

Phew, made it in one piece, if a little dusty.

 

 

Finally we twisted our way down into Igomenitsa and headed for our first campsite from three months ago.

Camping Drepano.

It sits on a peninsular and is a delightful stopping place to relax and swim.