May 25th...

We had an early morning call this morning - literally - my phone went off with a text message at about 5.15am and it was a notification that the alarm had been activated at a friends house.  I managed to rouse John and we set off to investigate getting another notification shortly afterwards that the alarm had reset itself.  As we were up and out we carried on to go and check that it was nothing important.  It didn't appear to be - everything was as normal - there was probably some sort of bug that flitted past a sensor and set it off.  Still we got to appreciate the beauty of the sun rise and, as it was beach clean day, decided we would try and get there reasonably early as we normally either get lost or miscalculate how long it will take us to arrive.

We got organised with suitable clothing and a packed lunch with plenty of fluids to make sure we didn't get dehydrated.  The weather was a bit odd with some heavy clouds forming and where they did what looked like the threat of a storm.

We did not get lost today and managed to arrive reasonably early although quite a few from the group were already in position and several green bags had already been filled.  We were starting out re-cleaning the first beach that had been tackled last summer.  It was quite pleasing to see that the majority of the rubbish picked up from this beach was relatively small stuff and within about an hour of our arrival the beach was deemed to be 'done' so we moved up the coast to the second location 

This beach was plastic bottle central - the one satisfying thing about finding a beach with large sized rubbish is that once you start removing the large objects the impact is immediate.

Lots of plastic bottles, lots of single flip-flops and quite a bit of tar unfortunately.  Not to mention one dead sheep and the head of an unexploded mortar bomb - NICE!

It really didn't seem to take long before this long stretch of beach was also deemed to be done and at this point John and I decided to take our leave and find somewhere to stop and have our picnic.  Keith, our trusty leader, continued cleaning with some other volunteers for the remainder of the day - now that is commitment to the cause.  I was beginning to feel my skin smart because although it was overcast the sun was still getting through.

As well as doing my bit cleaning I managed to find some interesting bits of driftwood that I hope I can use for one craft project or another and a couple of pretty heart shaped pebbles - John picked up quite a bit of wood - no-one else seemed to want any!

We made our way back towards the Drouseia turning trying to find somewhere for our lunch.  The skies were getting quite threatening up on the hills so we reckoned that it might even be raining at home.  We bumped along the badly cut up road - it is almost the worst I have known it and if there is too much rain in the autumn/winter some areas may become impassable.  We were passed by several small overladen saloon hire cars packed to the gunnels with tourists - they had no idea what they were going to put their poor car through.

We eventually decided upon a spot to sit down and eat our lunch.  It was pretty grey when we put the blanket out but by the time we were settled the sun had come out again.  We decided to eat, have a snooze and then take a stroll along the beach before returning home.

On the way back we had to do an emergency stop to make sure that this chameleon didn't get squished as he was slowly making his way across the road.  John got out and found a stick for it to climb on and he gently placed him in a bush so that he would be safe - I say 'he' but I have no idea!  My friend Hazel will know more than I as she kept chameleons for a while.

We were having an early meal down at Yiallos tonight.  We had been invited by Jane and Mark - it was Jane's Mum Margaret's last night as she flies back to Newcastle tomorrow.  We were joined by Trevor and by Helen and Al and we all raised our glasses to the absent Vix who is back in the UK.  Trev will be globetrotting himself shortly as he is helping out his old firm and going to cover a first aid course on a Greek island somewhere the week after next.  Vicky we will try and make sure he doesn't get the taste for work again!

We very nearly didn't make it - just as we were about to leave John asked me for his wallet which I didn't have - he had given it to me last night to pay the bill which I did but after that I wasn't sure that I had given it back and I had visions that it might have not been put back into my handbag properly when it was on the floor.  I rang the meze house but it was too early and only got the owner at home.  John's face drained of colour as he thought it might have fallen out of his shorts when we had a lie down on the beach.  He was just getting in the car to race back to the coast before the tide came in when I found the wallet having turned everything upside down.  When we had returned hot and sticky and sandy from the beach clean and our picnic John had stripped off and jumped into the pool.  His wallet had fallen out of his shorts then and was hiding under a t-shirt.  Thank God for that!

Although you do not get a complete sunset from Latchi as the sun disappears down behind the mountains the cloud formations treated us to some spectacular skies.

John and I had travelled down on the scooter which does nothing for your hair I can tell you and would be rather chilly on the way back particularly where the road cuts through a large hill and is always in shadow.

I tried the spare ribs this time and they were delicious - in fact the three of us girlies had spare ribs, the three guys had pork chop and Margaret opted for chicken souvla on a plate.  It was a good evening all round and we managed to get Margaret to relax and have a laugh - Result!