We woke this morning to the crashing sounds of boulder-like hailstones hitting the conservatory roof accompanied by thunder - this was not good as I had planned a day of outdoor activities including lunch at a venue where indoors was not an option. We decided to sit it out for a while to see how the day progressed and in the end although cloudy, cool and blustery with some intermittent sunshine we were blessed with a dry day.
I had heard Jane mention that they hoped to try and see the tulips in Polemi before they return home on Monday - the actual festival is on Sunday so I thought it would be nice to see if we could find them because shamefully in all the years we have been here we haven't been!
I checked first on Social Media that there were tulips out - the weather has been so unpredictable that they may have just given it a miss this year and was assured there were and we were given two different sets of instructions as to how to find them.
There is one big field that is full of these short red tulips and it is quite a sight. You cannot enter the field obviously (some bugger would have them all picked if that were the case) and there is a high-ish wire fence around them but David Carbine had suggested we would be wise to take something to stand on and so we went armed with my large kitchen step which was perfect for getting a good shot without the wires in the way. His instructions as to how to find the field were less successful. We decided to try and follow them to make our way home but ended up stymied by a track that was now a muddy rutted track even though Mrs Google Maps kept insisting it was the right way to go. We went on a right old misery tour of 'wannabee' roads until we gave up and took th1e main road home. I was glad I was in Kenny - there are no worries with Kenny if the terrain is a bit 'lumpy'.
I had planned to have lunch at the newly re-opened Herb Garden in Akourdaleia having sussed it out last week. On that occasion I had driven from Pano Akourdaleia to Kato Akourdaleia and then out onto the Polis Road. They were doing some works to the roads in Kato Akourdaleia similar to what I think is going on across the other side of Droushia. My plan was to do the reverse trip but bugger me if the diggers hadn't run amok in Kato Akourdaleia and we could no longer get through (even though I tried) and had to to a detour which took us through Miliou. It didn't matter - the countryside is looking fabulous at the moment and it is always good to take a road less travelled.
It is good to see the Herb Garden re-opened - it is such a lovely spot. Obviously it is going to take time for the gardens to be returned to their former splendour either full of herbs as it was when Caroline and Clem ran it or more English country cottage when Elaine ran it. We started out sitting up on the terrace just in case we got a little damp.
There is a small menu of home-made fayre. I opted for the Club Sandwich which was very nice although I would have preferred my egg to have been a little runny but otherwise it was very tasty. Jane opted for a beef sandwich with a bit of salad on the side and ended up with a right old plateful. The two John's had the bacon and brie ciabatta and hand cooked wedges - I kicked myself for forgetting to put in some wine and/or beer because although the premises is not licensed you can take either and pay a small amount for corkage - mind you it was a tad chilly in the shade so I was more than happy to wrap my hands around my coffee!
We decided to take our puds down in the garden because the sun had come out and it was infinitely warmer! Jane was good but John had the flour-less chocolate cake with clotted cream, I had a carrot cake muffin with clotted cream and the other John had an individual Victoria sponge with strawberries and cream. It had been nice to take the Pages somewhere different - as I have said before, after 30 years of visiting this is quite a challenge.
The last part of our tour was to go down to the waterfalls at Kritou Terra trying to avoid the convoys of Jeep Safaris if possible (which we did). The rough old road down to the waterfalls has now been barrier'd and tarmac'd but in a couple of places the wet weather has caused some severe slippage. Undeterred I steered Kenny on through and we made it down to the picnic area - we had planned to walk into the cave but Jane had not been feeling too good and we weren't sure how good it would be underfoot although we walked the first part until the sharp bend where you start walking back towards the water and this part of the walk has been cleared and a wire put up which must only be there to indicate the drop because it wouldn't stop anyone from falling.
I can't believe how lucky we had been with the weather in the end. Cool it may have been but it had been dry and sometimes bright. We made our way back home via the cemetery for Jane and John to go and see Dad.
We had a quiet evening in. Supper was some cheese and biscuits as no-one was particularly hungry and we accompanied that with some TV and the gas fire - you cannot beat a bit of Masterchef and Escape to the Chateau after a busy day.
I had heard Jane mention that they hoped to try and see the tulips in Polemi before they return home on Monday - the actual festival is on Sunday so I thought it would be nice to see if we could find them because shamefully in all the years we have been here we haven't been!
I checked first on Social Media that there were tulips out - the weather has been so unpredictable that they may have just given it a miss this year and was assured there were and we were given two different sets of instructions as to how to find them. 
There is one big field that is full of these short red tulips and it is quite a sight. You cannot enter the field obviously (some bugger would have them all picked if that were the case) and there is a high-ish wire fence around them but David Carbine had suggested we would be wise to take something to stand on and so we went armed with my large kitchen step which was perfect for getting a good shot without the wires in the way. His instructions as to how to find the field were less successful. We decided to try and follow them to make our way home but ended up stymied by a track that was now a muddy rutted track even though Mrs Google Maps kept insisting it was the right way to go. We went on a right old misery tour of 'wannabee' roads until we gave up and took th1e main road home. I was glad I was in Kenny - there are no worries with Kenny if the terrain is a bit 'lumpy'.I had planned to have lunch at the newly re-opened Herb Garden in Akourdaleia having sussed it out last week. On that occasion I had driven from Pano Akourdaleia to Kato Akourdaleia and then out onto the Polis Road. They were doing some works to the roads in Kato Akourdaleia similar to what I think is going on across the other side of Droushia. My plan was to do the reverse trip but bugger me if the diggers hadn't run amok in Kato Akourdaleia and we could no longer get through (even though I tried) and had to to a detour which took us through Miliou. It didn't matter - the countryside is looking fabulous at the moment and it is always good to take a road less travelled.
It is good to see the Herb Garden re-opened - it is such a lovely spot. Obviously it is going to take time for the gardens to be returned to their former splendour either full of herbs as it was when Caroline and Clem ran it or more English country cottage when Elaine ran it. We started out sitting up on the terrace just in case we got a little damp.
There is a small menu of home-made fayre. I opted for the Club Sandwich which was very nice although I would have preferred my egg to have been a little runny but otherwise it was very tasty. Jane opted for a beef sandwich with a bit of salad on the side and ended up with a right old plateful. The two John's had the bacon and brie ciabatta and hand cooked wedges - I kicked myself for forgetting to put in some wine and/or beer because although the premises is not licensed you can take either and pay a small amount for corkage - mind you it was a tad chilly in the shade so I was more than happy to wrap my hands around my coffee!
We decided to take our puds down in the garden because the sun had come out and it was infinitely warmer! Jane was good but John had the flour-less chocolate cake with clotted cream, I had a carrot cake muffin with clotted cream and the other John had an individual Victoria sponge with strawberries and cream. It had been nice to take the Pages somewhere different - as I have said before, after 30 years of visiting this is quite a challenge.
The last part of our tour was to go down to the waterfalls at Kritou Terra trying to avoid the convoys of Jeep Safaris if possible (which we did). The rough old road down to the waterfalls has now been barrier'd and tarmac'd but in a couple of places the wet weather has caused some severe slippage. Undeterred I steered Kenny on through and we made it down to the picnic area - we had planned to walk into the cave but Jane had not been feeling too good and we weren't sure how good it would be underfoot although we walked the first part until the sharp bend where you start walking back towards the water and this part of the walk has been cleared and a wire put up which must only be there to indicate the drop because it wouldn't stop anyone from falling.
I can't believe how lucky we had been with the weather in the end. Cool it may have been but it had been dry and sometimes bright. We made our way back home via the cemetery for Jane and John to go and see Dad.
We had a quiet evening in. Supper was some cheese and biscuits as no-one was particularly hungry and we accompanied that with some TV and the gas fire - you cannot beat a bit of Masterchef and Escape to the Chateau after a busy day.
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