The Seventeenth Week

Saturday 25-6-16, Sunday 26-6-16, Monday 27-6-16, Tuesday 28-6-16 and Wednesday 29-6-16

So we planed to be at the camp site for the weekend then move on to some wild campsites on beaches on the north of the island. But not everything goes to plan in the world of Van Brian. We had a nice pitch with a great view of the sea.

On Saturday night we had a treat, Mexicorn. It doesn't take much to entertain us.

Then I remembered a TV dongle gizmo I'd bought for watching digital TV on our laptop. I plugged it in and it found us lots of Greek TV stations. So we got to watch the Germany Slovakia game on Sunday night. Just after the game we had a bit of a mishap and managed to fry my laptop by pouring a glass of white wine into the keyboard. We still had Lizzie's laptop so all was not lost.

On Monday we had a walk into Eritria. It was a bit of an odd place, reminded me of Skegness. But we had a pleasant coffee in a cafe and picked up some bits of shopping.

We decided to stop another night then move on on Tuesday. It was seriously hot, mid 30's and we felt like a bit of a rest from driving. Then something strange happened. It rained. It was brilliant, there was lightening and thunder too.

That evening we had a bit of a mishap and managed to fry Lizzie s laptop by pouring a glass of white wine into the keyboard. I could have cried. We really could have done without this, we use the laptops for watching films and TV at night, storing our photos and writing this blog. So on Wednesday we packed up the van and headed for the capital of Evia, Halkida. We hoped to find a shop to buy a new laptop. Halkida was seriously busy and we had to abandon the van on a street with no parking signs. We wandered around, found a small shop selling computers, he didn't have any laptops but pointed us in the direction of Public. Public seems to be the Greek equivalent of PC World.

We got served by a lady called Maria, who spoke really good English. We found a 17” laptop the same as the one we'd fried. It was cheaper than I'd paid for ours last December in the UK. Only problem was it was setup with Greek as the default language. Just changing the settings wouldn't get it to default to English. Maria spoke to the HP help-desk and they told here to reinstall Windows. We went for a coffee while she did this, when we got back she was still working on it. It looked like it would take an hour or so more. As we were parked in a bad place and the temperature in the town was in the high 30's we decided to retreat and come back tomorrow. So it was back to Camping Milos for yet another night. We drove back to the same pitch and it felt like we'd never left. I put some Bob Marley on the iPod and we chilled, the big town had worn us out

Camping Milos, Eratria, Evia, Greece. N38.39082 E023.77501

Thursday 30-6-16

So we packed up yet again and headed for Public. I parked in the same dodgy place as yesterday and we found Maria. She was very apologetic, it hadn't worked and she'd been on the phone to someone else this morning, They'd told her to do a full install again and then download some updates that would include the English language pack that was missing. It would take a couple of hours. I gave her my phone number and asked her to call when it was done. We had a coffee and hatched a plan.

We drove out of town, over the small bridge to the mainland, found a spot under a tree for shade and waited/snoozed for a call from Maria.

Maria rang at lunchtime it was back to town again. We picked up the English speaking laptop, gave Maria a box of chocolates and got out of town as fast as we could. We headed north and after a couple of hours reached a beach. And there we stopped.

Wild Camping at Psarapoli Beach, Evia, Greece. N38.96778 E023,37853

Friday 1-7-16 and Saturday 2-7-16

We were close to a port that had ferries going over to the mainland. So we drove to Agiokambos and bought a ticket for 22 euros and watched the ferry sail up to the beach. They loaded us in minutes and then we were off.

The crossing took half an hour, just enough time for icy coffees.

The sea was ridiculously smooth.

Then before we knew it we were offloaded and back on mainland Greece. Looking at the map the only real option now was some motorway driving. So we paid a 6 euro toll and rattled of 70 miles on a lovely smooth motorway with very little traffic. At Kato Gatzea we found a campsite and decided to call it a day.

I roasted a couple of chicken legs for tea which went down a treat.

On Saturday we explored. The small harbour was nice and Greek.

We found a pharmacy to stock up on anti-histamine tablets for our mozzi bite itchiness. We also looked at all the restaurants, intending to pick one for a meal out that night. In the end we decided that the one on the beach by our campsite looked the best. It also had a big screen tele showing the German Italian game which may have swayed my decision a bit. So that evening we ordered the fresh fish of the day, baby cod. The Greek version of battered cod and chips, they tasted a lot better than they looked. The best fish I'd eaten in Greece so far.

And then we got to watch an incredibly boring game of football. The only high point being when Liz shouted come on Italy and the whole bar shut up and looked at her. It was full of Germans it seemed.

We also finally got to see one of the noisy buggers that we've been constantly listening to for the last four months. A cicada. A Greek girl saw us looking at it, walked over and picked it up then put it in a tree.

And that's it for this week. It's been an odd one with a few setbacks but it was interesting. I've got no updated facts and figures as they were on my laptop that fried. 

 And one last thing, Liz tried turning on her laptop today before we stuck it away under the bed. It worked.

Camping Sikia, Greece. N39.30814 E023.10946

Cheers, the Van Brian Crew.