Day 30 to 31 Greece beaches and voyages in the Kayak

Day 30 and 31 Perfect campsite but it came with rules........

A short drive in perfect weather around the southern tip of the Sithonian peninsula and we were installed at a new campsite before lunch.

very hot and so the Kayak was used to explore 3 islands just off the coast....

Turtle island in the background

small boy leading the way

The campsite was mainly inhabited by Germans and was also with its 'campsite' rules....no BBQ, no use of their sunbeds unless you were in one of their 'bungalows'  - After being told we could have just 1 sunbed Susan took to negotiating the deal to 2 sunbeds with the old dear at reception....another geezer then told me we couldn't have any.....I over-played the 'don't understand' hand and he told me he would see the manager.....

I have other experiences of campsites located in top spots forgetting why they are there ( St.Tropez, Polzeath in Cornwall) ....the previous campsite was a 1/3 of the price and just couldn't do enough for you...The shop had shut at 12:00 and didn't reopen to 6 pm so I asked them where the nearest shop was as it was about 1 pm.........The old crone smiled at me ...... 'our shop is open again at 6 pm and you can use our restaurant until then'.......

Sunbed fiasco and now the 'abuse of the captive market ( we have you on our campsite so we will now extract as much money as we can ) 'issue tipped me and as Charlie was up for a bike ride on the back of my bike I cycled a few Km over to another campsite to spend my money on some beers and drinks.....Sweating like a Bullmastiff in 30 + deg C heat with a Large Rubber rucksack on my back I returned to our campsite triumphant........small victories can give lots of pleasure:-)


It was a perfect day, with a perfect camping pitch....perfect in every sense.

We opted to stay another night, more kayaking, swimming and snorkelling but the sea was barren and although I spent an hour or so armed with my harpoon gun but there were no fish of any size to spear.

5 nights in the Halkidiki area of Greece.....when you read the reviews of this area they are fairly down beat.....'if you are looking for the small greek fishing villages then Halkidiki is not the place to go etc'. These reviews compounded by a pretty grim holiday my mum and dad had had a few years ago  in this area had nearly stopped us from going......we were glad they didn't.

Turtle Island at sunset

We could stay by these beaches for many many days - when you find somewhere so good it is hard to tear yourself away....you irrationally worry that you wont find another place as good...so tomorrow it is time to move on, even with 3 months away there is something of a timetable to keep.

I am now looking forward to Albania, The Ionian sea and our slow journey up into Montenegro and then Croatia


Day 30  Sarti ( Gr) to Neos Maramares ( Areti Camping)         37km        Total    5268 Km

Day 31  Neos Maramares ( Areti Camping) ....all day !               0 Km       Total   5268 Km