Tillicoultry and Alva glens

Today we went to Tillicoultry in the foothills of the Ochils. On the drive we managed to avoid the worst of the traffic for the Highland Show.

Got to Tillicoultry to find the path by the stream was closed due to rockfalls, so there was an alternative path up the hill. This was pretty steep and hard going, and looked like it was going to be relentless all the way to the top of Ben Cleugh, so since we had come out for a stroll by the river and not a hill-walk we gave up.

We drove a few miles further on to Alva, which has its own walk through a glen by the stream, so this was more like what we'd come out for.

The weather stayed kind to us, we saw a few showers circling around but they kept clear, we actually got quite a bit of sunshine.

Home again

We didn't check the flight times before we went to bed on Friday night, so by the time we got up we only had an hour to pack. Managed it ok though.

Took a photgraph of the outside of the villa before we went. I'd highly recommend it, it had everything we needed (even the coffee maker appeared sometime during the week) and was very well-priced - Villa Anthoussa.

The airport was very busy but everything went smoothly - flight, bus to car park in Manchester and drive home.

We drove through some torrential rain in the Lake District though - back down to earth with a bump!

A fertile valley, and a coastal headland

Two shorter walks today.

First we drove to Kavadades, and had a pleasant meander through a cultivated valley between here and Armenades. Many fields of potatoes, grape vines, onions etc. There were loads of fig trees around here (as there were in many parts of the island) but the figs are as yet unripe.

We did eat plums and mulberries though. Mulberries are shaped like an elongated bramble (blackberry) but are surprisingly not as tasty.

Then we got back in the car and headed for the resort village of Arillas. This was quite small and very pleasant. We walked from here up to a headland with a church and a shrine on it.

From here we could have carried on walking to Agios Stefanos, but at this point we were both very hot and the thought of a swim in the sea was very appealing. So we walked back to the car then drove round to the larger resort of Agios Stefanos. Here we parked the car next to a stream which had more fish and terrapins in it, then went for a swim followed by some beer and ice cream.

Dinner tonight was at a restaurant just across the road from the apartment, good quality and quite reasonably priced again.

Mount Pantokrator and North West coast

An early start today as we were intending to climb to the highest point on the island - Mount Pantokrator (906m, 2,972 ft). We left the apartment at about 7.30am and were walking by 8.30.

We were following a path on the GPS, and it was very difficult to find and not signposted at all. Eventually it opened out to a wider path though, and the final pull to the summit was on a proper road (unfortunately).

The top of the mountain had a tavern, a monastery, and hundreds of radio and phone masts.

Almost ran over a peacock on the way home...

Dinner in the apartment tonight - pasta and sauce. Here are some interior photographs. Sorry we didn't tidy up first...

Boat

Today we decided to hire a motor boat for the day. However it was only after handing over the cash they told us that we weren't allowed to land on any of the beaches, but had to anchor at least 50m offshore and swim for it! Quite a challenge for Shirley who hasn't swum since she was about 18...

The boat was fun and reasonably fast - Scott drove and Shirley navigated. We started off by heading for a cave that we could take the boat inside.

Then we anchored the boat off a deserted cove and worked up the courage to swim ashore - we made it!

Taking the towels to the beach was a little tricky...

Went snorkelling as well - saw many fish large and small, lots of bright colours and stripes.

We had the boat for a total of about 7 hours, visited 2 beaches as well as tying up in the port for a while to go for a beer.

Dinner that night was at Spiro's Taverna about a mile from the apartment. This had been recommended on Tripadvisor and was very good. The local cats got another feed of high quality meat.

Drive around the North

Today we go for a bit of a drive. First we head for Kalami, which is one of the villages the Durrell family lived in. It's on the west coast, a few kilometers north of Corfu town. The White House, where Lawrence Durrell lived, is now a restaurant.

We had a little walk around then had lunch at a fairly upmarket shack on the beach called Thomas's Place.

We then drove further round the coast to Kassiopi, which is a bigger resort but still very pretty. Had a walk up to a Byzantine castle and did a little shopping.

Then we headed inland to Old Perithia. This is a "ghost village" which was abandoned many years ago and is slowly disintegrating. It still has about 6 taverns and restaurants though.

We then carried on driving along the north of the island, through various resorts. Stopped at Sidari where there was a water inlet called Canal D'Amour (Canal of Love) where we saw terrapins swimming in the (rather murky) water.

As it was getting late we decided to go for dinner in Peroulades, which Kostas had recommended for beautiful views over the sea and other islands at sunset. We had dinner in a restaurant appropriately called Panorama and waited for sunset, which was about 9.10pm. The photographs don't do it justice, it was stunning.