Skíros

The missing Meteora posts are still being worked on; they'll appear shortly.

On the tail end of a meltemi blowing out to our east there was forecast to be a good northerly wind; the best for several days. So we left Skíathos on Sunday 26 June, perhaps a day or two earlier than anticipated, for the 58 mile passage to Skíros. However, despite the forecast, the passage was not the flight downwind for which we had hoped. We had some reasonable sailing on the leeward side of Skópelos in the downdraughting air but once clear of the island the wind was only strong enough to sail on and off.

Mid-afternoon we managed to get the MPS/asymmetric spinnaker flying and carried that in 11knots for an hour or so until the downdraughting air on the lee side of Skíros exceeded our self-imposed 15 knot limit for that sail.

Linaria harbour   

We only dropped it 15mins earlier than planned though and 20mins later we were in the throes of taking down the mainsail and getting the fenders out for our arrival at Linaria. As it happened, another yacht arrived just ahead of us and got pretty much the last space in the harbour. The harbour master who met us in the port’s RIB asked BV’s beam, winced and offered that we try the last space (which looked rather tight). We tried, it was too tight, so we were helped onto the fore-aft moorings under the cliffs just outside the port.

We had stayed on these moorings last year but we hadn’t tried the bar that overlooks them then. We decided that we should have a drink there, if only for the view. Unfortunately, the view also confirmed that the windy weather had taken its toll on our GYC burgee. [Ed: moral – don’t drink in bars; it only results in more work!].

Linaria harbour – the view from the clifftop bar   

In many ways being on one of the moorings is better than being in the harbour. You have privacy from people walking on the quay and from other yacht crews plus it’s better for swimming (though the water in the harbour looks impressively clean too). We swam and scrubbed BV’s bottom, getting the bits we’d missed the last time. Nicky also finished off varnishing the companionway, with the last 2 coats of gloss, a light sand and then the final 2 coats of satin.

Floodlit backdrop to our mooring   

By night our mooring had a floodlit backdrop and when the ferry came in we were pleased to hear the bar above us still welcomes its arrival with music from Holzt’s Planet Suite. We found out later that the bar’s been welcoming the ferry in just the same way for the past 15years! (Incidentally, the ferry is owned and run by the island, for the island and its timetable varies depending on the day of the week to accommodate the needs of the islanders [Ed: Condor, take note!]).

The ‘BV scooter riding club’   

We hired scooters to allow us to get to the large-ish supermarket near the main town. The fruit at the shop felt rock hard though so we stopped at a roadside veg stall to see if we could buy some there. They didn’t have any fruit on display but, when we asked, the stall-holder took us out to his garden and picked 5 peaches fresh off the tree for us.

Khorio   

We also spent some time wandering around in the main town, Khorio, which straggles around what looks to be a volcanic plug – in times gone by a good safe place, high up and well away from marauding pirate attackers.

Narrow lanes in Khorio   

It’s a very attractive place with narrow winding lanes, overhanging balconies and plenty of greenery and bright flowers.

Venetian castle and monastery   

The castle and the chapel on the summit above the town were being restored when we last visted. We wanted to see if the work was finished and we also fancied another look at the view from the top.

Monastery   

The castle is accessed through the monastery and last time, perhaps because of the ongoing building work, the gate at the back of the monastery was open. This time we found a list of apparent opening times on the front gate of the monastery. We had missed the morning opening (and the gate was well and truly locked too) but when we went back during evening opening the gate was still locked and there were no monks in sight to ask. Perhaps it was because we visited on a Monday or perhaps it was because the monastery’s one resident was busy elsewhere (watching Euro 2016?).

View from just below the monastery   

From a viewpoint just below the monastery we looked north and down onto the town’s beach. George, the scooter hire man, had recommended a friend’s restaurant, which is located right next to the beach, to us. In fact, we had eaten at the same restaurant last year but we were very happy to visit it again and this time we also had recommended dishes to try.

Views from the beachside restaurant   

We arrived at about 1930, just as the shadows were lengthening. It’s a hideously early time to eat in the eyes of the Greeks but it did mean that we were able to drive back to BV in the last of the daylight and so avoid near disaster in one of the road’s many potholes. George was not wrong about his friend’s food and we had a lovely meal; the fish salad (recommended by George) was particularly good.

We took a stroll around the harbour at Linaria having made it safely back on the scooters and bumped into one of the harbour staff, Sakis. He invited us to join him, his wife (Eva) and his 8 year old daughter (Kristina) for a drink at one of the bars. We had a lovely evening chatting to them and invited them to come over to BV the next evening after Sakis finished work. They duly arrived in the port RIB, which, we discovered, has a very quiet engine – they properly snuck up on us! Eva said that Kristina had been extremely excited about the trip in the RIB and visiting a yacht and had packed a bag of things to bring in double-quick time. We had another nice evening chatting with Sakis and Eva whilst Kristina, after a good tour around BV, flaked out behind a leecloth on one of the berths. Unfortunately, the evening ended all too soon with lightning and thunder threatening a soaking. Sakis and Eva decided that rain and wind would put a significant dampner on Kristina’s enjoyment of the evening (and their’s too, no doubt) and so decided to leave whilst the storm was still just threatening. Whilst it was a shame that they had to go so soon, it meant that we got to bed at a more reasonable time – we had an 0500 alarm call planned for the morning and a 70nm passage to Andros.

Skíros, Greece