And So to Bed, 17th October 2016

We left the Cyclades and made our way back to the Dodecanese, stopping at a couple of favourite places for a last taste of swimming in clear water in stunning scenery. En-route we watched goats playing "king of the castle" on cliff tops, a gull taking a rest on a bit of flotsam (or a new form of pallet surfing - see pic) and met up with boats we had encountered before.

For once we had it easy - no trying to beat the weather, or challenging times. We arrived in the main port of Leros easily ahead of a bit of a wind, stayed two days to do a few pre-lift jobs on the boat, stock up sufficiently to see us through and to have a final dinner together with Silent Wings (also packing up and flying to Athens with us).

We got an early lift out on Friday, not long after dawn, that enabled us to get our sails down to the tiled cleaning area, wash and hoist them up to dry on a sunny afternoon. Good thing too, the rest of the jobs over the next couple of days were done with a steady F6/7 blowing straight through the boat. Richard wanted to sand and varnish our cockpit table, the tiller and the dinghy oars. Sanding was not a problem - finding somewhere to varnish out of the wind and resulting dust was more difficult. He ended up doing the first coat on the tiller and table in the Gents, much to the bemusement of some of our fellow sailors. He eventually managed two coats, the second on Sunday in calmer conditions, outside.

So we ended as we started, to the morning alarms of goats, navy reveilles and small planes. Although the little airport is only about a 400m walk away, we had left the wheels for our sailing bags at home. Colin & Shirley had a hire car; Colin came and collected our bags and us at 6.30 am having deposited Shirley first at the airport. We whiled away the wait with them at Athens airport until it was time for us to catch our connection.

A good season with lots of new areas visited and loop-de-loops around the Aegean, 1,264nm and 70-odd destinations. A few thrills and spills with 50+ knot winds, but the area still seduces with the ease of exploring and island hopping, and its sunshine and clear blue water. Myrica is now safely tucked up. Until next season.