Alan: We were so pleased to arrive back on Andros! Even the ferry from Mykonos had an impromptu disco as the Athens bound Greeks set up their gear from (presumably) a lively weekend on Mykonos and entertained us with a disco style selection (whoopee). We had to taxi to Batsi (10 Euros, not bad) and then we were unpacking in the same (upgraded) room we had previously before setting off to the wrong place (despite text messages) to find Ken and Sue. Misunderstanding their directions completely we justified the walk by calling in the supermarket for basics (Retsina) before finally hooking up with them at the beach right in front of our apartments, Oops...

Was great to see them both and start having a catch-up. Deb and I have had a lot of time to cover our range of conversational topics over the last five and a half weeks. We needed some fresh input!

Deb: Monday 27th May. It was great to see Ken and Sue – as Alan says, we might be independent travellers, having been to several islands and on and off several ferries, but we couldn't even manage to meet up with Ken and Sue on a beach about 200 metres away! Tuesday started out OK for the beach – warm and sunny – but unfortunately within a couple of hours the cloud zonked in (rather like our stay here 10 days ago). So that was disappointing, especially for Ken and Sue who only have two weeks here. However, we had a very reasonably priced meal in the evening and for some reason he gave us a free half litre of Retsina and then some awful Raki-type liqueur, which you had to knock back in one go rather than taste it. So we ended up rather more merry than we arrived there! Overnight it got really really windy and remained so for most of the day. Fortunately we had planned to go to Chora ("Andros Town") the capital of the island and so introduced K & S to the joys of the bus, which was interesting! Chora is lovely (last time we went it was a monsoon and horrendous storm). We spent a really enjoyable 3½ hours there, exploring and supping latte and the occasional beer! Ken provided the quote of the holiday so far “some people have got a virus in their androids”- ooer, missus........

Got back to find Batsi in a bit of a sea mist, but it did clear and we got a few hours on the beach. A really lovely day. On Thursday we managed a day on the beach in spite of sea mist. We then had a fish meal in a rather wacky Greek taverna/fish restaurant. Alan, Sue and I went to choose the fish (one large one and a smaller one). Ken “chickened out” and went for calamari (which in fact, never arrived). Fish was fantastic. The waiter was the Greek equivalent of Basil Fawlty but it was a fun evening. Our last day on Andros (and with Ken and Sue) was spent on the beach and we had our last evening with them at a restaurant where the Athenians who had descended on the island all seemed to turn up. There was young band playing really good Greek music (i.e. no rap or “pop”). Excellent and a lovely meal, really enjoyed it.

We left for our trip to Naxos via Mykonos (that darn place again). Almost missed the ferry as we somewhat blindly just joined a queue waiting for a ferry at the time ours was due, only for me to spot that it had come in, but further down the quay! The queue was for another boat, yet to arrive. We raced down the quay to see the gangplank about to go up and just got on in time; bearing in mind I was carrying a 10kg rucksack and another smaller one – you can imagine how I felt once on board..........! To top it all the weather was not good,so yet another ferry trip in mist/cold. Then when we got to Mykonos we had lunch (rip off, as ever) and when we got to the port to pick up our connection, it was delayed by an hour and the port was overcrowded. Finally got to Naxos, where the weather was no better (and it rained a bit). Not one of our better days in the Grand Tour!

Alan: So as we resume our tour and head for new islands it was really good to share some of Sue and Ken’s holiday. Great to see them and it was like a rest within a rest to go back to an island we were familiar with; no guide books to be read, restaurants to be checked out or supermarkets to be located! And of course our return followed our escape from Mykonos! Good times.