Alan: I'm writing this on our last full day on Halki (or Chalki if you prefer the Greek spelling with a silent "C"). The lack of updates during the last two weeks is a good sign as we made a great choice for our last island have been enjoying our accommodation, the beaches, the tavernas and the people. Brilliant!

Our trip here was a bit of a challenge, the wind was blowing quite hard and no one seemed very sure if the ferries would be running as we looked to leave Telendos. We arranged a taxi to meet the 8.00 a.m. ferry over the strait to Kalymnos, which would have been fine if there had been one. Although they dock on the Telendos side they helpfully shot over to Kalymnos, brought some of the workers back then sat there till 8.30 a.m. Our taxi driver was not a happy man when we finally arrived, credit to him for still being there, marks lost for charging us waiting time. Still, he saw us to Kalymnos port nice and early and I dived in the ferry agency to book us on the early boat to Kos and collect our pre-booked tickets for Kos to Halki. I had 30 minutes to spare so wasn’t worried till I realised the one guy in front of me was booking his entire extended family on a complicated journey sometime in 2014 - but we made it.

That saw us arrive in Kos, but not at the port we would leave from, hey ho. A mere 40 minute wait and a bit of pushing saw us (standing, another 45 minutes) on a bus to Kos town, where at least we could chill out and if the ferry didn't run, while we would not be happy, we would at least get our money back. Happily it did, and typically when you rush around worrying the whole trip actually went very smoothly. The Halki ferry called at Tilos en route, our very first Greek island together and one we have frequently considered revisiting, but we loved so much we have always worried about “never going back” syndrome.

Deb. Chalki – so different from Telendos (and SO much better for that!) It was really windy in the evening. Having spotted the ATM on arrival, when we rocked up to it to draw out cash it wasn’t working – as in, not even an “out of order” message, as there was no electricity attached to it whatsoever. We went to a restaurant where a very helpful English waiter told us that it was new and hadn’t worked for weeks. So – no cash and 2 weeks on a Greek island. There was only one thing for it. We had to go to Rhodes the next day (booo). So – up at 5 am to get an hour and half ferry, then an hour and a half bus journey. Fortunately we then managed to draw out some money but it wasn’t our greatest day on this trip – to be fair. The ferry for the return journey had run out of fuel [Alan: Our captain told us we were waiting for the patrol. We thought it must be the harbour police needing to give them the OK to leave until the patrol tanker turned up and filled the ship up J) so that was late, all in all 12 hour trip to draw out some money! Longer than it took to reach one set of islands from another overnight! The island is fabulous – a “proper” Greek island. The harbour is really just an extension of the small square here and every night dozens of children razz around – all ages, girls and boys – they play games like old street games – chasing around; there are kids on bikes (there are some vehicles but mainly when the ferry is around). It is clear that their parents don’t worry at all as there is no menace,nowhere to get lost and no traffic. They are very very loud and lively but a pleasure to watch all the little games, communications and “gangs”. I particularly liked one little girl (aged about 10?) who is the spitting image of Woody’s girlfriend in Toy Story (plaited hair and all) – a dead ringer. She doesn’t swan around in pink or play with the girls but is in a “gang” of about 12 lads and is clearly the leader in the games - which included fishing and jumping on boats. I call her Daisy because I think that’s Woody’s girlfriend. I hope she gets to keep her boss status in a good way!

We got to watch Andy Murray in an ice cream parlour/bar...........YAY – fab. So glad I could see it after watching tennis for over 50 years ( I watch the lot ATP Masters 500 and 1000 events all year, “Tennis is for life,not just for Wimbledon”) so am glad I got to see it! Brilliant.

There are three beaches here and the worse one is the sandy one – ruined by dozens upon dozens of sunbeds. The other two pebble ones are really good – with fantastic snorkelling. Many different fish including (I think pipe fish) and we both saw an octopus on different beaches. Fantastic! It is so clear it feels like you are flying over mountains of rocks. I loved it and think I earned my water baby badge here!

The beaches are getting really really crowded now though and it’s HOT. (if windy and cooler at night which is a plus). There is a strike on Wed – the day we are due to fly home – but we are hopeful air traffic control might be a slightly truncated strike –rather than the threatened 24 hour one. Last night on the islands today (don’t really include Rhodes!). I’m sure I will add my further thoughts later but at the moment I must say – home beckons and I don’t mind!

Alan: As Deb said the Rhodes cash withdrawal trip was a bit of a bummer, but no way did we have enough Euros for 2 weeks. What Deb (very diplomatically) didn’t mention was I set off without most of the cards we had been using throughout the trip. They had been in my wallet for most of the previous weeks and I forgot I had removed them and put them in our portable “safe” as there seemed little point in taking them to beaches. Luckily I had added a “back-up” card (old habits die hard) to my wallet the end result being I did have a single (pre-load) card but not enough money on it. This saw us sitting in a seafront taverna with rubbish Wi-Fi while I tried to do the necessary internet transactions to get enough money on to the only card we have with us. This did not go smoothly, Deb described me as “stressed”, again very diplomatic. Finally I got the transaction to go through without a lot of blood being shed (although my breakfast did go cold and the waiters clearly thought they were dealing with a major domestic rather than just me going off on one!) and it all ended happily ever after when we withdrew the funds later that day. Phew.

In a funny way we dropped into more of a typical 2-week holiday routine (eventually) on Halki. No more ferries to book and keep an eye on them running, no more new islands to work out, just a great two weeks enjoying everything Halki had to offer. As we walked back from the beach after our last snorkel, looking at the mountains against the blue sky and the sun on the blue sea I thought to myself, yes I’m ready to go home, but also I’m not ready to leave. I don’t think I ever will be! It’s been a fantastic three months and soon we start our journey home, which, appropriately, starts with our last ferry trip to Rhodes.