Alan: So we're now on Paros and have had our first real battle with the Greek ferry timetables. Our transfer from Syros was easy, a single ferry starting at a not too uncivilised 7.00 a.m. took an hour and three quarters. Once settled on Paros we thought we should check our next leg to Tinos. We had it all planned for Thursday, 23rd May, went on the web – ferry, what ferry? It was there last week. Rushed down to the port and picked a ticket agency at random, they were happy to confirm that there was indeed no longer a Thursday ferry. We could go to Mykonos, but, hold on, we would miss the connection to Tinos. Would we like to spend a night on Syros then travel on to Tinos the next day? NO, we’ve just come from there! There is a ferry to Paros the day before, but... the system won’t let us book tickets so it will probably be cancelled. Saturday it is then, but they want a mobile phone number – give me confidence why don’t you. With all that "done" we had to sort out the accommodation implications, no problem extending our current (very nice) hotel room, but how do we tell the people on Tinos we won’t be there? Fire off an email to the accommodation and try and let booking.com know (they have my credit card number!) – impressed; they both replied that evening and its fine, phew. Another tough day in the world of Greek island hopping. I did have ferry cancellations on my risk log, but the only mitigation was additional ouzo. Seems to have worked so far J.

Deb: There is a distinct shortage of “backpackers” on these ferries; which unfortunately means that as soon as we disembark and the locals flogging rooms see us, we are somewhat hounded! They are practically telling us they have a wife, granny, mother in law and 10 kids to support, to try and get us to stay in their rooms! NO THANK YOU – we already have rooms. Makes no difference, they even follow us in their cars waving photos of their rooms/hotels at us. It’s quite difficult running the gauntlet with two rucksacks each! Am getting quite hardfaced (I think b****r off must be the same in Greek!)

Alan: Well my concern about the mobile phone number was a good call, they left a message this afternoon (we leave tomorrow) to say the ferry is cancelled. So back on-line and the choice seems to be go to a different island or give up and contact an estate agent. We got our money back no problem and are now booked on a ferry to Mykonos, yes, yes, the gay one. We have got accommodation there easily enough and cancelling Tinos will, apparently, cost 12 Euros. How do you do this without the internet again? Really good day today, after two days where weather wasn’t the best (mainly windy) we were back on the buses with a variety of activities including my return to Pisa Livadi after (roughly, Dave can confirm) 30 years. Despite derogatory comments in the Rough Guide it still looked pretty good, we liked it anyway! They didn’t remember me though, they served me.

Deb: I thought Paros looked the least inviting of our islands, but (luckily, given the ferry cancellations!) it has proved to be lovely. The hotel is great – brilliant views from the balcony and the buses are relatively easy to use! If the weather could just have been a bit better,it would have been perfect. Zonked in with cloud for a few days so we did not really venture on the beach much. We did get bus to Nassou on Tuesday. Lovely village – gets so crowded in summer that you have to queue to get on the promontory to take a photo!!! No way! We were the only ones there so we got lovely photos from the old fort. We did get a swim from the town beach too, as the weather was good that day. Later on we had ouzo and “mixed mezze (small)” in the old town at the port where we are staying. It was supposed to tide us over until going out for a meal, but was so big that we didn’t bother going out later! Excellent and reasonable. I refer to Alan’s comment above re ferries!

Weather was awful on Thursday, though we did get a bit of a walk around the headland. Today was better but still windy. We went by bus to Lefkes and then (somewhat spontaneously ,as we were supposed to be staying an hour and getting the next bus) we did the walk to Prodomos along a marbled Byzantine road (I think that means it’s about 600 years old!) Much of the marbled paving is still in situ; it’s wonderful. The views are brilliant, countryside green and stunning and it’s a great way to walk about 4 – 5 km. An excellent diversion! Once in Prodomos we found a little taverna for frappe coffee and cake and then took the bus to Pisso Livadi (no jokes please). See Alan’s comments above! We had a well earned beer and sat watching the day go by for an hour and a half by the sea and then got the bus back to our hotel. A perfect day (if we hadn’t then discovered our ferry has been cancelled!)

Onwards and upwards to two days on Mykonos (should have been four days on Tinos!) I’m relaxed about the whole thing; have picked up the Greek psyche!