We left Preveza on Wednesday 4th September after a very severe storm whilst on the quay, not a good place to be in a strong SE wind. For a time we had to run the engine ahead to hold Déjà Vu away from the wall behind us.
The next morning the wind moderated and we set off.
En route north we visited Parga, Plataria and Petriti in fair weather before heading into Gouvia Marina where we spent five days sheltering from Storm Atena, which raged for a couple of days . Two very severe thunderstorms came and went in between which the weather was quite settled and we took the opportunity to revisit Corfu town for some retail therapy.
As luck would have it we had booked a berth on G pontoon in Gouvia and found ourselves opposite our friends Dick and Amanda who were on board mending a few things on their boat. It is clearly THE place to be as we soon became friends with Nigel and Anita, and Tom and Silke and our social life took a turn for the better, with soirees, meals out and great company in between thunderstorms, downpours and grey skies.
We were sad to see a great deterioration in the Marina facilities despite massively increased prices. Even the swimming pool, a great asset, was closed. D Marin has taken over the marina and has plans for many improvements, but as usual the focus is not on the things that matter, decent moorings, good access to water and power and enough loos and showers. You need all these before you want fancy restaurants, night clubs and cocktail bars. Sadly all the marina companies seem to want to chase the super rich and neglect the ordinary sailor. Silly thing is there are not enough super rich to go around. Even if there are there they stay on their fully staffed boats!
It was clear that our plans to go north to Sarande, Albania were not going to work this time due to the persistent southerly weather set, not good for the port of Sarande, so we are parking this plan for next year.
We finally got away from Gouvia on Saturday 14th September to spend the weekend in Platarias again, midst more stormy weather. Coincidentally, our friend Chris and husband Paul joined the flotilla here on Sunday, so it was great to welcome them with a drink on board before their sailing adventures were to begin. Sadly the weather was not set to improve ahead and with winds set firmly in the south, we decided on a radical change of plan.
Déjà Vu was secured in an excellent spot in the harbour, safely tucked in the far corner away from any weather and also other visitors coming and going. With the boat safe, we decided to do some land tourism during the bad weather so rented a car and headed for the hills! It has long been an ambition to visit the Vikos Gorge, just over 100km to the north east, so in driving rain we set off.
The next few days were quite magi cal as we found ourselves in stunning mountain scenery. We were not well equipped for hiking and the walking shoes Nigel did have, fell apart on the first walk, so we did short walks and a lot of driving to various vantage points and yet more photos.
We stayed in Aristi, a small stone built mountain village, high up opposite the peak of Mount Timfi that bore a striking resemblance to Table Mountain. We feasted our eyes on views of the famous glaciated Vikos and Aoos Gorges and did a fair walk along the river in the latter on our last day. The Vikos gorge is reputed to be the second deepest in the world after the Grand Canyon, with a depth of over 1,000 metres. We visited the famous village of Papingo, usually buzzing with tourists in season, but now quite ghostlike and empty. We became groupies to many of the ancient but distinctive stone bridges that span many of the rivers.
Nigel navigated loads of hairpin bends as we climbed a couple of thousand feet only to descend and climb again. The roads were fairy empty, it stayed dry, thankfully, and we had a fantastic sightseeing extravaganza, ending up in the town of Konitsa, very close to the Albanian border, before turning back to Platarias on the old mountain road, passing through the aptly named Stone Fores; fascinating geology. We are determined to read up on the area’s geology and history which fascinated us both. All in all we covered over 500 km in the north and about 100km to the south visiting the small bays on the west mainland coast between Platarias and Parga. When we arrived back on the boat, Friday 20th September it seemed strangely odd to think again about sailing. The weather is still unsettled, thundery and showery but we hope to break out and go south to Preveza tomorrow, catching what appears to be a short term improvement in the forecast.
The call of a stopover on the island of Paxos, just to the south of Corfu beckoned and we gave away a day of favourable northwesterly winds for a night in Lakka Bay, which is truly one of the most attractive places on any cruising circuit. We paid a price for a lovely evening, as the next day the wind rushed back into the south. We had no choice but to motor into a lively sea for a couple of hours until we got a good enough angle on the wind to sail to the north east coast of Lefkas to make a transit down the Lefkas canal into the inland sea. Nigel had commissioned some steel work which was ready to collect in Nidri, so that became the focus of the two day trip south. We overnighted in Vliho, collected the steel strip for the bow, sailed all day on Tuesday fetching up in Karnyio Bay at Vathi for a great supper in the tavern there. Wednesday 25th we decided was the day to head back to Preveza to prepare for our lift out on 27th and of course to celebrate Nigel’s birthday on 26th
We made the 12 noon bridge opening and were soon on the quay in Preveza planning the essential jobs which included extensive cleaning, maintenance and taking down and packing up the foresail. That same evening news came that the Lefkas bridge was closed and was not going to open again for the forseeable future. There had been no forewarning, no planning for the ‘safety checks’ suddenly required and many sailors, like ourselves, were caught out unawares. The alternative to the swing bridge is a sail of over 50 miles around the west coast of Lefkas, which is a problem if not properly planned for. We counted our good fortune that day, so lucky to have got through only just in time.
Nigel’s birthday was suitably marked with nice meals and a swim off the beach and the lift out on 27th was a slick operation at Cleopatra Marina. We are now finally packing up. Cover goes on Monday and we fly home Tuesday. We have only sailed 658 miles this season, less than usual but we had our fair share of maintenance issues with the boat in June and we mostly dodged stormy weather in September. We did however enjoy many new experiences and visited some old haunts we had not been back to for a while. We feel very lucky that we have been able to spend our time in Greece before the winter arrives. Signing off now until 2025.
Deja Vu 
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