Bob Lillie's Travels: June 2015

Saltash Regatta happens every year around this month It goes for two days and, as well as having a parade, lots of stalls promoting community groups, selling food and drink, and musical entertainment, also features Cornish Pilot Gig Racing and the Saltash Sailing Club Cadets sailing dinghy racing.

Pilot Gig racing is very popular here in Cornwall as well as over the rest of the country. Pilot Gigs date back to the 17th century and were historically used for life boats and by coastguards.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_pilot_gig

http://www.saltashregatta.co.uk/

The Samba Kernow drummers leading the parade

The Saltash Town Crier followed by the Air and Sea Cadets

The town officers and the mayor

and the Wreckers Morris dancing group bought up the rear

http://wreckersmorris.yolasite.com/

Gigs rowing out to the start line under the Saltash Bridges

And the Gigs racing

The sailing barge Shamrock, which generally lives at Cotehele Quay further up the Tamar River, was tied up at the Saltash Sailing Club Pontoon. Later on the Wrechers morris danced on the Pontoon!

My Sister in Law, Nina, who is the current Commodore of the Saltash Sailing Club was very busy

Nina's yacht "Tiger"

We popped into a waterfront wine bar for a coffee and were entertained by members of the Western Harmony Approach Choir.

http://www.westernapproach.org/

The Saltash Town Band were also playing

A view across the Tamar from Saltash's Jubilee Green to the point the river Tavy Joins the Tamar in Devon

We were walking past a Travel Agent in Saltash when we saw an advert for a week in Corfu (or Kerkyra) for 178 pounds per person. That was air fair and accommodation. So we found ourselves staying in Sidari in the north of the island in the Monika Apartments,

It was a two hour and forty minutes flight from Gatwick to Corfu which, whilst being part of Greece is very close to Albania

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corfu

Sidari is approximately an hours drive from Kerkyra town (and airport)

Thanks to Google Earth for the maps.

The Monika Apartments in Sidari

Looking along the beach from the Monika Apartments towards Sidari

The road from Kerkyra to Sidari climbed up over the mountains to Sidari. This is a view from the road through the Olive Trees towards Paleokastritsa.

We firstly toured down the eastern side of the island from Sidari to Pelekas.

We passed through little villages and Olive Groves, some with distant views of the Ionian Sea and occasionally past picturesque ruins.

Just down the cast from Sidari we came to a village called Agios Stefano. Confusingly there is another Agios Stefano on the western side of the Island

We found a great coffee shop there!

Just inland was a picturesque village called Dafni with great views

The resort of Agios Georgios is not far from Dafni.
Not far from here is the coastal castle of Angelokastro which dates back to the 143th Century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelokastro_%28Corfu%29

The village of Lakones is perched high on the hill with two or three restaurants with a magnificent view over Paleokastritsa and the surrounding coastline

A view of the coast from the road entering Paleokastritsa

A view of one of the beaches at Paleokastritsa

Looking along the beach towards the Monastery at Paleokastritsa

A view of the Monastery

Just a little further down the East Coast is a village called Pelakas. Just outside the village is a lookout o the top of a mountain called the Kaisers Throne. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany bought a Palace not far from Kerkyra Town on the west coast of Corfu in 1907 as a holiday house. Apparently he liked to come here to watch the sunset. It has fantastic panoramic views, this one looking across the island over Kerkyra Town towards the north western end of the island.

My Mum, Viv, enjoys the view.

We took a drive down the North Western coast of the island past the point which is the closest point to the mainland, in this case Albania. On the way we passed the small town of Kassiopi. This headland is the site of a Byzantine fort later occupied by the Venetians.

Not far away is a delightful village confusingly called Agios Stefanos, but not to be mixed with the other village of that name we visited earlier!

This is the closest point to Albania. In fact it is so close, my mobile phone suddenly decided it was in Albania and I got a few welcome texts from Albanian Telcos!

The bay appears to be popular with yachtsmen from around the world. I spotted one yacht sporting the Australian Flag there

There is another very fine coffee shop there right on the bay. This photo shows a yacht getting under way with the hydrofoil ferry that runs from Kerkyra Town to Albania speeding by in the background.

Not far down the coast is another dramatic view across the straits to Albania. One of the Villas that Gerald Durrell wrote about in his book "My Family And Other Animals" is not far from here. That book is a great memoir of an English boy growing up on Corfu.

We took a day cruise from Kerkyra Town to two small islands to the south of Corfu - Paxos and Antipaxos. As we left the ferry terminal we passed by the two magnificent Venetian forts that dominate the city of Kerkyra.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Fortress,_Corfu

And this is the newer fortress.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Fortress

We passed down the southern coast of Corfu, past the resort of Kavos

and then the southern tip of the island.

Our first view of Paxos was the entry to the little village of Lakka in the north of Paxos, and then down the west coast of that Island

The eastern coast of the island has many sea caves, some of them quite large

Trip boats sail right into one of them

One of the guide books I have read suggests the the Greek Navy hid one of their submarines in one of these caves during the second World War

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_cave

The main town is Gaios which is very much a tourist town and is the hub for cruise boats

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paxi

The quayside

the main square.

We had a great week in Corfu and flew home to Gatwick. On the drive down to Saltash we stopped off for lunch in Winchester, the ancient capital of Wessex, and later, of England.

https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Winchester