We were originally going to come out to Greece in late May when we had exchanged on the sale of our house but that took a month longer than expected. Add into the mix, a family funeral and trying to buy the flat we have been renting since September and you can see why we have only just managed to get out to Lavrion!

We were up at 0315 on Monday morning for our 0650 flight. All went well and we were in Athens by 1230, picked up the hire car by 1330 and in Lavrion by 1500 via Lidl (essentials such as gin and beer required!). After a quick lunch we made our way to the boatyard to see how Nimmie had fared since we were last here in January. Not too bad at first sight all in all although down below she looks like a bomb has gone off with everything topsy turvy from the work we have had done.

To recap, we had a new anchor windlass fitted although it of course also meant that all the wiring had to be replaced as it’s much more powerful than an old one. At least poor Liz won’t have to pull up the anchor by hand when the old one invariably failed! This new super dooper one even has a remote control so we can control it from the cockpit. It should make mooring stern to onto quays (quite common in Greece) much easier. Well, that’s the theory! The remote can also control our bow thruster, which given our old joy stick had a mind of its own and didn’t always want to play (as those of you who have been on Nimmie will remember) has got to be a bonus! We had one of our metal water tanks re- welded as it was leaking. At 25 years old, it’s not surprising that the old girl is seeping around some of her edges. However, in order to get the tank out, it looks like they had to deconstruct the entire starboard side of the saloon. Still, it also gave us the chance to clean out the bilges and repaint them. For the non nautical minded, the bilges are in the bottom of the boat where all the dirty water ends up. Usually a mix of sea water, oil, grime and anything else that’s fairly horrible! We also had the rudder re-epoxied as there was a bit of water ingress and no one likes a soggy rudder!

We wouldn’t normally be out in Greece during July as it’s busier and hotter. This trip has only confirmed our view. Trying to complete boat jobs in 37 degrees heat is not pleasant. We’ve been getting up early to try to do the outside work before the heat of the day but it all takes much longer than you think.

Whilst we’ve only been here three days, it feels like a second home. There’s something about knowing a place that you’ve visited several times. We know the local restaurants, supermarkets and bakeries so it makes stocking up very stress free. The people at the boatyard also know us so, again, it helps getting work done on our schedule rather than theirs. Although to be fair, they are very accommodating as we ended up changing the boat launch date at least three times.

One of the most important jobs to be completed was sticking her name on the stern (back) as it had started to peel off. Liz had ordered replacement decals and after cleaning and polishing, Nimmie was once more legal!

As we’ve decided that as we need to be back in the U.K. by the 21st of July it didn’t make sense to launch Nimmie for less than a two week sail. As it happens, we wouldn’t have got her ready until Friday and then we would have had only ten days sailing. So, instead of sailing to the Dodecanese in Nimmie we will use more conventional transport and treat ourselves to hotels with air conditioning to do some island hopping and decide whether to move her in the autumn.