Those of you who read the blog regularly will know that I have had a tumultuous 27 months, having been diagnosed with a brain tumour in June of 2021; undergone a craniotomy; experienced 30 rounds of radiotherapy, prescribed 6 cycles (9 months) of PCV chemotherapy; bought a house (and moved in the day I had confirmation of the date for my second craniotomy after a recurrence in late 2022); followed up my second surgery with news of 'something else' and decided with my medical team to review the situation after having 6 cycles of TMZ chemotherapy (one more cycle to go!).
During this time, I have tried to keep our lives as 'normal' as possible - returning to work as soon as I was able, taking trips away in our campervan, seeing friends as much as possible - the one thing we hadn't managed to do was a 'proper' holiday abroad (my passport needed renewing after our wedding in 2019 and it hadn't been a priority).
This August we finally managed it - OK we relied on friends and friends of friends to help us with arrangements for accommodation (and almost the whole decision making process), but we did manage to sort our flights, passports, car parking and pack!
Saturday
Starting with the obligatory airport beer (not breakfast for this trip as we had afternoon flights).
What followed, some seven hours later (and a 2 hour time difference) was a hot, dark, drive - first through Corfu town, then around the windy coastal and mountain roads of Corfu island.
Arriving at our accommodation at around 11.30pm local time, all we wanted was the air con of the apartment and a cold beer - fortunately, our lovely hosts had provided both of these and we were not disappointed.
After a quick tour of the facilities, we settled into bed for a cold night time drink (just the one - sleep wasn't far behind).
Sunday
The next morning, we rose at a typically silly time, with some devices still on UK time (two hours behind local), and had coffee while getting ready. We took our time, unpacking and hydrating with plenty of water, and caught up again with our hosts over a coffee on the small terrace outside the apartment - the view was lovely - almost tropical in flora with a continuous backing of crickets that drowned out anything else in the surrounding area.
Then it was time for breakfast, almost brunch by the time we arrived at the eatery / bar we had chosen for our first day. The restaurant offered local breakfast or full English options and, fortunately for Mr W, Gluten free food and a delicious cider Milo Kleftis (translates loosely as 'apple thief'). For myself I stuck to Mythos for the first beer of the day.
This breakfast and our drinks ended around the time that the Women's World cup final was due to start, so in a break of our personal habits, we stayed and watched the whole thing.
At the end, we decided it was probably time for a siesta, and took a walk along the beach back to our apartment.
A quick snooze and we were both ready to head out again, so grabbing our swimming gear we popped down to the beach for our first dip of the week. We both made quite a dent in the reading books, while also scrambling over the rocky shallows to take a swim. My favourite part was seeing all the fish darting around our feet.
Dinner that night was a local Taverna (nowhere we walked to was further than 15 minutes walk, another handy aspect of the location, due to my fatigue and our other medical problems.
Another lovely view from our dinner table as I tucked in to an enormous fish platter, and Mr W enjoyed a Gluten free local special.
My phone camera was unable to do the glorious sunset the justice it deserved, so I didn't really try.
Monday
The next day we took advantage of the hire car and following recommendations from our UK side friends, we drove out to Bouka Beach. There, you can hire beach beds (with parasol) for a very reasonable 10 Euros, and this includes bar service - cocktails and beers.
Mr W was sceptical about his ability to spend an entire day at the beach, but (thankfully) surprised himself. Arriving at around 11am and not leaving until nearer 6pm.
We had a most relaxing time reading, drinking and swimming to see more of the local sea life (I up levelled from goggles to a mask and snorkel the evening before).
The fish were most enchanted with Mr W's feet and we spent a long time just watching them flit around in the clouds of sand we kicked up.
Tuesday
The following day we followed another recommendation to a local eatery 'Mad Mike's' for breakfast - at 15 minutes in the blazing sun to make it there an hour before they closed for the afternoon, we were very relieved to find them still serving.
Another very good breakfast, and a couple of beers again left us feeling ready for a nap before heading out in the later afternoon. This time to a local hotel to make use of their pool and bar (amazing cocktails at this one).
Back to the same Taverna as on Sunday, after a walk past this amazing view - just opposite the apartment - the beach is Lakkiess beach, and the sun was this hazy for days - probably due to the wild fires on the islands in the area.
This time, we had a views of the beach for dinner and I gorged on mussels while Mr W enjoyed a different local dish.
Wednesday
Our car day - we wanted to see more of the island, so we mapped a route to take in the North and South, then decided to leave the tour of the North to our last day.
The tour had some success - I was working with the map from the back of my guidebook and navigating to marked viewpoints that didn't have any indication of where they were. So our first stop looked to be a lovely high viewpoint over a bay, and we navigated to 'viewpoint car park'.
After a narrow drive through very windy streets and villages, the roads parked either side with cars and scooter riders taking their lives into their hands at either turn, We turned off a paved road onto a sandy, rutted path. We did wonder if it would take us to an amazing view, or a dead end, but it was heading up so we persevered. The navigation got confused several times - trying to take us down roads that patently weren't there, but after a while we arrived at 'Viewpoint car park'. This turned out to be a slightly wider bit of road - it would be generous to call it a lay by - with no signposts to indicate where the viewpoint was to be found. It being 36 degrees outside the car and neither of us being up to much of a walk, we returned to the aircon of the car and continued on to the next viewpoint.
Here the road was even worse. Once we had left the beaten track, we were driving a sand path winding around pot holes you could swim in (if there was any water), and a sleeping cat who didn't even flinch as we drove around it, only relocated by the time we were heading down. We found the 'car park' at the end of the road, and maps indicated it was a short walk to the view this time. It was still sweltering, and I was unsure if it would be worth it, but I was delighted to find our efforts did not go amiss when we reached the end to find the following outstanding views.
This sign caused no small amount of alarm
as we sipped water that had miraculously remained cool and summoned the energy to return to the car.
We had actually started our day at a Byzantine fortress a short drive from the resort, walking around the 1500 yr old ruins was fascinating - as was the slightly different approach to visitor safety in Corfu compared to the UK.
Thursday
A quiet day starting with another easy breakfast. This one featured our first drops of rain for the week. Only three of them - easily avoided. Followed by a lunchtime read and some wine, then another late afternoon at the local pool.
Friday
On our last full day, we decided another beach day was in order and drove round to the nearby Issos Beach - it was a little busier than Bouka and had no bar service, but the swimming was lovely and the proximity to the resort made it the perfect spot before our evening activity. An evening meal at the beautifully located and excellent Archontiko Bar restaurant.
To find out more about our amazing evening at Archontiko, our leaving day and see some more photo highlights of the trip. Read next week's blog post!