A visit to friends in Mesolongi - 24 to 27 July

With Pierre & Madeleine in El Rompido, Spain, where we first met

Our plan had been to meet our Swiss friends, Pierre and Madeleine, whose boat Manati we'd checked earlier, for a cruise in company. But they emailed us to say they weren't going to launch. So our only way to meet them was to sail to Mesolongi.

A fine north-westerly took us nearly all the way to Oxia, in the entrance to the Gulf of Patras, and we anchored in the cool waters of the mouth of the River Akheloos, supposedly the longest river in Greece. We set the traps, and in the small hours a big commotion woke me to find a rat thrashing around with his feet stuck to the glue pad. Now what to do? I tried drowning him in a bucket of seawater, but he managed to keep his head above water, and I didn't have any tongs to hold him down. So I chucked him overboard, feeling a bit guilty at throwing plastic in the sea.

Pierre and Madeleine welcomed us at the quayside in Mesolongi, and we had a most enjoyable three days catching up, and watching Madeleine do her shopping in pretty fluent Greek. Sadly (for us), they are selling up and returning to their perfect house in Switzerland.