Small but perfectly formed.

The travel van, when we saw her for the first time at Brownhills.

 Strong, retractable step and doorway into the dinette. Fly screen attached to the door to keep the mossies out!!

Fixed single beds with real mattresses 

 and short, but proper stairway.

A three burner hob and nice deep sink. There is even a 

built in windbreak to shield the flames because it's by the door.

Here we 

 the television seats and below, the dining

 room. Lots of light.

There is a further

 comfy seat so that we have space to entertain

Great shower room and a flushing toile

This is the garage which  runs the width of the van. So much storage space.

Won't be long before we are " on the road again "

Welcome Billy Burstner.

When you've made a mistake, 'fess up and do something about it.
So we did, and it's bye bye Smiler and hello Billy Burstner.
As panel vans go, Smiler served us well. Morocco, France and overland to Greece all in 11 months, but she was too small for us Senior ladies who like our comfort.
Making a bed morning and night, can you imagine the mayhem after too much vino!! Constantly  squeezing past one another, or being shouted at to sit down or go outside, so a job could be completed. A shower that was never used because the space was so small that the cold, wet shower curtain stuck to your skin. A huge sliding door that woke the world every time it was closed and a constant stoop so as not to clatter ones head when moving around the cab.
But ........ Smiler was cheaper to run than Delfin, more mpg and lower costs on the ferries, easier to park and she drove like a car, but we began to miss the extra inches that you get in a motorhome because it's more of a box on wheels, whereas a panel van is wider at the bottom and narrower at the top.
What to do? Find something longer than Smiler but shorter and lighter than Delfin. But if we limit ourselves to six and a half metres, what chance have we got of getting fixed single beds again?
Let the search begin.
Hours were spent scouring dealers websites, finding out which layouts were available, in which makes and models. We checked out weights and payloads, rear lounges and dinettes, storage, transverse beds and and even considered buying from abroad, when out of the blue, came the Burstner Travel Van t620.
It's a mini Delfin, everything we wanted in 6.50 metres. Ok so she's 2008 but there's only 15,000 miles on the clock, in mint condition and it has a garage!! For the uninitiated, that's a huge storage space that runs the width of the van, beneath the beds. It was love at first sight and even better, it was for sale at Brownhills, which is our favourite local dealer. Guess what, they were even prepared to keep her until we returned from Greece, because we were due to go the day after we found her.
Having done the exchange earlier this month,the van is on the drive and being made ready for our autumn trip to France in a little over four weeks. But we are off for a shake down jaunt to Buxton in the Peak District, with hook up, and then Malvern Show to use her just on leisure batteries and solar panel. Huh that's a laugh, as rainwater runs down the kitchen window and the skies are grey!
Finally, here are the three girls
Delfin took us to Scotland , then Morocco, also, France, Spain and Portugal, Italy and Greece.

 Then came Smiler. You can see how much smaller a panel van conversion is, compared with a coach built motorhome, which is why we thought that this was the future for us. Despite her drawbacks we still managed to put 11,450 miles on the clock in fifteen months!! We had plenty of adventures in her. Remember that frightening mountain pass in Morocco, when we were so high, that we shared the sky with planes!!

 Meet Billie Burstner, female Billie, she's perfect for us. For a start she's lighter and shorter than Delfin, so when I hit 70 ( aghh ) I won't have to go through medicals and a mountain of paperwork to carry on driving.Despite being older, there are fewer miles on the clock,than Smiler had when we sold her!!

 Here they are, side by side on swap over day. The MH is taller, a few inches wider and  sixty centimetres longer, but the benefits for our comfort are huge.

.

In the next post, I'll take you inside for a look around

Last Day At Katelios

So after five weeks living on the beach, the ferry from Patras is looming large on the horizon.
We will set off for Poros in the morning, stock up on a few supplies and catch the evening ferry to Kilini, where we will sleep on the dockside before setting off for Patras and the voyage northwards up the Adriatic to Ancona.
Our last day has seen us enjoy a boat ride along the coast with Terry. The colours of the water have to be seen to be believed and you an see right down to the sea bed with ease. My highlight was being given the wheel and encouraged to open the throttle!!Anna back in the harbour and secured to to her mooring.

You will have seen Lola being held by Nicos in a previous blog. She calls each morning for a drink and a cuddle.

Adonis paid us a special visit and we were able to see him so clearly.

 Cannas are really coming into their own now and this barrel-full are at the side of us,as we sit having morning coffee at Kat Tav, one of our many wifi stops.

The jetty. It has been in ruins for months but as the busy tourist season approaches the local Greeks have still not repaired it!!  Roger and Melvyn to the rescue!! They fixed it with timber and breeze blocks so that the water taxi from Scala can dock. 

 Tonight we will share a farewell meal with Dave and Ellen as a Thankyou for letting us use their  washing machine and the many times that Dave has driven to and fro with our toilet cassette

"

So all that remains is to buy a few momentous and have a farewell meal with Dave and Ellen tonight. Me thinks that there could be plenty of the wine on the table too!

The Back Road

Katelios, rather than being a thriving metropolis, is a sleepy, three road village, and today we would like to take you down the back road. As some of our pals are gardeners, then here are the colours of summer on Kephalonia.

 Oleanders grow like weeds

Rubber plants are putting on new growth

Wonderful shape to these pines.

Boats that were parked on the road three years ago are still there,although Makis says that this year they will be in the water.

An ancient fridge tucked beneath Palm leaves.

Charcoal waiting to be used in an oven.

Hibiscus are glorious and the figs are ripening!!

Old,dilapidated shacks remain on land now worth thousands of euros and ready for development.

 The glorious vibrant colours of Bougainville are just beginning to dazzle after a late Spring.

Plumbago , a small, delicate plant grows nearby.

The amazing Angels Trumpets are almost at the end of their season.

All roads eventually lead to a taverna and here is Sue studying the menu at Katelios Grill.

The result a tasty souvlaki and a gyros, washed down with half of Mythos.

A few incidents

Having  heard so much regarding earthquakes, which have sadly caused so many lives to be lost recently, and then for us to actually experience a tremor, was quite frightening.

We were sat in the van a few days ago, feet up, relaxing, when the camper began to rock from side to side. This swaying motion lasted for about ten seconds and looking at each other, we said in unison, "earthquake " Kefalonia was relaxing too and releasing some of  her tension.

We continue to make new friends, both Greek and other nationalities. This morning, a French couple came to visit. They have a huge camper truck, and saw us from the other side of the bay, where they are parked up.

Brits on holiday always stop and ask questions about our travels. Greeks from the village now know us by name and local cats and dogs sit patiently under the awning, hoping for a treat.

It is purple thistle time in the fields and the air is full of stripped butterflies.

We had rain in the night, which continued for a couple of hours this morning, but now it's back to sun, sun and more sun.

Sue is making home made lemonade by the bucketful and I'm off to take some photographs.

Hello Sailor !!

Meet the skipper of the beautiful yacht, Caymen. This is Roger and he treated us to a wonderful, few hours, sailing the blue waters of the Ionian Sea.

Melvyn was Chief Petty Officer for the day, and he leapt fore and aft, as the Captain ordered and even Sue was asked to hold a rope!

Views of the coast that can't be seen from the shore.

The land lubbers finally arrive back on the dock feeling somewhat sickly after the wind dropped and we were left to wallow outside the harbour until Roger started up the engine to get us home!

Harbour Highlights

The moon is almost full, the mosquitoes are sounding like buzz saws in our ears and a mixture of  Greek music is wafting over to the van ,as we sit and enjoy the ambience of this Sunday evening.
Here are a few pictures that were taken today, so that you can see some of the delightful colours that are a part of the small harbour, just a few yards from our door

Nicos, with Lola having a break from painting his boat.

Busy fishermen repairing their nets.

Colourful

 boats of all sizes.

Giant witches and pulleys haul 

in nets full of tuna, bass, bream, snapper and swordfish

The nets come in all colours but the floats are always brown.

Roger and Melvyn ( the boys ) 

towed this colourful bouy

out to the reef this morning

Tidy coils of rope but I still tripped over them.

Wonderful reflections in the clear water

No ripples this evening to spoil the effect

This was morning coffee.... A coffee, a frappe, a slab of almond cake and two spoons

A love heart tomato with lunch

and a decorative lantern in the bole of a tree.