Mountains,goats and lots of rain

Well here we are in Kota Kounoupitsa in Crete, a 20 minute walk from the town of Kissamos on the west coast. It,s very beautiful, surrounded by mountains and olive groves but is a 20 minute walk  (down/up hill) into town, The lodge is well equipped and charming  and has a log burner. We have been here for a month and the downside has been the weather. It rains, It rains a lot!! The locals tell us this is the worst winter since 2004 and that last year it was in the early 20.s at this time of year but that really is no consolation,
We googled the 5 hottest places in Europe in winter and this was one of them, So far so untrue so let's hope it improves. Still, we are managing to get in some fantastic walks between storms and Scruffbag really loves the place. It is a Greek area rather than a tourist area  and the hamlet has some rental properties and some Greek households - lots of children around , which is good.

There is a good bus service to Chania and hence all places on the Chanai old road but that is about it. We can catch further buses from Chania but it does mean an early start - so we are hoping that some of the friends we have made will be kind with their offers of lifts when they visit remoter places.

We can see buzzards from our windows most days and goats are everywhere. Down the road there is a strange man called Pedro whose great love is his pig (which can be hand fed olives as a treat). He told us she was due to farrow soon but he has now discovered she is not pregnant at all - no idea what goes on in his head but he had built a n indoor place with heat lights for the piglets.

Cake shops here are open all day and every day even holidays and the cakes are delicious. We went to the local winery and had a tasting - the result of which was the purchase of 6 bottles of red and 6 white BUT  Greek wines have no year vintage on the bottles. The wines at the tasting were great and the wine we now own is virtually undrinkable !! I foresee lots of cooking with wine.

I will endeavour to update this blog weekly in readiness for our departure (3rd time lucky) on our sailing adventure in spring.