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A very warm welcome everyone to my first Dragon Drascombe Newsletter of 2020, a year in which I will be focused on providing an even greater spread of accommodation alternatives within the community of Geni and Vliho Bay.

The past year of 2019 has seen a lot of change which has impacted on my Drascombe Lugger charter company in the Ionian. After years of pronouncements by the Greek Government, they finally implemented last May a “Yachting Tax”. This has been ongoing for the past 6 years, possibly longer. It will be for the benefit of the economy and once all the wrinkles are ironed out, it should work. For myself with the Luggers it will not be relevant as they are under the length limit and are classed as day boats / dinghies. The Flotilla / Charter Companies however will be affected by the tax.

The other change that is just about complete, is that the business has been registered in Greece and the boats re-registered, now with Greek registry and insurance. Apart from the time it’s taken, it will not have any impact on my Lugger Holidays.

The summer of 2019 saw the demise of Thomas Cook Airlines who were frequent carriers from the UK to Greece, especially Preveza. However, with the emergence of Jet2, a new carrier, and the Thomas Cook flight slots going to Easy Jet and the low cost Norwegian Air, there are now only 2 days in each week when there are no flights to Preveza. Flight prices at present are respectable, they will never go back to the days of Monarch Airlines, so this is positive.

From last September when £1 Sterling only got you €1 , things are improving week by week, with the rate at €1.171, so again a move forward for those planning a visit to the Ionian.

The big news for ourselves as a family is that Stephanie my daughter, is making great strides in her recovery from surgery to eradicate her diagnosed Ovarian Cancer, this procedure took place in July 2019. She is now back running and just yesterday received her entry confirmation to participate in The Great North Run this coming late summer.

This year, as a company, Dragon Drascombe Ltd will support Target Ovarian Cancer and contribute from our income to this very worthwhile cause. Last year’s Great North Run by Andy, my son in law, raised well over £3000 for TOC.

So a lot has happened during 2019, let us all hope that 2020 will be a healthy and peaceful year. For those who aim to visit Dragon Drascombe, we look forward to giving you a great holiday in the sun.

Bengy is enjoying watching some of my Lugger sailors trying out canoeing and paddleboarding. These are just some of the activities offered by Horizon Watersports in Nidri, and you’ll be hearing more about this in the February newsletter.

You will I’m sure have followed the great review in the previous newsletter of getactivelefkas, the biking guys from Nidri who run road and off-road biking sessions around the hilly countryside. My past family groups have loved these evening sessions.

Whilst appreciating that you all have a great affection for the distinguished lines of the Drascombe Lugger and its easy sailing characteristics, especially out in this magnificent area of the South Ionian, there is now a great opportunity to explore this uniquely Greek countryside on foot or by cycle, and combine it with your day sailing. Your kids will just love it, take a look at the article on Cycle and Sail. So there is so much to look forward to in 2020.

I could even interest you in a 2-week adventure to explore the Island of Ithica by Lugger. They have Electric Bikes at Frikes to hire, as Richard and Cheri Crosley told us about in their visit last June. How about this for an itinerary?

You will arrive at Preveza on Sunday 23rd August, be collected by my taxi and following a Meze lunch will be taken to the Nidri ferry port for the 2-hour ferry to Frikes Bay, where your Lugger will be awaiting your arrival. For this first week you will stay at the splendid Frikes Bay Suite and be well looked after by Peter and his staff as you can read in Cheri’s review.

On the morning of Sunday 30th August I will arrive by Rib to collect your bags and transport them back to Geni where they will await your arrival at your apartment at Geni Garden. This will give you the chance to have a full day to sail north from Frikes to Vliho Bay, a great day out and achievement. Your apartment at Geni Garden is large and sea-facing, with full self-catering facilities and a delightful balcony, from which you can sail and explore the lovely harbours and islands around the Meganissi channel. Your return to Preveza on the 6th September will be arranged with my taxi company.

This will be my last post of this year. I do hope you will appreciate the diverse nature and approach of the holidays available for this coming summer. As you can read on our Cycle and Sail page, we have teamed up with Simon and Lucy at Get Active Lefkas to offer a variety of cycling and walking activities for you and your family while you stay with us at Dragon Drascombe.

The Villa Eleanor, the Gem of Geni, has recently undergone a total professional refurbishment to a very high standard and is now available for families or groups. It has 3 bedrooms, accommodating up to 6 persons in exceptional luxury, and is very private with your Lugger safely moored on their sheltered pontoon.

In my January Newsletter I will give you an introduction to the Horizon Watersports crew, and the activities they will be able to offer to Lugger guests, so look out for that in the new year.

So finally, to all Drascombers, past and present, I wish you a merry Christmas and look forward to meeting up in the sun in 2020

My morning starts with getting the weather forecast for the day, walking Bengy my Greek sheep dog and then the 15 minute motor in the tender south into Vliho Bay, and to the bakery owned and run by Harri. As those who have stayed with me at ‘Luggering about in the sun’ will have experienced, the bakery is a real treasure; there are numerous mentions in past clients’ reviews of his pastries and especially the Spinach Pies, all made on site. It’s just brilliant.

Stephen and Emmie arrived late afternoon on Sunday 28th September, my last group before the final boat clean and getting the equipment ready for storage over the winter. They are here to have an initiation into Sailing for Emmie and a refresher course for Stephen.

As when all my groups arrive, we meet initially at the Gialos Taverna for a cold beer and a Meze lunch, before settling into whatever accommodation has been selected, be it a Villa, Geni Garden Apartment, Stella Apartment or, as it is for Stephen and Emmie, an Apartment at the Gialos.

For their first day yesterday – Stephen’s Birthday – it was an accompanied motor over to the bakery, then onto the small supermarket at Vliho for provisions. After a late breakfast we had an initiation into the Lugger Paxi, this taking place in Vliho Bay itself. Then with myself on board we motored out into the channel and headed south to a very small bay which is favoured for swimming and snorkelling.

Stephen and Emmie will finish their review in a week or so to give you an update on their experience of Luggering about in the sun. So please stay connected to the website and read their review.

Today is 1st October, and I awoke for my early morning walk and my trip across the bay with the sunrise in a temperature of 22 degrees; as I write this blog this afternoon it has topped 29 degrees!

Just remember to consider a late break sailing in 2020. The weather is fantastic out here in the Greek Ionian and the crowds have gone.

The first day of September, and what a lovely change this morning at 6.30, a calm, clear and fresh atmosphere, temperature around 20 degrees and the Meganissi Chanel very quiet.

We are now coming into the last six weeks of the charter season. September especially is a great month, the locality is much quieter, the Italian tourists have departed and with the sea remaining warm it’s great to pull into a cove, have lunch and swim.

We started in early June and have seen groups, couples and families join us to enjoy the free and easy approach adopted. There is no hard and fast time to get out to sail, in fact you may choose not to sail at all. People can walk from the apartments, use the Lugger as a taxi to visit Vliho or Nidri and of course use it to visit the Gialos Taverna in the evening.

It has indeed been a busy period, as you will see from the reviews. We kicked off in early June with Helen and Tony from Melbourne Australia. They sail a traditional boat, but quickly became conversant with the Lugger. They started their adventure by flying into Athens and spent their first week discovering historic sites around the city, then getting a train to the Monasteries of Meteora in the north, these dating back to the 14th century – what a journey back into history for them, and they had a great time. After a coach trip via Preveza they spent their remaining 3 weeks at Geni Garden and getting familiar with the Lugger.

This summer has brought four families to ‘Lugger about in the Sun’ with children from the ages of 9 to 15 and using the splendid Villa Eleanor and the Geni Garden large family apartment, all have been so complimentary of their accommodation, and with the variety of activities we are able to offer the children, be it paddle boarding, kayaking or mountain biking. More of this in later reviews. For such family groups we are able to devise an activities programme to suit all needs and ages.

We will now be very busy preparing the boats for 2020, cleaning and keeping them in tip-top condition for the start in mid-May. With flights prices now into both Preveza and Corfu being at their best and availability of the larger sea facing apartments at Geni Garden readily available it is advisable to think ahead and book early, I am just a phone call away to talk through your questions.

Remember, it’s just a 15% confirmation deposit now, with the remainder paid in 2020.

So call me and grab your 2020 “Luggering about in the sun” holiday

You may have followed Lugger Clara’s progress from October 2018 when I acquired her and brought her back to the workshop of Dragon Design at Tredegar in South Wales. This is the home and base of my Cabinetry and boat building business.

She has now travelled across Central Europe, enduring a dramatic fault with her hull to deck mould just after launching, all fully repaired at the 11th hour, yet delivered to Frikes on the island of Ithaca in time for old friends to have her for her inaugural charter week.

Neil, Jean and Daughter Ruth, as you will note from their previous reviews, are experienced Lugger sailors and frequent visitors to Frikes, staying with Peter at his wonderful Frikes Bay Suite, so close and overlooking the small village harbour.

On their arrival at Nidri on Sunday 25th August, I met them and following a quick Meze lunch and cold beer they were put onto the 15.30 ferry to Frikes, they would spend their first week there sailing around old haunts and coves, discovering more of this truly wonderful island. Their second week would be back at Geni in Vliho Bay staying yet again with Franz, Poldi and Daughter Sandra at Geni Garden Apartments. For the return trip I collect their luggage from Frikes to allow them to enjoy the comfort of the Lugger and have a pleasant sail back.

On the clear yet cool morning of 1st September I set off from Vliho Bay, firstly fuelling up Warrior Spirit for the trip south to Frikes, collecting friends on Meganissi and then heading out of the channel into open water for the leg across to Ithaca. This is a main sea route to the port of Patras from the Adriatic coast port of Bari and Ancona, so very busy with large ferries and container ships. It is however a very scenic passage, the islands of Ithaca and Kephalonia are very mountainous, rugged and green, these mountains dropping down steeply into the Ionian Sea creating a spectacularly back drop.

With the Rib travelling at 30 knots we soon entered Frikes Bay, it has an obvious tower standing on the southern entrance to the small harbour and as you approach the mole harbour wall, the Frikes Bay Suite is dead in front with its 2-tiered levels of apartments and with striking cream frontage. The aspect from the apartment balcony overlooking the small bay is just awesome – sunrises in the early morning and late evening, with the arrival of yachts mooring up, all adds great interest from the balcony .

A breakfast for ourselves with Peter was the order of the day whilst the Wilson Family got themselves ready for their day on the water.

Soon we had loaded their bags on the Rib and circled in the harbour awaiting for them to slip their lazy line and head out past the breakwater mole. The breeze was good, force 3 to 4 from the south west which gave them a great sail back, stopping off at Arkoudi Island for the customary swim and lunch.

A fantastic end to their first week ‘Luggering about in the Sun’, and well done Clara for your first week on charter.

For those interested in Greek history and mythology, Ithaca was the island home of the hero Odysseus in Homer’s classic poem The Odyssey, believed to have been composed in the 8th century BC.

You must all visit Ionian Greece and Dragon Drascombe.

It was good to leave the Chiemsee campsite, still wet and cold and have the certainty of hitting better weather as each day we headed south, firstly through Austria, into Slovenia where the new roads are excellent and dropping into the northern end of Croatia. Again, I had pre-booked a campsite at Selce for 2 nights as it’s good to have a break from driving. Arriving at the campsite I noticed a ‘rumbling’ noise from the radiator area of the van, which I assumed was something to do with the air-con, since when switched off the noise stopped. I was to find out on Saturday morning that it had far reaching consequences!

A great rest day, time to catch up with some walking for Bengy and some paddling in the sea. He doesn’t do chasing sticks, but prefers just wading in the shallows and floating around, being very hairy. He then shackles himself near to someone, it’s all a part of getting wet for him.

Not quite an early start on Saturday morning, we left at 10 and joined the slow-moving holiday traffic heading towards Split on the coast road. At Senji you can keep on the coast road which out of the holiday season is good, but slow. So it was an easterly heading up the mountain road that joined with the main Highway.

Just before the Highway I lost power in the van, the engine ran but no power. So, conveniently I pulled in at an intersection where there was a cafe / restaurant and called the AA breakdown call centre number. Eventually after half an hour of listening to their recorded messages, I got through to an English speaking advisor. By this time a low-loader rescue vehicle had pulled up and asked if he could help. This detail I explained to the AA advisor and she recommended I take up his offer of a low-loader drive to Zadar, which as it happens was on our route. It transpired that these breakdown trucks trawl the motorway areas looking for custom, they are not a part of the Croatian road rescue organisation alas and can basically charge whatever they like for the service.

By late afternoon he took us to a back street garage out of town. For this 2 hour ride on the back of his truck came a price tag of 8500 HKU. They are not in the EU and this £1150 had to be paid then in that local currency, the Kuna. It wiped me out of my spare Eu notes and with a visit to a card machine withdrew the rest from 3 cards in Kune. The driver must have thought it was Christmas come early!

The defective electric fan was ordered but could not be fitted until Monday morning. This part and the labour amounted to another 9000.00 Kuna, but at least it was all done by late afternoon and we were back on the main highway heading for a stopover at Dubrovnik: what a lovely drive and getting hot.

So out of Croatia and into Montenegro. You think the Dover Border is a pain, but it’s not a patch on the leaving Croatia and entering Montenegro, just over 3 hours plus a Green Card insurance of 75 EU just to be in Montenegro for 3 hours. However, their short ferry crossing to avoid a tricky 30 mile drive was great, followed by driving up into the mountains to reach the Albanian border, spectacular views although a bit hazy.

By late afternoon we were again in heavy traffic waiting at the border to cross into Albania. These 2 counties are destined to join the EU very shortly, I think next year. They are going to have a shock, or is the EU going to scratch its head and wonder what have they let themselves in for? Out of the main towns they are really poor towns and villages.

Our last evening was spent at a truck stop in Albania. With an early kick-off we soon crossed into northern Greece and made our way through the University City of Ioannina and heading south to Lefkada, where we arrived at last on Wednesday evening after a journey of 9 days. It was well worth it since Clara was now in the boat yard ready for her chartering during September and October.