We were now more than half way through our little adventure, happily finding our groove and remembering what we really enjoy but also (honestly), wondering exactly how we would make the last 2 weeks in Crete memorable. It’s not a bad thing and we weren’t in any way ungrateful but it was a bit ‘same same’. In the same timeframe on our last adventure we had gone from Colombia through Panama onto Costa Rica and reached El Salvador…so our benchmark needed a little readjustment let’s say!

To make things work we broke a cardinal rule – never go back! We returned to Paleochora – home of the heat dome. We had loved the town but were trapped indoors and now we also knew that the temperature when we were there had reached 45 degrees – so no wonder we felt like we needed to hide.

When in Paleochora this time around we went big…a whole day on a skippered private boat ride. There was a tricky choice to make around hitting Elifonisi in the west (famed pink sand Caribbean type beach) or head east to explore a coastline with little car access. We chose the latter and were blooming pleased we did. Greece at its best – startlingly clear sea, secluded beaches with dramatic backdrops, cool blasts of spring water where it fed into the sea from underground, swimming from the boat to beaches and lots of jumping from the boat action.

Big thanks to our skipper Pavlos who got us out and back safely. Not captured on camera (because we were holding on) were the water vortexes from the high winds on the return journey.

Aside from the return journey (or also perhaps because of it in part), this was the top day of the holiday. All three of us love being on and in the sea and it was totally blissful. James was epic on the boat trip loving jumping (and trying to fly!) from the front of the boat and being rescued in a mum / dad life-bouy tug of war game. This is the stuff you remember for the rest of your life.

Paleochora had more to give with a typical dirt track / pebble / empty beach that was superb, once again putting our little 1 litre car to the test getting there. It also had a gorge running from the car park up to the village above. Shame the kitchen was closed on arrival after nearly 2 hours of walking 🤯.

We knew from earlier in the holiday that James would get ‘beached out’ so we had to find some alternatives. Prior to the Paloechora return we spent some time near Rethymno, which had absolutely nothing to do with a stunning CrossFit box which was 5 minutes away. Yippee!!!

James will tell you this place was his favourite part of the holiday. He calls it ‘Lily’s place’. We stayed at a villa with 4 suites with a shared pool, bbq, help yourself eco-garden and playground. One of the suites was occupied by John, Ursula, Uncle Ken, Thomas, William and gorgeous 3 year old Lily.

We didn’t do very much (apart from daily CrossFit 😁). An easy day trip each day and one was pretty cool – Argyroupolis – but each night we stayed in and used the bbq, with Minoas our fab host holding an event on the final night.

John (the other one), Ursula and Kev (Uncle Ken) were fab company and we really enjoyed the stay. But James in particular was smitten with Lily and had the most wonderful time picking vegetables, having picnics and rolling balls down holes on the pool table. Ursula you are the most amazing mum and we wish you all the best with John for your new arrival in the autumn.

Enagron Eco Resort in the mountains was our other non sea locale. One word – DONKEY heee hooooorrrr !!!

James loved it. We thought we were epic on day 1, aside from a mild panic when donkey #1 appeared to want to canter. Day 2 I can confirm that donkey #1 and #2 wanted nothing to do with it and despite a John temping them with grapes and pomegranate they took one look at us and said no! For one brief half hour we found 2 creatures that made our 5 year old seem accommodating 🤣.

In a time before James, John and I would have trekked and run together earning our feta cheese and enjoying seeing the local scenery. With James only 5 it’s not really possible and so we separately headed off up the mountain tracks each day for a ‘run’ / stagger uphill and down. We each loved it although in the days that followed neither of us could quite walk, with some pains that definitely would not have been there in the old days – not sure why! One day we will enjoy doing this together once more 😊.

I think James’ second favourite part of the holiday might have been a trip to Reptisland – a room filled with various reptiles with loads of them available to be touched, held and fed. Ignoring for a moment the slightly aggressive tortoise that thought my green shoes might have been edible it was a cool experience. We didn’t dwell on just how Covid safe it was the transfer creatures person to person and also whether the passionate owner really thought about whether the chameleons, snakes and geckos totally loved being passed around. We did however visit it twice upon request from James!

We ended our adventures close the Chania. Checking out a few local tiny coves and almost getting stuck in our car and nearly burning out the clutch on a very steep slope out of one cove.

We also had dinner a couple of times in Chania old town. It’s just beautiful and would totally recommend a visit – especially if you stayed in a boutique hotel within the city walls and didn’t take a 5 year old with you!

So that’s a wrap. We’re on the plane home grateful for a massive holiday and also looking forward to a few months of less feta cheese. We’re all strangely looking forward to home and hopefully catching up with friends and family. So far the protocol of travelling from an Amber list country seems fine, if a little expensive with £200+ worth of Covid tests.

As ever we are planning our next big jaunt. Canada and Seychelles are currently top of the list. We’ll just have to see how thing develop into the Autumn!