Arriving tired well after midnight the first thing we noticed about Maderia was how populated it is. Maybe it’s because we had come from the sparsely populated Azores but even in the dark we could see the houses stacked up the hillsides. The second thing we noticed were the road tunnels bored through the mountains… and how fast people drive through them. Every road seemed to go through at least one at some point.

To be honest Madeira was a shock to the system. Gone were the days of leisurely pootling around islands visiting swimming spots and going on hikes as and when we stumbled across them. Unless you got there very early everywhere is mobbed and car parks overflowing.

Adding to this there were wildfires raging in the central mountain range so a number of roads and areas were closed. In places there was an apocalyptic feel, with clouds of smoke turning the sun and air orange, along with thin coatings of ash everywhere. One fire was burning in the mountains 1.5km or so above our holiday home so we kept a watchful eye on local news and social media sites for information. On our last 3 summer holidays, Crete, Canada and now Madeira, there have been wildfires. A sad and concerning reminder of the changes we are making to our climate and environments.

Not dwelling on negatives here, Madeira did have its merits which we made the most of…

Many hikes on the island follow Levadas, irrigation channels used to carry water from the mountains to agricultural areas, which make going on ‘one of those walks’ more bearable for James. Often home to trout and edging around cliffs and underwater falls, helped make our hikes more fun by racing leaves down the watercourses and feeding the fish. Mountainsides were no barrier either, one hike had a claustrophobia inducing 1km long tunnel complete with water dripping from the low ceiling and path only wide enough for single file.

Spectacular high coastal cliffs were also a feature of the island. Too steep to cut out a road, cable cars to black sand beaches and swimming jetties with crystal clear waters seemed to be the norm. So, many hours were spent playing in the crashing waves and making sand and seaweed pies. Often followed by an ice-cream and beer (for mum and dad) stop on the way home.

After James’ fondness for feeding the deer in the Azores we were keen to meet some of Madeira’s fauna. On Sao Miguel a resident lizard in our holiday home kitchen kept chewing holes in any bananas we left out overnight, which we thought was novel. To top that, at one beachside restaurant in Madeira we discovered that lizards also like omelette and chips, much to James’s delight.

Most travel guides we’d read recommended a toboggan ride from Monte, a high suburb of Funchal, down to the city centre. We’d also read that it was a bit of a tourist trap with 2-hour queues, so we headed there ahead of its 9am opening time to secure our ride. The toboggans are basically wicker baskets with wooden rails steered down the steep streets by 2 chaps, ‘carreiros’, in straw hats. It was hilarious, Lucy squealed lots and James wanted to do it again. We rewarded our bravery with a coffee and cake at a farmers market, before yet another cable car ride over the city back to the top. There we visited the Monte Palace botanical gardens which we’d seen in photos of grandmas travels to the island a few years ago. So wandering through its lush greenery brought us back happy memories of grandmas love for all things gardening.

One of the games we played to keep James entertained on our many ‘one of those walks’ was creating our perfect Atlantic holiday island. Sao Miguel’s hot springs and coasteering/canyoning (and of course deer feeding), Pico’s natural sea swimming pools, Sao Jorge’s natural beauty and lack of tourism, Madeira’s cable cars and toboggan ride all featured. Whilst the islands didn’t have the wow factor of last years trip to Canada we had an amazing time exploring somewhere different. But most of all we feel lucky and super grateful for being able to spend the school summer holidays travelling together as a family.

From Sao Miguel we took a short flight to Sao Jorge, picked up our next hire car, then headed onto Pico by ferry. Although I can’t say it’s much fun reversing a car you’ve never driven before on to the hold of a small ferry with 50 or so people looking on.

Pico island is dominated by the towering 2351m Pico volcano (obvs) whose solidified lava flows cover huge swathes of the land. Most of the houses are built from the black lava rock and even its vineyards, which of course we visited, are nestled in the nooks and crannies of the lava flows.

Our holiday home was a beautiful traditional lava block cottage with the brooding volcano overlooking the back yard and a natural sea swimming pool out front. Taking an early morning swim then warming up with a hot cup of tea overlooking the crashing waves was definitely a highlight for me.

Since there are no beaches on Pico, protected natural sea swimming pools formed from gaps in the lava flows seem to be dotted every few km around the coast. So, many happy hours were spent with James diving in and chasing fish. Although thanks to the slightly chilly Atlantic water, Lucy was less keen.

We also spent time driving through pretty villages, walking along an old lava flow and going on an underwhelming wine tasting session. The wine wasn’t actually that bad, and thankfully the local supermarket sold the same stuff so sipping it in our back yard looking out towards the volcano was much more pleasing.

When asked, James says his favourite thing on Pico was feeding the deer with leaves at a local park. So much so that he pleaded to go back the next day 🤷🏼‍♂️

After a couple of days exploring it was time to head back to Sao Jorge which meant more anxiety inducing reversing on to the ferry.

Sao Jorge is a lush, green and sparsely populated island with very steep winding roads. Thankfully our hire car, whilst being a bit of a tank and having its fair share of bruises, had more grunt than our last one so came into its own. We stayed in a youth hostel using it as a base to explore the island. If that is what hostels are like these days they are a far cry from those I used to stay in as a backpacker. Spotless, private bathrooms, a kitchen without cockroaches and no drunken Aussies, Kiwi’s and Brits.

Sao Jorge also had its fair share of natural sea swimming pools. It was a bit of a schlep to get to but Piscina Natural Simão Dias was just stunning, and even Lucy was tempted in.

James was quite right to be suspicious when we suggested going on what was billed as a short ‘one of those walks’. The Fajã de Além trail, short yes, but with a 400m zigzagging decent down a forested cliff face, a brief picnic lunch stop at the bottom, before an even steeper 400m path back up. The views were stunning and we are hopeful that James will forgive us at some point in the next few years.

The rest of our time was spent visiting other natural sea swimming pools and James particularly enjoyed being roughed up by the waves on a small black sand beach we stumbled across one afternoon.

Sao Jorge was our favourite so far. Beautiful scenery, excellent swimming spots and only a few fellow tourists. Its only real downside was the lack of well stocked ‘supermarkets’, or any shops for that matter, to buy provisions. If crisps, packets of biscuits, veg that’s well past its sell-by date and stale looking white sliced bread is your thing then Sao Jorge it’s the place to be. But they did sell exceedingly cheap vinho verde to go with the crisps, and the local cheese was delicious so we made do. Especially on my birthday when Lucy somehow managed to rustle up a tasty feast.

Relieved that there was no more reversing cars on to ferries to be done, our next hop was a 2 hour flight to Madeira. We were sad to leave the Azores but we’d heard lots of good things about Madeira, which hopefully also has well stocked supermarkets.

Since we live in a big busy city we like to holiday in the ‘wilds’ to get away from it all. 1400km off the coast of Portugal the Azores, a volcanic archipelago, promised just that. First stop was Sao Miguel, the biggest and most popular of the 3 islands we planned to visit. Even then visitor numbers aren’t that high. We’d read up on what there is to do there and were excited to get stuck in.

As usual we’d skimped on the hire car and opted for the smallest, underpowered car available. Which complete with knackered exhaust, struggled on the steep winding roads and first gear was used lots.

Our first day was spent whale watching, with a good chance of seeing the resident sperm whales. We all squealed in delight when a pod of spotted Atlantic dolphins playfully swam and jumped around the boat. Then later a huge pod of bottle-nosed dolphins joined us. Unfortunately the only whale we got to see was a brief glance of a beaked whale before it dived down looking for its lunch. Apparently they can stay down for over an hour so no point hanging around for it to resurface.

There were also plenty of opportunities for going on ‘one of those walks’ that James vocally dislikes so much. The island is littered with densely forested gorges which have an unusual mix of tropical tree palms, huge flowers, colourful butterflies and bright green moisture laden mosses, mixed in with temperate climate pines and redwoods, with blackbirds and sparrows flitting through the undergrowth. James’s grandma, Jean, who passed away earlier this year visited here a few years ago. She was an avid gardener and absolutely loved exotic plants, so we could imagine her delight rounding each corner to find a row of brilliant blue hydrangeas or patch of bright yellow ginger-lilies.

The best hike had to be Sete Citades, a 13km walk along the rim of an extinct volcano with stunning views over the its iridescent crater lake below. Followed by a 400m decent into the crater then a steep ascent (via picnic lunch stop) back up again. We suspect if it wasn’t for being fed a jellybean every 5 mins James would have given up way before the top. Despite all his complaints we think he secretly enjoys the hikes but he would never admit it. Grandma would have been proud and he certainly earned an ice cream that evening.

Unfortunately the islands famed thermal springs were closed but they’d kindly put on some wood stove heated hot tubs to soak our weary legs. We also paid an early morning visit to an area where the volcanic springs channel into the chilly Atlantic. The only time on the trip where Lucy didn’t mind getting in the sea.

On previous travels James had been too young to take part in many of the ‘adventure’ type activities on offer. So this year was his first chance to try coasteering and canyoning. As expected Jungle Jim took to them with gusto wanting to be the first on every jump and abseil. Even a 6m cliff jump into sea didn’t daunt him, nor the second time, or 3rd, 4th… Mum and dad quite enjoyed it too.

The rest of our time on Sao Miguel was spent playing on volcanic sand beaches with bracing water and wild waves. Taking refreshing dips in waterfalls, being wowed by views of the vast Atlantic Ocean from steep cliffs, watching bubbling thermal vents, and even a visit to a pineapple plantation.

Next stop Pico.

School’s out and it’s time for us to hit the road again. After our big trip to the west side of Canada last year we were looking for somewhere closer to home. We decided upon 4 weeks island hopping around the Azores and Madeira. Apparently they are known as Europe’s Hawaii, which instantly sold it for me. And when Lucy read there are no mosquitos and there’s pastel de nata, she was sold too.

Surrounded by the Atlantic means they have a relatively cooler climate than mainland Europe in summer. They also tick all of our usual boxes… mountains, volcanoes, hot springs, forests, wild beaches and vineyards, so we can’t wait to get stuck in. But first a few days stop over in Lisbon….

It was easy to get around on the metro, buses and trains, so we spent our time exploring the city and nearby beaches of Cascais and Sintra. We rode trams, ate at roof top restaurants, wandered around tiled alleyways, went on a food tour, visited the science museum, and of course, ate pastel de nata.

However our unanimous highlight was catching up with one of James’s school friends, Pippa-Mae, and her mum, who were in Lisbon visiting family. We spent the day together exploring Sintra and hanging out on the nearby beach. The Atlantic was icy cold but that didn’t stop the kids playing in the crashing waves then warming themselves up digging an elaborate network of canals and dams in the sand. The day was topped off with craft beer (for the grown ups) and pizza at a nearby surf camp and playground. Followed by a train ride home with two absolutely exhausted 8 year olds. The things school holidays should be made of.

Next stop, Sao Miguel in the Azores…

Vancouver city was the final destination in our trip. It is often called upon as one of the top cities in the world to live in and we were excited.

Despite living in and loving London we do recognise that it can be smelly, polluted, noisy and expensive – funnily enough these are the same things that we dislike in cities we visit. But in the end London is our home and full of interesting diverse people and I think living in a city is different to holidaying in one.

We had arranged 4 nights in downtown Vancouver, it looked promising – city beaches and the huge Stanley park meant there would be much to do.

First up we had a full day on bikes. We were initially daunted – how the hell would we manage a 7 year old in downtown traffic, riding on the wrong side of the road? Amazingly even in the downtown area there were isolated bike lanes, so worse case scenario James could only really run into another cyclist 🙈. From there we stuck to a coastal path that took us up and around Stanley park, a 400 hectare green wonderland with rainforest, beaches, attractions, and breweries. It was such a fun day and importantly it took our minds off Ucluelet. Of course it was still a city and the beaches looked out over stationary tankers in the far distance, but it was a fab day full of great tourist actions.

Despite all the travelling we have done over the years none of us have ever seen orcas. And this was one of the fews places in the world where it might just happen. We couldn’t resist this and despite already whale watching in Tofino we booked in again. We had a fabulous day and saw some humpback whales up close but no orcas. As it happened the firm had to cut the tour slightly short and so generously called the trip in as a ‘no sighting’ tour and issued anyone who wanted it with a lifetime additional tour. Obviously we booked in for the following day 😁.

Team Orca had an early start to hit the 8:30am tour to find out at 8:20 that high wind had cancelled the trip – meh! Obviously we rebooked for the afternoon when the winds were due to calm 😁.

No complaints from James about all of this but honestly he was tired. Canada has been full on – amazingly so – and we are well aware that there’s only so much you can ask of a little one. So until the tour departed we went to a local playground, John took a morning nap and James hung around living his best life.

As we set off we were warned, the wind remained high and the first hour would be bumpy. No one was allowed on the front of the boat and sick bags were handed out. Did we mention the almost boat sickness from the last trip 😱? The second compromise to enable the whale tour was James having headphones and a podcast on the afternoon trip. It was 5 hours at sea and so he was happily chilling listening to his favourite science podcast whilst being constantly reminded by me to look at the horizon!

Patience really is a virtue and one that provided us with a beautiful reward. On our third attempt we saw a pod of 5 orcas for about an hour. They were pretty active, and given the many seagulls had been successfully hunting. Twice an orca did a ‘spy hop’- similar to us treading water where the orca positioned itself vertically to visually inspect their surroundings above the water line. Such a glorious two days at sea – as a family we love a boat trip and despite the bumpy sea at first we enjoyed a gorgeous few hours in the sunshine seeing some amazing creatures. We really hope James remembers this kind of adventure for life – we know we will.

Vancouver as a city was feeling pretty cool. We’d got used to being back amongst it and had been blown away by the outdoor living that was possible. One of the highlights for us was the outdoor swimming pools. There were several dotted around the city, Kitsilano being the biggest. So one afternoon we hopped over to try out the 137m heated seawater pool. Firstly, I’d say that ‘heated’ is a generous description…it’s no jacuzzi. Secondly, 137m is a long fricking way – 8 lengths for more than one km, 12 lengths for more than a mile. James took on the $10 challenge of swimming the 137m – what a superstar! I know London does well for outdoor swimming but this was something else and because it’s Canada it was not overpopulated, such an amazing afternoon.

Like me you may think of Canada as clean, careful and considerate. In many ways this is true but there is another side which we had been seeing on our travels. In Vancouver in particular there was a very obvious drug and homeless problem. Walking through downtown there were people off their faces, meth pipes in hands and in some places needles on the street.

Immediately we worried about James, though actually he didn’t ask or say much when faced with this. We’ve talked about homeless people in London and I think he just accepted it as the same thing. If he had asked us we would have found a way to be honest in an age appropriate way – but he didn’t so we left it alone. It wasn’t the same as London, that was so obvious I did some research to better understand the problem. Whilst it’s hard to summarise something so complex, it appears to be the same fentanyl crisis that hit the US and Google tells me it is in the U.K. now too. Vancouver is controversial in its actions trying to stem the increase in overdoses (for this part of the world) by decriminalising small quantities, with overdose prevention centres and even trials offering fentanyl to drug users in an effort to reduce criminal activities and help stabilise their lives. There’s no evidence that I could find yet that this is leading to reduced drug use but I hope it is successful – it is so sad and upsetting seeing people in this position.

But enough already. Our 4 week adventure can’t end like this. We spent our last morning at the most amazing Science World for James and then a massive meal at Jam Cafe before heading to the airport. Over lunch James unprompted put it well…’I don’t want to leave Canada mummy’. Nor do we sweetie was our response.

Thanks Canada – you have been awesome! 🇨🇦

And just like that, there were 10 days left in our trip. We were heading over to Vancouver Island for a good chunk of this and then onto Vancouver for the end.

Since we had arrived in Canada we had been watching wildfire progress carefully. We’d driven pretty close to a couple and seen their danger or the aftermath, but no dramas so far. One we were paying close attention to was right next to Highway 4 on Vancouver island. This was the route we needed to take to get to Ucluelet on the west coast – a real highlight for the trip. Wildfires earlier in the summer had at first closed the road and now it was operating for one way traffic periodically each day. Not ideal but still ok. There was a detour possible – with 4 hours on single track gravel road and we were pretty sure our hire car would be ruined by it!

We planned our timings carefully but then the day we arrived on Vancouver island we heard the road had been closed again due to the risk of landslide from heavy rain. We had an anxious day wondering what would happen. I checked the travel insurance in case we couldn’t get over / got stuck there / ruined the car etc. Good job I work in insurance as I managed to assess that we apparently weren’t covered for any scenario at all – and this isn’t the first time this has happened (think round the world travel pre Covid) 🤦‍♀️.

Thankfully on this occasion. It didn’t matter and the road opened around midnight that night meaning we got across the island with very little hassle

Hello Ucluelet. This was our planned home for an action packed 4 nights including John’s birthday. This part of the island was absolutely stunning. Clear inlets and waterways, dramatic beaches with loads of sea-life, cute coastal paths, temperate rainforests, huge Cedar trees, easy-going fun towns and the usual Canadian brewery scene that we’d got very used to.

We did our usual test of trying to decide whether we could actually live here, or if actually we had holiday rose tinted glasses on. Honestly, we’re not sure – this place is heavenly but we hear it can be pretty harsh in the winter.

First up a full day at sea and we had amazing weather (in fact the whole holiday has been similar). Whale watching was first and our wild-life luck turned (or it was impossible not to see them) and we met some very cute sea otters and then spent a good chunk of time watching a couple of grey whales as they surfaced every few minutes. I don’t think photos or film of this stuff can ever really capture the beauty of a clear blue sky and sea, bobbing on a small boat watching these incredible creatures as they go about their lives feeding and breathing. James really loved this too – he’s a hard to impress kind of boy and he was v excited. We had a small downturn however when he didn’t believe me that he might feel seasick if he mucked around inside the boat and don’t look out the windows. Thankfully we spotted him looking a little green and dangled him over the back of the speeding boat until he felt better 😂.

In the afternoon we took a zodiac boat on the inlets near Tofino looking for…you guessed it…bears! We got dressed up in some weird flotation suit designed to keep us warm as the boat whipped around looking for animals. Whilst the sun was out it was still blooming chilly in the wind.

Our guide was amazing. We saw (another) bald headed eagle, and then another, about 1,000 jellyfish, some seals and A BEAR!!!! Even better James got to see the bear poo – excellent! It was a black bear hanging around in the shore line looking for clams or similar under the rocks. I’m amazing such big creatures can get enough food eating such tiny things and I’m also delighted we were not on the shoreline with it – the ease with which it turned over boulders looking for food told me it has never missed a day of CrossFit in its life – it was a muscly chunk!

The following day dawned and it was John’s birthday. We kicked off with a birthday kayak around Ucluelet harbour. As an early present I offered John the solo kayak and I took the physically able, head-strong, ineffective 7 year old in the double. He was offered a pouch of snacks if he kept paddling (he didn’t) and after abundant starfish (no bears) and a strong headwind I for one was happy to be back in the harbour.

No one who knows John will be surprised that the day finished with beer and a cheese board at the local brewery ❤️.

Our final full day in Ucluelet was free so we hopped around a stunning temperate rainforest boardwalk and then headed to Wickaninnish beach – Canadian beaches weren’t supposed to be like this?! Miles long, golden sand, beautiful (cold sea) and incredible warm. As usual the boys headed out for a cold dip and established that if you stood still for long your feet got munched by little sea critters…nowhere is perfect I guess 😂.

Oh and just in case you needed a little more persuading that the west coast of Vancouver Island was perfect…we saw another bear early the following morning.

Victoria next, the main city on Vancouver Island. Lovely I am sure but honestly our hearts were a little broken having left the west coast 💔.

Animal spotting total: Bear = 2, Moose = 0, Elk = 6, Coyote = 1, chipmunk/squirrel = hundreds, sea otter = loads, grey whale = 2

We took the absolutely stunning Icefields Parkway up to Jasper. Stopping on route at the Columbia Icefields for a jaunt on the Athabasca Glacier. We kicked off with a hair raising ice vehicle journey which descended a 30% gradient hill – eek! Once we got off the monster ice trucks we had a chance to play on the glacier, drink melt water direct from a stream and have a snowball fight. Big surprise of the trip was just how cold it was on the glacier…it was easy to spot the ill prepared family on the glacier in shorts 🥶. Of course the glacier is receding with our guide telling us it had lost half its volume in the last 125 years.

Our wildlife spotting luck picked up as we got close to Jasper. One giant elk on the side of the road greeted us and made us excited for what was to follow.

Our main activity in Jasper was white-water rafting. James’s first chance to give it a go and he was excited to put on his wetsuit and sit right at the front of the raft on chief rapid spotting duty. One set of rapids later we had a howling, saturated, grumpy and cold James. And we remembered that the front seat was the wettest. It was awesome…but perhaps we could have prepared him better…or sat at the back which is where we retreated to…oops!

Some of you might know that John spent a year safari guiding in Namibia and he is also a brilliant wildlife spotter in general. We were therefore supportive when he suggested another early rise, this time to drive to Moose lake on a route often frequented by bears. We knew our luck had been out partly because we were travelling in the middle of the day and we’re keen to change our luck. It didn’t work.

No fear on the lack of wildlife. We were heading west. Out of Alberta and into British Columbia. Our destination was Clearwater and on route a bear spotting power boat safari along the Blue river.

Power boating was exhilarating and a hit with everyone, especially James, who got to drive us at around 40mph along a section of the river 🙈 Still no bears though which was starting to leave us feeling that we were jinxed.

Next stop Alpine Meadows Resort, Clearwater, our home for the next few nights. Literally miles from anywhere and accessed via a dirt road. The ‘resort’ is a bunch of cabins overlooking lake Hallimore, a jetty with an assortment of boats for the guests to use, and apparently it’s grounds are frequented by bears.

We did venture into the nearby Wells Gray provincial park to take in its waterfalls and rivers but most of our time was spent swimming and boating in our very own private lake. John even braved a swim of the length of the lake (about 1.2km), followed by his trusty support crew in a clanky old aluminium rowing boat.

Guess what though, still no bears.

Animal spotting total – Bear = 0, Moose = 0, Elk = 6, Coyote = 1, chipmunk/squirrel = hundreds

We’re back! 4 weeks of Canadian fun as we hit the Rocky Mountains, and then head down to the West Coast of Canada. Baby Barrett is now a gappy opinionated 7 year with his own suitcase. Times have changed!

In order to keep the opinionated one happy after our jet lag recovery in Calgary we detoured east to Drumheller – Dinosaur valley in the Badlands. My best way to describe this place is of a tacky themed town in the middle of nowhere that also rightly has serious history in digging up Dino fossils. Many of these fossils are displayed in the Royal Tyrell Museum of Palaeontology. 2/3 of the family got their fossil grove on and even the third was mildly impressed. We also immersed ourselves in local culture with a visit to the town of Wayne (population 35) and dinner at the ‘Last Chance Saloon’ – v odd indeed!

The next day we backtracked to Calgary and then headed straight on into the Rockies. This is definitely the point when the holiday began! We’d heard great things and were ready to get our trip to the Rockies started.

We were facing severe criticism from the littlest member who has bad memories of ‘one of those walks’ from previous holidays. So being good parents 😂 we ignored the criticism and told him that our parents did exactly the same thing and one day he’d thank us – you’re welcome. Like lots of natural areas, it is super easy to find a great trail to walk on, a lake to admire or even a stream to play in (6 degree C glacial water mind you!).

We managed some more challenging walks by offering an M&M every 15 mins on the basis of no moaning. John did really well with this incentive and James was pretty good too 🤣🤣.

A brilliant perk of hotels in this part of the world are swimming pools with jacuzzis, which James loves. We’ve enjoyed minimum daily visits to the hot tubs, the best one being on the roof of our hotel in Banff.

First up in Banff was the gondola ride – James adored it and after a wander around the top of Sulpher mountain we had a great game of Harry Potter Top trumps before descending.

It was then onto Lake Louise. Everyone I met who has already visited said it was amazing (despite the crowds) and I was a little sceptical. Perhaps more so when John ‘suggested’ a 5:45am wake up. But oh my goodness – what a stunning place. We had a recommendation to head upwards from Lake Louise on a hike to Lake Agnes tea house. James did amazing on the 4km climb all with the promise of tea made from lake water, and more importantly for him freshly made bread and cakes.

At this point it began to feel like we were going snow blind with beautiful scenery. And to finish us off we went to nearby neighbour Lake Moraine. As blue as it’s neighbour Lake Louise with fewer people – not least because public road access is closed to all except (expensive) tour buses.

Canada is shaping up to be as amazing as hoped, but goodness it is expensive. Most hotels don’t included breakfast as people like to eat out. But for us, 3 meals out a day when most are burgers is a little much. I’m proud of our preparation here – a large cool bag and ice pack stuffed into our luggage along with Tupperware and cutlery means we can picnic as required!

Next step Jasper. Apparently you can’t fail to see Bears and Moose in Jasper…

Animal spotting total: Bear = 0, Moose = 0, Elk = 0, chipmunk/squirrel = hundreds

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!

Done with being in an all inclusive (although secretly missing the gluttony) we decided to head to the east of the island towards the town of Agios Nikalous.

Being August, accommodation was thin on the ground but we managed to find a place in Istro which was functional but a good base to explore the Mirabello Bay area. Enthused by our previous gorge walk, first up was a 5km trek through the Kritsa gorge. More taxing and spectacular than the Deliana gorge with rope climbs and plenty of scrambling up rocks, Jimbo enthusiastically led the way but needed a daddy shoulder ride towards the end.

We were all pretty exhausted afterwards so we rewarded ourselves with a chocolate milkshake (and iced coffees for grownups) in the enchanting nearby village of Krista.

Not wanting the days adventuring to end there, we headed to the upmarket costal town of Elounda and the nearby Plaka beach. We found a pristine pebble beach with irresistible crystal clear water and a view across the bay to Spinalonga island, a former Venetian fortress. Dusty from the morning’s walking and unprepared for beach action, we resorted to swimming in our underwear, much to the bemusement/entertainment of the others on the beach.

Whether it was the shared choccy milkshake or that evening’s seafood dinner the next days’ planned celebrations for my birthday had to be put on hold. The beautiful Plaka beach also became the destination for the arrival of a stomach bug for James and we then had a stressful drive back to our accommodation where we locked down for 24 hours waiting for Lucy and James to feel better. The joys of travel!!

In contrast to Plaka, late the following day we made a visit to the highly rated beach of Voulisma. Literally every square metre was packed with sun beds and people, the sand was littered with cigarette butts and the water was full of plastic fragments with virtually no fish to be seen. A sad and upsetting reminder of the negative impact we humans can have on the environment.

For the next leg of our journey in the east we were lucky to find a couple of nights in a posh (for us) hotel in a suburb of Agios Nikolaus, complete with an infinity pool on our balcony with stunning views across the bay. Just the tonic team JJL needed. The real gem however was the very Greek family beach on its doorstep with its own chilled beach cafe, tavernas which cater for locals and superb jetty for James to jump into the sea from.

We spent a blissful couple of days enjoying the beach with an early evening walk into Agios Nikolaus town – followed by an after dark ice-cream on the beach. A perfect ending to our exploration of the east before heading back west and inland for a few days to see what non beach fun we could find.