There’s been something going on up in the sky…

There’s been a lot of time spent looking up at the sky this past week. As well as some shooting stars, there have also been some phenomenal cloud phenomena.

On a sad but memorable day in Loddington, we saw Dad off with a blaze of light in the sky above Fort Martin. A few days later, we were up in the sky ourselves…

Nacreous clouds are rarely seen, especially in the UK, but as we waited on the tarmac on a wet and very windy runway at Manchester Airport, Clare noticed the rainbows up in the sky lining the high altitude clouds. As we took off and got nearer to them, the colours became more vibrant and vivid. A real spectacle. Later that night, as the sun set over the Aegean Sea, we got to rest a little for the first time in what has seemed like ages as the sun produced another good light show on the horizon.

After arriving in Athens, we picked up a car and drove west for about an hour. Clare had worked her magic selecting the nights accommodation by booking the cheapest room in a beautiful beach side hotel. On arrival, she somehow convinced the receptionist to upgrade us to the top floor room with sea view balcony! Nice work!

After dumping our bags we went straight out to the private beach to dip our toes in. Having been up since 04:30am, we were too tired to swim, but it was still nice to feel the water. It felt pretty warm, but the draw of the fireside and Christmas tree in the deserted bar felt warmer and lured us back inside.

We seemed to be the only guests, apart from a couple of motorbikers. From the comfort of the sofa, we enjoyed a beer to ‘cheers up’ Dudley, while still enjoying the incredible view.

We hiked all of five metres from the bar to the restaurant where a delicious meal of salmon and chicken was served alongside a small glass of Greek wine. This gave us the energy to just about make it back up to the top floor before falling fast asleep around 9pm! Even though it’s the shortest day of the year and we lost two hours due to the change in time zones, it sure felt like a long day…