Sand castles any one?

Day 11

Banksy, Bulgaria to the sea shore below Mount Olympus, Greece

Yesterday Craig had noticed Oil dripping from the Diff????  So after a lovely breakfast he pulled on his overalls and complete with saddles he headed under Olly to check her belly. If it's not the bonnet he is under the next place to look for Craig is under the car! He also found the exhaust had problems too. This is all not surprising considering the state of some of the roads in the last few countries, we're also very low to the ground! After full consultation with the bible, in our case the Haynes manual and text advice from home the decision was to get hold of some Diff oil and see if topping up caused more leaking after a tweak from Craig. Craig secured the exhaust with his coat hanger, whose purpose on our adventurer campsite and  I now understand. Back in shorts and T-shirt we headed down the mountain.  Once again lovely mountain scenery with snow caped peaks and dark sheer drops encased in alpine Forrest.

 

The drive to Greece was not particularly interesting but on arrival Steve had really pulled this one out of the bag. Really lovely campsite with great facilities but most importantly steps leading straight down and into the sea. Sun loungers, no sand which I think is the best and beer brought to you so you don't have to move. First thing was to dive in. As it was shingle it's not great under foot but there were smooth steps out into the. Water to a point where you can swim from. How civilised! The water was warm, crystal clear and mainly occupied the Windy crew's. Chilled music played by the sea view bar above us, what more could we need after days on the road. To to pit off Steve had said that for the next few days we would only have 180 ish miles per day, time for the boys to chill.

  

Our evening was spent in the restaurant over looking the see trying the local delights. Baked Octopus was not quite the calamari Nik had hoped for but we all had a taste, lets just say we won't be ordering that again.

 We sat and chatted with Mark and Richard from team 19 with the Proton. Richard is a keen Photographer and had shot a lot of footage from our Transfagarasan run's and had some amazing shots from the lightening storms. I was keen to learn from Richard and had earlier picked his brain while sat by the see. This time armed with my camera I had some hands on opportunity to learn. I was really pleased with the results. Nothing like Richards but a good start working with the available light. We talked kit and some investment in lens and filters is the next step in kit and getting to grips with the effects of depth of field and exposure is now my mission. I'll have to have some more Richard lessons, with 11 days left that should be a good masterclass! Judging by his website -  Richard Anders Photography I could learn a lot. Go Check  out his work and blog, it's a must.