Adventures with Aimile

  The way the cats crept up on me was a complete surprise. I'd always been a dog person and running a charity for sick and damaged cats was a bit of an interruption to the Greek island retirement I'd imagined. I first found Syros in 1998 and happily travelled backwards and forwards to the UK, balancing my educational job in London, with rural island life. I've always loved travelling and dreamed of a retirement spending time in London, Greece, Devon and the rest of the world.  The closure of a next-door butcher's shop, sent about twenty food-demanding cats to my door. I feared exponential expansion of the colony as was happening elsewhere - thus the first sterilisation programmes ensued. My career had included plenty of project development work, fundraising, marketing and hospitality, so a cat charity didn't present so many new challenges. But I was surprised at the range of activities necessary. Cat care and fundraising sure, then some premises for sick and injured...

  Hi I'm Chris, (aka Pugwash a source of incredible mirth to my Australian friends). I've known Jacky 8 years and her team are currently nursing a 10 year old very under- nourished and sicky female cat back to health for me. I've been in Greece for 12 years mostly sailing and based on Syros for the last 10. Those of you who are old enough will have recognised the nick-name based on the early black and white children's cartoon program. You can still find it on you-tube. I'll leave you to work out the bawdy interpretation the Aussies find so hilarious. You might also be wondering , why I would buy a 2CV \ Deux Chevaux rather than a more modern car. Yes, I have a history of owning old cars, my previous was a 1972 MGB GT. Sadly I parted with it when I moved to Greece. The Deux Chevaux struck me as the ideal car to have on Syros. Its long legs cope with all terrain and in first gear will climb the steepest drives. It is also a very simple car and easy to fix, and durable...

My sense of direction isn't very good and the sat-nav has no idea where we are. I struggle with google maps on my mobile phone as I try to get us out of the port. A one-time boyfriend told me that it was because I was brought up in London and didn't pick up clues from the environment. maybe he was right, but since living most of the time on a rural Greek island, nothing much has improved and I still don't know my left from my right! Thankfully there are better road signs here than in Patras as we speed along a bypass for this watery place. A poet describes it ' A city without joy or weariness, itself beholding, from itself aloof.'  I'm not sure I agree - I've had some fun times here in the past. But no time to rest, we need to speed along the road, as well as Aimile is able, to arrive at a friend's apartment before it's too late. It's dark quickly but a good road well-marked, with regular toll stations. We speed past a couple of other Shakespeare...

  We're shivering on the port. It's three in the morning and the promised midnight ferry is just creeping slowly into its berth. It's raining hard. A handful of cars are waiting and lots of trucks. They are being checked for stowaways by a sniffer dog and a guy with a powerful torch. After our last boat was an hour late, Aimile has made excellent progress. We needn't have worried about our connection, just about the treasure hunt to find where the boat might dock. We'd sped along fast roads in the gathering darkness, stopped at a Praktiker to buy snow shoes and a few other essentials and grab a coffee. We passed the amazing canal but it was too dark to see, likewise the ancient town that St Paul supported with his famous letters. the most famously quoted extract is a clue to the date of the first opportunity to win a prize. But there will be other clues - so don't worry too much if you don't immediately get it. We wait patiently while garbage and laundry is ...

It’s a bright sunny morning as we watch our ancient ferry make the short trip across the harbour, from where she has been moored for two days while sheltering from high winds and rocky seas to the place where we can drive aboard. Our trip has been delayed by one day. Yesterday the winds were so strong that all boats were forbidden to leave port. Alas, the carefully arranged and looked-forward to overnight stay on the mainland, with a friend had to be cancelled at the last minute, while we sat out the storm in Syros. It was a bit of a nail-biting wait. There was only one ferry that might get us to our next connection on time. And we didn’t yet know how Aimile would perform, nor if the wind would die down enough for the boats to start moving again. Happily our ferry had been stranded in Syros, so if it was safe to sail, was likely to leave on time. I take a photo on the port of Hermoupolis in Syros to record the kilometres already registered on Aimile’s odometer. He doesn’t have a trip m...

Would you like to enter our competition?   A donation of 20 Euros to Syros Cats will you five opportunities to win one of our unique prizes. We will be driving in Aimile, a bright yellow Citroen 2CV from Syros to London and back, posting clues both visual and literary, along the way. The final large prize will be for the person who guesses the total distance Aimile has travelled, from the Port of Hermoupolis to The Black Pig in Bulgari beach, Syros – the long way via London. Our route isn’t yet fully decided, so to make an informed guess, you’ll need to follow our blog to help you calculate the distance. The winner will be the person who gets closest to the final number of kilometres we have covered. To encourage you all and keep you interested, there will be other smaller but unique prizes too, generously sponsored by those that support us in our ongoing work with the cats of Syros. The first opportunity to win, will be a little less than a month into our trip. And on this...

I’ve had my first driving lesson – it was a bit scary, but Chris, Aimile’s owner was very patient with me. I hope I remember the complicated gears and Aimile’s requirement for a firm hand with the steering wheel – He doesn’t have power steering. Although I was previously referring to Aimile as female, my French friends have put me right – it’s definitely a male French name! The indicators and handbrake are a bit quaint too and he sounds like a plane taking off when I manage to find second gear. I guess I’ll get a feel for him when we get on the road.    This week he’s been in a local garage. The ‘Boys at Parakopi’ have taken a great interest in the trip and are working hard to replace parts, make the suspension a bit more comfortable for  and generally ensuring he is ‘melodiki’.    I’ll still be taking my pillow though and even if the heater is now working, we’ll be packing a couple of sleeping bags and a thermos flask, in case we get stuck somewhere!  ...

  We'll soon be on the move! Sponsored by The Black Pig, on Bulgari beach in Syros and others, Aimile will take us to London and back.  Of course it's a trip to benefit Syros cats and we hope many of you would like to have a little 'flutter' to support us on our journey.  In exchange for a small donation, we'd like you to guess our mileage and altitude at certain points of the journey. Details and prizes will be published soon. But we don't want to make it too easy, so we'll be posting clues about our possible route, then you can be calculating about your guesses! For those of you ready to turn to Google maps - beware. We'll be doing it 'My Way'... More soon. Keep following! Jacky and Chris