Wooden church at Navarino Bay

This small wooden church is located on an uninhabited island at Navarino Bay. The only way to visit is by boat.  

Sarah and Ian's wedding in Scotland

We managed to take a small vacation from the SaltyPaws for a trip up north to escape the heat and attend a wedding of one of my closest friends in Scotland, Sarah and Ian.  When they got engaged last year and planned their wedding for June this year, Wal and I looked at each other and thought how are we going to make this happen if we are sailing?  Well thanks to Wal’s meticulous planning and the help of our dear friend Charles, we managed to get to Edinburgh, Scotland for the wedding.  Charles was kind enough to watch our boat and kitties for 3 days while we made the trip by dinghy, ferry, bus, plane and finally auto to our destination above 45 degrees latitude (we are now at a sweltering 37 degrees in Greece).  While our stay in Scotland was no longer than 48 hours, we had a very memorable time with our friends and the visit was well worth the trip.

Our first stop after we arrived at the airport, we had to find the home of Ian’s parents to pick up Wal’s kilt.  This was very exciting as I have always liked to see men wearing kilts and this was my husband’s first time wearing one.  We were very thankful for Ian to organize the kilt, shirt, Prince Charlie jacket, vest, tie, shoes, knee high socks, and my favorite the sporran which is this furr sack to hold items (keys, phone, camera, or a flask of whickey).  We had a wonderful time visiting with Ian’s family at their house and ended up staying for a couple of hours.  I was so impressed with how far everyone traveled to come to the wedding.  Modern, educated families are often scattered around the globe so it is wonderful to see everyone sharing stories in a single room over a few drams of scotch whiskey.  Thank you Ian’s mom and dad for the sandwiches of fresh bread and veggies from the garden.  We had not eaten much after a full day of traveling.  We finally made it to our hotel room in a beautiful Scottish castle at around 2AM.

The next day we had a bit of a sleep and luxurious hot shower (you learn to appreciate those living on a boat) before the wedding.  I helped Wal into his Kilt and we made it to the ceremony to see Sarah and Ian tie the knot.  It was a beautiful ceremony with poetry readings and a special poem written by Sarah followed by the Scottish tradition of sipping a drink from a silver chalice together.  I could hardly hold back the tears as they played “Ashokan Farewell” in the ceremony, the first song I taught Sarah to play on the piano.  We had some great times together.  Sarah was stunning in her dress and Ian as well in the Robertson kilt.  We then made our way for pictures and the party where we enjoyed a delicious dinner, family made wedding cake (that was a work of art by Pamela), getting to know the families and friends of the bridegroom, and some Caleigh dancing (traditional Scottish dancing) where Wal and I made our way around the circle obviously in need of some lessons.  We enjoyed the special “Aye doo weddin bru”, a beer custom brewed by Ian just for the wedding and some of our favorite whiskey and shortbread.  It was a perfect day and I couldn’t be happier for our dear friends.

Saying goodbye to our good friends was very difficult. It was back to the airport where we checked off various legs of the journey until we finally arrived at our boat on Anchor near Poros to find the kitties and Charles safe and sound.

Registering in Greece - seaturtle as bonus

It took us 2 days to register with the authorities in Greece. The picture below shows Elizabeth when she came back from the offices after the second day. As a bonus, Elizabeth managed to spot a gigantic sea turtle!

Elizabeth in Little SaltyPaws with a Greek coffee

Panorama - Sunset in Gozo (Malta)

Cat close-up

More views of Navarino Bay

Panorama Navorino Bay

Panorama - as seen from the summit close to the wooden church