39:56.731N 23:31.659E Tue 20^th June 2017

We stayed at anchor in the peaceful bay of Porto Koufo for 4 nights in the end and particularly enjoyed the almost constant birdsong from the heavily wooded slopes above us.  We also had the added bonus of meeting up with friends Sarah and Ian for the second time here.   For exercise, apart from swimming, we explored ashore in both directions.  We had two good walks into the countryside, but the second will always be especially memorable as we passed a grove of heavily laden pistachio trees.  David adores pistachios, so it made his day to see them growing.  We had to check on google later that our guess about what they were was correct.

A Byzantine fort in nearby Toroni on our 2^nd walk:

Immature pistachios:

We left there yesterday and had a good sail across the bottom of the Gulf of Kassandra and around the corner of the first finger of Halkidiki on our way west and then north towards Thessaloniki.  We had to motor for the second part of the 20 miles to Nea Skioni and passed lots of little beaches and some holiday developments along the coast.  Some of these were not very attractive and there was the usual scattering of unfinished villas.  We moored stern-to in the good sized harbour here in quite choppy conditions with a strong wind blowing us sideways.  Unusually, there was no-one on the quayside to take our ropes, so first mate had to scramble ashore, not her favourite manoeuvre.  At least there was plenty of space to choose from as this is obviously not a very busy spot for yachts in transit.  It’s an unsophisticated but jolly family resort.  There is water and electricity on the quay and a popular beach just beyond it, so we are happy to stop here for a couple of nights before braving the heat of a major city.