I drove my own car to Greece last year but this holiday is the first time I’ve rented a car abroad (not counting Cyprus where they drive on the left) and driven in a car with the steering wheel on the wrong side.

The change in the weather meant I had gone from 28 degrees, clear skies, Sunny in Glyfada; when I filled up with petrol in Athens I was greeted with a very cheerful: «Καλημέρα, καλή εβδομάδα, καλό καλοκαίρι» (Good morning/week/Summer) to being greeted with Καλό χειμώνα (= Good winter) in Lefkada.

Today saw the start of the long journey North, back to Gloucestershire – but not before spending most of the morning and early part of the afternoon on the beach at Galissas / Γαλησσάς.

It was a warm day today, so when I got down to the coast – although most locals were sitting on the benches in their coats, hats, scarves and gloves, for me it was warm enough to go for a paddle, followed by a short swim.

Ιt felt like an English spring day and it was warm enough that I could take my coat off. Warm enough that I forgot that we are only 2 and a bit weeks away from Christmas.

The weather in Greece at this time of year isn’t exactly cold, but it is the sort of weather where you might want to have a jumber with you. In the sunshine it is pleasantly warm – like an English spring day.

This is in fact the first time I have been to Greece ‘out of season’. It is that time of year when the nights are drawing in, temperatures are dropping and the tourists are leaving.

After breakfast this morning we checked out of the hotel, leaving our luggage in their store room to collect later. We headed down on to the Underground to go and spend our last morning in Central Athens.

We left the Underground at Syntagma/Σύνταγμα and walked through the Kolonaki/Κολωνάκι district, going up Ploutarchou/Πλουτάρχου Street until we reached the cable car which goes up the mountain.

We spent the afternoon down on the “Athens Riviera” coast, down by Glyfada/Γλυφάδα.