Post 11: Heraklion Crete and the story of a true British hero

Windy landing (or "sporty" as Peter the CFI at Bonus Aviation, Cranfield, would say) at Nikos Kazantzakis airport. Named after Greece's most celebrated 20th Century writer, author of Zorba the Greek and admirer of Lenin. Well, nobody's perfect are they? The TransAfrica team is all here now. William arrived today in his egg whisk from Paphos in Cyprus where he and Gruppenfuhrer Sam Rutherford had carefully positioned it before it became apparent that Egypt's admirable demonstrators meant business- as did Coolhand Steve and I from Corfu. Alpha Charlie has now brought us safely nearly 1800nm from the UK and we've covered around 25% of the southbound journey to South Africa.

You learn every day. Today's lesson was: Don't try and be too clever and land on the numbers on an airfield by the sea with a sheer drop just before the threshold in a gusting crosswind. We land on runway 27 with a 17kt wind from 340 degrees. Crab in then kick left rudder to straighten her over the centre-line. Keep the power on and, if the runway is long enough, use up as much as you need before touchdown. Then chop the power. Elementary I know but there we are. Steve saved the day. We make a good team. He's the more experienced pilot and I, erm, can speak a useful assortment of languages and have been around a few blocks.

I'm sorry about more pictures of mountains. But flying over the magnificent Taygetos range with their jagged snow-covered limestone and dolomite peaks, with Sparta in the plain below, warms the heart. Actually it's bloody marvellous. Airfield is LGPZ ( Greek military but also charter flights. That sounds like a sensible use of public resources. Instead of a 3rd runway at Heathrow - BAA can't even cope with 2 for Pete's sake- let's use Brize Norton or somesuch.

We flew over the Mani where Patrick Leigh-Fermor, the greatest travel writer since Herodotus the Greek (5th C BC) retired with his late wife Joan. At 18 he left home to walk the length of Europe; at 28 as an SOE agent in World War II ( pictured above in German uniform) he parachuted into Crete and kidnapped, General Kreipe, the German commander, (Film: based on the gripping book, Ill met by Moonlight,1957, starring Dirk Bogarde) and recounted in Leigh-Fermor's magnificent " A time of Gifts". The battle for Crete was brutal, neither Germans nor Cretans giving quarter. " Then Xekhasame" - we haven't forgotten- they still say in the mountains where the first wave of German airborne troops suffered appalling casualties from local resistance fighters and took terrible reprisals. Hitler forbade further large-scale paratroop drops after that. Leigh-Fermor, DSO, finally retired to the southern Peloponnese and his beloved Mani, subject of another great book. He was interviewed by William Dalrymple in the Telegraph in 2008. " You've got to bellow " Sir Patrick told Dalrymple, cupping his ear " He's become an economist you say? Well thank God for that..I thought you said he'd become a Communist". Victoria, my better half, and I drove round the winding coastal road to Kardamyli, Leigh-Fermor's village, which I could see from 7,500 feet, a few years ago. The Mani is a wild an uncluttered place, famous for (past) banditry and carpets of wild flowers in springtime. Fiercely resistant to occupiers Maniotis believe thenselves to be descendants of that greatest of all warrior races, guns for hire, the Spartans, and lived in their famous fortified towers from which wealthier villagers shot at each other( and intruders) to settle vendettas. More peaceful today. Beaches, village squares with whicker chairs, old men with handle-bar moustaches and widows in black, spit-roast lamb sizzling with rosemary and olive oil which  is liquid nectar. Happy days.

As we coasted out over The Mani, Athens Info was guiding Olympic40 south and said as an afterthought, in Greek, that there two " xenei" (foreigners) bimbling around. That was G-VAAC and the Bumble Bee which, irritatingly, is always 20 minutes ahead of us however much of a head-start we have. And it's kit-built in Chocolate Charly's shed in Toulouse.

Tomorrow is a rest day. Saturday Africa.

PS: William says there isn't enuff stuff about aeroplanes in these blogs so I willco in next.