Bliss by boat

IT WAS three o'clock in the afternoon and the sun was baking down from a clear sky. We were playing chase the shade as the shadow of the overhanging cliff moved steadily up the beach in a deserted cove.

The only sound was the lapping of the waves and the occasional crunch as our little motorboat moved against pebbles on the shoreline.

Bliss. OK, the beach was a bit pebbly, but the sea was crystal clear and warm - and there was no one else there. There couldn't be, as the cove was totally inaccessible unless you came the way we did - by boat.

By boat I mean dinghy with jaunty sunshade and outboard motor, not some 40ft millionaire's plaything. But it was all so easy.

Several hours earlier we had been given a rudimentary map, told how to switch the engine on or off and that was it. Off island hopping round a huge bay, with Corfu rising darkly from the sea some 20-odd miles away.

It would never happen in Britain. You would have to produce a master's certificate and prove you could navigate by starlight before they would let you loose around the coast. But here in these safe waters all they said was make sure you are back by 6pm!

And it was great fun, nosing up to little bays and trying to avoid rocks while working out where to drop your anchor. And when you'd had enough of one place, up anchor and away to the next.

But that was the pace of our week's holiday in Sivota, a tiny village in the Epirus region of Greece.

An area of stunning scenery, mountains, myths and fables. The source of the River Styx is said to rise just inland and there is a wealth of history to explore - if only we had had more time.

We had flown just over three hours from Heathrow to Preveza with British Midland, and a two-hour coach transfer took us to Sivota and our Sunvil Holidays accommodation, a lovely villa called Triantafilia, which in Greek means roses.

The apartment, perched on a hillside, overlooked one of the many islets which are dotted around this rugged tree-covered coastline.

Steps carved into the cliff below took us straight down into a sheltered bay - ideal for that first swim of the day.

Some of the accommodation around Sivota is in a hilly setting so those unable to face a ten minute climb after a long evening in a taverna probably need to budget for a hire car.

But once down the hill, Sivota nestles in a valley and the main part of the village sits back from the sea.

A wide promenade curves around the natural harbour offering mooring for yachts and boats of all shapes and sizes, and the dozen or so restaurants - not ten yards from the sea - provide excellent and reasonably-priced fare for mariners and holidaymakers alike.

There can be few better bars than the Bamboo Place where a lone waiter scampers between many tables never missing an order while the patrons watch the boats come in as the sun slowly sinks towards the horizon. And every time we went in he gave us, in typical Greek fashion, a free extra bottle of beer on him. Now that's what I call service.

A word of warning, though. Sivota is not the place to go for action and nightlife. Instead, it has a thoroughly Greek feel, and you are free to do as much or as little as you wish. There is no loud music - people actually just sit and talk to each other. Now there's a thing.

For the more adventurous there are boat trips to Corfu and Paxos and an excellent evening speedboat ride down to lively Parga, which returns in the dark at what feels like 100mph!

Sivota is unspoiled, uncrowded (if you avoid August when the Italians invade), friendly and totally relaxing, without a lager lout in sight. Go there before everyone discovers the secret.