Grecian car-tastrophic adrenalin flunkies

15 years of taking the kids on Scottish West coast holidays has been fantastic, but this week we are......Kefalonians!

It started with an epic journey. A cheeky wee overnight with Jo and Akira, a 3am alarm call, 6 Glasgow foxes, a 6am flight and finding ourselves a few hours later in 39° heat trying not to let the hire car we'd picked up not 15 minutes earlier - which was by then lodged herbie style slantyways on an Ionian Island beach embankment - topple onto its roof.

Let's just say the whole of sleepy little Avithos beach still recognised us five days later because our car breakdown/failing brakes/reverse roll down the steep scree brae incident was being told in tavernas across the land. Okay, just the one overlooking the beach. But most importantly, we owe huge thanks to the global gang of travellers and local greeks that came to our rescue, almost immediately.

No one was hurt, thank the stars, as the roll back wasn't that fast and through pure luck no pedestrians were coming up from the beach at that precise moment.

The four of us peely wally no tan Scots must have looked a site holding on to Herbie 1 trying to stop him rolling, like panicked rabbits caught in headlights, skin sizzling in the sun like vampires.

Eventually, through majorly improvised sign language, a well rounded Greek man suddenly launched himself on the corner of the bonnet to try and get the car off its side, while the rest of us heaved it forward onto a flatter path and off the ramp away from the beach where it risked meeting the sea. Then a wonderful woman made the call in fluent Greek to explain the car electrics had gone on the hill and brakes had therefore failed and rescue was needed, there's no way we could have explained everything without her help. Efkharisto!!!

There's a lot to tell but suffice to say, after an enforced medicinal restorative taverna visit recommended by our rescuers, the arrival of jump leads and a car swap, we were once again back in action, this time in Herbie 2, while still reeling about our first hour in this beautiful country with crazy roads. So the hunt for the villa was back on...and on...and on... it was bordering on a sweary, sweaty fuelled fruitless quest of many meltdowns when to the sound of heavenly trumpets and angels (Okay to the sound of us all going "oh thank fek!") we suddenly found our digs.

Alas, there was another unforseen car-tastrophy at that precise point but we shall gloss over that and focus on the joy we had walking up the steps to behold just the best sight for weary eyes! The secluded villa and pool of tranquillity beckoned to soothe our weary traveller souls, a blissful end to an eventful first day.

Kefalonia is surely beautiful....and so hot...And those roads....