04 June 2011 We want to spend the next few days of the trip visiting some of the towns and cities in Northern Italy we didn’t have time to see on our last trip to this country so we drove 200k north west to Bologna and found an excellent camp site in the outskirts with good bus connections into the historic centre. Bologna turned out to be most attractive and well preserved with many splendid churches, palaces and other buildings and it was humming with Saturday afternoon shoppers and part of its large student population. It is well known for the miles of its medieval porticos lining the streets which are built high enough to take people on horseback. The tradition is continued in modern buildings. They were put to good use in the early evening ... read more

02 June 2011 The northern section of Corsica is formed by a finger of land called Cap Corse 40k long and 15k wide . It was one of the areas we hadn’t visited on our previous visit so we were keen to see it. Napoleon III had a coach road built around its perimeter in the 19th century and we followed this. As usual with this island it didn’t disappoint and gave us more exciting driving with magnificent scenery particularly on the rugged west coast. Our first stop was at Nonza, a village built on a rocky pinnacle overlooked by a tower and with a very attractive church. Then we walked up to a view point with a restored windmill. And finally we drove down a beautiful narrow road to the village of Barcaggio Corsica’s northernmost ... read more

31 May 2011 I haven’t mentioned the weather before. For the first month of our trip it had been perfect, sunny and dry with temperatures in the 25-30 range. But today it changed with clouds and periods of rain. We left our perfect beach and continued northwards along the west coast to the village of Piana. Just past there is an area of impressive rock formations called le Calanche and we did a couple of walks through them, one along an old mule track and one along a ridge to castle shaped rock called Chateau Fort. While we were getting ready we acted as good Samaritans again, we lent our puncture repair kit to a cyclist who was pushing his bike by. It was a good job we could help because he still had about 60k ... read more

29 May 2011 We had intended to continue along the coast but some miss navigation by me meant we spent the first couple of hours of the day going over a remote mountain pass on narrow windy roads. When we did eventually get back on route we back tracked a bit to find a good beach where we could have a swim. In the afternoon we headed inland to find a farm campsite we had been recommended located in the mountains close to the small town of Venaco. The location was every bit as scenic we had been told it would be. At about 7.30 a young couple arrived on foot, pitched their tent and asked if there was a restaurant in the area as the one adjacent to the site was closed and they had ... read more

27 May 2011 Our last day in Sardinia After saying goodbye to Enrico and his family we drove along more attractive coastline to Santa Teresa di Gallura the departure port for Corsica and checked the ferry times. There was one at 17.00 so this gave us time for some final Sardinian exploration. We fist went to the nearby rock Capo Testa and then further east to look at another couple of Nuraghic sights near the town of Arzachena. When we were there we were 15k from Costa Smeralda the area we had first looked at when we had landed 3 weeks before. Close enough for us to consider we had completed our circumnavigation. Then it was back to Santa Teresa di Gallura to catch the ferry and complete a wonderful 3 weeks in this diverse island. ... read more