Italy 43 - Mr and Mrs Federer and shut Montalcino

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We left Rome early and headed into the beautiful Tuscan countryside. The scenery is stunning and picture postcard perfect. Yellow soil as far as the eye can see with tiny roads climbing up the hillsides through fields of yellow haybales. Typically pines line the roadsides. If you have seen a picture of Tuscany you will understand the picture in your mind. Mellow yellow stone houses with stone roofs. Even the cement looks yellow. And the sun shining on such a pretty scene. Each hamlet as pretty as the last and with the promise of more to come..

We drove for miles admiring the view which then changed to more hilly scenery densely wooded. We hoped to see our elusive hoopoe but no such luck. Are we ever going to see this silly bird? Neither did we see Montalcino . Again she was shut. Not literally but as we climbed the hill and we saw her on the hilltop – inviting. Upon arriving at the top we tried to find the aree de sosta which turned out to be too far out of the village. We did not fancy walking back up the hill in such heat. The weather was still holding with no sign of rain nor cooler weather. We drove to the next car park which was literally empty in parts but no camping cars allowed. On to the next lower car park and yet again almost empty but no camping cars allowed. In the end we drove off failing to see the town yet again. How sad that the town cannot provide an aree de sosta closer to the town or provide better car parking within walking distance. They must alienate camping car visitors who come up realise that they cannot see anything and drive off again without spending any money in the town. We probably would have bought a gift, had a coffee or two and possibly bought our lunch so they lost that trade. We try to do our homework first by checking Google earth for parking and then we check the local information on the internet but sometimes despite all this preparation things do not go quite to plan. Ah well perhaps next time!!!!

Strange what thoughts go through your mind when you are on your travels. Remembered the rice fields near Pavia and the tiny green frogs which jumped in as we walked along the roadside. It seems ages since we were parked at Pavia and even longer since we sat on the steps of the stone cross in the military cemetery at Seraucourt le Grande. We have travelled over 2000 miles and are averaging 25.4 per gallon which is not good. We had expected more from our Euro 5 engine and after talking to some British neighbours who get 29. something to the gallon. We are very disappointed.

After giving up on Montalcino we headed for our nightstop at Camping Soline in the tiny village of Casciano di Murlo. Another typical Tuscan hilltown with winding streets, an ancient church , mellow yellow stone houses and surrounded by deep forests which clung to the hills. The entrance to the campsite was quite tight and in a big RV would have been difficult to get into. We liked the look of the site and decided to stay for a few days. Reception was excellent and we were welcomed in almost perfect English by our host. WiFi was free but was a bit slow in the van. There was a lovely swimming pool with a covered terrace for spectators and a bar serving ice creams and drinks. As well as the bar there was a small shop where you could order your daily bread and had a limited selection of meat, cheeses , wines and ice creams. There was also a pretty little restaurant overlooking the pool. The pitches were smaller than usual but set on terraces along the hillside with shade from olive trees. We spoke to our German neighbours and tried to converse with some English in a VW Bilbo who parked up on the end of our row but they seemed disinterested in anything but a casual hello. We have not found many Brits in this part of Italy and those we have seen have been less than friendly. Is it us????

We investigated the showers which were clean and tidy and required jetons to make them work. We got four of those included in the ACSI price. Caught up in the afternoon with washing which dried very quickly in the hot sun. The temperature steamed whilst we were here.

At night we went to the restaurant which opened at 7. We were joined by our German neighbours. The tables were covered in red and white gingham tablecloths and looked jolly. We ordered the menu touristique which included bruschetta covered in tomatoes and olive oil. I hate tomatoes but yet again found the whole dish very tasty and filling washed down with water and local red wine. Our second courses were Penne with tomatoes and Tagliatelli which we ate listening to our waiter from Siena who was trying to get the CD working which he eventually did and we were treated to Andrea Bocelli , Our final course was Spaghetti and Bistecca Maiale in other words Pork steak with salad. We finished with the usual expresso coffee. All in all a good day ended with a lovely meal. At a cost of around 38 euros.

Woke up the next morning to mozzie bites, two huge ones on my neck which made me look as if I was suffering from mumps and two big ones on the back of my leg. They itched like mad and made my leg swell up. No amount of cream on them stopped the itching and they became quite painful.

We were woken up early by our next door neighbours a couple I called the Loved up Latvians. They had set up their tent noisily late on the evening before and woke up at 5 in the morning ready to set off. Mrs Loved up Latvian opened the car door - a BMW at the front, looked in and then shut it before moving on to the drivers side back door. This she opened , looked in and shut it. The same thing went on at the rear of the vehicle and then she opened the last of the doors before going back into the tent talking noisily and loudly. I don’t think they realised or cared how early it was in the morning and most people were trying to sleep. There had also been a lot of noises from animals in the night and the bins had been upended as they searched for food.

Our German neighbour sat in the sun all day reading whilst her husband had gone out for a seriously long bike ride. It seemed as if this area was serious bike country. Our other neighbours were a young swiss couple who had parked up in a lower plot to us, They packed up their belongings and set off and in a moment an elderly swiss couple who were parked in the next spot raced into action. They had parked below us and had got eyes only for the plot vacated by the young couple realising it was prime real estate . Madam raced up the bank with a chair and placed it in the plot. This was her marker that the plot was theirs and she followed up with another chair and a table whilst her husband hooked up their caravan and moved it in to the plot. I have never seen anyone move so fast for a long time and christened them Mr and Mrs Federer. They defied anyone to take the plot from them and promptly took up half of the road and turning area with their awning from which they dangled guide ropes. They used another plot for their tables and chairs. So instead of having one plot to themselves they had two plots and the road and made it hard for anyone else to park there.

We spent the day doing nothing apart from reading, swimming and catching our breaths. This part of Italy is breathtaking and makes the long journey down here worthwhile.

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