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Published: July 18th 2010
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22 June 2010
Bought a book before leaving the UK called Fattore Amico which has a list of farms, vineyards etc. you can stay at for one night and in exchange you buy some produce. We pick one called Podere Ristella near the village of Montimassi , north of Grosseto in Tuscany and surprisingly manged to find it the sign and head up a steep narrow path.
Eventually come to the farm and after a brief chat to the farmer, lots of very fast Italian (not from Brian) and a few hand signals we are directed round the back of the house to an area we can park for the night. The location is beautiful. As we are eating dinner the farmer’s wife, Daniela, comes over and says hello and welcome. We watch the most amazing sunset from the garden and then have a quiet and peaceful night’s sleep.
Next day we veg for a while then decide to head for the coast (big mistake). Before we leave, I have a quick wine tasting and we buy 5 litres of vino rosso and a rather good bottle of white, we won’t run out of wine for a
while! After a quick stroll to the castle at Montimassi we head for the coast, round another narrow twisty road through the mountains. Eventually arrive at our campsite close to Vada on the coast. It is a huge site and the pool has a slide (a big attraction for Calum). There are lots of people all cycling about and we think this could be ok. After a couple of moves we pick a site reasonably close to the pool and get settled, all our Italian neighbours look at us blankly.
The music starts at 9:30 and goes on until very late, not much sleep, we seem to have picked the Italian version of Butlins! We find out that there is entertainment every evening, just beside the pool area (deep joy) starting with the bambinos disco at 9:00 followed by the bambinos talent show at 10:00. The boys have a swim and then after lunch we cycle into Vada, small tourist town with a sandy beach.
Calum has decided he wants to go and socialise, so we head off to the entertainment area at about 9:30, big night out. Arrive and it’s standing room only, we have a couple
of games of table football then it’s time for the talent show. Some of the kids are quite good dancers but it goes on and on and on we leave about 11:00 and it is still in full swing. I’ll be glad to leave tomorrow.
25 June
Pisa here we come!
Another hot day, we can’t find the campsite we were heading and end up in the centre of Pisa. As luck would have it there is a lovely campsite just 800m from the Tower - result. I haven’t got to grips with Italian road signs, you can be following signs for a place and then suddenly it disappears and there is no reference to it any more, usually at some critical point in the navigation (remember the no blame culture).
Anyway, we loved the Leaning Tower of Pisa and enjoyed the city. Walking up the tower was a weird experience and more than a little freaky! We end the day having something to eat with a view of the tower and walk back to the campsite as it is starting to get dark.
Next day we decide to try our luck with
another Fattore Amico and have found a place that sell berries, jams and ice cream (we have enough wine). Plug the address into the mad nav woman and we can even see some of the places on our map. Not going far today just to Tiglieto near Genova. We have decided not to go to Florence, Siena or to Cinque Terre we have had enough of big cities, old ruins, churches and buildings and are going to head for France to see if we can find some children for Calum and perhaps some parents for us. We are struggling with the Italian psyche and culture and have found them unfriendly, unhelpful and unwelcoming. I really wanted to come to Italy but I’m sorry all you Italy lovers it hasn’t lived up to my expectations. Rant over.
As we leave the coast behind the road starts to climb and there are lots of tunnels. Eventually we leave the autostrada and the road gets narrower and more twisty there are also lots of motorcyclists which is not good news if you are driving a 7m campervan. Half way down a hill the mad nav woman decides we have arrived at our
destination. We eventually have to ask for directions and find we still have 12km to go. I admire the scenery and pray we don’t run into any motor bikes, Brian concentrates on not going over the falling off side! Eventually we see a sign and as instructed we turn into a narrow road and pray there is no one coming in the opposite direction. Come to the end of the road and don’t see our destination then we realise the street has another part, continue up and we come to some very narrow gates and the steepest driveway I have ever seen disappears up and round a corner.
A man trimming weeds with a strimmer (weedeater in NZ) , smiles gives us the thumbs up and waves us in. I shut my eyes as we go through the gate and once again pray there is nothing coming down the drive.
At the top of the hill there is a car park with another camper in it and a small building on the opposite side of the road. As we park the camper a woman waves from the door of the building. We wander across and meet the Dalpian family (Luca, his mum and daughter). They indicate we are very welcome to stay for the night and Calum samples the ice cream. It is another hot day and there is no shade in the car park so we try to get as cool as possible. Our Italian neighbours return from a walk and say ‘buongiorno’ but no more. Our host comes over for a chat, they seem like a lovely family. Once again it is an amazing location, we buy some jams and learn that the family make everything they sell and farm is on a National Park and they have the right to pick the fruit that grows wild in the park. It is a great set up and people are arriving until after 8 o’clock to buy produce. We have a quiet night and go for a short walk the next morning and buy some ice cream before leaving.
We head for another Fattore Amico, this one has a swimming pool, restaurant, woodland walk and carp fishing and is close to Alessandria. We arrive mid afternoon and the place is going like a fair, there are cars and campers everywhere. We are instructed to park in a field opposite and wait until a space become available. We find out there is a wedding and people will be leaving soon. We go for a walk and Calum has a brief swim in the pool to cool down. When we return to the beast it is 41.5 degrees and it is six o’clock at night, this is the hottest yet. We manage to get a place to park and people start leaving the pool area and making dinner before departing for home around 10:30.
28 June - Distance Travelled 11,079km
Almost half way through our trip we decide to stay at a campsite on a lake close to Turin but it is shabby, empty and expensive so we head for France. We pick a rural campsite on the banks of the Gyronde close to Briançon in the French Alps. The drive is stunning and we arrive about six in the evening it is still very hot and as usual mad nav woman has taken us on the narrowest most twist road. A long day but glad to be here we pick a site close to the reception so we can get the WI-FI.
A French man comes over and introduces himself, speaks very little English but is very helpful.
Have a late dinner and then head over to the restaurant to watch Brazil beat Chile with a glass of vin rouge and a bier.
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marlene
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Hi to you all. Italy is certainly an interesting place. I have a family of mad Italians in my class at St Josephs, and they are really hard to get on with. Seems to be something to do with the firey temper. Some news from the Dyers. We have sold our house!! So not to long, and we will be joining the fabulous travellers. Just need to finish the year and we can go. Yeah. But can't believe you have been away for over half your time already. Maybe we will need a year!!! We need to move by the 26th August. It has been great having your blogs, especially for Cory and he seems to be the most enthusiastic about the idea of us travelling. We have treatened Courtney with boarding school which is making her come around to the idea. Happy travels. Marlene and family.