6 April 2008 We were due to move on from Menaggio to start the 650k drive to Rome but realised that we hadn’t looked around the town. So before we left we followed the walking tour which had previously been provided by the tourist office. This led us along the colourful edge of the lake and then up steep and narrow lanes past the remains of the castle. We eventually got going about 11 and after a 300k drive along motorways stopped at a very pleasant campsite in a hilly area just outside Sasso Marconi which is south of Bologna. ... read more

4 April 2008 In Glorious sunny and clear weather we have had a wonderful day exploring the area around Menaggio in Central Lake Como using the ferries to cross the lake. Lake Como is in the shape oh an inverted Y as shown on the attached map. The morning started on the 9.25 boat which took us to Bellagio. Bellagio is situated on the promontory which is at the start of the two legs of the Y and is one of several beautiful towns in the area. It has many steep and sometimes stepped alleys and we followed one of these and then another path to a small port called Pescallo. After a coffee on a scenic terrace overlooking the lake we retraced our steps and made our way to Punta Spartivento at the very point ... read more

2 April 2008 We continued our journey south and stopped in Southern Germany just outside Freiburg by a lake again. ... read more

31 March 2008 Wendy and I left Ruth’s this morning to make a proper start to our Italian odyssey. We drove along the south coast to have lunch with some old friends of ours from the Cornwall camping days, John and Carys Hills who live at Hillhead just outside Portsmouth. It was great to see them again after a break of several years. In the afternoon we carried on along the coast to our overnight stop at Folkestone, but should have taken the motorways via the M25 as we had a very tortuous journey and didn’t arrive until after 7. ... read more

29 March 2008 Ruth and Bobbie had over the past year been arranging a surprise party for James. After a great effort by us all not give the game away we managed to get him to the National Sailing Centre in Weymouth where to his astonishment he was greeted by about 50 of his relations and friends. It turned out to be another great Pepper / Golden family gathering and was followed by a curry back at Ruth’s. ... read more