Tuesday 20th October Coastal wandering north After putting the lights out in the mobile home last night and getting it fixed, the electrical system seemed to have coped overnight as the heater kept working and we still have power this morning.We do seem to have buggered up the silly two prong power points in the place though as our European plugs converting from our three prong don’t seem to fit these sockets quite so well. We have another magnificent sunrise and beautiful day ahead although we are aware in the forecast that this probably won’t last as we head further north as a rain system is due by tomorrow. We seemed to have spread ourselves far and wide in this little mobile home and it took a while to get everything together and packed into RR ... read more

Sunday 18th October Day two of Rome on the BBA and Gretchen’s 8(which turned into 10) stop tour. We are as warm as toast inside our mobile home with the heat pump churned up to 25C all night. But a glance out the window at first light indicates that today might just be a bit cooler than yesterday and cloudier. We were ready to hit out for the city about the same time as yesterday. And just as well as Gretchen has a plan to make sure we see all the main sights in the city except the Vatican which we will save for tomorrow. Again we timed our walk to the bus stop well and only had to wait a few minutes before a bus arrived and we were whisked off to the subway station. ... read more

Friday 16th October North along the western coast to Rome. Time has come to move on again and the day has dawned sunny and clear a radical change from yesterday’s grey and rather bleak sky. We plan to use the motorway to clear ourselves of the Naples area and then head to the coast and take whatever road we can to drive along the coastline to Rome. After our tidy up yesterday it doesn’t take long after breakfast to have everything ready to pack into RR and be ready to head away. Neither the owner or his sister,who showed us around when we arrived,have been in contact to say when they will drop by to pick up payment for our stay.So when 9am ticked by Gretchen rang the owner to see what the story was.He said ... read more

Wednesday 14th October Pompei - A city excavated It is not such a beautifully fine morning but it is still dry and we hold out hope that the partly overcast sky will clear for our trip to Pompei. After yesterdays running of the gauntlet,now to be known as “How to avoid oncoming Italian drivers on narrow roads”Gretchen has relented and said she would drive RR out of Sorrento to visit nearby Pompei rather than dismantle the car & remove it from the area piece by piece. The short drive off the peninsula went without a hitch and we didn’t even meet any cars on the twisting,winding road down the hill to the main road. We did however take the wrong for in the road and ended up driving through the ugly city of Castelammare di Stabia ... read more

Monday 12th October As far south in Italy as we go - Sorrento, Amalfi Coast It has been a very comfortable night in what will probably be our only 4 star accommodations (other than our home swap, home stay and visiting with cousins!!)And we have enjoyed the little bit of luxury. Breakfast however was a disappointment although it may have been because we didn’t beat to the breakfast room the 15 or so Chinese guest from a bus that pulled in last night. Perhaps we missed out on the first choice of the buffet breakfast. Never mind, we have a bigger challenge ahead this morning and that is negotiating about a third of the giant ring road around Rome, the GRA.It should be easy once we are on the GRA with the real challenge getting to ... read more