Ahoy there, me hearties!

---

Geo: 46.0223, 8.67936

We headed off, after a little bit of school work in the morning, intending to drive to Valle Versasca. But the weather wasn't perfect, and Steven and I were both tired (we didn't sleep well last night), so we decided to just drive into Italy (15 minutes) and have a coffee/icecream, then return to Il Monte for an afternoon sleep. The drive down to Italy is a lovely drive – right along the water of the lake. I should say that it is a lovely drive for the passengers – the roads are narrow, and on one side is the water, on the other side is a cliff, and we are driving a manual car (I drive an automatic at home) on the wrong side of the road! Steven knows when he is too close to the edge by the way that I flinch and climb into the middle of the car!

When we got to Italy, we pulled up at Cannero Riveria, where there is a ruined castle near to the shore of the lake. When we parked the car, we found a harbor, with a sign advertising boats for hire without a licence. So we hired a cute little electric boat (Mark P would be horrified – nowhere near enough power for him!) that took the five of us for 45 Euro for 2 hours (about $60). It was lovely! It was quiet – always good! – and we had a lovely time circumnavigating the castle, then crossing the lake to Luino, then looking at the villas and returning to the harbor. We had a lovely little picnic on the boat in the middle of the lake (watching out for the big ferries that go up and down), and a wonderful couple of hours before returning home.

Hilarity when we returned home – goats from the nearby goat farm had blocked the road, and so the kids and I got out of the car to "shoo" them along. All going OK, until one stubborn goat refused to move, but backed up to Matt and I and piddled all over our shoes! No respect!

Then, after a very quick rest (for Steven, at least), we headed back down the mountain to Ronco where we had a “play in the park” with cousin Martina and Daniel, and the kids all made friends with local children (despite the language barrier). That night, we had dinner at il Monte with Zio Romano and Zia Teresa (the owners of Il Monte – they laughed at our jokey invitation for them to have dinner at “our house”😉 and Nonna and Nonno, and, for here, an early night with the kid in bed at 8.30pm (before the sunlight was gone).

---