"The hills are alive with the sound of........."

"Raindrops" or "Thunder"

Yes the weather continued to literally cloud in around us. A terrible nights sleep was had by all I would conclude. I usually sleep log-like. However I awoke at midnight. The thunder in the mountains was quite amazing. Waking at midnight though doesn't help raise the interest level on amazing when all you want to do is sleep. I had a taste of insomnia, which I would conclude is deeply unpleasant. The lightening had Clare and I both counting "1, 1000, 2,1000, 3,1000, 4, 1000 etc" and waiting for the thunder. The noise was quite astonishing. It actually made the van shudder physically. I've never experienced such deep and resonant thunder like it before. Another memory put in the diary though.

Our motive today was to get off the mountain. So we did. A shocker of a journey. We went back down the road we came up, the Passo di Pradarena, through Busana and on our way down the Secchia valley. I can only liken the journey to being like a thread in a woollen jumper, all twists, turns and endless as it doubles back on itself goes through itself etc...

Loads of this with steep uphill and steep downhill sections..oh for my MX-5 back!

Terrible roads once again, another billion and one hairpin bends, and so so much rain, equalling the Lisbon rain quantities that we had. Hugo though was a star. He has just plodded on and on. His front tyres are clinging on for dear life as we approach his half way service down in Bari. What a van!

The conclusion of today was approaching a 'grim' grading. Passing through Pisa and seeing the leaning tower was a highlight as the thunder and lightening continued to shudder in. We decided not to stop though and instead headed for our camp. Sadly, it was another nail in the coffin for our general mood at that time. Such an appalling place that we decided to leave! No point paying for an awful stay. Life improved though as we found an Aire for the night on the Marina de Pisa. It could be a free night, and it has electricity too! Whatever happens, it feels right and it is beginning to feel good, despite the rain continuing to fall. A walk around the Marina really helped us though. An amazing set of fishing nets and huts on stalks in the sea really gave us a bit of a National Geographical moment. This might be the start of it all feeling better again?

We realise that we are "out of season", we realise that the weather is not great, but all we want to do is drive through and enjoy what Italy has to offer. Here's to hoping it starts as of now!

Ed

Cheap wine!

I am not about to share my thoughts about how much wine I have drunk, nor admit to drinking too much (because I don't), but feel it relevant to share my growing worldly knowledge on wine and the relevance of this on the trip. Before you close this down and stop reading, bear with me, I shalln't be getting tediously boring.

We have drunk wines from various regions, and obviously various countries. We have bought wines at the barn door all the way down to Lidl wine. People have told me what a good wine is. People have told me which ones are bad. But to be honest and frank, of all the wines we have drunk, I can't really remember any of them. They may have a 'fruity' fragrance, or have a 'hint of melons' or be all grown from a grape that has been passed down for umpteen generations, or may have been grown in the perfect altitude, but I am a person for whom none of that really matters. We bought a box of cheap Lidl wine for €6 (approximately £4.80). It wasn't particularly great, nor was it particularly bad, but it was fine for what we wanted, an end of evening 'something'. I must say that we do like "good" wines, but just because someone says it's good, it doesn't mean it's good for us. 

And so this trip is like a regular wine that we have stumbled upon. Some of it is good, some of it is 'less good' but that doesn't really matter. Even the less good stuff contributes to a greater understanding. You need the less good stuff to happen, you need the less good wines. For us though, the simple things as well as the bigger touristy stuff is as much important as each other. Survival may be the objective at the moment, so a cheap Lidl wine is all that is needed!

Ed

Trying to make Italy feel better

Our first week in Italy has been and gone, and to be honest, it just hasn't worked out for us yet. Rain, storms, terrible roads, road blocks, a million and one hairpin turns when you don't want them and an absence of decent camp sites has made life hard. This is where we have to dig in though. 

Serious efforts were made to get into the Appenine mountains between La Spezia and Parma. Being here now is starting to help a little. A morning swim in a heated pool, glorious sun breaking through the autumnal leaves and a warmth on our backs, means we are being optimistic that a new week will help us out. Poor weather is returning though, so we have to make the most of the sun whilst we can. 

Speaking though of autumnal leaves, our drive yesterday was horrendous. Just a torrid journey that meant when we were within spitting distance of our destination, we had to turn around due to a landslide. This gave us at least a 50 mile detour, which isn't that far when the roads are straight, flat and of a sensible quality. We had none of those, so a few hours later as we neared our destination once again, we weren't able to fully appreciate the beautiful landscape we were in. Spindly white trees standing naked with a carpet of a rich red fallen leaves was quite a contrast, but we weren't in the mood for stopping!

To help this, today we then went for a walk in the woods.

 

The directions we were given in a sort of Italian and English combination and resulted in us losing our way. Despite this, we found a nice place to go and have a picnic whilst a cloud began to envelope us. We realised that Autumn is truly with us now. The colours across the valleys that we drove through, and the mountains in the background really gave a colourful backdrop that was beautiful. We could see clearly across to Pietra Bismanto (the flat topped rocky outcrop in the picture).

We gather that this may be the last of the "good" weather for a bit that may have given us the chance to enjoy outdoor Italy to its fullest. We've started doing our bit though now as we head onto some real touristy stuff hopefully in Pisa soon!

Ed

No laughing, no fun, no skipping about, no .....

This sign gives the indication of a happy place. Our site for the night really is a bag of fun! We were  microchipped on the way in, and have discovered that turnstiles are in operation to ensure that inmates are kept in. 

 As for this one, I was wondering where I could shower my kipper.

And as for the bag of rocks we have collected, we are not allowed to carry them. The guards in the turrets might spot us. Might just throw them around instead!

Before my allowed shower time of 4 minutes, (which cost 50c), I have to undress in reception apparently. This could get me into trouble!

And as for this one, the fact that we are doing this silly journey, means that there aren't any grown up people on board our van. 

I could go on, in fact I may go out tomorrow to find more signs that made me laugh. Funny really, as the place where I found all of these is completely dire. A real disservice to camping and even more of a disservice to Italy. These pictures are the funny side to what is an appalling place. Moving on tomorrow. Without fail. Ordered by Clare! I'll follow those rules! 

Ed

Maya's diary entry - Wednesday 5th November

Today we travelled to a new campsite but on the way Jasper felt sick and he was sick. I told Mummy and Mummy came and Daddy parked the van. Jasper was sick all over his trousers and we went to find a campsite bu they had bad showers so we went to find a different campsite.Jasper had a sleep whilst me, Mummy and Daddy had lunch. Then we payed a game with Jasper and we had tea. We then had our story and Jasper slept downstairs and I slept upstairs.

Maya

Wet playtimes

During the weather we have been having recently, we have been slightly confined to the van. In fact, our adept skills in managing with each other in small space might be appropriate for the Mars mission planning team. Three whole days and a bit now have passed with pretty wet to severe weather passing  us. I must admit that Clare has been the better at motivating the troops during this 'blip' on the weather radar.

There has been lots of this:

....scrap book work. Here, Jasper is finishing off his drawings of pictures to do with D-day, so you will realise there is lots of catching up to be done. He selected all the shades of brown and green from the watercolours, which was lovely to see! 

There has been lots of this:

.....loads of games, new games, old games, board games, card games and yes.... A bit of mild gambling to keep the interest levels up. This is actually a game Clare used to play as a child called "Queenie" where you pay to play, or place a bet!!! 

Three has been some of this too: 

....hairdo practice for Clare on Maya, who has stopped suggesting Clare gets a plastic doll head to practise on now she is actually mastering French plaits! Getting rather good though I think. Jasper and I avoided any sort of 'barnet coiffurage' with me still rebelling and just letting it all go a bit 'Grizzley Adams' (if not sure who he is/was, he was a TV character I used to watch...google it). 

There has also been a bit of this: 

....which is evidence enough that some madness has happened. Maya took to wrestling the 'sausage rolled' Jasper. This was after den building in the front half of the van whilst Clare and I turned blind eyes to the havoc! And noise!

Therefore, despite the weather, and the increasing pervading dampness, and despite the increasing desire to get out, we have managed thus far to remain happy, sane and to have not done too much damage.

Ed

'The great San Remo shoe swap'

Ed...Welcome to Italy!

And what better way to start this part of the trip than with some absolutely mega storms. You can forget the Lisbon storms we suffered, last night was something else. Not much sleeping, huge lightening flashes, cacophonous thunder etc. for about 2 hours. Once we were all properly awake, the devastation on the site was quite something. Huge branches were down, debris was everywhere, leaves and bark had been ripped off trees, and then a realisation that 14 of our shoes were missing!!! The every day shoe that sits under the van. The shoes that lack style. The shoes that fashion forgot. All of our CROCS had gone! 

To be honest, Clare and the children disappeared before I'd woken properly and had come back with one of my trainers, which had been banished outside due to the terrible post sporting odour. This one was the easy one to find. It had barely travelled 1.5 metres. Then the fun began.

Clare ... As I looked out of the window to see what the morning weather was like, I saw people walking around looking under hedges and bushes. I thought they had lost their cat, which we seem to have adopted a bit. Actually a lot! Jasper has actually named it Jack. It's a lovely cat! I then saw one of Ed's trainers and one of Maya's pink CROCS on the nearby sink, so wondering what they were doing there, I went out to get them. Then I realised that my CROCS were missing. And Jasper's, and Ed's. In fact, as I looked again, one of Jasper's flip flops was nestled in a hedge. I realised that the site must have flooded a fair bit in the downpours and our footwear had floated away!!!

Half an hour passed as we joined other campers in looking for our shoes and other things that usually stay outside of the van, such as door mats, buckets, spades and Jasper's stick collection.

There was much confusion going on! We found the other of Jasper's flip flops in a hedge several metres away from our van (actually about 25m), and one of Maya's flip flops too. Then I saw my blue CROCS in someone else's box under their van. Not knowing how to say, "excuse me, I think you have have got my shoes", in Italian was starting to worry me, but then the lady opened the door and came out. She saw me with a small pair of blue CROCS, and then looked at the ones she had. Quite quickly she realised the mistake, and there was a Cinderella moment as we each put on our own shoe to prove that we had it sorted!!!

After showers we set about searching again, for a green CROC, one of Jasper's and the other of Maya's flip flops. In fact, for about an hour Jasper literally had two left feet, so had to hop about with the aid of his most useful stick!!!

Ed...

The rather amusing confused state continued on site. Oh for Esperanto! Sorts of half discussions were happening with German, Italian, Swiss campers and us, in a sort of general hotch potch of French, German, Italian and English, a language I'd like to call Freuitalischish. A veritable melting pot of Euro-footwear-language. The illusive green croc was found some 2 and a half hours after waking up. A kind German lady had found it some distance from where we were. In a sort of shoe exchange, Jasper had been enthusiastically searching amongst the hedges and cacti and had found a flip flop, returned to a very happy Italian, and a pair of Blue crocs, returned to a happy Swiss guy.

If the absence of footwear under the vehicle doesn't sway you to believe the severity of the weather that we have just had (and are still suffering from), then the playground which Jasper and Maya had earlier yesterday now looks like this. I don't think Jasper or Maya did it!

Ed.... Lessons learnt, I sit here writing this short shoe episode, with all footwear 'in' the van, regardless of its odour! 

Clare...I'm frantically looking for 'Odour Eater Spray' which I know I packed somewhere!!!

Enjoy your weather, wherever you are!!!