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LIVORNO TO ANCONA
The journey across Umbria to reach our desired stopover at Castigliano was quite uneventful as we stuck to the motorways for damage limitation with these crazy Italians. Despite driving close to Florence and Pisa, (two places we would love to return to without 7.40 metres of metal behind us!) we couldn't see a lot of city life from the road but we did have a wonderful view of acres and acres of sunflowers and my lovely driver obligingly made unscheduled stop for a few photos.
After lunching at the service station with the truckers - from whom we are learning a lot, such as, if you have a towel that urgently needs drying, you lift up your bonnet, attach your pre-prepared string with pegs from one side to the other and hang it out to dry while you eat! Life's lessons here!
We have also realised that we could actually do with having Angie or David's arms with us. Well, the rest of the body would be nice too, but despite being over 6' tall, Colin is having trouble reaching the ticket distributors from his elevated position in the van when we go through the tolls! Inspector Gadget he is not!
We arrived at Camping Listro just before 14h00 where we had read that if you were lucky, you could pitch up right on the lake. As I was checking in, Colin came over with the pitch numbers he liked the look of and lucky for us, pitch 87 was free for two nights. Hoorah!
We set up Mabel with her nose looking out to the lake (watched closely by zee Germanz and the Dutch - they really get everywhere).
We then took our recliners and refreshingly chilled drinks from the efficient fridge over to the more manicured part of the lakeside and settled down for a little R&R.
No sooner had Jules got out of the lake where she had cooled off with a little swim (it was a bit stinky - not like Switzerland where they probably filter the water!) the wind had well and truly got up....and now we realised why no one else was occupying the pitches right by the lake as the water splashed (gently) up the side of Mabel!
The (35km/hr) "breeze" was well and truly welcomed by us though; it was fabulous and not a bit cold. Jules had to do an emergency return to the van when she saw something white flying out of the roof vent and one of the Dutchies was circulating the van looking for us. The wind had pulled the mossie net through the vent and it was flapping around! No damage done!
We waited for sun down and took a walk along the lake to the old city and climbed up top to have a little beer. Here we spared a thought for you Maggie. It would have been a tricky choice, as we had our little beers at a proper Gelateria...everyone else was ordering ice cream and us Brits went for the beer! Actually, thinking about it, there's no such tricky choices on holiday are there!!?! You could have just had both!
It was an easier walk back down - no steep hill and our beer mopeds carried us back to the site.
With the strong wind and the inevitably cooler night ahead, Jules was excited about having a night's sleep without waking up from the heat. Colin then added to this thrill by suggesting he slept in the cabin bunk so that I was well and truly not disturbed by him getting up in the night / snoring / sheet hugging...
Like a child, he was excited to set up his little bedroom with his "own light", his Bose speaker (for favourite playlist) and sleeping bag! See photos for the inside shots, as requested by Angie ;o)
I woke up after a blissful 7 hour sleep to hear Colin chatting!! He had made another friend and was once again talking to strangers...this one was lured over by our Belgian reg plates and coincidentally lived 15 minutes from Colin's office. Colin gleaned much (useless) information from his new friend and parted in the knowledge that they were both engineers so had discussed all the design faults of the Fiat motorhomes! He also owned his and his wife - who suffered from an illness that made her very tired - had sneaky sleeps when he was on straight roads. We have now realised that most people avoid us thinking we are French speaking Belgians but as soon as they hear the English, their hearts warm!
Another major inconvenience that we have found that would render this trip impossible in the van for the Chapmans is that there is only ONE - yes, ONE electrical outlet in the whole of the huge van (why oh why?) and, it is in the kitchen area of all places. Wonderful Jules had spotted this on our briefing and had packed an extendo multi-gang cable but still, it's location is highly impractical and would never be good for a family with all manner of devices that need constant charging. We can't really use the 12v DC charger in the front to charge as we go along either, as the TOMTOM needs to use that as its' battery life is pretty poor and we need him on constantly to avoid any route negotiation disagreements...!
So, where was I? Oh yes, Colin talking to strangers again...well it gets worse. After this episode, around 11h00 a British motorhome pitched up next to us so then he practically made friends!! They were northerners though, so we kept it brief...until he came to chat...you see Colin - you encourage a little bit and they come back for more!
Anywaaaaay, the wind was still up but we had another pleasant chill out day-our first without any driving. Colin started making his red arrow airfix kit (50th birthday gift from his cousin Reece) and he even mixed a grain of coffee into the paint to be used for the faces, so that he has been culturally sensitive, having one white and one black pilot flying!
We left the next morning with a few tips on Croatia from Colin's new British friends. As much as we love the scenery, we have concluded that the Italians just don't cater for touring holiday makers. There is so much fabulous scenery but nowhere to pull over and take photos. Part of the journey still had its motorway under construction and the views from the secondary road were breathtaking but there was simply nowhere to stop to take it all in. Such a shame. You end up having coffee stops in the car park at the services when 5km back was the most gorgeous hillside....
Due to the lack of beauty spots to stop, we arrived at the port of Ancona way ahead of schedule. In true Italian style, it was chaotic and poorly signposted. We therefore waited in a dirty car park when we later realised that with better instruction, we could actually have gone round to the terminal, parked up and gone for a little explore in the town...oh well - once we were on the ferry with a beer in hand (and Colin's pre-mixed vodka and lemonade in a sprite bottle - extra team points if you guessed that in the photo!?) thoughts of the Italians soon left us as we noticed that the full ferry crew were Asian - efficient service WITH a smile. Hoorah!
It was a beautiful departure from the port with the sun going down and calm
waters ahead. We even treated ourselves to dinner (pasta for me and a mixed grill for Colin!) in the restaurant where we dined to the dulcet voice of Wally Wurlitzer (we made the name up!)...maybe Croatia's pop idol winner back in 1969? See the photo. We almost recognised the songs and felt his pain when he tried to hit any high notes. For extra free fun, at the end if extra song, Colin clapped loudly under the table and we had bets on who else would join in on the clapping. We think we were his most appreciative audience of the season so far - his gratitude over the microphone suggested that he wasn't applauded very much in his job!!
Colin explored the show bar and the chapel, begging me to take his photo a) preaching at the pulpit (nobody listening - no change there!) and b) on stage at the show bar where no one took a blind bit of notice (no change there either!!!) but as is his perspective on life, it was all free fun.
With a few more drinky poo poos inside us, we felt strong enough to head back to the cell, I mean the cabin for a few Zzzzzs before our scheduled arrival in Croatia at 7am. Jules taking the top bunk this time! No need to reference any testicles today! ;o)
As the end of week one on the road draws to a close, we have clocked up 1791km and we are truly loving the experience.
Thanks for reading - shall we carry on blogging??
Xxxxxxx
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Maggie'/Mum YES!! Love you xx