Tirrilstrip12
 Days 94 to 97 Day 94 Yes, hot & sunny again. Saw a few hoopoes in the field next to the campsite while we were having our al fresco breakfast. Got our ferry to Croatia booked - 1st July!! Then off to the beach to have a swim with Tirril. Really warm sea. Back to the van for lunch and then had a tinker with the scooter. Seemed to be starting OK so set off into the nearest village to get some provisions in. Got to minimarket, but it was shut (and of course no signs to say when it would be open) so decided to head on to the next village. Minimarket shut here too, but a sign saying it would open again at 5pm. Decided to head back, but made the fatal error of stopping to fill up with petrol – and – of course it wouldn’t start. Well to keep this relatively brief , I shall not, even though under severe provocation, go into my rant about Italians and signs which caused unnecessary delay in this incident, but basically I ended up with a bit of a walk back to the campsite, leaving the scooter in no doubt as to my frame of mind. Went for an evening dip into the sea and watched the sun set in a ball of red & orange over the sea – really beautiful. Only took a few minutes from ‘sitting’ on the horizon to setting out of view. Then back to the van for a late (delicious) meal that Philippa had conjured up from the remnants of the stock cupboard and settled down to watch the football. Well – my prediction of a draw was cruelly overturned by another scandalous ball-over-the-line contraversy, but I’m still going for the wretched exit after penalties in the next round. Somehow, don’t think I’ll have any problems finding a bar showing the match on Sunday! Day 95 I won’t keep on about the lovely sunny mornings, a) because it must be getting very boring and b) because you’ll be looking out of the window and cursing our good fortune from what I hear about the weather back home. I’ll let you know when it’s anything other than hot & sunny. So – off to the beach for a morning swim again. Had the beach to ourselves – nobody else for at least 500m in either direction. Then got packed up and set off to go and collect the scooter. Unfortunately it was still there, and , of course, it started, no problem. Got it on board and set off up into the hills on the Gargano peninsula where there was a large foresty bit that we hoped would have some walks. Turned out to be a lovely area – loads of picnic places and footpaths. We did have a bit of a gripe about the dearth (and of course, poor signing) of picnic areas in Italy – the French seem far better at doing them. But here, we’ve seen more picnic places in a few square miles than we’ve come across in the rest of Italy! Anyway, had a good (shady) walk – but no campsites or stopovers nearby so had to head back to the coast – passing a very strange hilltop town. It has been much extended by modern developments, but all the buildings, both old and new, are finished in white render – which of course, looks nice when it’s just been painted, but really shabby after a while – and clearly maintaining their buildings was not a high priority, so the whole effect was rather dreary. The campsite at Manfredoria was rather an odd affair too, but relatively cheap and well-placed for our continued journey tomorrow. Very warm, sultry evening – going to be difficult sleeping well tonight I suspect. Day 96 Up & off in reasonable time (despite the predicted sleep difficulties) to head for a lovely sounding campsite in the mountains due south. A mini-rant here – all of a sudden we’ve come this far down Italy, and there are virtually no campsites, and hardly any stopovers in the central (mountainy = scenic, cool in the evening, quiet, access to footpaths) part – they’re all around the coast from here on down. Anyway – found our way to the campsite in what turned out to be, indeed, a lovely spot near a lake next to Monti Vulture (I do have yet another gripe here about the two Italian campsite guidebooks we have and the hopeless means of finding the sites that they rely on, but I’ll spare you that one). Only problem was – a sign on the gate said the site was closed (despite the book saying it was open from May). On ringing the number, the site apparently was due to open on Saturday. Really strange – this is one of only 2 sites listed in the mountainy areas of southern Italy, in a very scenic spot, but not opening until end of June? So we had to press on to the only other site listed – another 50 odd miles away. It’s so hot today – has reached 40 degrees, so not best weather to be driving. We have though, found the eco-heart of Italy. We have passed the occasional field of solar collector panels on our route through Italy, but hardly any wind turbines, despite being in many hilly areas. Here though are literally hundreds of commercial wind turbines scattered throughout, and dominating the character of, the countryside. We pressed on though and ended up winding up a really steep road to arrive at a little plateau, still surrounded by mountains, but a very flat area. The map shows a big lake (Lago Laceno) here, but there’s clearly been no lake for a long time – just the sorry remains of one in one corner. No sign of the campsite. A bit like a ghost village here – various bars, hotels & restaurants, but all closed and a mini childrens fun-park which was open. There also seem to be quite a few stray dogs here, just roaming around freely, despite there being a lot of cows here – the first place we’ve seen anything like a sizeable herd. In the end, asked at the village garage – they reckoned there was no campsite here, but that it was OK to park up and stop over night at some of the car parks around the village (looks like it’s geared to being a ski resort). As we had no real option, we’re giving ‘wild camping’ a go tonight – have found a little piece of land off the road to stop. Just waiting to see if we get a knock on our door at some point during the night…..will let you know! Day 97 Warning – extra long entry today: Yes – well that was a bit weird. From about 3am, there were occasional bouts of dogs howling and barking – presumably the strays. Fortunately none seemed to be too close by, although in the morning we woke up to find 2 stray dogs kipping a few yards away from us. They were no problem though. Drove back into the village to see if any of the shops were open. No. Nothing stirring. Just the gentle tinkling of the cow bells – the cows were certainly ‘free range’ here and were all over the place – even in the woods where they were trying to keep cool. Anyway – found a footpath map and took Tirril for a walk up through the forest, and then back down again via what turned out to be a ski piste – the ski-lift was at the bottom when we got there – although not operating. Were greeted by various small gangs of dogs on our way back to the van, but without incident and then we set off towards our next site. Having ranted about the lack of campsites in the mountains, we found one of the campsite books has a small section at the end of each region where it lists some small ‘agroturismo’ sites which take a few tents and/or motorhomes. We found one south of here, this time sending an e-mail to check they were open and had space (which they did). Had a really lovely drive down the mountain through forests of beech trees – although there were a few hairy bits where rock falls had occurred littering the road with debris – some pieces the size of footballs and where a tree-logging lorry was virtually blocking the lane (but we squeezed through with much enthusiastic beckoning from the foresters), and later on we had to stop while a JCB driver finished loading up a lorry, also blocking the lane, with debris from another landslip and then for him to jump into the lorry to drive it away. Had a short section of motorway en route – stopped at a service area for lunch as we still hadn’t found any shops open. Well – what a pleasant surprise – they had a really nice array of snacks – baguettes, paninis, pizzas and various other appetising and wholesome looking food – not a chip or burger in sight, and all at a very reasonable price too. Pressed on in the heat, following the sat nav’s instructions (I do have a little bit to say about sat navs too, but again, I’ll spare you for the time being – on the whole, the pros have outweighed the cons, but the cons can be a tad irritating). Anyway – we’d ended up going down a narrow lane that suddenly got very steep. Decided to turn around (you develop a knack of sussing when the sat nav is taking you onto one of it’s ‘short cuts’) and do the map nav instead, when a man driving the other way stopped to help – he spoke no English, but he said (I think!) that the road wasn’t passable, and asked where we were headed for. He then beckoned us to follow him in his car. He promptly drove us 2-3 miles to a road junction, and then gave us easy directions (which were spot on) to send us on our way. How helpful was that? I do have to say that, with one exception (ironically at a tourist information office), all the Italians we have come across have been unfailingly friendly and helpful and this was just one more example. So – found the site near Postiglione – and what a delight! It’s a farm with fields of olive trees and other vegetable produce. They have a field for up to 6 tents (empty) and then two small terraced areas for motorhomes – each pitch with it’s very own service building containing shower, toilet, wash basin, bidet (!) and washing machine, as well as washing up sink. Each pitch also has it’s own barbecue! Posh or what? And the pitches have lovely views – across the valley for miles in one direction, and a really high, craggy mountain range behind. And still, there’s no-one else here. Amazing. Decided to push the boat out tonight and eat at the restaurant that sits, somewhat bizarrely but very discreetly, next to the farmhouse. Only problem is, it doesn’t open until 9pm so there’s a clash with the football (we have TV reception here) – but given it’s Germany v Greece and Germany will inevitably win, there’s not really much contest as to which should prevail.
|
Diary Photos
|
Lago lacerno |
 Spot the cow, walk at Lago lacerno |
 Poppies on walk |
 Poppies |
 Hay bales! - approaching Sorgituro |
 Sorgituro |
 View from campsite |
 Sorgitura |
 DIY clothes wash service |
| 1988 Words | This page has been read 18 times | View Printable Version |