Anyway back to the weather .... floods and deaths in Northern Italy / Southern France all over the news and by jiminy we can see why. To be honest we’ve never seen weather like this outside Florida in the rainy season!! It was very hot and humid last night with rain / drizzle most of the morning and afternoon and then .... another mind blowing thunderstorm started at about 7pm tonight and is still raging now - at midnight! Sure, it sounds much worse in Brunnehilda but the wind and rain are staggering!
Considering the awful weather we’ve really had a nice day!? The rain did stop between 1 and 4 and that’s when we were out in it. Afternoon is good for us as we don’t get out until lunchtime but it’s not good in Italy ... everywhere shuts down between 2 and 5pm so it’s hard to find shops / restaurants open at this time.
After a very late “wake up” this morning, Kim made breakfast while Bobby and I went for a swim in the drizzle. A refreshing way to wake up to a new day.
After breakfast and ablutions it was pushing 1pm when we left the camp. Frustratingly we had to breakfast in Brunnehilda as a lack of awning / canopy drove us in from the rain.
We thought we might escape some of the weather by going inland. I found 3 interesting mountain villages to visit - all within a 25 mile round trip. Actually it wasn’t a round trip more up and down and up and down and then up and down again!
First Village: Castellaro
We zig zagged up a 3 mile road from the coast with some gorgeous scenery but terrifyingly scary drops. It was certainly worth it. A maze of tiny streets (well paths to be fair) with ancient medieval houses all crowded round. As always with a very impressive church on top - although this one was locked.
We managed to find a coffee shop open so had a really enjoyable Italian coffee. Kim took a fancy to the teaspoon and asked the lady if she could buy it. She was a bit taken aback by the request but when she realised what Kim was after she just let her take it. So much more civilised than slipping it sneakily into your handbag!
Second Village: Badalucco
To get to this one we had to drive down from the other one then we followed a very impressive river up into the mountains about 7 or 8 miles. This road wasn’t as hairy as the other one as we seemed to be going up at the same rate as the river was tumbling down. The town was a weird little place. The drizzle had started again, everywhere was shut apart from a number of dodgy looking bars with a lot of “mountain men” hanging around! We found a gorgeous square with an old church open for visitors. There was a cafe / restaurant there which would have been superb but of course ... it was shut!
Kim found one place open. A little old lady seemed to have just opened her kitchen and front room as a shop. She was selling home made soap and olive oil she had made / pressed herself. Needless to say we bought some stuff.
Third Village: Montalto Ligure
More zig zag hairpin bends climbing dramatically up the mountain - about 3 miles deeper into the interior than Badalucco. This one was the most amazing of the 3. Even more of a labyrinth of ancient lanes than the first but virtually no one around and nothing open.
The highlight was finding an absolutely disgusting toilet (we were desperate!) and a lovely restaurant - the toilet was open but of course the restaurant was shut!
We got down the mountain and were back on the coast by 5pm. A quick visit to a big supermarket / centre (it reminded us all of Weston Favell Shopping Centre, so not good!) and then back to Brunnehilda as it was getting dark.
We went up to the campsite restaurant for tea. We all had pasta as pizza wasn’t available - not a problem though as it was very very good. Kim squeezed in some washing and drying during the meal!
On the way walking back to the van the storm kicked in big time.
When we got back Bobby had a bottle of red wine I had a bottle of Belgian beer and Kim hit the aqua! We tried to teach Bobby canasta but to be honest it would have been easier teaching a chimp to crochet! Not sure if it was the red wine or our explanation? After the experience Bobby did express some empathy for Rachel though - she’s been very patient over the years as we’ve taught her all sorts of odd card games.
Let’s finish the blog on a high weather wise... although the storm rages on at the moment it was a glorious sunny week last week and it’s due to be another glorious sunny week next week so that’s a bit of luck eh?
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