As much as we enjoy our time in Bradford on Avon we must drag ourselves away, therefore we head South West to the bottom of England and find ourselves at St Ives.


We have realised now that the smaller car is of much more use here as the roads are becoming much narrower and passing places are becoming much more obscure. the Coast line here is a visual dream and we encounter our first surf beaches since leaving Australia, not that we could use them as it is absoloutely chucking it down. Between showers we manage some great hikes through the country side and wander into some beautiful little fishing villages.


We drive down to Lands End which is the very bottom of England and back along the coast through som almost unnavigable villages like Mouse Hole (that is apparently pronounced MOWZULE and if you mis pronounce it as Mousehole the locals correct you saying
IT'S MOWZULE ARZULE
any way Mouse Hole is a beautiful village and well worth the trip but go on a quiet day as the weekends are supposedly chaotic.


From St Ives we venture back to the Cornwall/ Devon border and check in with Brian and Edna at Deer Park Cottage just outside Callington, it was extremely pleasant here and we enjoyed a wonderful week as the Clatworthy Family whom we met at La Roquecombe in France showed us some of the fantastic sites around the area and took us into there home to show us that the English do have showers and do use them, ( No they did not shower in front of us we just heard it running so we still can't be 100% sure but I did beleive them.

It was here at a place called Cotehele that we decided to join the National Trust.

Now this is my recomendation for anyone travelling to the UK as we have exhausted our membership visiting many Castles, Manors and Gardens and quite often you can gain free parking at sites, Parking is the biggest frustration in the UK and it is very rare if you can find it free.

We thoroughly enjoyed our week with the Clatworthy's sharing many meals and look forward to there promised trip to Kyabram in 2012.

Returning to Bradford on Avon after Devon we are elated that Anthony is going to fire his pottery in his home made medieval kiln which is fired by wood.
we spend the evening finishing off the packing before bricking it up and daubing up ay holes or cracks.


Next morning we prepare the fire wood which is no mean feat as Anthony and Moira live up a very narrow alley, Anthony has already collected the wood and got it this far now we need to get some of it through his front gate, into his kitchen up some more steps and another narrow path into the back garden where the kiln is, this is when I realise just what a task it must have been for Anthony to carry all of his kiln brick by brick from its previous home in a nearby paddock to it's present home.
The job ahead entais us poking tiny peices of timber into a hole the size of a shoe box until the inside of the kiln reaches a temperatue of 1050 deg, so we are to be here for the better part of the day and evening. As luck would have it we encounter our best weather in the UK so far and have a marvelous day stoking the fire as various friends and Family of Anthony and Moira drop by to share the experience.
Leaving the kiln behind to cool for 3 days before Anthony can open it and find out the results of what we are presuming was a good firing, we head north through Wales and up to the Lakes District.Although the weather soured again we still enjoyed a week in the Lakes District and had some wonderful walks, especially Alcock Tarn beside Grasmere which commanded spectacular views.


We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at Lake Coniston, takin a cruise on a steam Gondola and enjoying some tea beside the Lake although Debbie decided she would not take sugar in her coffee today, (not for health reasons, because a gull crapped into the sugar bowl ughhh)


Weather has been a small inconvenience so we figure it could'nt be any worse in Scotland and we head further North.

Scotland, better weather who was I trying to fool, we did encounter some sunshine but the wind made up for the lack of rain to ensure we had no chance to improve on our fast fading European tans.
Mind you Scotland is a fantastic and fabulous destination in any weather.
The scenery was breathtaking and we were fortunate to have enough good days to do some walking and treking, the best day was when we climbed Old Man of Storr on the Isle of Skye/


From the Isle of Skye we headed further north to the very top of Scotland, resulting in us reaching both extremes of the UK mainland. Lands End to John O Groates.
















Cointha Daniel and Bruce at John O Groates.

Across the top of Scotland and back down visiting Durness, Ullapool (award winning best fish and chip shop 2008) Edinburgh and back back into England for a beautiful drive through some marvelous countryside through the Cotswolds and Back to Bradford on Avon.









All of us outside Hardwick Hall

Well I thought it would be a nice drive but old mate in the unmarked black convertible BMW police car was not very amused when I overtook a tractor travelling at about 25 kms per hour.


Apparently I moved too quick and pulled out about 2 meters before the broken white lines started.


The very over animated officer dutifully informed me that in this country it is a jailable offence to cross an unbroken line and as I was a foreigner he could not fine me and that I should be arrested.


I informed him that if I were in Italy I would have been arrested if I had not overtaken the tractor regardless of what linesw were on the road or what traffic was oncoming as I would have been menacing the line of trafffic behind us.





I didnt really, although I knew he was not about to arrest me as he did not look as though he had time too waste on all the paperwork and it would impede him from his main program for the day. colecting revenue!!!





So I took his caution on the chin and wished him a happy day and returned to the car for the the earbashing that was iminent, maybe I should have taken the arrest option.



Time is winding down as we near the end of our adventure, Despite some poor weather we have enjoyed the United Kingdom and again met some wonderful people. There is not much left on the wish list now and London will be the big finale if I can stay out of jail.

After 5 weeks of unstable weather we arrive in Holland at Nederweeert, the Home of Hans, Bep, Daniek and Myron whom we met at Lake Garda. Who would of guessed we would get such warm weather in Holland, we sat in there beautiful garden enjoying the sunshine and great company, we were invited to stay for a Barbeque and had such a wonderful day that we completely lost track of time as you do in Northern Europe because it stays light until 10pm, anyway we left Nederweert and pushed on towards Eindhoven, after several attempts we struggled to find a motel with family rooms and ended up at the Holiday Inn Eindhoven, Travellers tip if you are ever in Holland avoid this place, I was duped by the concierge who neglected to tell me about taxes and overnight parking fees on top of the excessive room rate for the worst nights sleep I have had on this trip, there was extra charges for everything and no tea or coffee facilities in room so Holiday Inn has been completely scrubbed of my list of destinations in future.Next day found us back at Thomas, Cointha, Joris and Sarahs home near Egmond where we had a fantastic time as they showed us some of Holland. We visited the Afsluitdijk and some pretty towns kolhorn and Makkum in Friesland. It was great to have some guides who could explain first hand exactly how the dikes work and what they have managed to achieve since building the Afsluitdijk. We then caught up with Frans, Astrid and their new baby girl Deborah. As the weather was much warmer here than it was in February Astrid was able to show us Egmond aan Zee and we were able to enjoy the beach. Astrid was able to gain us entry into the light house and we were treated to some local cuisine as they were having a marine festival and the local fishermen were cooking there catch of that day in the streets and serving fresh cooked fish, mmmmm delightful.We spent another great day in Amsterdam visiting the Van Gogh museum and the Anne Frank Attic, no prizes for guessing who shed a tear there.Our week in Holland also coincided with the European Cup (soccer) and every square millimeter seemed to have been decked out in orange. Football fever was in the air and you could not see a newspaper or tv without seeing the Dutch team especially as they had beaten France and Italy two of the favourites so we were caught up in it all and spent a couple of nights cheering on the Dutch with Thomas and his family. On Fridays in Alkmaar a few kilometers from Egmond they have a special cheese market where they recreate what is called the rolling out of the cheese. These guys in traditional dress carrying special sleds with around 100 kilos of cheese put on a marvelous display.The facial expressions created by these guys as they try to smile for the crowds while lugging these sleds about 50 meters is quite amusing.When we returned toFrans and Astrids house some of their Family arrived an we had a pleasant evening learning more about Dutch life, I was also treated to a Holland Drum hat which was bought out by Heinekin for the football, I am told that I look quite hilarious in the hat as I did my cheese carter impersonation but thankfully no photos were taken of that.

Newlywed being carted by the cheese carters

We spent Sunday at the christening of Deborah and had a wonderful time afterwards in Frans and Astrids backyard meeting their Family and friends.

Proud Grandparents

Frans got out his Western Bulldogs football that I gave him when he was in Kyabram last year, we pumped it up and Daniel and I showed the Dutch kids how to kick, handball and bounce it. They all looked at us as if we were stupid when we told them to bounce an oval ball, but they all tried and had a fantastic time.After some sad goodbyes we farewelled our Dutch friends with the realisation of the fact that it will be a really long time if ever we get to see these wonderful people again.

Ligthart and Walkeden Families

The end of The Netherlands coincided with the end of Europe as we drove back to France that afternoon and boarded the ferry at Calais next morning, an hour and a bit later and our European adventure has ended, now our UK adventure begins. We arrive at Dover and proceed to the foyer of the ferry terminal. I have booked a car with 1CAR1 but unfortunately they do not have a kiosk at the terminal and the booking receipt I got from the internet did not come with their phone number, so after quizzing the other rental car suppliers I managed to contact them and they delivered the car to us. Now we have downsized cars here but I thought the car was going to be a little bit bigger than the one they delivered, we could not

all fit into the car so I had to leave the family at the terminal while I returned the delivery driver to his depot and filled out the paperwork, this might seem like a lot of trouble to go to but the price comparison with hiring a car with the ones based in the terminal was huge, it was 16 pounds a day cheaper with this company, that’s about $35.00 a day over 33 days is going to buy me a few good bottles of wine so sometimes the little bit of inconvenience is well worth it.My return to pick up the family snapped me back into truckie mode as I juggled and squeezed the 4 of us, suitcases, bedding and backpacks into the Vauxhall Corsa. We made a bee line for Anthony and Moiras where we are going to reevaluate and repack what we need for the continuation of our trip.We are very fortunate to have befriended Anthony and Moira who are the most fascinating people I know. Their insight into British life, art and History is invaluable and we could not have asked for a better experience for our children to learn from.On our previous visit in January they experienced pottery by Anthony and painted some water colours with Moira and now we are down by the Avon River in Anthony’s Coracle.A Coracle is a medieval boat that was used in small streams and the moats around castles, Anthony handmade the Coracle as he does with most things, he is a recreationist and makes things in traditional ways, even his pottery is fired in a wood fired kiln which he has made himself and which we hope to fire on a later visit. Getting back to the Coracle, we had the most fantastic evening on The Avon paddling this weird looking boat around.I do not think he realises the local pride he has achieved but I overheard many locals praising the work he has put into the coracle.Carting the Coracle to the river was interesting in itself, as Anthony and Moira live up a skinny little lane that is hard enough to get a suitcase or your groceries through.We manage to get it to the street then I had to climb between a strap and the seat and carry the coracle down to the River with the coracle on my back making me look like a mutant ninja turtle. As I crossed the pedestrian crossing towards the bank I the children just laughed at the stares we were creating, fortunately I am not a shy person as some of you may have gathered by now.

Searching the Internet we stumbled across a delightful villa in the Dordogne Valley at La Roque-Gageac called Roquecombe, we chose this area as we had read a biography that was written by an English woman who had bought a vineyard nearby and spent many years establishing it. Books are a great inspiration when traveling and The Ripening Sun lived up to its reputation giving us a great focal point to explore is fabulous setting, The Dordogne.

La Roque- Gageac at night

We thought it was a tourist information exaggeration when we read that there were around 1400 chateaus dotted around the landscape but we soon discovered that it was no exaggeration and would be quite a challenge if you wanted to count just the ones we could see from the roads.

Daniel on the wall at Biron Chateau

It is also the home to many Prehistoric sites and caves with the Moustier cave men (dating back 55000 years) being found nearby. This encouraged us to visit The Roque Saint Christophe, a cave village set 300ft in the cliffs overlooking the Vezere river, these caves have been home to many ancient civilizations from Moustier men 400000 years ago, the Neolithic generations 2600 years BC, it was really interesting to see remnants from so many civilizations in one place.

La Roque St Christophe








Our accommodation at Roquecombe was more than we ever expected and our delightful hosts, Philippe and Anne Marie ensured a pleasant stay.
On Sunday evening our hosts invited us to aperitifs to meet the other guests staying at the other cottages/Gites
Cointha and Daniel were pleased to find out that there was another Australian family an English family and an older Australian couple vacationing in the other units.
Cointha and Daniel had a wonderful time being able to communicate with some other children for a change, and Daniel was enthralled by the football skills (soccer) of the English lad Jamie.
Jamie who is about 13 had us amused as we discovered another involuntary language error
When our poor host Ann Marie who does not have a very good command of English approached him to offer some aperitif in the form of Coca Cola or Orange juice.
On her first attempt she asked Jamie,
Anne Marie: Jamie would you like some drink Cola Juice?
Jamie: Im fine
Anne Marie: Imfine ???? you would like cola? Juice?
Jamie: Im fine thanks
Anne Marie: Imfine ? what is imfine?
Jamie: doesn’t matter
Anne Marie: doesn’t matter ? you want some drink?
Jamie: Im ok
By now poor Anne Marie is bamboozled, she was not prepared for these responses, when offering drinks she was thinking yes/no responses would be easy to understand and as I see her standing there with that same blank look I must have shown on my face a thousand times on this trip. I realise how much we vandalise our language which is fine in Australia as people will generally get the gist of the conversation but to a foreigner, well it explains a lot about the funny terms that I would hear from the Greek, Italian and Turkish immigrants when I was a kid.
THE Dordogne is also famous for its Foie Gras,
A goose liver Pate made special by the fact that the goose was force fed via a long tube stuffed down its neck which supposedly makes the pate taste better. I have eaten lots of nice pates in my life, I see no benefit in me buying pate that has needlessly been produced in this (what I believe to be) cruel way for the sake of my taste buds.
Well we had a wonderful week here and had many good chats down by the pool catching up on all the news we have missed out on while away and swapping travel stories with the other guests.
Roquecombe was a fantastic place to stay and we were treated to a few extras we had not bargained for, meeting some great people, seeing quite a few wild deer in the woods, great day trips to Rocamador, Monpazier, Sarlat and Dom, hot air balloons skimming the trees behind our villa, two great hosts and a king size bed which was unbelievable considering the size of the bed in the motor home.


We returned this week to visit Sheena, Patrick and the gang just outside Lyon and off loaded some stuff Sheena had loaned us during our earlier visit. It was great to catch up again and let the kids have some more French family interaction. Travel can really open your eyes culturally but spending some time with a French family is a wonderful experience that we will all remember for a long time. Sheena and Patrick again made us feel at home and when possible ensured that we had the everyday meals that her family eats.
On the Sunday they had a prior engagement so we headed into Lyon to inspect the produce market and take in a few sights.
You would think that Bruce would have learnt a lesson in Sicily and been very wary about Deb ordering food and drinks in a foreign Language. (I forgot to put this story on the blog then so I will tell it now) While I went off to get some photos developed Deb went to order 3 slices of Pizza and a coffee for her and the kids, when I return there is 1 slice of pizza and 3 espressos (tiny over the top full on shots of coffee). This theme has run its course several times and now we have Lyon to add to the list.
2 bowls of soup de jour please. Deb was so confident that she had got this right as she proudly proclaims, there is not a soup I do not like. Now 2 bowls of soup of the day can be absolutely anything in France and Debs confidence in her choice was completely shattered as the waiter placed the soup in front of us.
2 giant best value for money possible all you can eat bowls of pure beetroot soup----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ice cold complete with ice cubes.
I am told that this is quite a common dish in Poland but that interesting fact is not enough comfort for me to stomach my way though 2 gallons of near frozen purple soup.

No doggy bag thanks

We look at each other and smile and the kids just burst out laughing, I suggest to Daniel that this could be a Mr. Bean moment and that he could pass the ladies handbag from behind him and we can dispose of it there. I don’t know what the other diners must have thought as we sat there joking and laughing yet not eating.
Deb and I pushed the soup in front of the kids and I ordered some tartine which was delicious and was some consolation.
We spent a couple of wonderful days with Sheena’s gang and were treated to a lunch at Les 3 Canards restaurant where Patrick was installing a pool and doing some landscaping. Patrick ordered snails and we were all initiated into the French escargot club.

Cointha about to chew up a snail










After a sad goodbye with Sheena we drove to the outskirts of Paris and boarded a train for Gare de Lyon and then off to the Louvre to view the Mona Lisa, Venus De Milo and the thousands of other art treasures and antiques. No sorry Dan Brown fans we did not do a Davinci code tour. We spent 5 hours wandering the Louvre which was great but a little bit of overload for an 8 year old boy. Catching the metro we set off for Monte Marte where Daniel was treated to more near naked ladies outside the Moulin Rouge, he has definitely had his eyes opened on this trip and we have had a few awkward moments figuring out how to explain a few sights to him.
Back to Gare De Lyon train station, home of Le Train Bleu which was the setting for the Mr Beans Holiday restaurant scene. Like Florian’s in Venice this is a beautiful restaurant but totally unaffordable for mere mortals like us.


La Train Bleu

After 6 months on the road being bamboozled by art, culture, isolation from other children and having to put up with their parents 24/7, Cointha and Daniel finally get their pay off. We are off to Disneyland Paris, so we load up the wallet and fill the back pack with food. Disney Paris is huge and after parking it is a ten minute walk just to get to the gate and half of that was on moving walkways. As we approach the gate we view wonderful floral arrangements shaped in Disney characters and the Disney castle can be seen inside the gate.

Mickey made of flowers

I turn to look at the kids faces to see how excited they are and am very surprised that the most excited was Deb.

Deb all weak at the knees

The funny thing is that children today have not had the same exposure to Disneyland that we had while growing up, sitting down after tea on Sunday nights to watch Mickey, Goofy, Herbie the love bug or Jiminy Cricket. So Deb was quite affected by the whole atmosphere as we walked through the turnstile.

1 day was just enough to do all we needed at Disney, fortunately the weather was not too good which kept the crowds down and the longest we waited for a ride was 45 minutes, although some rides had 1 hour waiting times, they have a special deal there, you can go to both parks in the same day for an extra 10 Euros each, we could not do everything in 1 park on a quiet day so I can’t imagine trying to do 2 parks in 1 day.
The entertainment was great and the Tarzan show quite spectacular as the performers mixed dancing with trampolining and trapeze.
Well that is nearly all for France as we now head for The Netherlands again to visit friends and attend the Baptism of Little Deborah born in April.

The public holiday is over and I have managed to find a hire car so I return to the village to find a mechanic, with a lot of strained linguistics’ we arrange to have the van towed to his shop during siesta so I return to the campground to organise our week.
Little did I know just what was in store for me, we had prepared for the worst, or at least we thought we had.
Around 4000 Euro was more than we were prepared to spend on a 20 year old van so we weighed up the options, all 1 of them as towing it back to England was also to expensive, so I began to source a new home for the van.
As it was an English van nobody wanted it apart from the motor wreckers, though he would not touch it without the appropriate paperwork which was still sitting in England due to our hasty departure.
A quick phone call to Moira in Bradford on Avon where we had the vehicle addressed to see if the paperwork was there and to pick her brains for any advice she may have regarding vehicle disposal.
The ever reliable Moira came shining through and was able to post us everything we needed, Thanks Moira you are a gem.
We spent a day with Maddy and Curl in Avignon while we were waiting for the documents to arrive, it was great to return to some sight seeing and allow Maddy and Curl to display local sights and indulge in some native cuisine.
Next day was back to reality and the motor wreckers to negotiate the disposal and towing, fortunately he was prepared to cop the towing charge and by Monday morning we had stripped whatever we could give away to a good home and waved goodbye to our home of the last 4 and a half months as she left for her new home.
A wonderful German family camped next to us became the new home for my trusty bike, I tried to give them the bike but they insisted on paying for it which was very generous as I do not think he really needed it, I tried to return the money but he was so insistent that all I could do was promise to treat the children with it, so Thank you Martin, Christina you are very kind.
Tuesday mornings task was to return the Toyota Yaris to SIXT a cheap hire car company in Europe, I would have hired another car from them but I need to drop a car at Calais and pick up another in Dover in the middle of June, but unfortunately they do not have offices in those locations. So Daniels fold up bike is put into the boot of the Yaris as it is 5 kilometers to the Europcar office from SIXT office. Has anyone seen the MR Bean movie where he is riding a bike through the French countryside in pursuit of a bus ticket stuck to the bottom of a chooks foot? Well this is how I felt as I rode this tiny bike with the oncoming traffic flashing lights, truck drivers blowing horns, workers in the fields that were tying the lats on the grape vines stopping work and staring and construction workers whistling and cheering as I pedaled past like some escaped loony fleeing the asylum.
So ends a huge chapter in our journey/adventure and the next chapter begins.
We now need to rearrange our plans slightly obviously so we have scoured the internet and found some reasonable accommodation, relatively cheap car hire and are able to research more options that suit our new mode of transport.
We have come across a self contained unit in the Dordogne valley just outside La Roque Gageac that we will be using for a week after we visit Perpignan.
We aim for Perpignan to deliver a quilt for a friend of Debbie to a family whose Daughter was an exchange student in Kyabram last year, after finding a bungalow we deliver the quilt and have 4 wonderful days touring roads the motorhome would not have survived even if it was brand new.
Driving around the Pyrenees is nothing short of spectacular.
We took a day trip into Spain to visit the towns of Cadeques and Rupit.








Rupit was like walking into a medieval fairy tale.
The moment we crossed the suspension bridge we
knew we were in for a treat as we marveled in the
architecture of the buildings clinging to the cliff faces
leaning, groaning and fighting against gravity to continue
their life where they were built.













On the way back to Perpignan we were treated to some amazing scenery
as we travelled along a mountain ridge Alp La Molina at 1800 meters above
sea level looking down at the clouds as they rained on the villages in the gorges
and valleys below.

We spent another day visiting the medieval town of Carcassone
which is one of the most Fascinating walled cities we have visited
with turrets and towers on every bend in the wall making it the
most interesting for the kids as it is the most castle like structure
we have seen so far. Decided to return via a different route
through the picturesque gorges towards the Route de Vignes
where the grape vines decorate the roadside in beautiful shades
of green and gold.


Cointha in between
the defensive
outer and inner walls
at Carcassone



I must say that we could have spent a lot longer
here and if not for the fact we have pre booked
accommodation we would have.
After checking out of Perpignon we are take the
long road to La Roqucombe Gageac to visit and
cross the Milau Viaduct the worlds highest bridge.
It is an amazing piece of engineering and we
watched a video on the construction at the visitors
centre explaining how they managed to put this
giant jigsaw puzzle together.







Milau Viaduct

The drive from Milau to La Roque Gageac was superb and and we could not have dreamed that we would see so many Chateaus in 1 day so look out for our next update and some great photos.

Back to France

The gear box is working well and we hit the road again this time more relaxed and with great tans, taking no chances we stop every 40 minutes and check the vehicle over trying to reestablish some confidence.
So far so good and we are pacified by the motorhomes performance. Debbie and Daniel are taking notes on the length of the tunnels we zip through. At last count we had gone through 74 tunnels before the French border measuring a total of around 30 kilometers underground. Daniel was very disappointed that they did not join the tunnels together to make just a few really long ones; this disappointment was certainly not shared with his mother who preferred it when they were less than 1 kilometer long. 2800 metres was the longest we passed through and she was glad we were not traveling the northern roads which have some much longer tunnels.
As we reached the French border, I think we were expecting a sense of familiarity having been here recently and survived the language difficulties, how wrong was I.
With all my French lessons and practice I was surprised that spending 2 and a half months in Italy greeting people in Italian, Dutch and German had confused my linguistic comprehension. Bon Journo, Gooten Morgen, bonjour, merci danke, gracie Now I don’t know if I am Arthur, Martha, Aldo Maria, Helga or Fritz. Back to square 1 on the language and hopefully my English wont suffer as well. The biggest problem with coming to France hoping to improve your French, is that most of the people you meet want to practice their English. I may have to pretend I am Chinese in future and dupe them into speaking French so I can improve my language skills.
We pull into a roadhouse over the French border and as I try to reverse out of the parking bay I can not find reverse gear, a bit of mumbling under my breath and jiggling the van forwards and it slips in and I am thinking this can’t be good. My mind races back to the roads and places where we have found ourselves in difficulty and have had to back our way out. I start imagining us wedged down in a tiny street in a village where we need to reverse but can’t causing a gridlock. Well we are safe while we are on the motorway so I push the van towards Cannes and plan a stop near a larger town to find the tools or a mechanic to make the necessary adjustment. We pull into a roadhouse just near Frejus and I find a place where I won’t need reverse, but wouldn’t you know it reverse is working again we decide to camp the night anyway, as I am about to shutdown the engine the battery light comes on, I’ve had a big day we will sort it out in the morning.
Deb brings me a coffee while my head is under the bonnet and asks do you think we will make it to Avignon before lunch, I reach into the engine bay and pull out the main pulley off the cam and say Maybe not quite lunch, poor Deb looked devastated, as we had not much food with us I unhooked the trusty bicycle and started on a new adventure.
1: Food
2: Mechanic
3: Cash from the bank.
Fortunately it was a good roadhouse with clean toilets a restaurant, park and playground for the kids.
The GPS put me 3 kilometers from a supermarket, but as we were on a toll road I had to find a way to a road first as it is highly illegal to ride bicycles on motorways, I found the special gate that the roadhouse employees use and set off, I managed the fist 2 hills fine and was traveling well I reached a village that had 2 supermarkets, auto wreckers lots of auto services, 3 motor home sales yards and 2 cheap motels, well you may think this is great unfortunately we have stumbled into another public holiday and everything is closed. I start at the motel and check there availability as I really don’t wish to leave my family stranded at a roadhouse good.
I push back towards the roadhouse, I need to go 3 kilometers in the opposite direction to the way I have travelled, about 2 kilometers past the roadhouse turn off I see a camping sign and decide that I will enquire about a bungalow When you are in a car and see a sign that says camping 300 meters and you turn then see another sign that says 400 meters you don’t mind so much but let me tell you this can be very inconvenient for a cyclist.
Now the signs just disappear and 2 kilometers later I am stopping and asking locals who have no idea where the campground is, so I back track and start heading for the supermarket that may be or may not be open, by this stage I have travelled 10 kilometers already and have marked nothing off my list. As I approach Puget Sur Argens I see another camping sign but I decide to ignore it and get back to my task, I ride through the industrial area and am heartened to find every manner of car dealership and spare parts dealer available, only they are closed for the public holiday, I reach the main road and turn towards Frejus, as I have not had breakfast yet I am drawn to (as much as I hate to say it) the big yellow M that is about a mile down the road as I know they would not close for a public holiday. I was right and as luck would have it there was a giant shopping centre beside it which was also open so Maccas was bypassed and I wandered in to discover that every one else in the district had found that this was the only place to buy groceries today.
If I had wanted to buy clothing or an evening dress this would not have been a problem as it seems that fashion stores allowed to open on Sundays and public holidays, but I feel had I returned to the van with no food in new evening dress Deb might not have been very impressed.
I gather enough food to see us through the day and stand in the huge line at the checkout, when finally I push my fruit and the girl asks me where the fruit barcode is. This is a problem in Europe that at a lot of supermarkets you have to weigh your own fruit and print stickers for it, so back I go and weigh my fruit then back to stand in a huge line again, I won’t fall for that trick again, not until next time anyway.
Loaded up with about 12 kilograms of groceries I set off up the hill back towards the roadhouse which is about 4 kilometers away now, I reach a fork in the road where again I find a camping sign which seems to be much clearer, 300 meters it reads and is towards the route I am taking, I follow the signs and they lead me down a hill which I am hoping will bring me on a route to the van otherwise I will have to climb it again. After another 1200 meters the road begins to rise again and I am starting to doubt my wisdom now that I am carrying all this extra weight. Finally reaching the campground I wonder how far I am going to have to back track to get back on the route to the van.
The girl on reception was able to give me some good advice but looked very blank when I tried to extract a shortcut out of her for my return journey. I rode back to the front gate and viewed the GPS, the major decision now is do I gamble and go cross country to reach my destination about 500 meters away or do I backtrack about 5 kilometers away.
I settle for cross country and ride down a road not marked on the GPS and 300 meters later I am back at the van and my legs give a great sigh of relief.
Packing up the family and enough provisions to last the night we wander like gypsies through the car park of the roadhouse with bags and cases and stroll to the campground, where a hot shower is waiting and we settle in beside the pool to enjoy the public holiday with the rest of France.

Sunset at Camping La Quercia Lake Garda Northern Italy




Our motor home being a Fiat which is an Italian car was the motive for us to have the van serviced in Italy, our major problem now is translation or to find a service agent that can converse with us.
We appear at the gate of Camping La Quercia in Lazise on the shores of Lake Garda in northern Italy and are immediately greeted by a fervent attendant named Dennis who comprehends sufficient English and ushers me into the office and introduces me to Claudia who has a great command of English.
Claudia assures me that in the morning we will find a service agent and so begins our holiday from our holiday.

What have we stumbled into were our thoughts when we arrived at Camping La Quercia, the staff were so friendly talking to us as if we were locals and accommodating our needs and requests for translation with the motor mechanic. Tina who speaks better English than me was so obliging and kind and organised a bungalow for us while the van has a bit of work done to it.

www.laquercia.it

Village of Lazise Lake Garda

Unfortunately the gear box problem has turned out to be a bit trickier than anticipated as the gearboxes in the English vans are about face to the European version as they are right hand drive so the part is not readily available so poor us will have to spend a week or two sitting by the pool overlooking the lake with the stunning mountains in the background, canoeing, archery, tennis, swimming, walking I only hope we get time for some rest, then Claudia comes out and tells me if we go to Movie land ( like Movie World on the Gold Coast )on Saturday they have free entry for their birthday.
Camping La Quercia are also celebrating their 50th birthday so on the Saturday they had a free Luna park with lots of give aways for the kids followed by a wonderful fireworks display. Daniel made friends with a young Italian boy named Daniele, who spoke no English so it was interesting to see them playing and talking as if they understood each other.
Our first week at La Quercia saw us sharing the facilities with a lot of German people and we were inundated with Italians on the weekend, on the Sunday the Italians disappeared and we were swamped with Dutch families taking advantage of some public holidays in The Netherlands.
Skin cancer it would seem is no threat to the fair skinned Northern Europeans as the swimming pools were aglow with sunburnt faces and bodies as far as the eye could see. Don’t get me wrong we did see the odd hat on a head but not a single rashie.

After such a hectic schedule it has been good to take stock and relax by the pool while catching up with ourselves, it has given us time to reflect back on our trip so far and to discover how much of it the children have absorbed.
We have also had time to build up some friendships with other tourists and the staff, during this time, we have had some long discussions on their lifestyles while trying to enlighten the Europeans into the Australian ethos. Some are very surprised that our lives are not so different. I have again found that supermarkets are one of the most fascinating places to visit when looking for some insight into the local society, although a lot of the bigger supermarkets are now very similar to ours the way food is purchased can be very different.
The Europeans seem to be more conscious when it comes to the environment and recycling of our rubbish is requested everywhere we stay and the bins are always separated into glass, paper and organic, I have even seen bins for bread only.
But then on the other hand they can be quite wasteful as a lot of products are individually wrapped, even though a lot of these products like cakes, bread and croissants have long use by dates, I have a loaf of Pane Intergrale Bauletto (brown grain bread) at the moment that does not expire until 9th July 2008, I don’t know how long it has been at the supermarket but with 2 months to go I can savour it until we reach England again. It is not the way we would normally buy bread, but we have found the only fresh bread in Italy is the big hard crusty white loaves which taste wonderful but you don’t feel that it’s doing your body any favours. I think the European trick is to consume lot’s of red wine to wash the bread through so I am going to consume more wine from hear on, for medicinal purposes only of course.

Thanks to some well timed public holidays our car part has been held up in the mail, The wonderful staff at La Quercia are now treating us like locals and are starting to say g,day to us aswell as other guests instead of Bon Journo, The Animation staff have made us regulars calling us on stage at will and sometimes putting us into embarrassing positions.
I am trying to convince Deb that some of this video needs to be put onto the blog so bear with us until I convince her and keep an eye out.
We even had 1 night where they were a few actors down and we had to rehearse and perform for them, doing a few skits.

Family Walkeden taking an encore with Animation Maestro Max (Massimiliano)

We had a wonderful Dutch family move in next door, Hans, Bep, Daniek and Myron, Hans took pity on me when he saw me arrive home with a huge bag of groceries (about 15 kilograms) which I had carted about 9kms up and down hills.
He kindly offered to drive me to the supermarket next time, to my amazement the supermarket was only 2kms away, compared to the one I was riding to and was much better and cheaper, especially as I would need to eat half the groceries after the 18km round trip. The best thing about this was that I was now able to purchase more fruit veg and beer, as I was very minimal with such heavy products for some unknown reason.

The Mechanics have worked all day Saturday to fix the van and we will be able to leave Sunday, but I will be sad to leave as we really have loved this place.

Venice
It was really nice to catch up with Curl and Maddy and share some of the sights and places we enjoyed when we visited Florence, the frustration you normally feel when viewing beautiful sights and thinking, wow dad would love this or wouldn’t mum love to be here was diminished and a sense of fulfillment was achieved. Having other friends around added a different dimension to the trip that I had not envisaged.

Florence to Venice did not look as though it would be a long trip but let me tell you the mountain range between us and the East coast made for more fantastic scenery, it is possible to use the motorways but as we have no time frame or schedule to keep we are able to explore the off roads at our leisure and pleasure. That’s if you consider skinny windy roads a pleasure as I do.
Unfortunately the old Fiat is struggling a bit and I fear before long she may need some attention to the gearbox, the question is do I attempt to have some work done in a country with language difficulties or chance it till we get back to the UK. Well I think with so many mountain ranges to cross I will have it looked at before we hit another one.
Once over the ranges the roads widen and the down hill trek is much easier. We find a campground in the middle of nowhere and bed down to see out the rain which has been threatening across the mountains.
The next 250 kms to Venice are quite flat and it is very obvious that we are entering into the wealthier North of Italy.
Cointha and Daniel become excited as we reach Fusina which is where we will be based while visiting Venice.
We set up camp as close to the water as possible and have a splendid view of Venice about 3 kms away over the water, we are now in for a treat as Deb and I stayed here in1995 and remember fondly huge cargo ships which pass the campsite about 20 meters from our motor home. It is an awesome sight for us country bumpkins and we are constantly dazzled by the sight over the next few days.
We are treated to a magnificent thunder storm that night followed by a deluge of rain, it rains all night and we see no sign of it letting up next morning so we catch up with some writing and washing while watching the people who are leaving slip and slide all over the campsite trying to retrieve there huge motorhomes from the quagmire.
After a hearty lunch we decide to brave our way across the Laguna Veneta and down the Grand Canal into Venice onboard the water taxi, as luck would have it the weather cleared and we spent a wonderful afternoon and the next few days in sunshine exploring the narrow streets and canals, stopping on the little bridges and marveling in the attractive and unique construction of this marvelous city.
No trip to Venice is complete without a gondola trip so after negotiating a reasonable fare with the Gondolier we set off along the canals. (Travel advice when negotiating with a Gondolier finds one that speaks your language as most of them have been trained to also be guides so check first as a good gondolier are only too happy to answer all manner of questions). We found a wonderful Gondolier, who’s name escapes me as we christened him Casanova and that name stuck. Well he was a second generation gondolier and had a sound knowledge of Venice, Venetian life and who was who, he even introduced us to his father as our gondolas passed on a narrow bend amidst a traffic jam of gondolas, speed boats and water taxis with lots of shouting and banter as you can only expect in Italy.
Saint Marks Square is a magnificent setting for a restaurant and there are quite a few lining the square, most notably Floriana, the oldest, its interior very elaborate in a classic ornate Italian style. The thought had crossed our minds that it would be nice to enjoy a coffee at Floriana while listening the orchestra complete with grand piano playing for their guests but at 8 euro($13.00) per coffee and $26.00 for a sandwich we decided to buy a bag of corn at $1.00 and allow the kids to feed the pigeons while Deb sat at one of their tables when the waiter was not looking in order to be a patron long enough to take a photo without the luxury of a bill. Venturing into the back streets of Venice we stumbled across a small shop where a glass blower was making tiny Gondolas with gondolier, so a souvenir gondola was purchased, I am starting to wonder now after 3 months and the amount of books and souvenirs we have purchased and 5 months to go, just how we will manage to board the plane home. Cointha would have loved about 300 of the beautiful masks in all shapes, sizes and colors that are able to be purchased all around the town, but I fear they would not last the journey so we opted for some tiny replicas that could be easily stowed.
The sun has disappeared now and as happened on our arrival the rain has returned
on the day we are leaving challenging us to negotiate our way between the trees and the Laguna slipping and sliding our way back to the bitumen successfully I might add.
This mornings adventure begins with a search for a place to refill our gas bottle, not that it is empty but after the exploits of Paris, we thought not to gamble with the gas.
Success was achieved and we now head for Lake Garda where we plan to relax in a resort and maybe find someone who can service the van.

Venetian masks

Spoleto was a rare find, you don’t hear anything about it in travel magazines as it is overshadowed by Assisi and Cortona in the Umbrian guides, yet we spent 3 wonderful days wandering the tiny streets and climbing the million steps and stairs through art galleries and cafes while basking in the beauty of the town and the friendliness of the locals. There was a restaurant attached to the campground where no English was spoken, for a bit of a challenge we sent Cointha and Daniel to buy a pizza and they managed to return with exactly what we ordered, I don’t know what happened in there or what was discussed but they managed perfectly.
Pilgrimage is not the reason we travelled to Assisi, yet there is no need to be a devout Christian to appreciate Assisi. It is unique in its layout with the buildings and streets in pristine conditon and the gentle slopes make it a very easy stroll for young and old. Different to the many narrow streeted and steep stepped villages and towns we have encountered. Asisi is the home of Saint Frances burial chamber and his tomb can be viewed in the monastery. Monks were in abundance wandering the streets in there robes which was interesting especially to Daniel who thinks he can carve one out of a pine cone, I think we will put that challenge to him and see what transpires.
Back to Tuscany now and we are catching up with Maddy and Curl Haslem who are staying in Greve. It’s going to be great especially since they are restocking us with Vegemite which we have run out of and it is very rare in Italy, we can get it in France but at a huge cost and at any rate we might not be there for a while yet considering Italy has already taken up 3 weeks longer than we expected. At this rate we will see you all in 5 years.
Well we met Curl and Maddy, received the vegemite and Deb also got a few gossip magazines so that’s the end of her for a couple of days.
It was great to hear some news from home and we are still trying to figure out which two of you it was who got arrested down Allan street for getting too romantic.
Gail and Curl were having a bit of trouble with a well known hire car company in Australia, but thanks to Tanya and the gang at Boomerang Travel in Kyabram they seem to have it all sorted so well done to you Tanya and thanks again for the help planning our trip, it is well worth shopping local and when you have problems like this it is great to know that you know the person trying to help and they really do care.
While in Greve I showed Maddy and Curl a few of the local customs I have picked up. In Italy a pedestrian crossing is a guide only and cars are not legally required to stop for pedestrians so after observing what the Italians do, I now just stand on the road like a traffic cop putting up my hand up until the traffic stops then wave the family across, this skill is not for the faint hearted and you can expect to get a few horn blasts and quite a bit of abuse but as I do not understand Italian it means nothing so I just smile and go on our way, another custom I picked up was to just walk though doors and gates so we can enjoy the wonderful court yards and gardens that the locals have discreeted away for their own leisure, I picked up this idea from Sheena when we were in Lyon and I have run with it because it adds a new dimension to the cities and villages that were oblivious to us. To date I have not been asked to leave one yet and I think that everyone justs accepts that this is what the locals do when showing friends visiting the village it is like we are invisible, or maybe they are just happy that we appreciate these yards and they are happy to show them off.
Anyway, what is the worst thing that can happen?
By the way
If you don’t hear from us for a while please send some bail money.

The bottom of the big gumboot is much easier to travel as the roads are much wider and there is a lot less traffic is decreased significantly. The beaches are much cleaner yet there seems to be a lot less facilities for tourists.We met an Italian bloke who spoke no English yet with the usual hand gestures and a few common phrases we worked out that he had driven 40000 kms traveling through Russia, China and back through Kazakhstan before returning to Italy and is now planning to drive to Turkey and Iran, good luck with that adventure, I don’t think our old van would like the roads in those countries very much at all.We reach the heel of the gumboot and cut inland to Arborobello, home of over 1000 Trulli. Houses..The Trulli houses are homes built with a stone conical roof in the 15th century, there were several reasons for this design, the original Trulli were built in conical shape from the ground up as they needed no timber for rafters with this design and timber was scarce in this region.As we approach Arborobello Deb nearly has conniptions pointing out the houses to the kids, (I was not aloud to look ) saying look look look, the kids found this hilarious and accused Deb of sounding like a magpie.They were also able to build these stone homes with no mortar which was very useful when the tax collector for the king of Naples arrived to collect the housing tax, they would with the aid of a lever or drawstring remove a keystone which would instantly collapse there home and they now giving them the loophole to avoid paying the tax.It is now a matter of just rebuilding your home which requires labour only as they already have all there building materials.It sounds a bit extreme and I don’t think Campaspe Shire would accept this excuse.We leave Arborobello and head north along the Adriatic spending a few days on the beach near Foggia before turning what we thought to be inland but was in fact over a mountain range, so here we were in the morning on the beach and by lunch we were under a foot of snow as the sky closed in and I was starting to think that maybe a set of snow chains would have been a worthwhile purchase. Fortunately the snow ploughs were along the road way before us so we were able to enjoy the snow and magnificent vistas, although we had to reroute the journey as the GPS in it’s wisdom thought it was a wonderful idea to head north of the main highway along a secondary road which went higher than the 1200 meters we were already at and a road I am sure would not have ploughed as well as the road we were on.After an extra 150 kms and an extra 3 hours we arrive at Mamore only to find that the caravan park was not open, we have now realised that the Italians, along with not opening caravan parks when there signs say they are open and don’t’ come back from siesta when they say they will. It is starting to get late so we push north and get totally lost in Terni thanks to roadworks and bad signage the GPS was totally confused and tried to push us over another mountain. Sorry but that was not about to happen at this time of night, so we reevaluated and negotiated our way back to Terni and managed to arrive in Spoleto in the dark which was quite nice as the fort and the Roman aquaduct were under lights which looked magnificent.

A little mishap with the toilet leads me to some more hand gesturing with the locals in order to find a caravan service dealer to get some spare parts, The woman on the reception who Debbie believes was flirting with me has kindly offered to drive me to the service yard as the roads through the village are very difficult to navigate. Fortunately the repairman had actually come to the caravan park to do another job and had a look at it while he was there. (I don’t know how Deb organised this) Unfortunately he could not fix it on the spot so I had to quickly pack up camp and follow him to his yard, as Deb had just put a load of washing in the machine I left her and the kids at the park. As we drove out it began to rain leaving them stranded, this is where your faith in human nature is restored. A Swiss couple, (Philippe and Kirsten) noticed Deb and the kids still there and kindly offered up their van as they were going out for the day and said that they could just help themselves. Forcing the key into Debbie’s hand amid protests, Debbie finally relented and graciously accepted just as I arrived back. We were so thankful to their generosity and invited them over that night and had a wonderful time discussing travel and cultures while enjoying the local Vino and some Averna. As for the toilet situation well unfortunately the parts were not available in Sicily so we will make do until we get back to the mainland. After mucking around for about 30 minutes putting things back together and the guy would take no money for his troubles.I also had to get Daniels Bike welded a week ago as it had snapped in half, I found a guy building a fence and with hand gestures was able to learn that yes he did have a welder and yes he would get it out and he would even weld it for us and noooooooooo noooooo noooo no moola is ok big smile and a wave ciao (chow/goodbye)
Driving like an Italian takes a little bit of skill, understanding, patience and creativity, at first I was frustrated by all these Latin lunatics blowing their horns as they overtook me on the imaginary overtaking lane created by my moving to the right and oncoming traffic slowing and moving to there right. After a week or so you begin to understand these unwritten laws and become accustomed to allowing people to overtake wherever they want. As a matter of fact I have become quite adept at this skill myself and regardless of oncoming traffic we just overtake slower vehicles by blowing my horn to let them know I am passing and like Moses parting the sea the traffic parts and the imaginary overtaking lane opens for us to pass.We also blow our horns at cars about to turn onto the road incase they don’t see you, pedestrians who might walk out in front of us, bicycles we are about to pass and as soon as the traffic light is about to turn green.I don’t think this would be appreciated in Australia so I will have to retrain before our return.We have boarded the Ferry and returned to the mainland and are now traveling along the South coast of Italy, along the sole of the boot. The roads here are much flatter and wider and the motor home is enjoying the easier roads for a while. The weather is warming up again so we are looking for a nice beach to bed down for the weekend before we hit theAdriatic coast.

The weather is getting warmer as we approach Sicily, we spend our last night on the mainland on the beach at Scina, we have a fantastic back drop to take in a beautiful sunset over Sicily. Having seen our destination we start early next morning and arrive to board the ferry for the mammoth 20 minute trip across the Stretto Di Messina.Arriving in Sicily we set the Gps to take us to the village of Saponara.Let me tell you something for nothing, if you set your gps and tell it you’re a truck or bus in Italy it means nothing, we veered through the outskirts of Messina through the outer suburbs and into the outer village along laneways barely big enough for a 4 wheel drive let alone a motor home and just as you leave the low hanging balconies with the washing hanging in the windscreen, begins the climb up the mountain, now I won’t say it went straight up as I want to save that description for a road we endured a bit further along. Yet this road was very demanding on the Fiat and our decision to avoid motorways to obtain the best scenery pays off quite often I feel we could have avoided this Hour long 20 kilometer trip and used the motorway which actually has some great scenery on Sicily at a very low cost. We finally arrive at Saponara just in time for Siesta so we break for lunch. Saponara is where Debbies Grandfather or as we call him in Italia Nono a word which came in handy trying to find documents relating to his existence from some very helpful locals at the Municipo who spoke no English.With a few words like Nono matrimone, a lot of hand gestures and a few dates they were able to come to the conclusion that there documents did not date back far enough after they painstakingly went through some old ledgers page by page that went back to 1900.We trawled the cemetery for remnants of Debbies ancestory finding only the 1 De Luca.We crawled further down the coast and arrive at campsite Marinello and lo and behold all of a sudden we encounter other campers, mainly German a few Austrians and some Dutch. We meet a wonderful German family traveling for the winter. Daniel was very pleased as he was given a hand made windmill made out of old recycled plastic bottles.We shared some wine and travel stories and are now expecting Frank and Renate to visit Hotel Walkeden when they travel to Australia in 2009. Water has become a problem and we have had to revert to the antiquated system of carrying water to the van as the water pump has burnt out. We will have to slum it for a while until we reach a town big enough to supply me with parts. After 3 nights at Marinello we decide to travel along the coast towards Palermo, this is where we come across a detour on the already narrow road and with more hand gestures and limited Italian we discover the real meaning of term straight up. We turn left and in first gear we struggle up a hill winding around blind bends with Debbie stating that we should have just turned back and gone on the motorway, well what is the point of a family adventure if we can’t tackle one little cliff climb, fortunately it was only the Thursday before Easter so we only encountered a few cars and 1 truck coming down at us so we just pulled close to the edge while they scraped past us hoping that the old Fiat had enough power to get going again.Sicily, contrary to our beliefs is not full of mafia, donkeys and run down old buildings. It has fantastic natural beauty and an incredible history. The Valley of the Temples, ruins near Agrigento is an incredible example of the history and shows remnants of Greek occupation here 2600 years ago. The architecture of Sicily has influence from Roman Greek, Muslim and Indians all blending in together. We spend our last nights on Sicily at Camping La Timpa at Acireale. The setting here would have to rate as one of the best I have encountered. The campsite is terraced and overlooks The Stretto Di Messina.As we sit on the Terrace sipping our Rusticanello Vino (purchased in a 5 litre bottle at 3.99 euro) we watch as the fishermen row back to the marina (yes row) with their catch and the ferries and cargo ships sail out into The Mediterranean Sea.

After a week in Rome enduring a couple of days rain we enjoy the trip south towards Napoli under bright blue skies, although we are chasing the rain clouds, it seems as though all the bad weather following us has now overtaken us and we are chasing it.As we approach Naples we are overcome with a remarkable amount of rubbish piles on the sides of the roads due to a recent garbage collectors strike. It was very disturbing to actually see how much rubbish can be discarded in such a short time, some of the locals tried burning the piles only to make the situation much smellier. I would hate to be the person who has to eventually clean up this mess especially after a few inches of rain.As we approached Mt Vesuvius the jet black rain clouds were pushing out into the sea and a huge rainbow invited us towards Pompeii. Little did we know what effect the storm had conjured up for us, We entered the outskirts of Pompeii down what we imagined must have been the back roads as there seemed to be no drainage and the potholes were big enough to swallow a small car. Then as we ventured further down this road we realised we were on the truck route as semi trailers raced at us through the potholes spraying all the vehicles in there path. Eventually the potholes full of water united to become one and we found ourselves driving down a creek bumper to bumper as locals waded there way home from there days work.Like magic the water disappeared as we found our way into the Centro shopping area where the drainage was much better and the roads although cobbled much smoother.We spent the next day under perfect skies in the Lost (now found) City of Pompeii.Walking around the city for 5 and a half hours we wondered at the reclaimed buildings, artwork still painted on the walls and ancient graffiti. They really did have a fixation on nudity and there are remnants of explicit activities can still be recognied in all areas of the city.This is a highlight of Italy and a must if you are in the area.As we leave Pompeii we head for the coast, well sorry garmin but you have got your work cut out for you if you want to find a suitable roads for this leg, we encountered narrow, busy, congested motor scooter infested roads that our camper could only just squeeze through so we were glad when we arrived at a campground near Sorrento some 20 kilometers away 3 hours later.Here we met an expat Australian woman at the swimming pool coaching the local kids for an upcoming sports carnival, she invited Cointha and Daniel to race her student for a bit of fun. She lived in Positano which was our next destination so we picked her brain for local knowledge which proved to be very handy indeed.The road to Positano was around the edge of a cliff and due to a landslide we found ourselves tangled up in bumper to bumper traffic once again.
It was Debs birthday, so we parked on the outskirts of Positano as advised by the swimming coach and walked into town down some very steep roads and steps. We celebrated Debbies birthday at a lovely ristorante overlooking the sea, the food was superb and local wine was probably an extravagance as we did not consider the walk back up the ravine to the motor home. Debbie had a wonderful day taking in the scenery just as she had imagined it in the books she had been reading which was what inspired us to come to this area.There are no camping places in Positano as it is similar to the Cinque Terre and the steps and stairs we descended down to the village were much more difficult on the way back so exhausted after a great walk, meal and picking up some lovely souvenirs we push further south along The Amalfi Coast Well I thought the drive to Positano and the Verdon gorge were narrow, if you find your self in this part of the world and you like a challenging drive, then you must drive The Amalfi Coast. The scenery is amazing (when I am allowed to look, a phrase I here constantly from Deb while squeezing our motor home around these roads is wow that’s beautiful but don’t you look Bruce) and the roads very challenging. We were to here later in our journey that motor homes are banned from The Amalfi Coast which explained why all of a sudden we had not seen one for a couple of days, yet tourist coaches are still allowed, in fact we followed one for about 10 miles as he stopped and backed up to get around corners and blew his horn to force oncoming traffic to back up out of his way.The road is remarkable as it snakes it’s way around the cliffs and hangs in the air over gorges held up by who knows what, it would be interesting to go below and see the foundations of these roads that seem to have no access for maintenance yet they seem to be in remarkable condition.After a fantastic days driving we pull in at Paestum home of some wonderful ancient Greek ruins 3000 years old.We are going to spend a couple of days here enjoying the sun and the beach, after a week of exploring ruins, museums, culture and incredible art work we need a couple of veg out days.

Debbie in front of Dionysiac rites some art work on the walls of The Villa of the Mystries built in 200 BC at Pompeii

Leaving Florence we head south through the rolling Tuscan hills toward Siena, passing through Greve in Chianti where Maddy and Curl Haslem will be staying at the end of this month, we stopped in and tried to warn the locals to be on the lookout. Unfortunately we were unaware that the siesta here starts at 11.00 and finishes at 16.30, although we did find one good coffee shop that also sells gelato so we had a good break.
That night we found ourselves in a marvelous town, Castelini in Chianti, no camp ground but there was free camper parking on the edge of town with fantastic views over the valley. We set up and walked into town and had a lovely time strolling through the medieval streets and enjoying the marvelous views over the valley. We tracked down the post office next morning to post some long overdue postcards, while we were waiting for Deb to buy stamps in her best Italian accent (that’s with her hands) I kept the Daniel amused by sticking a rose thorn on my nose pretending to be a rhinoceros, while Daniel was amused Cointha was horrified as an old local woman came very close staring at my nose trying to figure out just what disease I must be carrying. When I had finished amusing the locals we took the short trip to Siena where we covered the same distance around town in search of a parking spot. As you can imagine, parking in cities is one thing but trying to find a spot big enough for a 6.4 meter long motor home is even more difficult. After a few journeys through very narrow alleys and up cobbled pathways I decided to head a bit further from the centre before we became wedged or ran over some ancient artifact.
We found a supermarket and parked there then climbed the hills, steps and pathways leading back into the city. Was it worth it? My oath it is, The architecture, shopping and food of Siena draws you in and you wander the curved streets wondering what might be just around the corner. Giant Pizzas, that’s what is around the corner, I could not believe the size of these things, I think we were in HOMER HEAVEN. They were the size of a four piece outdoor setting and the flavour is as big as the pizza.
We spent the night 20 k/ms from Siena in a campground with a beautiful view over a huge Tuscan valley which looks like a giant salad bowl.
Its still 200 kms to Rome so we decide to stay the night at Montefiascone, we found a free camper parking bay which had a beautiful view over Lago di Bolsena. Excellent as the view was we had to move after tea as the wind threatened to blow us over the edge of ravine so we pushed back into the shelter of the winery that the car park was situated. I feel this was a good move as we spent the night dreaming we were in a washing machine so I shudder to think what may have been out in the open where we were.
We hit one of our few motorways for the trip into Rome and arrive about 14.00 after negotiating some very confusing signs due to roadwork’s on the motorway. We spend the afternoon catching up on emails and contacts now that communications have been restored, for how long we are not sure so we make the most of it.
The colosseum is our first target in Rome and we discover that it is International day of the woman so if you are a woman or you resemble a woman you receive free admittance.
Try as I might my argument at the ticket office that he was discriminating against me as I was an ugly woman with a deep voice was not enough for me to gain free entry although they did believe Debbie.
Considering we only paid for me to get in I would have gladly paid for the other guys as it is just mind blowing walking in the footsteps of ancient Romans and imagining the atmosphere that was created by the festivities here in 80 AD when it was opened.
When you look at the size of the Colosseum and think that it held 70000 people cheering on there favourite Christian or Lion depending on whichever side you barracked for, I find it hard to relate that to a Collingwood – Essendon game.
Walking the streets of Rome in winter would normally be a pleasant experience but we found this day quite frustrating as the crowds were like summer crowds and there were tourists everywhere, how dare they upset our adventure. We were beginning to think that tourist season had started early but it seems that weekends are not the time to visit capital cities in Europe as people take advantage of cheap flights and accommodation in the off season so we head back to camp and decide to have Sunday off.
Monday we were able to see everything we wanted without the queues or hustle and bustle and enjoy a wonderful day strolling the highpoints that we noted for our return.
Cointha and Debbie particularly wished to return to the Torre Argentina where we saw over a hundred cats living amongst the ruins and as we discovered there is a sanctuary which cares for over 250 cats. It reminded me of the Melbourne Zoo when I was a kid where the lions would sit on the boulders looking over there domain, only these cats sat on columns and buildings over 2000 years old.
A trip to Rome is not complete without the obligratory tossing of a coin into the Trevi Fountain and visiting the Vatican with a walk around the Museum and the Sistine Chapel.
The art work is just fantastic and was a highlight for Cointha and Daniel who have been fascinated by the art work and loved the work of Michel Angelo.
Pompeii is our next destination where we will take in some more ruins and enter an entire city that has been excavated from the ashes of a volcanic eruption from Mt Vesuvius in 79AD.

South to Florence

David at sunset at Piazzale Michelangelo

As we reach the South of France we start to see the higher prices, all of a sudden we are paying between 30 euro and 45 euro ($50 $75) for a camping spot per night opposed to the 10 Euro ($17) we were paying in the north and the Alps.We leave France and wind our way along the coast through Monaco and into Italy trying to imagine just how much busier it must be in the middle of summer, it is hard to describe the chaos involved on the roads as everyone battles to push there way through the traffic towards there destination. The pavements are filled with cafes and restaurants that are not open this time of year and empty apartments and hotels tower towards the hills on the north side of the road. There must be an awful lot of casual labour running these coastal cities in summer. Diano Marino seemed at first glance to be a bit of a shabby old village as we pulled into Oassi Motor Home Park. Oassi was 1 of many parks we have discovered that are filled with campervans and motor homes squeezed in like sardines, they offer a very minimal service, parking, electricity and a dumping station, the more up market ones like Oassi even have a toilet and warm shower for extra cost. So we paid our overnight fee of 8 euro plus 2 euro for electricity and take a wander into the village for the evening which had all of a sudden come to life at about 7 pm so we had a pleasant time strolling around the shops enjoying the charms of the local community and eating gelato.Gelato by the way is not like the gelato we eat in Australia. The texture is much creamier and the flavours more natural and delicious, I am going to make a point of badgering our Australian/Italian friends to source this product in Australia.Our next destination is Cinque Terre a cliff face that houses 5 villages accessible only foot unless you are a local then you have very limited access to drive your car to the outskirts of town where they can park their car and walk 3 or 4 hundred meters with their shopping. The lack of an open camp ground means we will return to this area later on and walk the cliff face between the villages and enjoy the magnificent scenery.The motor home pushes further south and we reach Pisa finding our selves in a, how can I describe this, a shopping centre car park with pot plants dividing us from the rest of the car park. It is a down market version of Oassi but more expensive at 12 euro for 18 hours, you pay by putting your money in a parking meter, But it is 800 meters from the leaning tower so we stay the night and have a great time watching as the illegal immigrants pedal there souvenirs, belts, fake Ray Bans and leather handbags to the tourists as they get of their buses in the car park next to us.At the leaning tower the kids have a ball with the camera trying to achieve a photo of themselves holding up the tower along with the other 500 tourists, it is like being in the land of Marcel Marseau with people pushing against the wind as far as the eye can see.We get up early and head 60 kilometers east to Florence or Firenze as the locals call it. We book into Michelangelo camp ground situated next to Piazzale Michelangelo which has the best views of the city. Is a pleasant experience after our previous few nights, the showers are hot, the staff friendly with great tourist advice and the views from the park are glorious. Strolling the streets of Florence on a Sunday morning is very enjoyable; every body seems to dress like they are just heading out to a nightclub, wedding, or a formal function except us meager tourists who probably look more like gypsies.The kids enjoy a Puppet show in the Piazza S.Croce and we enjoy watching local artists painting in the streets and the kids were fascinated by a woman doing a chalk drawing on the pavement. Try as we might we could not find an affordable piece of jeweler in the gold shops on Ponte Vecchio so we will be looking for a Big W to find Debbie’s birthday present on the 15th.Inspired by all the artists the kids wanted to do some drawing so we spent the sunset on Piazzle Michelangelo enjoying the city views while Debbie, Cointha and Daniel sketched the Duomo, Deb gave up early embarrassed as people kept looking over shoulder thinking she was a professional.It was a wonderful setting where we managed to get some brilliant photos and finish off a fantastic day.

Le Verdon Canyon

What a relief, the weather forecast was wrong and it only reached -8, after we thawed out, the van started no problem and off we motored into Sisteron. Using a self cleaning public toilet for the first time was quite frightening for Cointha as she was closing the door we accidentally flushed it on her and she came out very fast and very white faced.Waiting till the siesta was over at 2pm, (good life here everything closes at 12.00 and opens again at 2pm) the tourist office opened and we were assured that no camping was open so after a coffee and posting some mail we headed to a smaller town where we got directions to a campground.The bikes were removed and well used over the next 2 days while we relaxed in the sunshine before and wandered the skinny streets of Sisteron before heading towards Castellane.Castellane is a beautiful village filled with narrow streets, crooked buildings and a wonderful campground with 800 places, we were the only gusts there at the time, I can’t believe that the French do not take advantage of these places in winter.We hiked to the church at the top of the cliff some 240 meters straight up over the town where the views of the town and Le Verdon (the Verdon river) are spectacular at the top we had a picnic before venturing down to skim stones across Le Verdon’s crystal clear waters, if you want to go white water rafting Castellane is the place to go and the scenery along Le Verdon would be well worth the trip.We hope to return here time permitting when the rafting tours are open.3 days were not enough time to spend in this area as we drive through Le Verdon Gorge which is the largest canyon in Europe. The drive is absolutely spectacular, the scenery overawes you and the water as it rushes through the canyon and enters into Lac (lake) De Saint Croix is a beautiful Aqua marine. A few miles from Lac De Saint Croix is a beautiful town set into the side of a cliff named Moustiers-Saint Marie, 2nd gear is all I could achieve to reach the town but it was well worth the trip as we were mesmerized by its beauty strolling through the streets admiring the Artists stores. It is renowned as an artists hideaway and houses many writers, Painters and fine china is the specialty of the town.The motor home is aimed for Canne so we travel the other side of the canyon for a while before turning south and heading back to civilization.