Back to an easy pace of life

It is lovely here. We have a very nice pitch looking out to sea, and the
site facilities are of a good standard. We have made friends with a very
nice English couple, Steve and Anne, in the van next to us (have to say that
they might be reading), and also the crazy French couple just behind them
with their dachshund 'Vodka', must ask why its called 'Vodka' one day.
The weather has been pretty good so far, and the sunshine is lovely and warm
when it makes an appearance. Today is supposed to be wet, and it is a little
so far, but the sun is due back tomorrow for Christmas Day. The temperature
only drops down to 10-13C at night, it has been 15-17C during the day. It's
not scorching but very pleasant.
We have visited the shops in Finale, which are limited but well stocked, and
also the bigger shops in Cefalu a few miles along the coast, so we are now
loaded up with food to get us through a week or so. I am sure we will have
to potter into Finale, 5 minute walk, every now and then for bread and
booze.
Sue has been busy so far catching up on the washing backlog whilst the sun
is out and I gave Noddy a Christmas wash yesterday. I think we will manage
to survive here and on Sicily for the next few months, but we will have to
drag ourselves away from staring at the sea to see the sights of the island.
Apparently Etna is 'erupting' at the moment and slowly pouring out lava and
puffing ash, must see that.
Oh well, back to the grind, must be time for coffee and some bread and jam.
Ciao
M&S

The final push

We have been settled into our new winter home for a few days now after
arriving late on Wednesday.
After leaving Pompeii the Autostrada made for very slow progress south as
they are in the middle of rebuilding most of the stretch from Naples down to
Reggio di Calabria. It looks like they have been at it for several years
already and that they will have a few more years until completion with all
the bridges and tunnels they are planning. However, we still managed to make
good progress and as we had made an early start we were down towards our
planned stop for the night at Palmi early in the afternoon. After some
discussion we decided to push on and try and get a ferry across to Sicily
and if possible reach our final destination that evening.
All was going well. We bought our ticket, €31, and queued for the next
ferry. It seemed that there was a choice of two that had arrived to pick up.
When we got to the front of the queue the guy took our ticket and mumbled
something to us with the word Palermo mixed in. We thought he was asking if
we were going to Palermo, which we weren't as we were heading for a small
town called Finale 50 or so miles short of Palermo. We looked confused and
said 'No', so he pointed to the open top ferry in front of us and we ambled
on board. The ferry eventually loaded and set sail. All seemed good for a
while until we realised that we were chugging steadily further south than
what we made out to be the port of Messina, were we would be landing. The
other ferry was aiming straight for the anticipated port way back behind us.
We checked with one of the crew who didn't really understand and gestured
that we could drive to Messina from wherever the boat was heading for, not
much help. So naturally we thought the worst and that we might be heading
down the coast to Catania the next main port, a good 11/2 hour drive from
Messina. Perplexed we returned to Noddy and made some hasty alternative
plans for a campsite for the night on the east coast, as we did not fancy a
hasty drive back up the coast to Messina and then the two-hour drive west to
Finale. The boat eventually docked, and we knew we had not gone too far down
the coast, definitely not Catania, but we did not have a clue where we were,
so we headed straight for the Autostrada. It turned out that we had come in
not far south of Messina and were only a little behind schedule. So we sped
on, the roads were quiet, and we eventually reached Finale at about 19h00. A
bit tired after 10 hours on the road we took a pitch for the night and
waited for the new day to dawn to see our new home in the daylight.
Ciao
M&S

It's driving Jim but, not as we know it

We did not make it to Italy on Saturday as previously predicted. Two reasons
for this! Firstly, the site we were heading for at Albenga has solar heated
showers and it is winter and not very sunny. Secondly, we decided to
continue on the non-toll roads in France for another day to save some more
pennies. We instead made it to a small town called La Motte, northwest of
Frejus not far west of Nice, and another Aire de Service for a free night.
So on Sunday we aimed far and for Rome whilst the roads were quieter. The
Autostrada along the northwest coast of Italy is quite some drive. It is
very up and down and not very straight so our progress was slow initially
and we fell short of Rome and stayed Sunday night at a camper stop at
Orvieto. It was €15 for the night in a large camper car park but it had very
nice powerful and piping hot showers and a good electric hook up so can't
complain.
Yesterday we continued south towards Pompeii. The drive was not too bad but
the air quality was very poor. Almost all the way past Rome and down to
Naples the air was thick with the output from the constant industry and
smoke from farmer's fires. Thankfully it cleared not far from Naples and we
had a 'clear' run through the mayhem that is the motorway past the city. We
only had one near encounter when a 'white van' emerged from an entry on to
the motorway completely oblivious to our presence, or more likely didn't
give a **** that we were there, and thanks to Noddy's brakes a swerve and a
huge slice of good fortune we did not collide. If you haven't driven down
this way before then think of how bad normal Italian drivers drive and
multiply it by 1000, no joke.
Anyway, we made it to the site at Pompeii, a stone throw from the ruins, and
rested for the afternoon and evening as it decided to pour down. Thankfully
today the rain eased off for a while so we were able to visit the majority
of the ruins, vast that they are, and made a good 2 or 3 hours of it before
the ever heavier rain persuaded us to head back to Noddy. We ventured into
the town centre briefly on the way back in search of some food and
eventually bought what I can only describe as large savoury doughnuts, one
filled with ham and mushrooms, the other with ricotta. Back in the dry of
Noddy we filled our bellies, the doughnuts were delicious, and we are now
letting our wet clothes dry off in the bathroom while we doze away the rest
of the day.
Tomorrow we head further south hopefully to Palmi almost in the toenails of
Italy. From there it is just a few miles to Reggio di Calabria where we are
hoping to get a ferry across to Sicily on Wednesday.

Ciao for now.

M&S

We're on Our Way

Well on our way to our winter home. We are currently at the town of
Tournon-sur-Rhone, halfway between Lyon and Marseille.
We crossed the channel on Wednesday afternoon and made our way to the town
of Conty for the night, just south of Amiens. We stayed at an Aire de
Service de Camping-cars, an area (small car park) provided by the local
community, and it was free. Yesterday we made quite a long day of it, 8
hours driving, past Paris and down to Beaune just south of Dijon. The going
was a bit slow especially around Paris but it was bright and sunny so very
pleasant. We made a decision to avoid the toll roads to save a few pennies,
but taking the main roads can get a bit slow at times with all the villages
and towns. Towards the end of the day the fog descended so we spent the last
hour or so after sunset plodding along counting down the miles to our
destination. The site when we eventually got there was mostly full of UK
vehicles, probably also on route for some winter sunshine.
Today we set off again in the morning fog and continued south past Lyon and
on to Tournon for the night. This seems to be a very busy town on the west
bank of the Rhone. We had a quick wander around on arrival and purchased a
nice baguette to have with our dinner. Needless to say the baguette had
shrunk a wee bit by the time we arrived back at Noddy. Poor Noddy is quite
filthy on the outside at the moment with all the dirt from the damp roads,
but he will have to hold on until we get to Sicily for a much needed
shampoo.
We have spent quite a while this evening planning our next move and what
stops we will make on our way down through Italy. I think we have now got a
plan, and it involves some major usage of the toll roads. I think if we
plodded along avoiding them it would take us quite a while to get all the
way down. We had intended to miss out on the French tolls and only pay in
Italy, but we have saved quite a bit already. Thankfully the Italian tolls
are much cheaper than the French, especially the final stretch from Naples
which is something ridiculous like €1.8 for 300 miles.
Anyway, time for an early night before as we are hoping to get into Italy
tomorrow and stop off at Albenga on the north west coast at a site we used
earlier this year.
Cheers for now.
M&S

Cricket poor, Weather very poor, bothered ... no

The date for the escape is next Wednesday 13th at 14h02, or earlier if we
can get a slot.
We have been staying at a site just west of Brighton since Sunday and the
weather has been very poor the last few days, plenty of rain and severe
gales. Poor Noddy has been a rocking and a rolling.
We did however have a nice day out in Eastbourne shopping on Monday, and a
nice day out in Brighton yesterday, some sunshine helps. Other than that we
have been keeping our heads down in Noddy out of the wind and rain. Last
night was the worst so far, didn't get much sleep, but the weather is better
now, not perfect but better.
The next few days will be spent doing some final last minute planning, as we
have to plot our route and possible campsites on the southwards trip. We are
not quite sure what to expect in Italy over the Christmas period, but it
should be great fun, oh and a wee bit warmer hopefully.

Cheers for now.

M&S