Pescina (Gelato Tuesday on a Tuesday)

We thought these cloud formations over Val D’Orcia were quite surreal

Tuesday was window-fixing day and we had an appointment at 5.00pm in Grosseto which is just over an hour’s drive away.  As Grosseto is only 15 minutes from the sea we had planned on going to the beach for the afternoon and getting the window fixed on the way back.  Over the last few days, the weather has been warmer on the coast than where we are, so it would be an opportunity to take advantage of it.  In the end, the weather was so nice at home that we changed our plans, stayed in, and set off for Grossetto mid-afternoon.

Grosseto is our nearest large town/city with proper (cheap) supermarkets and we have been there a couple of times for shopping and also driven through the outskirts on our way to the beach.  Our impression had always been that it was a built-up town with lots of modern buildings, so we have never investigated it.

We found the car window repairers and had difficulty communicating with the guys as it was the usual broken Italian from us and broken English from them.  The only word we had in common was ‘Fallonica’ which seemed to suffice for us to trust them to do the job and for them to trust that we would pay the insurance excess.  Fallonica is a town further north where their head office is, and it was they, that I had talked with on Friday and they set up the appointment for us in Grosseto.

With our initial impression of Grosseto, we were sceptical as to how we were going to kill an hour or two but wandered off towards the centre of town.  How pleasantly surprised we were – we were soon in an old part of town with narrow streets opening out onto large piazzas.

Piazza Dante

  

As it was a Tuesday we sought out a gelateria – Tuesdays are our ice cream day and we call them Gelato Tuesday even though we usually end up having them on any day but Tuesday 😉 As with most Italians we meet, the lady serving us loved Buddy and even gave him a cone, so it was Gelato Tuesday for him too!

Grosseto cathedral or duomo

Another view of piazza Dante

We continued walking and saw what looked like a park on a hill at the end of an alley so we walked down it.  At the end of the alley we climbed up a steep grassy slope and found we were on the top of the city walls.  We were amazed as we hadn’t been aware that the walls were there, let alone the fact that they were complete, and you can walk all the way around the old city.   They hadn’t been as well looked after as the walls in Lucca and most of the sentry posts and other fortified buildings of that ilk were in ruins or completely destroyed.  Still, it made for a pleasant walk in the shade for us and Buddy whilst we waited for the car to be ready.

  

One of the impressive things about the walls of Lucca is that there is a protected wide green space (like the theoretical UK Green Fields) all around the outside which gives the walls greater prominence.

Unlike Lucca, buildings seem to encroach on the walls of Grosseto

On the way back to the car we passed the local government offices which have gone the way of so many government buildings in Italy.  In order to raise capital, the building was sold a couple of years ago (for 4M euros) and is now leased back from the owners.

The local government offices now refurbished at some expense

When we got back to the garage, the car was ready, and we were pleased to find that all the broken glass had been vacuumed out.  I know we would expect that in the UK, but we had been a bit sceptical as to what sort of job would be done as were foreigners.  We were already prepared with 50 cent pieces to use vacuum facilities at a petrol station on the way home if necessary. 

On the drive home we passed a few groups of road runners who looked to be in a race and we were reminded that whenever we see road runners over here that they don’t seem to run facing the traffic like we do in the UK.  This has been concerning us for a while as it makes us feel like we are not doing the right thing facing the traffic when we are walking on the roads.  Also, Italians (and other non-UK Europeans) don’t have our courteous customs and therefore don’t automatically raise a hand to say thank you when we pull into the verge to let their car pass.  This lack of ‘thank you’ also (wrongly) reinforces the feeling that we’re not doing the right thing.

Talking about running races reminds me that Catherine made us really proud at the weekend.  She competed in, and completed, a 15-mile run in London in aid of Shelter.  She has never run more than a half-marathon before (and that’s a half marathon too far for me!) so we were extra pleased for her.

Cat and her finishing medal – if anyone still wants to sponsor her then please visit this link

Wednesday saw us tick something off our list of things to do whilst staying in Tuscany.  When we had driven back from the hot springs at Bagni San Filippo three weeks ago we noticed a bell tower at the top of one of the hills we drove past.  Campiglia D’Orcia looked like a small settlement with very few people around and there would be stunning views at the top, so we added it to our do list even though it wouldn’t be a particularly long or strenuous walk.

Nearing the target for our afternoon stroll – the bell tower at the top of Campiglia D’Orcia

Half way up with the fortified hill town of Castiglione D’Orcia in the background

The picture at the top of this blog entry is also from about half way up and is across the valley of the river Orcia which runs across southern Tuscany and gives its name to the region – Val D’Orcia.  The general population in the region has been decreasing over the last century but there are still signs of new housing in most places we visit.  Campiglia D’Orcia was no exception:

The hill was covered in the older houses but looking down all we could see was new housing and apartment blocks

Admittedly an awful lot of the new housing are second homes or places for summer or skiing holiday rentals.

Trying to show the steepness of the roads with me at an angle and the walls at an angle too

Amazingly we turned around one corner and came face to face with a post van.  Amazing because we hadn’t expected to see any traffic let alone a post van. This was the first post van we have seen since we have been over here and rather substantiated the age-old story that the Italian postal service is notoriously slow.  This slowness is also supported by an airmail letter I sent to one of my brothers a week ago that still hasn’t arrived.

Postman Pat’s van…

…actually, it wasn’t Postman Pat but Postlady Patrizia

We made it to the top, but the bell tower was padlocked so we couldn’t get too close.

  Those clouds looked threatening but they came to nothing - rain is forecast on Thursday though

We walked down the other side of the hill and, on the way down, went through the square that has what used to be the town’s water supply but has now been converted to a fountain.  When we got down we decided to go to Seggiano on our way back home as we wanted to see the aeroponic olive tree we missed last week.

Sure sign that autumn’s on its way in the square with the old water supply

Buddy has adopted a new position in the car since we have been in Italy.  Even though he is restrained (a legal and insurance requirement as well as a safety measure) he manages to rest his head on the central armrest which looks really uncomfortable but he seems to be really happy.  To make it worse his back legs are on the back seat, but his neck and front legs are just hanging in the air in the footwell!

Buddy’s new position in the car

When we visited Seggiano a week or so ago we saw the cisterna that is being restored.  The cisterna used to collect rain water for the village’s water supply. 

The restored cisterna

It wasn’t until we got home that day that we read that there is an olive tree growing out of the top of the cisterna.  What makes this tree particularly interesting is that it has grown aeroponically and its roots take in moisture from the water inside the cisterna as it evaporates.  We didn’t see the tree when we visited last time as we didn’t get around all the maze of alleys at the top.  We made sure we did this time and found the (apparently only one in the world) aeroponic olive tree.  Unlike most olive trees in these parts, none of the fruits seemed to be ripening and turning black though.

The aeroponic olive tree at last

With rain forecast all day on Thursday we’ll probably stay indoors and do those things we’ve been putting off like understanding and finding out those things we need to do in preparation for a no deal Brexit for when we move to France next year.

Pescina (planning the homeward trip)

With the broken window not going to be fixed until Tuesday we have been rather house-bound.  Not that that mattered as it’s made us find different walks around the area. 

Among many of the butterflies we are seeing on our walks at the moment we have noticed that there are lots of fresh clouded yellows and Queen of Spain fritillaries emerging which is great considering we’re in October.  On my first walk with Buddy this morning I was watching clouded yellows mating but I imagine the offspring will hibernate as full grown caterpillars rather than completing the life cycle as the temperatures will be dropping sharply soon.

One of our walks took us further up the mountain on Saturday and we found ourselves walking through the clouds which was really uncanny, especially when we were in the woods. 

Eerie clouds in the woods

The road that Karen runs on is very quiet, other than at weekends when the locals drive up the mountain to have barbecues and walk around the top.  Even though most days no cars pass her, she still has to be really careful because of the hairpins and also, they tend to drive all over the road.  This is because there are so many large areas that have been washed away that drivers suddenly switch from one side of the road to the other. 

We decided to cover up the window in case it rained before the new one is, hopefully, put in on Tuesday.  We carry a large roll of Gaffer tape as a precaution in case we get a tear in the tent, so it was a simple matter of finding some bits of clear plastic and taping them together and then to the car.

When my son in law, Yanos, had his car window smashed he made the mistake of taping plastic onto the car paintwork.  Repairing the subsequent damage to the paintwork cost him more than the replacement window ☹ Because of this we were careful not to get any sticky tape on the paintwork.

We took the finished product out for a five-mile test drive to Castel del Piano and back and were rather pleased it held together.  At least we are now covered up in case it rains, or we have to go anywhere in an emergency.

The result of our cutting and taping

You may have noticed we have a ski box.  This is a real ski box unlike today’s top boxes and I bought it for its original purpose 30 years ago.  Even though it’s designed to take skis it does the job for us and takes all our camping gear.  I agree that the modern versions have a far greater volume but it’s done us well.   It’s only since we’ve been over here that we have realised that it is now almost an antique – we haven’t seen another one since we’ve been looking.

Our ski box – note the gaffer tape on the front to stop water ingress in a crack 😏

For many years my sister looked after and used the box as they tended to have more camping holidays than we did.  They recently replaced their car and brought a modern equivalent so our box has come back to us and it's been so useful.  You would have thought that we wouldn't have needed the extra space considering there's only us and Buddy and we have an estate car but we're still packed to the gunwales.

On Monday we walked the two miles down to Pescina. We have been promising ourselves a pizza from a pizzeria for lunch and today was the day.  The restaurant, Da Luca, was deceptive like many bars and was massive inside.  We couldn’t believe how busy it was considering how shut up Pescina is (it’s in the lull between summer and ski seasons) at the moment.  It seemed that a constant stream of workmen were appearing in vans and stopping for lunch. 

Ironically they only cook pizzas in the evening so we settled for a full blown meal which was most enjoyable. We were rather pleased we had a steep uphill walk all the way home to work it off though 😏

With only ten days to go before we leave here we spent some time in the afternoon planning our route back home.  The main thing we decided was that we would head up for the Italian lakes first, taking the inland route through Florence, Bologna and Milan rather than the coastal route we took on the way down from France.

The route we will probably take to get to the lakes on our way home

Pescina (two years ago today CHB2 went in the water)

Yes, we had another day on the beach on Thursday; however, it was busier than when we went last week.  We were expecting it to be quieter as it was later in the season, but it was still quiet enough for dogs to keep themselves to their owners’ part of the beach and not bother other people (or each other).

We also weren’t expecting this when we got back to the car

Unlike our last visit there was no wind so there were far fewer waves, but they were still too much for Buddy.

Fewer waves but cloudier than the last visit

It was still hot, and Buddy dug himself a hole to bury himself in and keep cool:

  

That’s my empty beer bottle and not litter, by the way 😉

Still, not interested

When we got back to the car we were shocked to find the front nearside window smashed.  It appeared that whoever it was hadn’t been into the car and nothing had been taken.  It took a while to clear all the glass away until we felt it was safe to drive and while we were doing that Karen noticed the portable solar panel had gone.  It had been hidden between the seat and door so couldn’t be seen unless the door was open or the window smashed.  We suspect they probably thought it was a tablet in a case so wouldn’t have been over pleased when they realised their mistake.

Fortunately, it was dry and warm so driving home wasn’t an issue.  Before we set off we got in touch with the insurance company to work out how to get the window replaced.  I have to add here how difficult it is to get car insurance as a continuous cruiser if you need to move a car around with you.  We thought that moving a car around the country as we cruised (as we did for the two years Karen went back to work) would be just like people parking the car in a street if they live in a house without a drive or garage.  But no, fewer and fewer underwriters want to accept the risk and when we renewed last time we could only find one company that would cover us, albeit at more than twice the cost than it would have been if we had a permanent address.

Thankfully, we no longer need to keep the car with us, so when we renew in November the issue will go away as we will store the car somewhere permanently as we cruise.  Anyway, I mention all this as the address on the policy is National Grid House in Warwick, which is where Karen worked.  The guy at the call centre was intrigued why we called our house that.  I didn’t want to get into a discussion about the fact it was a business premises and told him that we didn’t give it the name – which was true 😉

Getting the go ahead to get the window replaced was simple but it took all day on Friday to get an Italian window company to understand what was needed.  At one point we were having a three-way call with my daughter Sophie (an Italian speaker) and one of the glass fitters.  In the end, the best we could do was find somewhere that would do it at 5.00pm on Tuesday.  We only hope that they get the right piece of glass because it would be easy to get confused when talking about nearside and offside etc.  We emailed plenty of pictures, so we hope they understood ☹

With all the hassle we forgot that it was two years ago to the day that our current home was dropped into the water at Wincham Wharf in Northwich.  It seems an age ago now but it was a weekend neither of us will forget.  Karen was at work in Warwick, so I was living on the old boat during the week in Northwich whilst we waited for the final touches to be finished.  When Karen came back on the Friday evening we took the new boat away for the weekend and were fortunate to have fantastic weather which helped make it even more special 😊

Chalkhill Blue 2 going in the water

We were reminded about the event by Facebook; I know people moan about social media but there are some things we find it good for.  When I was working at Legal & General at the end of the 90s I often had contact with a guy who ran a team of specialists.  We never socialised as we were completely different characters in the way we approached our work.  Saying that, we had a mutual respect for our differences and formed a good working relationship.  A couple of years ago that guy (Chris) contacted me through Facebook as he and Sue were about to start living aboard their narrowboat.  We now get on really well socially, especially having the same common interests which we would never have known about in the work environment. 

The same applies to other boater friends like Mike & Lesley; although Lesley and I actually got on when we worked together 😉 but lost contact after I retired.  We too were reunited through social media when they set about buying their narrowboat.

We will have to spend the next few days around the house as we won’t be able to leave the car anywhere until the window is repaired. Still, it means we will get plenty of walking in 😊

  

Pescina (boating season ending for some)

It was raining when we woke on Monday, so we headed for the coast where it is expected to remain hot and sunny for at least the next fortnight.  We had previously agreed that whenever the weather was likely to be not so good that we would make for the coast for the day or put on wet weather gear and go for a walk.  Our research had come up with a dog-friendly beach called Le Marze about 1 ½ hours drive away, just north of Marina di Grosseto which is a popular tourist destination, especially in the summer months.

Some of the reviews we had read about the beach had complained that, from where cars could be parked, there was a 10 to 15-minute walk through the woods to get to the beach.  We found this an odd complaint, especially as the writers would likely to have been dog owners and hence walkers.

Le Marze beach, dog-friendly and empty

The beach was just as we expected from the reviews, hardly anyone around and plenty of makeshift driftwood shelters to hang our wet clothes on to dry in the sun.  The weather had completely changed by the time we left the mountains and were heading in the direction of Rome and we spent a good few hours swimming and sunbathing.  Most unlike us I know but it was so relaxing; even Buddy just lay there with his head resting on first one and then the other of us.

Even though Buddy was happy sunbathing with us, he wasn’t happy about us going in for a swim, so we had to take turns.

I was first in when we got there (most unlike me as, unlike me, Karen loves the water)

Buddy not happy that Karen was going in let alone going underwater

Looking south to the town of Marina di Grosseto which can just be seen in the distance

After leaving the beach we drove down to the town to find a bar to have a quick drink before driving home.   We parked up and wandered along the beach to select a bar.  As we had found in the campsites we had stayed in on the way down, the vast majority of sunbathers were German.  Not fancying hiring sunbeds, we sat in a bar and were hosted by a friendly Italian who was really taken with Buddy and thought it was really funny that his kittens were making Buddy so alert.  They were really cheeky and wouldn’t move from the chair they were curled up in which wound Buddy up as cats tend to scarper when he’s around.

The car parks in the resort were all virtually empty, no doubt they would have been packed a month ago before the school holidays finished:

  

We have noticed Facebook status updates are showing people are finishing their summer boating and resting up their boats for the winter.  Clive and Jenny, who we cruised and socialised with earlier this summer did just that on Monday and are now on their way back to Magnetic Island in Australia where they live during our winter.  Also, our Kiwi friends, Chris and Aileen left their boat and went home to New Zealand this week. 

We know that when we get back home to the boat at the end of October that the first couple of days will be a little fraught.  When we left, it was the height of summer, and the boat was looking really colourful and alive with all the pot plants.  It’s going to be a sorry sight when we get back, with a lot of tidying up to do on the roof ☹  It’s also going to be a shock as I suspect it will stove time every day too. 

After Monday’s rain, Tuesday was a lot cooler and, as it was a ‘no do day’ we just went for a walk through the woods on Monte Amiata. The path was well marked with red and white strips of paint on trees and rocks along the way:  

   

Buddy was happy in the shade of the trees without the sun blazing down on him

The path wound its way around the hillside and for most of the way was sheltered by large cliffs which were quite uncanny seeing them through the trees:

  

We came across a door into some rocks at one point but couldn’t get in let alone work out what it led to:

  

By the time we got home the clouds had cleared and the sun was out, so we were able to sit outside for the evening as usual.

The weather was back to normal on Wednesday and we took ourselves off to Castel del Piano which isn’t too far away but had a market advertised for the first Wednesday of every month.

It turned out to be mainly a clothes, shoes and material type market and not the French type of fruit and veg market we were looking for.  Talking to Luca, our host, he explained that that is what the country markets are like in Tuscany and there are not many like the southern French ones.

We felt quite conspicuous as all the locals were in long trousers and many were also wearing coats; as I said the other day, now the temperatures have dropped below 30 degrees they think summer is over ☹

Locals in autumnal-wear…

…whereas we, having a lunch time beer, were in shorts and tee-shirts – even Buddy is flat out

On our way into town we had noticed many of the buildings had flags hanging out over the streets. 

   

These flags are hung out as part of the celebrations for the town’s annual horse race (palio).  The palios in Tuscany are over for the year and, although the one in Castel del Piano is meant to have been in existence the longest, the ones in Siena are the famous ones.  For those of you who remember Tony Blair, (the Italian press called him the Prime Minister with Bambi eyes amongst other things), he was responsible for bringing the Siena palio to the world’s attention twenty years ago.  He used to take one of his annual family holidays in Tuscany and was pulled apart by the British press when he was photographed at the Siena palio in, I believe, 1997.  It was particularly bloody that year with several horses having to be killed. 

Coincidentally I took an extra dislike to Tony Blair at the time but for different reasons.  We were on holiday with friends and their families in a villa near San Gimignano which was where the Blair's were staying (in a much grander place than ours of course).  On our way back from a trip one day we passed a lovely looking restaurant and thought we would visit that evening. Mirella, the Italian speaker, in our party, went in to make a booking only to be told it would be closed as the Blair party were going to be dining there! 

I had a couple of documents to print out, sign, get witnessed and sent off to the UK.  The tobacconist by the bar we were sitting in offered this service (except the stamps bit) so we took advantage of that and also bought a couple of envelopes from him.  It took a while in our broken English/Italian for him to work out that I wanted to print something from my phone.  

When we were sitting at the bar we noticed a narrow passage up the side and saw that it led further up the hill.  We suddenly realised that as we were in yet another hill town, that the oldest part would be at the top, so after our drinks we went for a wander around.

Alley leading up to the medieval part of town

The old public wash house on the right

The view from the top

  

And, to finish off today’s blog update, a rather miserable looking dog:

  

Pescina (only three weeks left in Italy)

We realised on Friday that we only have three weeks left before we start wending our way back to the UK and home to the boat on the Leeds & Liverpool canal.  We have been expecting days with poor weather as October nears so we have been putting off any sightseeing and travelling until then and making the best of the good weather around the house.  Although the daily temperatures have dropped below 30 degrees we Brits are still in shorts and tee-shirts whereas the locals (as in all hotter climes) are already in long trousers and jackets as if it’s winter.

As mentioned previously we alternate with ‘do do days’ and ‘no do days’, although up to now we have done very little on our ‘do do days’.  To be fair, Karen goes for a run on the ‘no do days’ which, considering the steepness of the roads, puts me in complete awe as to how she does it.

Buddy still finds it too hot even when butterflying first thing in the morning

When Karen came back from her Friday morning run she was full of excitement as she had finally got a picture of a clouded yellow at rest.  It takes five minutes to walk along the drive to reach the road, so she uses that time for her warm up/warm down walk.  This means she can keep an eye out for butterflies whilst the drive goes through the meadows.

Karen’s clouded yellow

We spend the rest of our ‘no do days’ doing nothing much other than preparing and eating meals 😉

Karen catching up with her diary and me butterflying (half-heartedly)

After lunch on Saturday (a do do day) we finally made it to our local village, Seggiano, and had a good walk around. 

Seggiano

Being a hill town, it has a couple of churches at the top and is probably packed with tourists in the height of summer.  We found it very quiet and the only people we came across were sitting inside a bar at the top watching a Serie A game.  We found another bar at the bottom and, that too, was packed with men watching a football game.

Typical narrow streets

Many of the houses have mooring rings at chest or waist height; we could only assume they were for tying up horses etc. when deliveries were being made.

A mooring ring on a house on a hill

Typical Tuscan views from the top – olive groves and woodland

The only sign of activity, other than in the bars, was some work going on restoring the cisterna as part of the museum (which was closed).  I imagine the village receives mains water now and doesn’t have to rely on the water tank filling up.

The cisterna

We have found out since that there is an olive tree growing in the cisterna.  Well, its roots are inside and the trunk etc. is outside.  It means that the tree is growing aeroponically – the roots taking moisture from the mist created by the evaporating water.  Apparently, it’s the only productive olive tree in the world that’s growing aeroponically – we’ll have to go back and see it.

On Sunday morning I received an email from CRT with some good news.  With all the canal closures due to the drought period and the upcoming planned stoppages for winter maintenance we had come to accept that we would be stuck on the Leeds & Liverpool canal between Burnley and Leeds until well into the new year.

One of CRT’s statements of intent is that they would always have a route open between the north and the south during the winter closures.  This year has been different as there are additional closures due to the lack of rain which have overlapped with the maintenance closures.  They have now started opening some of the closed canals and the email explained they have created a window of one week at the beginning of November where a north-south route will be open. 

This is a route down the west side of the country which means we have to head back towards Liverpool, then branch off below Manchester, head through Stoke and Stafford then round the north of Birmingham and into the Midlands.

It does mean that we won’t get to Leeds and visit some of the navigations in that general area that would be new to us – a shame, but there’s more to life than new waterway territory.

When we get back from Italy at the end of October we will spend a few days around Gargrave and Skipton, so we can spend some time with my parents and then head off south.  The plan is to get to Aylesbury by the beginning of December.  Although we will be away from my parents in Yorkshire we will be near Karen’s mum in Wendover for a while as well as my sister who lives in Aylesbury.

So that’s 285 miles and 188 locks to do in during November which works out at about four hours cruising a day.  The crucial time is to get through Wigan and Old Trafford between 5th and 11th November when the area is open for a week for boaters to pass north or south.  Boating forums seem to indicate that there will be a lot of activity around that time as boaters escape north or south for the winter.

We are really looking forward to it as we love winter cruising and we will be ready for getting on the move again having been away from the boat since August 20^th 😊

Our cruising route for November