So after the absolute delights of Rome we met Gino on our last evening who gave us a lovely print of the Coliseum as we said goodbye. He was away early the following morning to get a lorry part from northern Italy and we weren't far behind to drop Mandy at the airport. The signage and barriers for the drop and fly parking were, as is so often the case, confusing so she jumped out near the terminal and I headed away south and east. Tracking apps allowed me to monitor her rapid return home as I crossed central Italy passing snow capped peaks in the Abruzzo region. At the small village of Savignano Irpigno the council had provided a well equipped aire with water and power and a good toilet and shower block on each of the three levels. Everything was open, accessible and switched on so I rang the number and a guy said he would call by later or in the morning for payment but no one appeared and I spent a peaceful night with a good sunset. The village had lovely narrow streets on various levels but was very quiet although there was a football match on down in the sports centre.
Carrying on through the valley there was much work going on to push a high speed rail line through the area and I passed several lorries loaded with pre cast tunnel sections before reaching the coast again north of Bari. My ferry the following day left from Brindisi but as I followed the motorway for a couple of hours I detected a slight rumbling indicative of a suspect wheel bearing. A bit of gentle veering convinced me it was the front offside one but I guessed it would be OK for a while and carried on to reach a superb overnight spot outside Brindisi. On the motorway I had noticed that every emergency bay had piles of garbage and black bin bags dumped there and even through the mountains there had been masses of fly tipping - we've always found it depressing in say Morocco where perhaps they have bigger issues but here it seems unforgivable.
However in complete contrast in the middle of nowhere surrounded by olive trees and meadows a German family are starting up a low key campsite and smallholding which I took to straight away. It reminded me of Gary's remarkable site in Portugal and if the Brexit clock and my ferry weren't looming I would have stayed much longer...in fact as I left the possibility of house sitting was raised as they still have other family back in Germany.
It was a wonderful place to wake up to on my 65th birthday and I spent some time reflecting on other memorable milestones : 40 at the farm, 50 in New Zealand and 60 tucked away in the Pennant Valley of Snowdonia.....
As hoped my final gas bottle ran out and with some ingenuity I managed to raise the tailgate complete with bikes single handedly and got it safely supported with the awning poles. Thus in Brindisi I found the industrial supplies warehouse unexpectedly open on a Saturday morning who had plenty of 907s in stock and was soon pulling up at the old port in the centre of town. The free aire was just the job and had a mix of parked, permanent and transient vans with water and waste facilities to hand. I walked round to the launderette who said they provided a service wash only so drove out to another where a full load was done in forty minutes before returning to my base for the day. The bearing had continued to rumble so I spent time checking out my options in Igoumenitsa, my arrival point in Greece. The Tatsakis Ilias garage was a VW service point and seemed to get good reviews from a variety of local and international travellers but I discovered that Monday was a public holiday in Greece so Tuesday would have to do.
With the overnight ferry due to depart at 22.30 I made my way round to the port a couple of miles out of town and parked by the terminal building. There was little signage but a mixed crew of Romanian and Albanian truck drivers were shuffling towards a lit window to which I eventually arrived only to be told non commercial check in would begin at 19.00 at another window. In due course I received boarding and security cards for both myself and the van and by 20.30 we were in line for loading. The ship was not busy but overheight vehicles like myself were directed to use the HGV deck so I ended up squashed between two 40 tonners and next to a German lass in a former ambulance based on a T5. The deckhand had been rather abrupt with both of us as he guided us backwards : as it wasn't clear where he wanted us to go we had both been rather cautious.
Anyway the vessel was a real surprise with comfortable seating areas, plush lounges and well appointed dining areas but I'd eaten earlier and decided to find a quiet corner to settle down in as a cabin would have almost doubled the fare - you pay for the cabin irrespective of the number of passengers. The recliner seats were very comfy and largely empty so once we were away I bagged three, raised the armrests, added extra cushions, plumped up my pillow and slept through to the morning call for breakfast. Outside we could see Corfu to the west and the Greek/Albanian border mountains to the east before we entered the bay of Igoumenitsa. There were no formalities for disembarkation but I felt for those HGV drivers who had to reverse down the long tight ramps in gloomy conditions.
I drove past the proposed garage to get a feel for the place and confirm that their access door would be high enough, it had a busy and practical feel to it with a few T4s in the yard including a lovely orange T2 shell, that turned out to be the owner's wife's pet project, so I headed a few miles round the coast to Plataria to rest up for 48 hours at an aire with power, water and WiFi for £12 a night. With a need to conserve gas and data this was a perfect place to stop and I walked round the bay for a beer before an early night.
The public holiday is known as Clean Monday and is related to the clearing out of food before Lent, ironic then that after many families had arrived for time on the beach for kite flying dozens of cheap broken ones were just left in the sand....even though an hour of heavy rain had dramatically interrupted their enjoyment there were plenty of bins that could have been used. I walked round to a small restaurant for delicious grilled octopus with grilled veg, garlic mash and a beer before heading back for BBC2 's Monday quiz night using my O2 data as that allows me access to iPlayer. Greece is an hour ahead of the rest of Europe and therefore two ahead of Portugal and the UK.
So this morning I was up and away and was pleased to notice that the beach had been tidied up as I filled up with water. I had been considering various alternative plans should the garage be unable to help as Thessaloniki the next large city is 200 miles away so a return to Brindisi or the much larger Bari by ferry was a consideration as either would minimise driving but eat in to the Brexit balance.
As it happens the staff at Tatsakis Ilias couldn't have been more helpful. The mechanic soon had each wheel jacked up and the rear off side was clearly the culprit. A new bearing is €150 euros (OEM VW over 300 but they think the cheaper part is actually better : who knows?) and labour will bring it up to €500 in total so about £400 which seems steep but even at the rear there is a lot of dismantling and a return ferry back to Italy would have been £300 so I asked them when they could do it and we have set a date for Friday. I gave them half up front for goodwill, called at Lidl and am now back at Plataria for another night cooking up a plan to take the bike over to Paxos tomorrow for a cheeky overnight bivvy on a west facing coast as the weather looks good and settled.
This is my first hiccup with the van in 7 years and 100,000 miles and the issue has arisen since my September strip down and check of the brakes and wheels 6,000 miles ago so it's just part of life on the road. From Friday all being well I will be steadily heading east to the Turkish border with a fortnight of the Brexit balance in hand : I'm so glad my schedule allowed for this possibility although there might have been some leeway in a case of genuine need.
.JPG)