Italy and a slight change of plan....

After a final swim at Palataria we managed to exchange a couple of 907 cylinders in Igoumenitsa before lining up for the sailing to Brindisi where Mandy had to board separately after we had checked in for the boarding cards. We were loaded 90 minutes before departure and with only a daytime crossing hadn't bothered with a cabin so enjoyed exploring the ship which was one of Grimaldi's flagship vessels and very stylish. A meal in the a la carte restaurant was unfortunately nothing particularly special but the seas were calm and the sunset memorable. At Brindisi we were soon off and round to the Aire near the old port we had used before and with the hour's clock change enjoyed a walk down to the waterside and a welcome ice-cream as it was still very warm.

After a quiet night we moved on up the east coast to Torre Canne where a simple park up under large nets provided some much needed shade and access to a beach along with hook up and a reasonable price of €20 compared to €80/100 per night at the more sophisticated sites. Later we walked in to the village passing a large spa resort and were amazed at the number of people crowded on to the small beach. A small restaurant run by a very friendly lady squeezed us in for a memorably good pizza before a large pre booked group arrived and back at the van we slept soundly.

On Mandy's birthday we diverted inland slightly to enjoy the cool and cavernous depths of the Grotti di Castellana west of Bari which were extensive and beautifully decorated and accessed by a vast open roofed chamber.

A good restaurant at Castle del Monte also allowed overnight stays with hook up included and the terrace had a perfect view of the lofty castle high above us. It was an excellent meal washed down by a decent bottle of wine served by friendly staff and we dined outside on a warm evening with a perfect breeze. After a quiet night we walked up to the octagonal castle with two impressive doors, eight towers and numerous rooms with vaulted ceilings spread across two floors.

We then followed the coast round the 'spur' of Italy's boot known as the Gargano on a superb if twisty road high above the blue sea and pulled in at Parcheggio Mare Azzuro near Monte Sant Angelo. This simple site amongst olive trees provided shade and access to a small cove and beach via a steep track. The clear waters invited a session of snorkelling with the limestone rocks and deeper channels holding a good variety of fish species. Mandy mastered the kit and enjoyed a good look round before we returned to the van and called in at the house to buy 5l of their own olive oil and order bread for the following morning. This was duly delivered with four croissants and a huge tomato foccacia arriving still warm. Moving on round the coast however, as we had found in northern Italy on a similar road, the driving style of both Italian motorbikes and cars combined with lumbering motorhomes struggling with the many tight hairpins encouraged us to pull up early by following a dusty track down to a limestone headland near Peschichi. There was one other van parked up and a caravan used by the owner and no services available which weren't required anyway. However the location and view were amazing and ten minutes walk away we could reach a sandy beach and have another enjoyable dip before returning to watch the sun set behind one of this coastline's numerous defensive castellis. The sun rise the following morning was sublime and we slid open the sliding door whilst still in bed to get the best view. 

Further round at Peschichi itself we parked by the marina and walked up to the old part of the village that surrounds the cliff side castle. This contained a macabre museum of torture with all manner of grizzly devices designed to punish the possibly guilty or extract confessions from the possibly culpable. From an external balcony we had a good view over the small port and spotted a dolphin down below. More twisting roads, quieter now being a Monday, led us around the final stretches of the Gargano before we headed inland towards the Apennines and the small village of Biccari. Here the council provide a fully serviced aire for €10 on the edge of the village with access controlled by a barrier. We had to ring Angelo who turned up promptly and showed us how to access the key safe to get to the remote control for the barrier and gave us a card to use the recycling facilities. He didn't seem to mind that we had interrupted his siesta and gave us a few pointers for places to eat later on. We dealt with the water and waste, plugged in a few pitches down from a friendly Dutch couple in a corner with shade and later walked down to the village to visit a spectacular church. Unfortunately being a Monday Angelo's suggestions were closed so we picked up pork chops from the butchers, wine from a small shop and headed back to cook at the van.

En route to the old Roman fortified town of Saepinum we stopped at Riccia which had just held a folk festival before reaching the ruins where due to an extensive redevelopment project access to the site was free of charge. The amphitheatre, walls and gates were remarkable and work was underway to create museums and interpretative displays in the mediaeval buildings that later occupied the site.

However something had been occupying my mind for several weeks and a few thousand miles as I had detected an occasional clunk and groan in the area of the OS front suspension. As many of the roads over the last 20,000 miles, particularly in Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and rural Turkey have been challenging I suspect anti roll bar bushes or similar to be the issue. The van drives, steers and brakes smoothly but occasionally something gives a bit and I felt uncomfortable at the prospect of driving the final 2,000 miles through the Apennines and the mountains of France.

Thus we decided to cut out almost a thousand miles and stick to smooth straight roads by retracing the route I had followed earlier in the year. A ferry to Barcelona from Civitaveccia was booked and we headed north west to stop at a shady parking area alongside the old cathedral outside Venafro, half way between Naples and Rome. A walk down through the old town brought us to the more modern part where it proved surprisingly difficult to find a pizza restaurant. Eventually however we found a place that met our needs and after walking back up to the cathedral we had a comfortable night despite a few local kids hanging out nearby.

We used the toll roads to pass Rome without issue and with plenty of time to spare stopped an hour short of Civitaveccia on a stretch of sandy beach. At the port we found Terminal 1 and I queued for our boarding cards armed with both passports only to be told they needed to see the V5 as well, not needed by the same ferry company on the crossing from Greece to Italy.

Whilst waiting on the quay side there was some drama as an HGV tyre burst with an almighty bang - a fate that looked likely to affect a couple of heavily overloaded vans that we assumed were heading to Morocco via Barcelona, a journey we had done a couple of years ago. Our vessel, the Cruse Roma, had been extended by 30m in 2019, a YouTube video on the process is well worth seeking out but for tonight's sailing the vessel was less than half full and with a 20 hour overnight crossing we had booked a comfortable outside cabin. We dropped off our bags, had a cabin key card reprogrammed to work properly and then stood on the stern observation deck to watch as we cast off. Italy slid away from us and whilst I was happy that for reasons of safety and convenience we had made the right decision I was very much aware that this amazing ten month trip is drawing to a close. It has been a long and at times demanding trip with a dizzying number of countries, languages, currencies, cultures and experiences to address and the prospect of getting home with much of the responsibility lying with the captain and his crew was hugely welcome.

We'd taken fruit and a pasta salad on board but did indulge in ice creams on the sun deck during a calm and uneventful crossing. The huge ship docked neatly in a tight space at Barcelona and we were straight off and heading north in the late evening to a park up an hour away at El Papiol on the edge of the village. Here we found a small bar and enjoyed a couple of drinks whilst watching local life pass by. As is usual in Spain people generally eat out late and we were tempted by the simple menu before heading back.

Lleida was worth a couple of hours to break our journey from Barcelona to Bilbao as we have five days to cover less than 400 miles. Up at the Seu Vella (the old cathedral) we had a good meal at the Baluard restaurant overlooking the town before moving on to a new concept for me. This was an Aire run by the Camping Car Park organisation who are mainly spread across France, Italy and Spain and have largely taken over the running of the old 'camping municpal' sites that villages used to provide. At the barrier we followed the instructions, downloaded the app, topped up the newly created account and after some confusion with various SMS codes persuaded the barrier to lift. A dozen or so other vans were parked up on the gravel surface with a few small olive trees, a service point and hookup at every pitch. For €12 it seemed good value, as did the option for a five hour 'service stop' with access to power, water and waste facilities @ €6. An English couple recommended the wine tasting available at 7pm at the vine yard that accommodates the Aire so we duly presented ourselves outside a smart new building set alongside the huge storage tanks, bottling plant and associated store rooms. Another English and two French couples joined us as the friendly and enthusiastic Pierre took us through the whole process. As he used French I translated what I could to the others and we all tasted various wines at their different stages. A wide range is produced from Cava through Vermouth and Sangria to a table wine and we all thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The vineyard is owned by a local who has a chain of boulangeries and patisseries that use the olive oil and almonds also produced on their land and the Aire is another avenue of diversification.

This morning we picked up 3 Cava, 2 Sangria and a decent red for under £40, thanked Pierre for his tour and said goodbye to the English couple who are now both retired and heading south on their first long trip in a nice Wildax van. As we were leaving a German couple in a huge van unloaded two enormous Indian motorbikes via two power assisted ramps from their cavernous garage, all very impressive but a lot of faffing around.

We have passed Zaragoza and are parked up looking across to the Bardenas Reales, an area of unusual geology we visited a couple of years go, having moved from another Aire ten miles away that had no shade and a plague of flies. A young German couple with a delightful ten month old are taking advantage of the German scheme to help young parents and hope to get down to Morocco for the winter.

Despite my looking forward to finally returning to the UK and an intention to undertake various trips to slightly more local destinations there is a feeling that we are heading the wrong way and no doubt by next September I will have new ambitions and plans. Meanwhile we have two more days to get up to Bilbao and with luck will be back in Sheffield next Thursday. Thus the next post will be from oop north....

Last extras Here

A FINAL WEEK IN GREECE

Tracking Mandy's flight was as always fascinating with the remarkable number of flights criss crossing Europe contrasting sharply with the empty skies over the swathes of Central Asia I have visited in recent months. A two hour delay meant we returned to the park up late but the gates were not locked and we were soon quietly in situ next to the friendly Bulgarian family I had been chatting to earlier.

Next morning after refreshments in the friendly bar we moved on to Vergina having stopped at a foreign exchange bureau in busy Thessaloniki to change the US dollars I had not used in the Stans in to Euros for the rest of this trip. We had also called at a camper accessory shop for two new and more comfortable chairs and a powerful USB powered fan that would combat the high temperatures. A hot parking place at Vergina was very convenient for the main sites but lacked shade so we walked in to the village for a good salad at Alexander's Place on the crossroads which had powerful fans adding to the gentle breeze. We walked up to the amphitheatre beyond which lay the Aigai Palace as the town had been the first capital of Macedon. In 336BC Phillip II had been assassinated in the theatre and his son Alexander the Great proclaimed King. 

The following morning we visited the combined museum and tombs with the former displaying vast amounts of the treasures retrieved from the three tombs whose portals are now firmly secured. Everything is underground as once the tumulus had been excavated a large roof structure was installed and covered over allowing the artefacts to be displayed in  the atmosphere of a necropolis. Just outside the village is a new surface level museum with more displays and as we visited there was a conference underway with dignitaries and officials watched over by a large police and security presence. We climbed in to the mountains stopping for lunch at Edessa located on a limestone escarpment where a number of water powered industries are still represented in a series of small museums. The guide at the sesame seed mill seemed pleased to have visitors and showed us the processes involved in obtaining sesame seed oil and similarly the security guy in the small former cathedral was proud to explain the various frescoes that adorned the building but the staff at the other couple of exhibits had locked up early. The impressive waterfall provided a cool breeze and also had a well decorated cave hidden behind it. 

At Agios Panteleimonas the municipality provides a free Aire located above a large reservoir with shaded flat pitches, power and a clean toilet and shower block. We took a swim in the warm water but the skies darkened before dusk and a slow moving thunderstorm rattled around but there was very little rain.

The Prespa Lakes straddle the borders of Greece, Albania and North Macedonia and at Mykrolimni we found a perfect park up by the Small Prespa Lake on a level gravel track yards from the water's edge. The reed fringed lake is an important wild life habitat but swimming was permitted away from the reeds and if you were comfortable sharing with snakes. Thus I enjoyed a solo dip before we walked in to the tiny hamlet where a small taverna occupied a stunning location on the shore just along from the small jetty.

Looking north to North Macedonia and west to Albania started feeding my travel plans with a visit looking likely in a year or so. The owner had relocated here from Athens with his family for a better quality of life and had put a lot of time and effort in to creating a memorable place that I will definitely return to as the food was exceptional.

More twisting mountain roads through deciduous woodlands largely empty of human life took us to the lakeside town of Kastoria where we walked through the old town, nosed around a small church and then dropped to the water's edge for lunch at a shaded cafe.

A boat is supposed to do trips around the headland but after locating the departure point and waiting a while we saw no sign of it so dropped in to a Lidl for groceries before heading west again and towards the Pindos Mountains. At another free camp site provided by the local Nature Society we stopped in good shade on a grassy field with  hook up and access to water. The small cafe bar is known for its local sausage which was as good as expected and made for a pleasant space to sink a couple of beers with any profits going to maintain the surrounding woodland reserve.

Up in the Pindos mountains we stopped at Konitsa where high above the village large columns of smoke indicated the location of a wild fire. A couple of helicopters were clattering around the skies dropping to the river to fill up and then heading up to the hotspots. Spotter planes were also flying around and apparently fire fighters had been lifted up to the nearest access points. A few kilometres further on we stopped at a small campground by the Voidomatis which lacked any meaningful shade but was handy for access to the rafting experience run on the river. Thassos gave us the contact details and we booked places on the 10.00 departure the following day. Thassos and his wife also run the small Cantine bar by the impressive arched bridge so we took a walk up to it and then cooled off in the grounds of the bar. The firefighters flew all day, apparently the fire had been started by a lightning strike and been burning for 5 days with a warning message about the smoke arriving on our phones.

Next morning we met the guides from the rafting company and climbed aboard their minibus which towed a trailer with three rafts on board. During the half hour drive we collected a few more participants and eventually dropped down to another bridge where a number of other companies were sending people off. Our young Greek/Albanian guide had very good English and explained the various procedures before we launched in to the surprisingly cold waters. There were just the three of us on board as the water levels were low so it was interesting to chat to Andreas and hear about his life and hopes for the future. With his skill at steering and our obedient responses to his instructions we made good progress down the river passing through small rapids and still pools. The water was crystal clear with craggy mountains towering overhead and the smell of smoke wafting down from the peaks occasionally. After a brief stop for a drink at a natural spring we carried on down to reach the bridge by the Cantine and drop down over two weirs with the low water requiring Andreas to hop out and manhandle us over. After a very enjoyable couple of hours we were back at base and then walked across to the campsite for showers.

As it was still very hot we strolled up to the Cantine again, took a walk up the gorge in the shade and then retired to the comfortable chairs where Thassos and his friendly wife plied us with ice-cream and alcohol.

With about 6 weeks to get home we decided that walking in the Vikos gorge would have to wait as it would be too hot so headed to Igoumenitsa and round the coast to Palataria where we had last stayed in a sunny but chilly February. Now of course it is a very different scene with all the beach bars open, the sea warm and the sun hot. We stayed on the same aire and went for a swim in pleasantly warm water with a number of yachts moored in the bay. Later whilst walking in to the village we chatted to the owners of 'Yorkshire Rose' who turned out to be the family behind the Duvalay foam mattresses popular with some van owners. Having received an investment on Dragon's Den the company has expanded considerably over the last 15 years and the owners where clearly enjoying the spoils. A sunset pizza rounded off a cracking week in Greece and we have spent today getting the laundry done and enjoying a swim and beach time. 

Our ferry to Brindisi takes 7 hours and leaves at 1pm tomorrow so my next post will be from over in Italy.

Extra pics Here