Umbria, Italy

 22 April 2016

We have enjoyed Tuscany, with its rolling hills, and rural scenes. 

We even experienced Tuscan hospitality. We camped at a derelict house, with a great view. We thought we were being inconspicuous but shortly after we had set up and settled down with a glass of wine we were visited by a lovely man who lived nearby. He was disappointed that we were only staying one night, and hurried home to return with a gift of a bottle his own wine (which was very nice) and 4 eggs from his chickens. Unfortunately he wouldn't stay to have a drink with us claiming domestic duties, but we did feel quite welcome. 

A cat came along with him too, and stayed after he left. That cat cried all night, keeping us all awake. We thought it must be caught in the raspberry bushes, and Joe got up in the night to check, only to find it sitting on our steps! In the morning Sally walked it to the nearest farmhouse, hoping it would have a better time the next night. 

Suddenly we were out of Tuscany and in Umbria. We camped in a campground at lake Trasimeno. 

It rained heavily during the night and our window, newly sealed in Milan, held up. Our bed was still dry in the Morning! 

23 April 2016

The day has been overcast and raining. The views have been lovely.

Tonight we are camped at another derelict farmhouse, with great views of a nearby town. Will we have another visitor bringing wine? Probably not. But as long as we can have a good sleep it will be a great camping spot. 

23 April 2016

We were stopped checking our maps when an enthusiastic Italian man with not a lot of English came to us gesticulating and showing us his phone. He declared that there was a medieval festival in a small town not too far away. He offered to lead us to it. Well why not! So off we went to the township of Camoro.

Here we learned that the population of this town is 7 during the winter and swells to 200 in summer when all of the residents return for a family reunion.  There are two main families who return to the families homes to maintain the houses and socialise.

Lorenzo cared for us magnificently, providing us with a traditional lentil stew, and a tour of the town. We had a lovely time! 

Meandering along country roads brought us to Eggi, an old walled  town that doesn't appear on our map! There was good parking on the edge of the town! And we saw a notice advertising a "concerto". Expecting a stringed orchestra we decided to stay. But when we followed the crowd we found, to our surprise that it was an "asparagus festival"! So we dined on asparagus soup.

And then the band struck up. It was not a string orchestra but we were in the mood and the band was very good. So we danced till after midnight! Great fun! 

And so ended one of the most unexpectedly social days (and nights) we have had in Italy. 

25 April 2016. 

Tuscany 1

18 April 2016

We have arrived in the renowned Tuscany.

We crossed the Apenines (Mountains forming the "backbone of Italy" at the small town of Castiglione di Garfagnana. This town sits on the border between Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany (Toscano), and has a church with relics of two saints. The proprietor of the resturaunt in which we had lunch turned on the news, of an earthquake in Equador, and problems with migrants in Florence. He declared that these  were a sign that the end of the world is near. This photo is taken in the path towards the old church.,

We travelled through a number of valleys with rolling hills growing lower and flatter as we approached the coast.

The old town of Lucca, near Piza, was worth a visit. Each of these old towns is different, and Lucca is known for its amphitheater, and for its wide old walls. 

The amphitheatre is now a place of outdoor wine bars and resturaunts. We soaked up the sun in one of these.

19 April 2016

And then the coast -which has some beautiful scenery. This is the view from Cafe Matilda at lunch time. 

20 April

Today we visited Siena, an old city with red brick architecture. This is the city hall with its tower. The tower was built in 1300s and was carefully made to be exactly the same height as the cathedral tower. This was to symbolise that the state and the church should have equal power. It was the tallest secular tower in the world when it was built. 

And here is the duomo, whose construction in 1300s was halted by the Black Death which killed 1/3 of Siena's population. 

Also in Siena...

Now we are off to southern Tuscany -land of grape vines and olives, and other surprises.

More stove problems, Parma, la Pietra di Bismantova

15 April 2016

We have left Sally in Ferrara house hunting while we returned to Milan to Axel camper to have more work done on the stove which unfortunately is still playing up. Manuel is going through a process of elimination to find the fault. He has checked the fuel filter, connected a small diesel reservoir positioned closer to the stove (to check whether the stove is too high in relation to the fuel tank), replaced the fuel pump, checked for air bubbles in the line, all to no avail. The stove continued to fail to ignite the flame, and then shut down. 

After a frustrating day he replaced the flame sensor, and bingo, we had 10 perfect startups in a row! Applause to Manuel for diagnosing and fixing this long-standing problem! 

While we were waiting for this success Joe took out one of our windows which was leaking, and Ok with Manuel's help resealed and replaced it. That's a relief! 

16 April 2016

We are back on the road, and met up with Sally in Parma, famous for Parmesan cheese. As do so many Italian cities Parma has small winding streets in its old section, and a town square with wine bars and eateries. It is all very picturesque. 

17 April

After leaving Parma we were on the lookout for a place to park for the night, and had almost settled on a parking lot in a town, when we found this spot -one of the best we've found yet! 

And this morning when we woke we found that this mountain is called "La Pietra di Bismantova" and is a rock climber playground. There were dozens of climbers on the face by midday. 

There is even a good rock for beginners to learn confidence with their gear. 

And the view in the others direction is not too bad either! 

Sally and Joe made a huge effort and climbed to the top. Looking down they could make out the Earthcruiser way below. 

The mountain continued to dominate the view as we wound our way off towards Tuscany.

More Dolomites and real estate hunting!

11April 2016

We couldn't bring ourselves to leave the mountains so we headed for yet another pass.

Some cottages have fabulous settings....

And here is a not so frequently seen photo of us both!

And finally we have descended into the flatlands again, and it is quite a different view. 

I have started a Facebook page for this blog - partly to make it easier for my friends to know when I post new episodes, and also to make it easier to comment than it is on this blog page. I will also put snippets of info on there from time to time. 

Go to Facebook and search for "Waltzing Matilda our Earthcruiser journey around the world."

12 April 2016

Sally is thinking of buying a house in Italy to act as a base for explorations in Europe. She has done her research and found that prices are lowest in Ferrara, so we are here looking for houses for sale at less than €50,000! And there are quite a few. This is just a preliminary look about though, and she may well not end up in Ferrara. 

And aside from language she has to learn about rising damp, heritage issues, energy efficiency laws, and building permits if she decides to renovate. This is a huge task which is both exciting and daunting.

So we will be quite quiet for the next few days giving Sally some support, and getting the vehicle serviced. 

Northern Italy - mountains and lakes.

10 April 2016 

We are on our way, with everything working fine! Our first stop is Largo de Iseo. It is smaller than the other lakes in the area but just as pretty. 

We were told that a famous artist (Christo) was constructing a floating walkway on the lake. It is projected that there will be 30-40,000 people walking on this per day within a couple of weeks. And by coincidence we saw part of his construction being towed into place.

The surrounding area is dotted with villiages, obviously very old. 

This is an apple growing area, with hundreds of small farmers all growing apples, resulting in a very large industry for the area. They specialise in Golden And Red Delicious apples.

We finished the day at a mountain pass (Passeo de Mendola), with tantalising distant views of the Dolomites. With tourist season not yet underway we have great places to park/camp. 

11 April 2016

Today is the day of the Dolomites! And WOW! The pictures will tell the story.

 And here is the Earthcruiser in the Dolomites! And, believe it or not, this is our camping spot for the night! It is a parking lot for a resturaunt which is not yet open for the season. 😌