hello everyone...yes Katie and
I are safe and well now.. Thursday was another one of those scary driving days. Ian insists he bought sat nav full price from a genuine supplier but, I feel I am been lied too again. This machine has our lives in its hands and it seems not to care! .It tells you to drive through tunnels you can just get a smart car through and then says "you've arrived at your destination" in the middle of the bloody tunnel! Well that’s my moan for this evening.....other than that it's good. Nice camp site with lots of friendly people and only a minute from the sea. The weather is sunny but cold and Katie doesn’t seem to mind her milk is no longer SMA but some unpronounceable Italian make! Oh and before I go I must have one further moan.......Friday morning (after our night at costa del road side) we were woken by the road sweeper man telling us to get of his pitch. "Don’t worry Sandra" Ian shouts, so I don’t until he turns the key and the engine refuses to start. "SHIT" was the cry that followed. So supper Ian gets this toy size generator out to spark the battery. But of course he pulls the cord and it breaks. Mean while I've given up the will to live. But every cloud has a silver lining and this one came in the form of a big shiny break down truck who I now have on speed dial.. ah peace of mind. xxx
Saturday, 16 February 2008
16th Feb. Diano Marina
1st day at Diano Marino, All's well so far, touch wood!
The site is quite good, we've pitched in a good spot, next do fresh water station. It means we don't have to move to fill up!
We did the tour of the town which is really quite nice, 3 minutes to the beach from here which is also lovely. It's a bog standard tourist town, I imagine there all like that right along the coast...we'll find out soon enough.
So the plan is to stay here for a while, it's very cheep :-)! ...no not just that reason. There is a ford garage we past in the last town that looks as though it might sort the wheel out, from the prang..
Typical, our style, I think it's a bank holiday or something so Tuesday looks hopeful for that. I'll make sure I get there before lunch!!
Sorry for the poor picture quality, Sandra was in charge of photography today, there will be plenty more to bore you with.
Friday, 15 February 2008
15th Feb. Moneglia
Well I was right, the views from the road side were quite something....
Thats about all that can be said about today, the rest was an utter disaster. I've decided this country doesn't like me much and is trying to tell me something.
Hows this for carry on camping?......
The place we stopped at had a sign saying 'on the 1st and 3rd Friday of the month there was no parking, so the road sweeper could do his bit'. It being the 14th I thought it couldn't be the 1st or the 3rd.
6:50am I got ...BBBBBEEEEEEEEPPPPPPP!! and thought I would just move the van, thinking it must be the road sweeper. It was him, but I couldn't move...my battery had died!!!
For those of you that don't know, there are two batteries in a camper, one for the living area and one for the engine. The engine one had gone flat - yes, yet again my fault, I had left the parking lights on, as you do.
Well!, i thought, I had prepared for this eventuality in my "when the shit hits the fan" scenarios and proceeded to bring out the generator (I had bought it specially because it had a battery charger connection along with the clips to go with it)
It's a pull cord ignition affair, rather was..the sodding thing broke on me. no,no not something simple like the cord. Oh no, the mechanism that recoils, so unfixable.
Bear in mind this is now 7;15 in the morning...no coffee, no fag, Sandra looking somewhat pale and bemused and Katie none the wiser 'cause it's breakfast time.
Sod it, I phoned the breakdown people and we toured round the town while we were waiting.
Beautiful place, you see you cant get big busses to it because of the narrow tunnels leading either direction so it wasn't too touristy, very nice.
I cant't remember if I mentioned the tunnels last night, thats another carry on camping.. the entrance to the tunnel has the dimentions ' 3m high 1.8m width' we're 3m high and 2.3m width!!
I had a quick think.
The tunnels are regulated by traffic lights which run at specific times, 10past, 20 past etc. I decided to let everyone behind me go infront...just in case I had to reverse out!! Needless to say we made it, I figured they must allow some leaway in the dimentions:-)
We moved on after our repair having done the town only to find the camp site shut, OK, I have a back up in my WTSHTF scenario, we go there,....shut.
Thats about all that can be said about today, the rest was an utter disaster. I've decided this country doesn't like me much and is trying to tell me something.
Hows this for carry on camping?......
The place we stopped at had a sign saying 'on the 1st and 3rd Friday of the month there was no parking, so the road sweeper could do his bit'. It being the 14th I thought it couldn't be the 1st or the 3rd.
6:50am I got ...BBBBBEEEEEEEEPPPPPPP!! and thought I would just move the van, thinking it must be the road sweeper. It was him, but I couldn't move...my battery had died!!!
For those of you that don't know, there are two batteries in a camper, one for the living area and one for the engine. The engine one had gone flat - yes, yet again my fault, I had left the parking lights on, as you do.
Well!, i thought, I had prepared for this eventuality in my "when the shit hits the fan" scenarios and proceeded to bring out the generator (I had bought it specially because it had a battery charger connection along with the clips to go with it)
It's a pull cord ignition affair, rather was..the sodding thing broke on me. no,no not something simple like the cord. Oh no, the mechanism that recoils, so unfixable.
Bear in mind this is now 7;15 in the morning...no coffee, no fag, Sandra looking somewhat pale and bemused and Katie none the wiser 'cause it's breakfast time.
Sod it, I phoned the breakdown people and we toured round the town while we were waiting.
Beautiful place, you see you cant get big busses to it because of the narrow tunnels leading either direction so it wasn't too touristy, very nice.
I cant't remember if I mentioned the tunnels last night, thats another carry on camping.. the entrance to the tunnel has the dimentions ' 3m high 1.8m width' we're 3m high and 2.3m width!!
I had a quick think.
The tunnels are regulated by traffic lights which run at specific times, 10past, 20 past etc. I decided to let everyone behind me go infront...just in case I had to reverse out!! Needless to say we made it, I figured they must allow some leaway in the dimentions:-)
We moved on after our repair having done the town only to find the camp site shut, OK, I have a back up in my WTSHTF scenario, we go there,....shut.
Bear in mind these place advertise being open, one last bolt hole option, an 'aire'. Sat Nav Jean takes us yet again half way round europe to get to the place, in fact it didn't get us there at all, having been directed round the town, about 3 times by this sodding peice of modern technology - I turned it off. Rather go with instinct and dodgy road signs as oposed to shit your pants narrow roads which sat nav takes you down!!
So we're in Diano Marina near the border with France (not near enough! and the wrong side) in an 'Aire' which is mobbed, there has to be at least 200 campers here..tell you about it tomorrow.
So we're in Diano Marina near the border with France (not near enough! and the wrong side) in an 'Aire' which is mobbed, there has to be at least 200 campers here..tell you about it tomorrow.
Thursday, 14 February 2008
14th feb. Pisa
Sandra (below) does a good immpression of someone not enjoying the experience... She's having a whale of a time!!
Well yes today we visited Pisa, Katie wasn't quite strong enough to push it straight but she did her best.
It's a lovely place, Pisa, not too busy and not at all built up, which I thought it would be. There is a scenic river running through the town and the tower (of course) with the cathedral and a couple of other buildings forming the main event.
The tower is leaning, I know that is obvious but I hadn't realised that is was quite so pronounced. Physics says it shouldn't be standing.
We didn't go up the tower, they wanted 15 euros each, so we had lunch in a restaurant instead and admired it from not too afar.
The cathedral was lovely, lots of history, most of which passed me by - google it if your interested.
So after Pisa we continued on our merry way, there's not that much to do in pisa after the "sites".
We have ended up in a place called Moneglia, go to google maps and select satalite image. We arrived in the dark but from what I can see it is going to beautiful in the morning. Right on the waters edge...
The camp site we were meant to be at is a mile down the road we've just come, but I decided I had done enough U turns today, and besides we're in a layby almost on the water, granted almost on a road too but, hay ho. it's free!
Will do pics of Moneglia tomorrow.
14th feb. Pisa
Well it's been an eventful 2 days...all I can say is that god where still alive! Who ever put the words "motor home" and "relax & unwind" in the same sentence are INSANE .Yesterday was our helter-skelter drive through the mountains where I've got Katie crying because she's been in her car seat for the last hour (we are lost) and there’s Ian screaming at the sat nav like it's a person! Me I've got myself in the braise position saying my "hail Mary’s"....Well we made to the lovely camp site on top of the world only to be told by Ian the next day (Thursday) oh we'll just wing it today! So needless to say after our fab trip to Pisa we are now parked on the main road because we can't find the campsite! I am reduced to boiling Katie's bottles (on gas) in pan of water (no electric) Ian thinks it's good because it's free!. I just hope we find our campsite tomorrow xxx
13th Feb. Firenze
So on route to Pisa we thought we would stop over half way. We came to a place called Firenze, well just outside it in a place called Fresole.
Bit of a drama getting here, nowhere does it say that the place is on top of a bloody mountain!!
Coming through Firenze, sat nav jean, decides to throw a tantrum and takes us all sorts of directions. Then, just for fun, as if my patience wasn't at its outer limits already, we are brought through villages as narrow as can be and on a 30% incline.!! All good fun, we arrived in one piece, now we just have to negotiate our way down.
The veiws are really good though!
Bit of a drama getting here, nowhere does it say that the place is on top of a bloody mountain!!
Coming through Firenze, sat nav jean, decides to throw a tantrum and takes us all sorts of directions. Then, just for fun, as if my patience wasn't at its outer limits already, we are brought through villages as narrow as can be and on a 30% incline.!! All good fun, we arrived in one piece, now we just have to negotiate our way down.
The veiws are really good though!
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
12th Feb Bologna
Ok, I take it back. Bologna is just like any other city - diverse.
The historical bits are quite interesting and there are lots of them. We did a couple of churches and admired the two towers. I'll not bore you with the history, suffice to say, worth a visit and all very interesting.
We even managed to make the bus today!! However, it didn't stop where it said it would on my map so we ended up the other side of town...! bloody tourists.. so rather than take the risk, we walked back. Good exercise!!! ;-)
This was also Katie’s first bus trip.. aaawwww.
The historical bits are quite interesting and there are lots of them. We did a couple of churches and admired the two towers. I'll not bore you with the history, suffice to say, worth a visit and all very interesting.
We even managed to make the bus today!! However, it didn't stop where it said it would on my map so we ended up the other side of town...! bloody tourists.. so rather than take the risk, we walked back. Good exercise!!! ;-)
This was also Katie’s first bus trip.. aaawwww.
Monday, 11 February 2008
11th Feb. Bologna
hi everybody. yes we are in this weird city that’s a mixture of Byres road and the rough part of the Gorbals (no offence Diane!).The camp site (which is quite nice) is about 4 miles from the city centre and Ian rushed me to get the 1pm bus. But by the time i got bottles, nappies, Katie comfortable in her pram......we missed it! So in true Ian military style. i.e. "come on Sandra!" we marched into town and back. Well least we worked for our pasta dinner today. Spoke to Mam (Joey) on the phone tonight and she informed me on the latest going on...her cousin died, Diane has put her flat on the market, Janice took her first driving lesson in ages and Angela (who's pregnant) is very sick. Now i don’t feel so home sick. So it sight seeing tomorrow again!! it would be nice to sight see a few clothes /knick-knack shops but you know Ian....."how much?" xxx
11th Feb Bologna
Had a lazy day yesterday so nothing to report.
Today we moved on to Bologna south west of Venice. We had run out of all provisions so first thing was to stock up. The country apparently closes down on a Sunday!! And don't get me started on the lunch breaks 2 1/2 hours a day nothing can happen 'cause the tallies are off for tea.
Anyway, did a quick tour of Bologna centre, odd place, a very diverse mix of people and nothing like any other Italian town we've been to.
It is the home of the Italian socialist movement, so I understand, which might explain the obvious dissimilarity with the other places in that there is no overt indulgence by way of the usual 'dolled up to the nines' in the very latest fasion. Here there a beggers and drug adicts in the streets and no one prancing about in dodgy sun glasses. There is a large student population whom will demonstrate at the drop of a hat just for the hell of it.
The town itself is odd too. In the heart is a historic square with old cathedral type buildings and the two towers which I will bum up on the history tomorrow.
Leading into the centre you go through a mix match of building periods which is quite interesting. It is a place a bit like Glasgow 10-15 years ago.
Anyway will do Bologna proper tomorrow, with pics.
Today we moved on to Bologna south west of Venice. We had run out of all provisions so first thing was to stock up. The country apparently closes down on a Sunday!! And don't get me started on the lunch breaks 2 1/2 hours a day nothing can happen 'cause the tallies are off for tea.
Anyway, did a quick tour of Bologna centre, odd place, a very diverse mix of people and nothing like any other Italian town we've been to.
It is the home of the Italian socialist movement, so I understand, which might explain the obvious dissimilarity with the other places in that there is no overt indulgence by way of the usual 'dolled up to the nines' in the very latest fasion. Here there a beggers and drug adicts in the streets and no one prancing about in dodgy sun glasses. There is a large student population whom will demonstrate at the drop of a hat just for the hell of it.
The town itself is odd too. In the heart is a historic square with old cathedral type buildings and the two towers which I will bum up on the history tomorrow.
Leading into the centre you go through a mix match of building periods which is quite interesting. It is a place a bit like Glasgow 10-15 years ago.
Anyway will do Bologna proper tomorrow, with pics.
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