Blessed are the sunny wash days.
“Don’t be silly”, I said. “That is far too far to drive in one day in Eileen”. “I’ll be tired, she’ll be tired, we’ll all be tired”
But we did. 555 kilometres in all. On Tuesday. And all that time, the main thing we noticed was the number of vehicles that sway around across the lanes and on to the hard shoulder. Almost every time, when I checked the drivers as we overtook, they were on a mobile phone. Although one enterprising Bulgarian driver had his paperwork spread across the steering wheel and he was having a good read. We’ve decided that to pass your driving test in Italy, you must have to prove you can talk and text on a phone at the same time as driving. Oh, and speed limits are definitely to be ignored, they are obviously just decoration along the side of the road.
At 3:50pm we finally turned off the motorway and headed down the coast road to …….wait for it…..Laura !!!! I have a village named after me, though I never saw a road sign when we arrived or left. Camping Villagio dei Pini was just a little further down the road at Paestum and we arrived there just before 5pm. So including a quick picnic stop, a short refuel stop and a speedy supermarket dash for some rock hard Italian bread, we had driven from Florence in around 7 ½ hours and paid another €36 in tolls. At the campsite, we parked right next to the beach and the only sound that should keep us awake is the sound of the surf drifting in from the Gulf of Salerno.
All morning was spent hand-washing all the sheets, towels and clothes; there was too long a queue for the one washing machine; we would have waited all day. But at least the sun was shining and with everything strung out on plastic lines between Eileen and various trees, it all dried beautifully. Then the bikes were unhooked to cycle down the road to Paestum, aka Poseidonia, where we found a good museum and a field full of amazing ancient Greek ruins. It’s all definitely worth a visit if you’re ever down that way.
We are a little concerned that we have travelled right through Campania, which is apparently a major producer of buffalo mozzarella, something we really enjoy eating with ripe tomatoes, sprinkled with salt and covered in olive oil and creamy balsamic. Sorry, where was I? Oh yes buffalo mozzarella, there’s loads of it for sale around Laura, but in all our travels in Campania we have not spotted a cow, let alone any roaming buffalo. They must have all headed for the hills for the summer…..
“I don’t want to do motorways today and I’ve found a really good ‘yellow’ wriggly road that follows the coastline”, not sure whether that statement pleased Rodney. But that was the route we took on Thursday. Road subsidence, pot holes, ‘falling rocks’ signs, one lane-width in places and broken tarmac that occasionally was just hanging over the sea, were not quite what I had anticipated, but it was an interestingly lovely route. The Mediterranean Sea was flat calm. Giant agave, Cyprus pines, prickly pear and bamboo filled the hills around us, as the road wound around endless bays and through numerous tiny, terracotta roofed villages.
But by the time we reached Palinuro, Rodney needed a break from the wriggly road, so we turned left and found ourselves in the Vallo di Diano. Because we were following a river, the road was still wiggling, but gosh it was a fabulous gorge. From the top of the gorge, the main road was no longer designated as a picturesque route, but it should have been, it was beautiful scenery. From Sapri, we were back on another winding road that clung to the edge of the Gulf of Policastro. “Hang in there Rodney, we’ll stop soon”. And we did, just south of Praia a Mare, close to the Isola di Dino. Yes Dino, you have your own island!!!
I will not mention the bathrooms at Camping Mantinera, apart from saying “Don’t go there; definitely the worst I’ve had in all our travels. I wished we hadn’t stopped there and it was not a good way to start Friday. Details on request, but you’ll wish you never asked……!
We plugged on south along the coastline, with an interesting police diversion through the narrow streets and sharp bends of San Lucido. Then in a panic to get to the next campsite before they closed for a two-hour lunch break, Rodney put his foot down when we joined the motorway. We got to Villaggio Camping Mimosa near Nicotera at 12:55 only to find a solid gate shut in front of us. Dang! But no, the owner appeared, opened the gate, directed us to our pitch and then said “I don’t really bother shutting at lunchtime”, despite what the book said…. We now have a private bathroom and we’re very close to the beach; this has to be an improvement on last night. “Let’s stay two nights and get all the washing up to date”.
