We had another long drive
planned for today to get us within striking distance of Naples where we were
booked on a ferry to Sicily on Wednesday. As it turned out, the drive was more
than 100km longer than planned!
The dawn chorus has been
a familiar sound when we wake up. This morning the chirping of birds and cooing
of pigeons was supplemented by a cock crowing and there was a strong and very
pleasant fragrance of flowers in the air.
Harry phoned. The
internet had crapped out at home as it has done from time to time in the past.
I offered the unplug the modem and then reboot it fix I had used successfully
in the past. Harry had already tried that without any luck. I suggested he
should call Vodafone who have been very helpful in resolving problems.
Our economy
non-autostrada route saw us following often narrow local roads eastwards
through towns and villages to Ravenna. From there we turned south on the E45
retracing part of the route we took south from Venice two years ago. The road
was appalling, very rough with potholes as far as the eye could see. The
potholes had been badly patched with asphalt that stood proud of the original
road surface. And the potholes had potholes in them that had been equally badly
patched. And I’m pretty sure the potholes in the potholes were also potholed.
The result was the roughest road we have ever been on that shook Mabel for hour
after hour after hour. Smarty must have been really suffering at the rear but
we had no way of seeing her as we drove. Signs showed a bumpy road for the next
three kilometres at the end of which was an identical sign. This went on for
ever although occasionally it was only two kilometres between signs. We began
to wonder whether avoiding the tolls on the autostrada was a false economy and
we could end up paying a lot more to get Mabel’s and Smarty’s suspensions
fixed.
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| It's A Tough Life For Some - Old Woman Almost Bent Double Pushing Her Laden Bike |
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| Potholed Potholes |
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| Bumpy Road For Next 3km, and the next and the next and... |
We found an area to pull
off the road in the hills of Italy’s spine and stopped for lunch. Mabel’s
outside temperature gauge reached 29.5° during the morning, but it was cooler
in the hills. While we ate a truck driver climbed out of his cab and stood in full view having a pee. Then his lead was followed by a man and woman who
emerged from their Dutch registered caravan that was already parked when we
arrived.
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Poppies By The Roadside |
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| Dutch Relief - I'm Pretty Sure That's The Man's Belt By The Way |
We continued south on the
E45, it didn’t get any better. At Todi we left the E45 and took an equally poor
road to Baschi where we planned to spend the night. We found the camping ground
after ignoring a satnav direction to turn onto a very narrow unsealed road. The
camping ground gates were closed and there was no sign of life. It seemed it
hadn’t opened for the season yet.
Jane began looking in her
guide books for an alternate camping ground. While the satnav gave accurate
verbal directions, the map had been freezing making it difficult to negotiate
roundabouts and interchanges. While Jane was sorting out another resting place
for the night, I thought I would sort out the satnav by using the ‘Rest Factory
Settings’ function. We decided we should head for the camping ground just
outside Rome where we stayed with Harry and Ella two years ago. While that was
more than 100 km away, it wouldn’t take very long if we faced up to paying
autostrada tolls. That would also avoid the bone jarring ride we had for most
of the day and I was sure some of my fillings had been shaken loose. Jane entered the coordinates of another camping ground only to find
the overview of our route didn’t include any autostrada. That was strange
because we were near the E35 which would take us all the way to Rome. I could
see that the road we were on had an intersection with the E35 at Orvieto and I
was pretty sure I could find the camping ground without a satnav. Jane was
absolutely furious with me saying I should have left the satnav alone.
We set off. Billy Connolly
who had been doing a reasonably good job of getting us around France and into Italy
had been replaced by a female who gave a lot more information, including the
names of roads where turns were required. She didn't know anything about the E35 however. I found the E35 without difficulty and
headed south. Jane was still furious with me.
I pulled into a service
area and reset the satnav again. Jane packed a real sad suggesting I hadn’t
learnt anything from messing with the satnav the first time. She retreated to
the bed saying that was it for the day, she wasn’t going any further. My second
reset had done the trick, our new female guide now recognised autostrada and
the map overview seemed to be correct. I gave Jane the good news, but she
insisted she wasn’t leaving the bed. There was no way it would be safe for her
if I drove with her in bed and I was also worried about how Mabel would handle
with additional mass well behind her rear axle.
After a lot of coaxing
Jane emerged from her bed and sat in frosty silence in the forward facing seats
behind me. It took more coaxing to get her to put on her seat belt.
The journey to Prima
Porta just outside Rome went smoothly, but without a sound from Jane. The satnav was spot on and
I thought I had done the right thing.
Camping Tiber was exactly
as I remembered it, but a lot busier than when we were last there. A flotilla of
Dutch campervans were parked all over the place and some were blocking access
to vacant pitches. We eventually found something suitable for our one night's
stay.
Jane agreed with my
suggestion that we should visit the bar for a drink, have a meal in the
restaurant and review what had happened today. Over drinks (a negroni for me, a
diet coke for Jane) I agreed resetting the satnav wasn’t the smartest thing I
have ever done, but I was trying to do the right thing. Jane felt she could
have handled the situation better.
Dinner was a calzone for
me and steak and chips for Jane. We were friends again.
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| Today's Trip (441km) |
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