Day 30 - last full day in Italy

We woke this morning after a mostly peaceful night (I feel like I shouldn’t complain that the cows kept me awake 😂). There is no where to walk Marla from the campsite, so we decided to head off fairly early as we could arrive at our next location anytime we wanted (more on that in a moment). So we had a light breakfast of cereal first thing. Charlie had his with some of the milk he bought from the Gelato Farm last night. He said it’s delicious. We then did our normal faffing about for a bit, fed Marla, and then I went and collected our daily bread order. Two baguettes and two croissants. The croissants were the most interesting I’ve ever had…. not unpleasant but quite cakey, covered in icing sugar and Charlie says his tastes a bit lemony. We splashed out a whole €0.60 on a coffee from the vending machine to go with it, that was very tasty indeed!

After second breakfast, Charlie walked Marla around the campsite while I finished packing up the van and we headed straight to the closest supermarket for a few more supplies. Marla took the opportunity to catch up on more sleep and I did a bit of crochet. Our next overnight stop, Agriturismo Cascina Zanot, was just over an hour away, mostly on Toll roads (which we are now professionals at) and then a bit of scary mountain road at the end.

The site is a farm that makes its own wine and preserves with nuts and fruits it grows. It’s a beautiful location and the photos really aren’t doing it justice.

We have spent the afternoon mostly just sitting outside and enjoying the fresh air. We have made a new friend - I think his name is Rudy. He the farm dog and he seems to be allowed to go where he wants, whenever he wants. He is super friendly and very keen on Marla, and I think she is just as keen on him! And Charlie has been marked as his BFF - there were tummy rubs and then he wee’d on Charlie’s leg 🤣

The lady in charge (Romina) is super helpful and we were treated to a glass of wine each straight from her latest barrel. It was delicious! We were then offered a bottle of our choosing, we chose the 2022 Dolcetto and unfortunately this was a bit of a mistake - it was nowhere near as nice as the fresh wine. We were also treated to a platter of cheese, bread, legumes and honey which was hand delivered to the van. I sprinkled the honey all over my cheese - and then regretted it as it was not the nicest honey I’ve ever had.
We then settled in to have a simple dinner of pasta and tomato sauce.

After the washing up was done, we popped on a podcast and started to relax - I was then scared half to death by a knock at the window and Romina was back, this time offering us a nightcap of home made booze! Charlie chose the Grappa made with Honey and I went for the chocolate liqueur.
Charlie describes his grappa as tasting unique, like nothing he’s ever had before. I loved my chocolate, although I’m not sure I could call it a drink as it was so thick I ended up using a spoon to finish it. It was like Nutella with rum….
More people keep turning up here, I think we are now at 3 caravans and 4 campers / motorhomes so it’s certainly very popular. It’ll be interesting to know how much this is going to cost us, as it didn’t say on the website and we realised we’ve not been told still 🤣

I’ve just taken Marla out for her last wee of the night, she and Rudy had another quick meeting and sniffing of bits - I had to pull them apart or they would spend all night out there together. Young love …..
Tomorrow is a new day, and a new country so watch this space!Read more