Retiredish. Now 2 Wannabe Globetrotters. Baca selengkapnya Cuckfield, United Kingdom
  • Hari 24

    Day 24 - A Metaphor For Our Marriage?

    24 Juni, Italia ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    Woke up to a lovely sunny morning. I frantically sent a number of Happy Anniversary GIFs on WhatsApp to Jackie. Today was our 29th wedding anniversary and I had forgotten to buy Jackie a card. Whoops.

    After a sufficient amount of creeping, we headed to the beach for a day of sun. Every thing was good and at lunchtime we opened a celebrationary bottle of wine and a packet of olives. All of a sudden we noticed some nasty looking black clouds looming up behind us, then the sun disappeared and we had drops of rain.

    Despite our best perseverance we were forced to abandon the beach and we sought shelter in tent. As it was our anniversary we elected to treat ourselves to a cheeky afternoon siesta. We had just got comfortable, when Jackie complained that her airbed was deflating. We blew it up, but it went down again pretty much straightaway. We had a frustrating next hour repeatedly re-inflating the airbed until we finally found the problem - a small nick on a seam on the side. We originally had 2 of these airbeds and they have both punctured through product failure. We were absolutely not impressed.

    After surfing the internet for local camping shops (there weren’t any), we decided to get up. To our horror we had puddles of water on the floor of our tent. Everything was damp and anything that had been on the floor was saturated. It had been raining much harder than we realised due to being pre-occupied with airbeds and it seems that our tent is pitched in a small dip.

    We went outside to discover our nice sandy campsite now resembled the Somme. There were dirty puddles everywhere including in the seat of our camping chairs. For the next hour or so, we attempted to clean up and hang things out to dry. We were thoroughly pissed off - we wouldn’t have had this shitty weather in Greece, where we were originally going!!!

    With all our clothes damp, we couldn’t be bothered to have a shower, so we put on our least wet clothes and went for dinner in the camp restaurant. I wore soggy shorts and an X-Ray-Spex t-shirt. Very classy for our anniversary dinner.

    Jackie had lasagna and I had carbonara, together with a bowl of chips and a litre of very nice house red. We went straight to bed after. When I say bed, I mean just half a bed each to the top half of our bodies.

    I’m sure we’ve had better anniversaries.

    Song of the Day - Anniversary by Theatre Of Hate.
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  • Hari 24

    Day 23 - Our Big Sunday Drive

    24 Juni, Italia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    As we had planned the previous evening, we were to have a rest from the sun and take a drive out. It was probably just as well because we had spots of rain just before we got out of bed. It was an overcast day, so our little road trip was guilt free that we weren’t missing out on the sun.

    After breakfast and a shower we hit the road. Our first stop was Orgosolo, which was just over an hour away. Our route took us up and over a mountain where we picked up a dual carriageway through the centre of the island. If you asked Jackie what the scenery had been like she wouldn’t have had a clue - her head was either in her iPad, counting her money, polishing the dashboard, getting sweets out of the glovebox or checking her hair and makeup.

    As we approached Orgosol, pieces of art started to appear at the roadside with sculptures made from junk or painted rocks. My SatNav took us through some horribly narrow streets before we arrived in the area we were looking for. We parked up and took a stroll around the town’s famed satirical caricatures and political murals. There were literally hundreds (some 200) of murals on every wall and building, many by notable artists. We didn’t particularly what they were saying or referring to, but it they were very artistic. I took numerous photos along with the other sightseers as we wandered up and down the main street and its side streets and alleyways.

    Orgosolo is described in my Lonely Planet book as being Sardinia’s most notorious town, its name long a byword for the banditry and violence that blighted this part of the island for so long. Once the day-trippers have gone, the villagers reclaim their streets - the old boys to sit staring at anyone they don’t recognise and the lads with crewcuts to race up and down in their mud-splattered cars. I can totally believe this. There was a real sense of resentment by the locals as they sat in groups outside the bars and cafes glaring at us tourists. They seemed to take great pleasure in stopping their cars in the street to block the road hence preventing decent photos of the murals.

    Having seen as many as we could find, we stopped in a little locals bar for a quick cold beer. Suitably refreshed, we returned to the car and headed for another hour east to Cala Gonone. It was a pleasant drive through a fairly agricultural region. We crossed a lake, Lago Del Cedrino, on a high bridge called Sul Viadotto, then followed the SP38 with glorious mountain and lake views to the mountain town of Dorgali, heaving with motorcyclists.

    We continued through a mountain tunnel then down the steep road with a series of hairpin bends to the quaint fishing harbour town of Cala Gonone. We drove down to the harbour which had some appealing looking restaurants that another day would have been worthy of a stop. The harbour is best known as the place to rent a boat or take a boat trip along the coast to a number of apparently beautiful coves only accessible from the water.

    We continued 3km south to Cala Fuili, the only such cove that was accessible by car and a short walk. Despite it being thick cloud above, the road to the beach was still busy with parked cars of beach goers. We drove to the end, where I jumped out on the roundabout and took a photo of the segment of the cove that was visible.

    We didn’t hang about, so we drove back up the hairpin bend road, only just avoiding being hit by a coach and several cars racing around the bends in the middle of the road. Italian drivers are aggressive impatient idiots to put it politely. Rest assured that wasn’t the language I shouted at them.

    After driving back through the mountain tunnel, we headed south on the SS125, reputed to be an extremely scenic 40 odd mile stretch of road. We weren’t disappointed, views of attractive mountains, valleys and the sea all the way. The windy road was an obvious draw for the legions of motorcyclists hacking past us in both directions. We witnessed some crazy overtakes on blind bends.

    Our final stop on my itinerary was to Il Golgo, an abyss that was an apparent remarkable feat of nature. We didn’t find it. Instead we drove to Pedra Longo, a huge rock that rose up out of the sea. We explored and took a couple of photos. Upon returning to the car, we got the cricket on the iPad and drove back to camp stopping for wine and water on the way.

    Back in camp, I watched the remainder of the cricket in which England comprehensively thrashed USA, whilst Jackie made dinner. Dinner was entitled ‘The Food Poisoning Lottery’. It was fried yellow chicken, that may or may not have been two days out of date, with mozzarella, mushroom, onion and pesto pasta and salad. Without sounding boring, it was again delicious and a great end to a great day.

    Song of the Day - Subvert City by The Subhumans.
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  • Hari 20

    Day 19 to Day 22 - Carry On Camping

    20 Juni, Italia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Day 19 - As fully expected, Jackie’s chilli had me scampering, but not running, to the toilet three times during the morning.

    When my stomach had settled sufficiently we took a trip out to the EuroSpar supermarket in Tortolì. We bought various provisions including a slab of 15 bottles of our favourite beer for the football. On the way home, Jackie decided she wanted to buy some strawberries from a roadside stall. She came back with a huge punnet of strawberries, half a dozen peaches and six plums. Apparently it was a bargain for just €8!

    After an early salad lunch, we spent the afternoon on the beach.

    For dinner we had bacon rolls and watched the football.

    Day 20 - My alarm went off at 1.30am to watch the cricket. Annoyingly I had forgotten to allow for the time difference. I set my alarm to 2.30am and struggled to get back to sleep again. I watched the whole of the England v West Indies Cricket match, which was a really close game until the 16th over when England hit 30 off just six balls.

    We still got up around 8.30am and spent the whole day, except for a short lunch break on the beach until 5.30pm, when we rushed back and showered in time for the England v Denmark football match. What a dreary match. Southgate’s tactics are appalling and Kane is an absolute cart horse who should not even be in the squad.

    That night we sampled one of the campsite’s homemade takeaway pizzas. It was exquisite, 12” of absolute deliciousness. Definitely the best pizza I can ever remember eating!

    Day 21 - After breakfast we visited EuroSpar to stock up on some much needed supplies. It wasn’t particularly successful as they had no gas for our stove and only 2 litres of our favourite white wine.

    Upon our return it was again back to the beach, but this time I was able to watch the first innings of the England v South Africa cricket match on my iPad. At the interval we rushed back to camp in time for England to bat.

    We discovered we had new neighbours, another miserable Austrian couple, who had set up a massive satellite dish. The dish was making quite a hissing racket, which caused me to moan loudly and point at the offending cause. The neighbour got the hint, fiddled with his satellite dish and then packed it away. I felt a bit bad when I realised that at that time, Austria had been playing football in the Euro Championships and he ended up missing most of the game. Chin up, at least Austria won.

    I watched the disappointing England innings, whilst Jackie cooked another fantastic meal of steak, chips and salad. Some German women even had the audacity to come over and comment that I was watching the sport, whilst the wife cooked. Bloody cheek, she didn’t know that I am the washer upper and occasional pot stirrer!

    About 9.30pm, just as it had got dark, an Italian family of five arrived and attempted to put up a tent opposite ours with just one light between them. It was utter chaos, they didn’t appear to have ever erected the tent before. A member of staff told them they had to be quiet, which caused them to make more noise telling each other to be quiet. I sat in the shadows with a glass of red, chuckling to myself whilst I enjoyed the show.

    Day 22 - We spent all day on the beach under a clear blue sky and if I’m perfectly honest, we had too much sun. We both had red faces and slightly tender bodies. We decided to have a day out of the sun tomorrow. This actually worked out perfectly because it was scheduled to be cloudy day and we could avoid the Italian families Sunday tradition of flocking to the beach.

    The campsite is considerably busier now as it is Saturday, but we have managed to retain an empty pitch either side of us. It probably helps that we have encroached into one of those pitches with our tables and chairs.

    I was allowed to choose the pizza for our tea, which was the Orri, consisting of tomato, mozzarella, local sausage and blue cheese. It was lovely, but not as sensational as the pizza from the other night. I won’t be allowed to choose again!

    Song of the Days - The Beach and the Sea by Reverend And The Makers.
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  • Hari 18

    Day 18 - Feared Repercussions Realised

    18 Juni, Italia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    I woke up inexplicably at 4.30am and tried to get back to sleep again. 15 minutes later my stomach started gurgling and I was frantically scrambling around the tent for some clothes and toilet paper before dashing across the campsite to the toilets. I don’t need to elaborate further, but I was cursing Jackie for the amount of chilli in last night’s chilli.

    After I emerged from the toilet, it was starting to get light so I walked down to the beach and took a couple of photos of the beach pre-sunrise. I couldn’t be bothered to wait for the actual sunrise.

    I returned to our tent and managed to get a short snooze in, whilst Jackie with the constitution of an ox slept right through.

    Later that morning over breakfast we chatted to our neighbours, a couple of German lads, who were packing up. It transpired that they were going home early, because one of them had had a bad motorcycle accident out here in Sardinia. As he so succinctly put it “Shit happens!”

    It was a bit of an overcast day, which may have been a blessing in disguise, because it was about 30 degrees. We stayed on the beach all day and plan to every day until we leave, so I will probably put the blog on hold.

    That night we had the remainder of the fiery chilli with pasta and salad. I diluted mine with half a pot of plain yoghurt. After the football, I went to bed and being prepared like a Boy Scout, I left my crocs, shorts and loo roll in a neat pile beside the tent door in anticipation of another early hours dash.

    Song of the Day - I Ran (So Far Away) by A Flock Of Seagulls.
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  • Hari 17

    Day 17 - Hallelujah, I (Still) Have(n’t)

    17 Juni, Italia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Found What I’m Looking For.

    We went for an early morning wee together at 6.10am, then got up at 8.20am. We have found a shower and toilet block near reception that literally no one else uses and the showers are massive. All for the price of just a short walk.

    Our exciting breakfast consisted of coffee, a banana and a laughing cow cheese. We then headed the less than 100 metres down a walkway for our first glimpse of the beach with bated breath. It was beautiful, just what we had been looking for. Jackie immediately declared that she loved it and we were staying here for the remainder of our time in Sardinia. She is so fickle, I recall her saying something similar at the last campsite and beach. On this occasion, I couldn’t agree with her more.

    The beach is a long crescent of sand dropping down into crystal clear waters. There are some children on the beach and in the campsite, but there is enough space to avoid them sufficiently. Apparently Italian children broke up from school on the 7th June and have 3 months summer holidays. I haven’t been irritated by them…YET.

    We returned to camp at lunchtime for a Laughing Cow cheese and tomato sandwich with a glass of wine, then returned to the beach, where we stayed until gone 6pm.

    Jackie made chilli con carne again, not because we are cheapskates but she was worried the minced beef might go off we left it any longer. The chilli came with extra chilli, which I feared might have repercussions!

    We had a couple of glasses of wine whilst watching the football. I did the washing up again which without doubt is my main job in camp, as well as being the occasional pot stirrer.

    We will almost certainly not be moving on now until we have to pack up and catch the ferry back to the mainland.

    At the time of writing I realised that I hadn’t forgotten to take any photos of the beach.

    Song of the Day - Cheapskates by The Clash.

    2nd Song of the Day - I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For by U2.

    3rd Song of the Day - Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.
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  • Hari 16

    Day 16 - Tunnelling Up The East Coast

    16 Juni, Italia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    It was another windy night in the tent, but this time Jackie was source. The trouble with having a siesta is that we then struggled to get to sleep that evening. On a positive note, I was able to listen to the whole of the reduced overs England T20 match and most of the Scotland T20 match in the early hours.

    Despite this we (I) still got up early and started to pack everything away. It was our best performance to pack the car, but we still managed to drive out of the campsite before 10.30am. We had definitely made the right decision, because it was thick grey cloud with the odd light shower.

    Our first port of call was Lidl in Saint’Antioco, where we bought way too much food and booze. We had the indignity of being forced into buying a sturdy Lidl’s carrier bag, then I had to waddle out to the car park with the bulging Lidl’s carrier bag swaying between my legs. I looked like a trailer park trash weightlifter about to attempt a snatch!

    We then set the SatNav to Golden Beach in Cagliari. As we left Saint’Antioco, we passed some salt lakes that were resting place for migrating flamingos. There were numerous wading in the lakes, but not close enough for a decent selfie.

    Our route then took us through a mountainous wilderness, where we lost signal part way through a phone call to wish my father a “Happy Father’s Day’. We dropped down into Cagliari, that had quite a pleasant water front, but the road was so badly cobbled that it scared the life out of us that we would get a puncture. I couldn’t think of anything worse!To the east of Cagliari was Golden Beach, a very long thin strip of white sandy beach, which is apparently a favourite amongst the younger Sardinians. It was still busy despite it being a very grey day, but it wasn’t for us.

    The next stop on the itinerary was Camping Theleme, which had been recommended to us by a German camper, whilst we were packing up earlier that morning. We planned to just check out Camping Theleme, which was high up in the mountains on the outskirts of the small town of Ulassai. It was apparently lovely and cool in the evenings, which we considered a bonus with a heatwave on the way.

    We followed the coast along the southern end of the island, then headed north up the eastern coast. We were driving along the SS125, which clearly the Italian government had invested some serious money into. The road surface was good and it took us through dozens of tunnels, often over a mile long, and on bridges spanning deep valleys. It was a very pleasant drive and a relief to leave behind the idiot Italian drivers and riders around Cagliari, that didn’t take kindly to a law abiding citizen sticking to the speed limit, by hooting their horns and/or gesticulating as they made ridiculous overtakes past us.

    Halfway up the east coast, we turned off and headed up the mountain to the towns of Jerez and Ulassai. The towns looked more like we were in Nepal than on an Italian island. As we drove up we had already made our mind up that we wouldn’t be staying here, because the coast was just too far away to travel to the beach each day. After reaching the heady heights of Ulassai we turned round and went back down again.

    There were 2 campsites next to each other, we had earmarked as suitable for our needs just south of Tortolì. We selected the one that sounded the most relaxed and casual called Camping Village Cigno Bianco. Upon arrival we parked up and walked to reception, where we enquired about tent pitch availability. The middle aged receptionist had real attitude and told us we had to wait for an employee to show us what pitches were available and for how long.

    We waited 10 minutes until a little black lad on a golf buggy showed up. He drove us 300 metres to the other end of the site, pointed out a small triangle of ground and told us that it was the only pitch available. They had to be f**king kidding, the pitch was surrounded by trees and a dirt track. It would have have been like living on a mini-roundabout. We didn’t take it.

    Feeling slightly despondent and worried we drove next door to Camping Village Orri. What a world of difference! The receptionist told us to have a look round and find a pitch that suited us, then come back and check-in. This campsite was only half full and the pitches were not clearly defined, which gave it a higgledy-piggledy feel, but also much more spacious. We chose our sandy spot amongst the trees, providing some shady, but allowing the sun and light through.

    It was a lovely spot and we can stay for as long as we like. Unfortunately we made a real arse of ourselves erecting our tent. You’d think practice might make perfect!

    After unloading the car and setting up, we showered then tried out the campsite restaurant. Jackie had clam and mussel pasta, whilst I had macaroni with pork. It was nice, but in my humble opinion still not as tasty as what Jackie can turn out.

    I watched the football on my phone, because again we had a poor WiFi signal, then went to bed yet again shattered.

    Song of the Day - Pretty Flamingo by Manfred Mann.
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  • Hari 15

    Day 15 - The Mysterious Pasta Eater

    15 Juni, Italia ⋅ 🌬 24 °C

    It was a windy night in our tent and it had nothing to do with Jackie’s pasta dinner from the previous evening.

    As we lay in bed listening to the wind with the tent flapping around heads. It suddenly started raining for about two minutes, which we later discovered left horrible dusty rain spots on every exposed surface. We checked the weather forecast for the next few days and saw that the winds were here to stay and on Tuesday it got decidedly blowy. We checked the east coast of Sardinia which is much less windier, but the temperatures are up in the 30s next week.

    Our bladders finally got the better of us and we dragged ourselves out of bed to survey the damage to our outside camping area from the wind. To our horror we realised that we had made a schoolboy error and gone to bed leaving the saucepan of pasta out on the table. To our amazement, the saucepan was now on the floor away from the table, the right way up and empty. The saucepan was empty with was no sign of our pasta lunch and the plate I had covered it with was now neatly stacked. I utilised my detective skills and deduced that it almost certainly wasn’t an animal and most likely to be someone, maybe sleepwalking (NOT us) had visited and eaten it.

    I got excited when I thought the Von Trapp’s were packing up to go. Sadly they weren’t. Every time either Jackie or I walk past she stares at us with pure hatred or just turns her head the other way. The mother has the face of a slapped arse with her youngest child permanently clamped to one of her withered nipples. Remind me, what nationality was Hitler? Maybe she is the great granddaughter or other close relative of Eva Braun. I hope it is not too obvious that I don’t like her!

    After more ‘blurry’ toast for breakfast, we had a rock walk around the coast in our little bay. The gusty winds were recording as a ‘Strong Breeze’ on the Beaufort Scale. They were too strong to justify sitting on the beach.

    We returned to camp and reluctantly decided that it was probably best to move on tomorrow. We researched campsites halfway up the east coast and selected a couple.

    At lunchtime, we had a couple of wines and some Laughing Cow cheeses. We then retired to our tent for a siesta and woke up all hot and sweaty around 5.30pm. The wind had dropped, but on the downside the flies were out in force.

    Jackie (and I) cooked up dinner of meatballs, pasta and salad. We supped our white wine between the football and the initially non-existent cricket on the radio, before going to back to bed.

    In bed, I contacted IT expert, JP, one of my NMA Magic Bus buddies, who gave me some advice on the best VPN to download, so I can watch the sport, not just listen to it. Hopefully I can sort it out.

    Song of the Day - It’s A Mystery by Toyah.

    2nd Song of the Day - She Hates Me by Puddle of Mudd.

    3rd Song of the Day - (I Never Loved) Eva Braun by The Boomtown Rats.
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  • Hari 14

    Day 14 - Taxing The Beach Bar

    14 Juni, Italia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    The weather is getting hotter and hotter and we are not complaining…..honestly.

    This morning we tried out Jackie’s new toaster device, which we had written off as a hopeless gimmick. Well how wrong could we have been. You set it gauze side down on top of the gas ring and place your bread on the top of the device. Within seconds we had nicely cooked toast. Lovely.

    The highlight of the morning was when Jackie managed to trip up on one of the guy ropes landing on the shingly ground on just her knees and palms with a thud. I accused her of being a clumsy cow as she staggered to her feet and she had the audacity to accuse me of being unsympathetic. Apparently it was also my fault, because I had moved a chair too close to the tent.

    We paid for 2 more nights at the campsite reception and headed back to our spot on the beach and settled down for the day. For an hour during the morning, families with kids arrived and disturbed the peace with their excitement, which irritated me, but eventually everything calmed down and it was a lovely day.

    We did nothing and just had our own wine, crisps and a banana. We remained on the beach until 5.30pm, when a 2nd wave of families started turning up, so we packed up and left. We decided we may have to make alternative beach arrangements this weekend.

    We went directly to our campsite beach bar and ordered 2 bottles of beer. They were small 33cl bottles of beer, but still cost us €4 each. Despite providing us with a nice bowl of nibbles and it being a fantastic location, we taxed them by stealing their very nice beer glasses. We ordered a 2nd large draft beer for the sensible price of €5 and nibbles. We left trying to avoid our bag clinking too much.

    After showers, Jackie knocked up a tasty tomato, pancetta and chilli pasta dish with salad. There was still enough for a second helping, but Jackie insisted we keep it for lunch tomorrow. I put a plate on top of the saucepan and left it on top of the camping table. I then washed up.

    After dinner, I entertained myself by saying ‘hello’ to every person who walked past our tent, even if they were passing by for the second or third time. I had a 100 percent success rate of responses. In fact, everyone generally says hello, except our Von Trapp neighbours, who look away when we pass by. They have probably heard me moaning when one of their kids starts crying or screaming!

    Song of the Day - Hello by Oasis.
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  • Hari 13

    Day 13 - Almost Perfect, But Not Quite!

    13 Juni, Italia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    I woke up too early, read for a couple of hours, then fell asleep and woke up again at 8.30am.

    The first negative to our campsite pitch was that we now have a young Austrian couple next door to us with three screaming toddlers, one of which is still breastfeeding. There were lots of spare pitches, but they chose to be our neighbours. Amazingly they all sleep in the one small tent on top of their Mitsubishi 4x4. My mission is to sneak a photo of their setup.

    After a shower, we had a healthy breakfast of yoghurt with blueberries and I had the one remaining sausage from last night. We packed our bags for the beach including .75litre of white wine AND my sunglasses.

    We had aa nice morning on the beach (apart from the 3 adult women and 3 children with their poorly secured 3 umbrellas, who sat down in front of us hence ruining our view). Around 2pm we headed to lunch at a restaurant, Bar Tratorria A La Playa, that Jackie had seen and was keen to try just set back from the beach. It looked perfect when we walked in and it was quite busy. We sat down at a table, then the gammy eyed owner presented us with the menu of just 6 antipasti dishes. We explained we were from England (probably our first mistake) and he rattled through the menu in broken English. We chose the most expensive dish, €20, of meat and fish to share, plus 2 beers.

    A short while later old gammy eyes plonked down a basket of bread and what I can only describe as a plate of scraps. The plate consisted of a little prosciutto ham, salami and pecorino cheese which were ok, as well as 2 slivers of artichoke, 2 eighths of a hard boiled, 2 wilted lettuce leaves, a small triangle of a fried sandwich containing an unidentified seafood and the piste de resistance - 2 tiny triangles of stale pizza.

    It was shite, but every time I made any comment about it, Jackie accused me of moaning and ruining the ambiance. An Italian lady had the same dish, which seemed decidedly more appetising than ours. I mentioned it, but apparently I was moaning again.

    We grabbed the olive oil and balsamic vinegar for our bread and as we squeezed the balsamic vinegar it poured out of a crack in the side of the bottle creating a sticky mess on the table cloth. This had been our 2nd balsamic incident of the day, when earlier Jackie found that our food bag and hiding place for the car keys was dripping in balsamic vinegar. For those who know her won’t be surprised to learn that she hadn’t tightened the lid when she last used it before putting it in the bag!

    When we left the restaurant, I did let the owner know what I thought of his food. He didn’t seem concerned, but Jackie was annoyed and didn’t speak to me for several hours.

    We left the beach too early for my liking, collected the car and drove around to a beach I had seen up the road on Apple Maps. It didn’t compare to ours, in fact nothing compares to our beach. We continue on to Lidl in Saint’Antioco and bought loads of stuff including 2 steaks and litres and litres of white wine for Jackie.

    We returned to camp where we (Jackie) cooked up steak, chips and salad. It still amazes me how we do it!

    I listened to the England v Oman T20 cricket match, which was over in a flash. It was a still evening and we got bitten by a persistent mosquito. Come back wind all is forgiven. And then it was bed.

    Song of the Day - Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinead O’Connor.
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  • Hari 12

    Day 12 - Finally, Our Utopia……..We Hope

    12 Juni, Italia ⋅ 🌬 22 °C

    Our tent has a baggy rear end and that is not a euphemism. After settling down for the night, the back of the tent flapped violently as the wind rushed through from the door. It forced me to sleep back to front, but Jackie persevered.

    We slept well until around 6am, but didn’t get up for at least another couple of hours. It was a beautiful sunny morning, but we noticed that most of the campsite was packing up to leave. There was a mass exodus around us. We wondered if it was something that we said, until we saw on the weather app that it was forecast as windy from midday today and all day tomorrow.

    Oh my god, are we going to have another Dorset storm camping experience where our tent tried to fly away like a kite with us clinging on to it for dear life. On that occasion we ended up shoving everything sodden wet into the car and driving to the Bambridge’s where Angela kindly allowed us to dry out and made repairs to our ripped tent.

    After coffee and croissants, we ventured down to our campsite beach and along the rocks to Cala Sapone, a small cove of a sandy beach, which Jackie fell in love with immediately. It was our idea of a perfect beach, calm turquoise sea and sheltered from the wind. We even had a small cormorant swimming and diving in the shallow water oblivious to the paddlers. We prayed that the forecasted winds wouldn’t ruin everything.

    Before midday, Jackie returned to camp to get some liquid refreshment, her mat and my sunglasses. She returned with 1.5 litres of white wine and her mat, but no sunglasses. She informed me that the tent was already shaking from side to side and we discussed renting a little hut on the campsite if our tent flew away or disintegrated.

    After our lunch of wine and a few crisps, we both had a lovely siesta on the mat. The wind had got up slightly and Jackie started panicking that we would return to a shredded tent. Reluctantly I returned to camp with Jackie to find that our tent stood erect and proud. With relief, we treated ourselves to a swim in the very nice swimming pool and sunbathed until dry.

    After showering, we set about cooking dinner. Jackie was in charge and she had me as her sous chef, or more accurately ‘bitch’, running around from pillar to post. In the end I’m sure she was taking the piss and I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had asked me to get things like a tin of tartan paint or a left handed screwdriver.

    WE made a delicious dinner of sausages, mashed potatoes, peas, fried onions and a jus. I don’t how we managed to cook it all so perfectly on just the single gas hob and electric plate and serve it all up together still piping hot!!

    We had an unrestricted view of the sunset from our pitch, then retired to bed at just gone 9pm. It was less windy than the previous evening and I was able to sleep the right way round!

    Song of the Day - Something That I Said by The Ruts.
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