Italy
Spiaggia di S'Orologiu

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    • Day 20

      Day 19 to Day 22 - Carry On Camping

      June 20, 2024 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 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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    • Day 26

      Day 26 - Sun, Sun, Sun

      June 26, 2024 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

      We got up early because the weather forecast was for sun all day long. After a breakfast of marmalade on crackers, we headed to the beach and we were in our sunbathing positions before 9am.

      Apart from a stroll up the beach and the odd dip in the sea we didn’t move. At lunchtime, we popped back to collect a supply of wine and some olives, then resumed sunbathing. We treated Lolly to a swim.

      We didn’t leave the beach until 6.30pm. We had a shower, then Jackie announced that she was going to knock up a pasta meal with the odds and sods of uneaten food that we had in the fridge. It was as good as any meal that had made on this trip.

      I am still being frustrated that I can’t get the football. We resorted to having an early night with Lolly.

      Song of the Day - Sunshine After The Rain by Elkie Brooks.
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    • Day 25

      Day 25 - Ménage à Trois

      June 25, 2024 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

      We both woke up with bad backs from having just the one airbed to sleep on. Despite this we didn’t get out of bed until gone 9am, then dithered and dallied around camp. It was gone 11am before we ventured out to the beach despite it being a gloriously sunny morning.

      After less than an hour on the beach, black clouds arrived and the beach emptied. We were forced to follow the crowds and return to camp. We had an early tapas lunch of olives, silver skin onions and a lovely nutty local cheese, oh and some wine.

      After lunch we had a long walk along the beach, then decided to persevere sunbathing in the occasional glimpse of sun between the clouds. It was a disappointing day weather wise, especially when we knew that it was hotter and sunnier at home.

      That evening we had the pizza previously chosen by Jackie, which was lovely, but didn’t have the wow factor that it had the 1st time of eating. For clarification it was the Pizza Diavoli, that was topped with salami, cheese, onions and peppers.

      We finished just in time to watch the final England group match, but after trying and trying, I couldn’t get it up on my iPad. We were forced to go to the bar and watch it on the tv . We took our own drinks to save on cost. The Italian families that were in the vicinity, but weren’t even watching the football made so so much noise that we couldn’t concentrate properly on the game, which was probably a good thing!

      The game was an absolute embarrassment. Only Kobbie Mainoo was entitled to leave the field with his head held high! To add to my disappointment, at the final whistle, the waiter believing that I had purchased drinks from the bar insisted on relieving me of one of our prized beer glasses. I attempted to explain that it was my glass, but I knew when it was time to cut my losses.

      That night we went to bed with Lolly - our Zoom lolly shaped lilo, at the end of the bed to try and compensate for the lack of a second airbed. She wasn’t perfect, but we will be sleeping with her again!

      Song of the Day - Noise, Noise, Noise by The Damned.
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    • Day 24

      Day 24 - A Metaphor For Our Marriage?

      June 24, 2024 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 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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    • Day 24

      Day 23 - Our Big Sunday Drive

      June 24, 2024 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 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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    • Day 17

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

      June 17, 2024 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 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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    • Day 18

      Day 18 - Feared Repercussions Realised

      June 18, 2024 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 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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    • Day 16

      Day 16 - Tunnelling Up The East Coast

      June 16, 2024 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 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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    • Day 20

      Cogno Bianko

      September 11, 2020 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

      Gestern hat uns auf dem Campingplatz ein Gewitter voll überrascht. Zum Glück habe ich das Vordach noch mal extra gesichert.
      Doch eine Sturmböe drückte die Fieberglasstäbe nach unten und es bildete sich eine Wanne. Ich raus um sie wieder zurück zu drücken, bis zu den Knöcheln stand ich im Wasser, der Platz war komplett geflutet und ich klatsch Nass.
      Nach dem Regen besuchen wir das Restaurant, guter Service gutes Essen, so beschlossen wir noch ein Tag zu bleiben.
      Wieder richtig entschieden, der ganze Tag war sonnig und warm, bisschen Baden, Sachen trocken und rumhängen. Zum Abschluss sind wir noch mal ins Restaurant, super Lecker.
      Die Wetter App hat uns wieder beschissen es regnet und wir haben uns in Bus zurück gezogen, wenigstens ist es warm.
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    • Day 20

      Porto San Paolo

      September 11, 2020 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

      Gestern sind wir noch mal ins Restaurant lecker essen, erst hat es nur von weitem Geblitzt und gedonnert, während einer Regenpause schnell zurück zu Auto. Zum Glück haben wir vorher schon alles Wetterfest gemacht. Es hat die ganze Nacht Gewittert und geregnet. Am Morgen hat es aufgehört, aber wieder stand das Wasser im Esszimmer.
      Professionelle ein Sickerloch mit Ablauf gegraben und wir konnten im Trockenen Frühstücken. Die Sonne setzte sich durch und es wurde gleich warm. Bis geduscht und als eingeräumt war ist das Vordach fast getrocknet. So kurz vor Zwölf sind wir auf der Strada de Orientale an der Ostküste Richtung Olbia, den Morgen früh geht die Fähre.
      Jetzt sind wir wieder beim Luigi auf dem Campingplatz und bereiten die Abreise vor. 😢
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