Tortolì

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.Read more