We couldnt quite decide what do the next day. - Dr Fred didnt want to do too much more twisty driving stuff but theres little choice around here.. we set off. The van kept beeping us the side door was open... but it wasnt!!! It was very annoying - turned out to be a dodgy dirty contact but before we worked that out, we kept stopping and trying to sort it, and then it would go off again ... Dr Fred couldnt face the little roads so we hit the aurostrader... this reduced our journey by over on hour and took care of the main leg of the distance. Another triumph of working out the ticketing system (unlike portugal where we are 'wanted' for nonpayment of toll monies).
The Autostradas are a complete feats of enginering. Huge viaducts on enormous stilts interspersed with tunnels. They are fast, effective, expensive and very ugly against the hilly landscape. The views are pretty good though - Almost every hill has a little red roofed town or village perched on top with the tall ornated tower or steeple of a church pointing up. The skies remain clear and very blue but the temperature occaisionally drops slightly.
We came off the motorway at Finale Linguire - google had told us it ws a bit like Dolceacqua - google had lied - it was heaving. People.. traffic... There was a market on - looked interesting but once again parking was nigh impossible. To be fair most of the parking was at least accessible - no barriers but just no spaces - we got further out of town and finally gave up. Once again climbing into the hills.. there were some amazing houses..
I know Dr Fred was relieved - I'm fairly sure seaside towns on the Italian Riviera is his idea of hell... it did look quite mad. We stopped for lunch in a quiet layby... the gas ran out... typical but we had just 20 seconds to go on boiled eggs so we took the chance that they were edible... changing the gas bottle isnt hard but required van contortions better suited to more space and less dust... we set off up the coast a bit and then inland to up yet more narrow twisty hairpin bends to Giusvalla, a countryside village near the top of a mountain. To be honest i've lost track as to where we are and neither of us have much idea about where we are heading next.🤣🤣🤣... thank goodness for the Park4night app...
Good call - clean grassy spot, (free) little supermarket next door and pizza restaurant 3 mins down the road. Set up camp, changed the gas... fixed the fly screen (again) had a wander around the village, cracked a beer and enjoyed the quiet and the birds.
We decided to stay another night... the map showed us an interesting couple of landmarks. Dr Fred needed a day off driving so next day we had a late start - we sat around reading and I got out the embroidery. The weather was so much better a mere 28 ° .
Eventually we summoned energy to go look for the castle. It wasnt far, but up a long windy shadeless road not steep but it felt like a long way( in the heat... )to the top po the hill
It was a ruin - charming and very old - fantastic views across the valley. Hot work getting there though, making the picnic tables in the hollow a very welcome rest spot. Coming down the rain started - just a wee smatterimg but cooling us down enough to give us the energy to go up the other wee hill to sit on the BIG BLUE BENCH.
This is a nation? wide community project started by an artist Chris Bangle to site giant benches in good lookout points to encourage tourism.
As we walked back to base the wind really picked up and thunder and lightening started rollimg round the sky. We were already quite high up so once again the storm seemed to be just sat on top of us. Huge raindrops fell out of the sky huge drops but not many. It reminded me of the time we were in Australia near Alice Springs in a heat wave... and I cried with relief when it started to rain and carried on crying when we realised 6 drops was all we were getting.... not quite so bad this time. We sat in the 'rain' outside the van watching the dark clouds light up from time to time and then slowly roll away revealing blue sky.
We ate at the local pizza place and enjoyed an excellent pizza and a bottle of wine sat on the terrace with the odd gust of wind threatening to whizz the table away - then we walked back to the van and watched the moon dodge in and out of the clouds. Loads of silver linings and atmospheric brooding skies. It was so peaceful - we debated staying another day but decided to move on and look at Acqi Terme...
Acqui Terme wasnt very exciting.. interesting roman ruins as we drove in - an understocked Lidl as we drove out and we finally ened up in a grassy car park in Vho just outsideTortona.
We have made the decision to head north... this heat defeats us everyday. We have found some cooler tempartures but its limiting what we do and we find ourselves just waiting out for the cooler evenings.
Just an aside... HUGE disappointment this morning as I discovered for no good reason my wordle streak had reset.... I was on 150 days which in reality was 321 days as it reset itself once before..... 🤣why does this matter so much? No idea but for 10 minutes it did🤣🤣
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