Why travel too far.

I must admit when I booked this weeks accommodation I did not research it too well, I knew it was in the hills between Rome And Naples so automatically assumed I could just pop down and do Pompeii etc. The reality is that Italian country roads and their attendant speed limits are not conducive to speedy travel so like most things it has taken a while to register in my brain. I will save the Rome and Roman antiquities for a future city break type visit. Today I have been exploring Medieval villages, the fact that these villages were usually built on hilltops and mountainsides escaped me until I started walking their streets, of course present me with a hill and I have to go to the top, but when I did finally reach the church at the top of the village of Pizzone I needed a prolonged break to look at the view. My visit to that village was a delight, I only saw two of the inhabitants and they both said hello. The funkiest thing was hearing the strains of 'Smoke on the water' coming from a little bar that didn't even look open, it certainly put a smile on my face. On a whim I followed the road uphill from Pizzone and ended up in the blind valley that my resort is named after, I only saw one car and two foresters on the way there and back, it was a brilliant experience being so remote, once I got over the worry of being eaten by the local bear population. I was starting to feel persecuted with the amount of cloud and rain I have experienced (nothing like Wales of course) but then I am I the hills above the 1550 foot contour what should I expect at this time of year. This afternoon I heard the music outside and I thought it was the ice cream man but it was the local mobile shop so I went over to buy some of his locally sourced fruit and veg, that was another conversation carried out in mostly sign language I really will have to knuckle down and try to learn some Italian. On my way back to the apartment I followed a lady who was searching in the undergrowth I was a little confused until I realised she was looking for snails, she did offer me some - I think, but I refused politely and hurried on my way. This is a lovely quite part of Italy, as I said earlier I just wish I could communicate a little better because unlike in the tourist areas the local people here have no reason to learn English in fact in one of the villages I visited today the villagers were Albanian refugees from two hundred years ago and their Italian was nearly as bad as mine.

Cultural in Molise.

Today's first call was to the Paleolithic Museum just outside Isernia. My guide book advised that I would need to pre-book but I turned up on the off chance and I was made very welcome, I think the custodian was fed up with all the screaming school parties. One part of the museum is built over an ongoing archeological dig and some of the artefacts they have found are on display in the museum. The site was discovered in 1979 during excavations for a road and the oldest part of the dig has been identified at between 650,000 to 700,000 years ago, the oldest site so far discovered in Europe. The next visit was to a museum in Campobasso but that turned into another farse, it was the lunchtime rush hour and of course there was no parking so I departed rapidly and retired to a ristorante in the country, I asked for a glass of red to go with the meal but the waiter brought me a half litre when I asked him to change it he poured half of it into a litre carafe that a couple of lorry drivers were sharing, simples. The restaurant was next door to my next stop, the Roman town of Saepinum. I nearly had the place to myself there were a few sheep, goats and chickens that kept me company. There are some farms and cottages on the site and some of the old ones have incorporated parts of the original buildings, very relaxing to walk around after my huge lunch.

Defeated by Naples, again.

This morning the sun was shining through my bedroom window so with my shower and breakfast over I was in the car about to programme the sat nav when I glanced at the clock. 07:30 - nowhere opens before 10am so I was too early for my planned exploration of local sights, damn. OK I plugged Herculaneum into the satnav and off we went, Naples was fun driving, it is amazing how there are not more accidents but that is my UK brain talking. Italians go were they aim and if everyone follows suit and makes allowances for this it works very well, anyway we got very close to the site but there as no parking spaces to be found and then the problems started my satnav got lost, I was travelling down a dual carriageway and she thought we were in a field, eventually after a number of hiccups on her behalf I just headed South with the sun in the left corner of the windscreen and went to Paestum on the recommendation of Saga friend and what a great idea that was, at times I thought I was on the Nile, the temples were just unbelievably well preserved and these were pre Roman structures, thanks for the tip Anne. The journey back to my hotel took a little longer than expected due to a closed motorway but there is always a silver lining and I got to go to a Lidl, where I picked up food for dinner and three lunches plus two bottles of wine for less than a tenner. Loads of photos taken over the past few days but my minimal tech knowledge means I will probably do a picture blog when I get home. My previous experience of Naples was on a motorbike on my way to a posting in Cyprus, I had planned to visit Pompeii then and set off in the morning from Civitavechia, all went well until I arrived just outside Naples when the heavens opened and I bounced from pothole to pothole on the cobbled street in the pouring rain for what seemed like hours only to miss Pompeii altogether until I saw an apparition of a marble hotel on a cliff top in Sorento. I squelched into reception in sodden leathers and boots only to be told................yes sir we have a room for you and a garage for your bike and if you hang your leathers in our boiler room they will be dry by morning, a fellow biker behind the reception desk, as I said there is always a silver lining especially when you least expect it.

Travelling through Italy.

My intended meander down from Como to Pisa was not much fun, I did not use motorways in the hope of seeing some of the countryside what I had not realised was that Northern Italy is highly industrialised and is really just one huge urban wasteland. I eventually reached Pisa in the rain. The tower has not straightened itself out yet, and I did not go for the pizza after all, I dined at a popular restaurant on an industrial estate where I was the only foreigner, the set three course meal with wine was excellent and only €12.00. The contained journey from Pisa to Rocchetta a Volturno in the mountains was a constant battle with my Tomtom Coleen, she was definitely having an off day and tried to give directions through towns and onto toll roads but at the end I let her take me on the last 18 mile leg, I swear she was trying to get her own back for all my interference because as soon as I let her take over we came off a dual carriageway onto mountain roads but after driving in Wales and Cyprus these roads were a dream and the surface was better than of the motorways I had been driving on. That last leg was wonderful I think I saw three cars in the whole trip and the flowering trees and wildlife were amazing, there were lilac, laburnum, lots of different fruit trees and huge displays of wisteria which had been trained into a form of hedging, I also saw deer, goats both with and without goatherds, kites and masses of jays they are not as shy as the ones at home. I will be based here in Rocchetta for a week and the rain is forecast to stop tonight so I am looking forward to exploring this untouristy area as well as popping down to Pompeii and maybe Rome.

Prince is dead long live the Queen.

A long day behind the wheel, over 400 miles from Luxembourg to Como in Italy. The drive was OK I had Colin Blunstone along for the ride as well as three discs of 50s rock and roll that were new to me. Colin brought back memories whilst the other discs made me realise how many 60s and 70s pop hits were not originals also they told my life history with tracks like 'Run around Sue' and 'Brown Eyed Handsome Man'. Switzerland was a bit of a shock, they took forty euros off me for road tax, can you imagine the furore if each of the European nations charged the Swiss forty euros when they drove over an EEC border. The other ouch was spending a penny at a Swiss motorway services costs one euro. I had expected Como to be a little like Garda but it is definitey not, I tried to visit the lake shore but it is hugely built up, everything is out of bounds to anyone but residents - fines threatened and although it was fun driving like an Italian for a while, after half an hour I was worn out with concentrating so much, I felt like a WWll Spitfire pilot after a dogfight, so tonight's dinner came from Carrefour and the wine from the hotel bar but you can't complain at a bottle of Pinot for €5.00. Tomorrow I plan to meander down to Pisa and hopefully try the real thing after having a look at the tower, but saying that I will probably cover another 300 to 400 miles and the same for Saturday l think Saturday evening and Sunday may just be an extended chill session.

The joy of travel.

Today started well and on plan, we got to Waterloo on time after a quick diversion to view the location of Hugaumont Farm. The Waterloo experience was good, most of the museum/experience was filling in the background to the rise of Napoleon and the lead up to the battle but the 4d film was good and the panorama painted in 1912 was excellent for giving a perspective of the view both commanders had of the battle it was also good preparation for the view from the top of the Lion Mound. The route to the top of the Lion Mound is straight up 226 steps. I am pleased to say that the British won again despite the two Frenchmen in front of me, they gave up and let me pass at about the halfway mark. I didn't let them see how knackered I was at the top. From Waterloo I drove to my "hotel" in Luxenbourg city. Honestly I thought I had gone through a time warp right back to my first stay in Monmartre I n Paris in 1971, the bed was the same, the carpet was the same and 'though the shower was not in a tin enclosure it still had the droopy head that some previous occupant had remedied with a piece of string attached to the extractor vent, just have to see if breakfast is delivered to my room without any warning! Keira and Kay took me out for a meal last week and when the waitress delivered our second round of drinks she lost her balance with the tray and left me wearing a full pint of Lowenbrau, the staff swiftly rallied around and mopped up and we got on with the evening. Tonight in a local restaurant a lady knocked over her wine glass, the waiter sprinted over and collected the broken glass and reported the matter to the head waiter who then went to get the little old lady out of the cupboard to mop up the health and safety risk, in the meantime the waiter disposed of the broken glass and reappeared with a clean tablecloth. Wonderful to watch, but by that time I had thoroughly confused the waiter by mostly speaking Spanish, (I knew what I had wanted to say but the French words would not appear on my tongue), he got his own back on me by speaking to me in Italian so a really memorable day. Tomorrow is a long long drive down to Lake Como.

Wallowing in the ambiance.

Today's cultural experience was at the 'in Flanders Field Museaum' and the Ieper Municipal Museum where I discovered the pastel drawing brilliance of Louise De Hem, being a total Philistine I have never bothered to look at pastels before, I was amazed at the definition and also the ability of pastels to show details of fine fabrics, if I hadn't been better edumacated I would say I was blown away or even gobsmacked by this artist's skill but I hate both of those expressions so I won't use them. After lunch I went over to Tyne Cot Cemetery, 9000+ graves and the names of over 30,000 soldiers who lie in unmarked graves, again a moving experience but still very hard for me to comprehend the scale of death that occurred in such a small portion of the front. My thoughts go out to all the families of the soldiers in unmarked graves, they have no place to go to say goodbye and have no hope of closure. Lunch today was a brootjie, at least that is how I think it is spelt, basically half a French stick filled with whatever you fancy. After all my excursions I went back to the square I visited yesterday for dinner and it was pleasant to sit in the sun sampling Belgian beers whilst reading my new book. Tomorrow is Waterloo and then Luxembourg.

Belgium.

My first impression of Belgium was my God this place is flat, it would have been a horrible place to hide from snipers, no wonder the trench system was established so quickly during the First World War. I had always thought that the majority of WWl was fought in France imagine how chagrined I felt to discover that a great part of the territory contested by the British and Commonwealth troops was actually in Belgium. I have been exploring and the sheer number of military graves here plus the knowledge that there are nearly 100,000 men whose graves are not known shocked me. I have seen the cemeteries on films and the news, but to stand in the actual cemetery just brings it all home, that and the ceremony at the Menin Gate tonight was what I will remember about my first day in Ypres. I always feel sad when I hear the Last Post played especially when I remember former comrades who are no longer here but to hear it played in that place after having visited a number of cemeteries today memories of Pete Reford, Stan Lewis, Neil Sheldon and Chris Lawson all came flooding back to me and I don't mind admitting tears were rolling down my cheeks, in fact I am filling up again while writing this.

The adventure begins.

A great start, up before the alarm and on the road at 05:30, no delays on the M25 and we were in Dover 4 hours early so We got a place on the 08:00 ferry at no extra charge. Seeing all the girls was great but I feel that getting wasted every time I see Keira and Kay is not really setting the example I should as their father. I missed Taylor because he was working, he is a night auditor and receptionist in a Heathrow hotel, well done mate and good luck. We should dock at 11am local time in Dunkirk and tonight we are staying for the next two nights in Ypres in Belgium giving me the opportunity to visit the Menin gate evening ceremony and WWl cemeterys and museums.........

Transport issues.

I bought Edith two and a half years ago in a rush for my first European road trip and she fulfilled her role admirably, coasting through Spain, Portugal and France without a hitch but lately she has been showing hints of her Gallic ancestry by occasional displays of petulance, she is also slowing down but that could be her age. I could not trust her on another extended road trip so I have found a new girl for my next trip, her name is Magda and she is a younger Teutonic model which fits well with my itinerary of traveling through German speaking countries on my way to and from Italy and Greece. The adventure begins on Monday when I catch the ferry from Dover to Dieppe at midday.