The Grand Tour of Tuscany September/October 2024 Week Four

 Sunday 22nd September

The start of week four! Week four! Where has the time gone?

This was me in reflective pose during my first coffee of the day, sat alongside the lake at a lovely decked bar under the shade of fig trees and literally three metres from the water’s edge.

The lago is flat, calm, silvery, mirror like. What we sailors like to call ‘glassy’. I watched as a red diamond shaped mooring can drifted every so slightly in the non existent breeze. A languid movement barely perceptible to the naked eye!

It was dead flat cycling under sunny skies with sufficient clouds to keep the temperatures at a nice level. People were out strolling, fishing from the beaches or being positively energetic, jogging and cycling. On our left the shoreline a few metres way. On our right, small holdings, small farmed areas with silty well sifted alluvial and volcanic weathered soils.

There were several car parks, none with height restrictions. A few pull ins. Some motorhomes were wild camping, their owners studiously ignoring the ‘No Campervan’ signs. Lots of fishermen were ‘bothying’ out at the shoreside, looking weary from their night time sessions.

We were aiming for Capodimonte, directly half way around the Lago from Bolsena. We gave up with around 7 miles to go, not because it was tough going or exhausting but because it was so nice we felt we needed to return to our original deck bar for another coffee and pastry.

Our return was somewhat alarming. As we literally rested our bikes against the decking railings there was a huge gun shot and several people immediately ducked as buckshot came cascading through the bamboo thicket alongside the field. No one was hurt, everyone looked shocked. The bar owner, a grey haired, slim middle-aged lady, was having none of that. Out she came like a greyhound out of a trap, dashing across the road until she could find a gap in the hedge. She let loose a tirade which left the Sunday huntsmen in no doubt as to their life prospects should another wayward shot scatter across her customers! Fearsome lady! Not to be crossed. Secretly, we were all very impressed!

Serenity came back quickly. People chatted at tables, some played cards whilst having a beer. I just watched fish jump!

And then we came back to the campsite. A twenty-mile round trip, lovely route, easy to navigate. On the way back we came across some lovely creatures on the grass. Think a cross between a European otter and a beaver. The family group froze. We both froze. I reached for my camera. They all scarpered into one of the drainage ditches. Great encounter! No Idea what there were other than seriously cute!

Back at the site we sat under the trees with guide books and maps and planned our forthcoming week. We are heading to Florence on 1st October. We have nine days to fill before then. So, in the next few days, Sorano, Sovana, Pitigliano, Saturnia and perhaps the weekend on a campsite on the coast, weather dependent of course.

Oil and fluid checks done, time to clean the interior. No putting it off any more! Ho Hum!

Tomorrow, we leave Lago di Bolsena. Have we loved it? Oh yes we have. Totally unexpected chance encounter. A little slice of rural paradise.

 

The privileges of owning a motorhome

Three weeks into the Tuscany Tour. Our Italian job!  We’ve been considering what the privileges of owning a motorhome are. Freedom to travel wherever and whenever we like, not tied to any schedule other than the own of our own making. We are certainly achieving that. This has been the least planned motorhome trip we have done thus far!

Self-contained. Bryony is our little home on wheels and we adore her. Kitchen, lounge, bathroom with shower and pull-out bed. Perfect. Rubbish on storage space but that forces us into a minimalist lifestyle when on the road. We take just the essentials; we are conscious about water, gas and power management. We have discovered that we can do the wilderness off grid bit rather well.

We’ve spent some time trying to work out what cost savings we will have made on this trip and all the others we have done in her. It didn’t help that Mag had had some wine and I’m hopeless at Maths! But essentially, we reckon we average around 12 – 14 euros per night when abroad, maximum. Then there is the ferry and the fuel costs. We rarely eat out although the budget for coffee and pastries has been blown sky high on this Italy trip! Oops! We’ve done plenty of free nights and so can afford occasional splurge campsites for a few days. We are guessing that to do seven weeks in agriturismos with car hire and ferry fees would be almost double what this trip in Bryony will come to. At least double!

Quality time together! Well, that depends on one’s perspective and what kind of day we’ve had. Cooped up in a box for seven weeks without parole! Overall, we get on very well, we are each other’s best friends and it works well. Normally! Plenty of memories to take into our dotage when Mag’s knees have given up and all my teeth have fallen out. In saying that we might post a follow up to our blog about how to avoid a divorce when motorhoming!

Spontaneity. We can stay extra days if there is a festival going on or divert to one we hear about! 

Closer to nature – sort of! We’ve stayed in some fantastic wild places with stunning scenery both above and below ground. We’ve seen some amazing wildlife from mountain goats to Flamingos. Similarly, sense of adventure. New places, new activities, new experiences. Great stuff.

We’ve met like minded people whilst travelling although to be honest we are not great socialisers. Thirty-five years each as teachers, we tend to enjoy our own company. I taught 150 kids a day, five days a week, for thirty-five years! I like having my own space and quiet! I’m not anti-social just reserved and reticent!

 

Monday 23rd September

Starting mileage: 22081

Finishing mileage: 22110

Distance driven: 29 miles

Sorano is our first destination via SR 2, SS489, SR 74 and SP 12. All scenic routes with some interesting twists and turns and on the smaller roads, the normal adverse cambers, ruts, drops, bumps and subsidence.

Sorano is breathtaking and we park in the car park which is marked as the Sosta on search4sites.  It is a small car park and we have to go length ways against a fence right next to the bus shelter.  The pavement walk at the opposite end of the car park leads you to the fort and the gate and bastion.

We were genuinely not prepared for the awe inspiring views and sheer beauty. Sarano was just waking up. There were few tourists. The locals had met at the central bar in the little town piazza.

Sorano is literally perched on a vertical sided cliff promontory above a deep wooded gorge. It is the ‘Citti de Tufa’. Down the cobbled semi tunnelled path beneath the bastion we went, through narrow alleyways where there were hidden corners. Little sets of steps to little doors. Below us on all sides, roads that zigzagged up the cliffsides. On exposed buff coloured cliff faces, dark gaping holes. The ancient Etruscan necropolis.

How the houses defy gravity is beyond me; no slumping or slides. They are glued to vertiginous drops.

We spent two hours wandering Sorano. We finished with a coffee and croissant crema in the central bar surrounded by locals passing the time of day.

We absolutely love Sorano!

Thirty minutes down the road, SP22 and just outside the little town of Sovana, we came upon the little archaeology park of Etruscan ruins and necropolis. By now there was torrential rain and so one of us was happy to read the newspapers in the van whilst the stupid one in the partnership, well he went gallivanting off in to the woods with a giant umbrella.

The car park at this museum area is small. It was full when we got there – two spaces left. Phew! To the right-hand side are free pathways to some interesting tombs in the cliff sides.  The path is fine in the dry, slippy under foot in torrential rain but well worth taking.

I then paid 7 euros to see the sites on the left-hand side. It was a fascinating forty-minute visit and you are able to go down into some of the deep tombs beneath temple remains.  I had to keep reminding myself these are pre roman ruins. Pre Christ actually. Quite sobering!

And then on down SP 22 and SP 46 to Pitigliano.

Four weeks in and this is the only place where we have had to wait to get a place in the sosta. Thirty minutes and someone left early afternoon and we jumped into their place.  Spaces for around twenty motorhomes. Closely packed together. Water and grey and black waste service point in corner. 

The route up to the town involves some serious hair pin bends. More over the very last turn at the top of the town is tight back on itself. You must swing over the other side of the road and there is a grounding risk for very big rigs. But, buses do it, so it can be done.

Another town, on another cliff top promontory, with another set of eye watering precipitous drops all round. More tightly packed houses with narrow streets and hidden alleyways which end in fantastic views. Hidden doorways, hidden flights of steps. The echoing noise of Paggio Ape 50’s bouncing off the walls and down the alleyways like angry wasps. The Ape 50 is like a tuk-tuk and are ubiquitous across Tuscany. Practically every person in the countryside owns one.

I want one. Sam, my son, when he was 14 years old begged us for an old motovespa 125 super he’d seem languishing in a barn down in Cornwall. It became a father and son restoration project and eventually ‘Stacey’ was sold to fund Sam’s master’s degree.  Now, I find myself yearning for a new restoration project and a battered-up Ape 50 seems a good idea!

If Sorano was the ‘citti de tufa’, Pitigliano is the ‘citti de vino’ and as it so happens the Sosta is right alongside a wine distillation and bottling centre. Heavenly smell according to Mag!

Another two hours lost wandering alleyways, browsing artisan shops and eating gelatos in a beautiful pizza with a statute of an old man and his donkey.  A shop selling the most beautiful hand painted cards; another selling the most stunning stained glass works of art we have seen anywhere. The shop selling adorable, cute keyring figurines. Sculpture workshops beneath the arches under the road.

Hidden cellars below the houses; hidden churches with cool interiors and wonderful alter pieces and paintings. A sad sight. Two Italian soldiers guarding the entrance to the Jewish ghetto museum; a sign of our troubled times and breakdown in global politics and sanity.

We really loved Pitigliano too.

All in all a great day despite the rain showers and the terrific thunderstorm later this evening.

Costs: to park for 6 hours in the sosta until 2000 – 13 euros; parking 200 to 0800 – free.  Museum entrance 7 euros.

 

Tuesday 24th September

Starting mileage 22110

Finishing mileage 22135

Distance driven 25 miles

Country roads to Saturnia. Just beginning to love the undulating tarmac with its crevices, fault lines, unexpected dips and adverse cambers. Rocking and rolling! Thank God we fitted semi air suspension. Worth every penny. 

An unexpected encounter with the local Carabinieri at a roundabout. I caught them hidden out of the corner of my eye. So, I stopped at the give way stripes and then drove slowly onto the roundabout. One of the them stepped out and I thought ‘about to be pulled’ but he watched me, saw our dash cam and stepped back.

The guy behind? He got pulled because he didn’t actually stop at the give way stripes! An instant fine happening live in my wing mirror. Phew! Lucky escape

You see the free sulphur spring pools cascade as you come down the last hill before the Spa area. Don’t miss the pull in. You get a great shot here. Best first thing in the morning as the sun first shines on it and the steam is still rising and condensing above. Beautiful sight!

The Sosta Alveare del pinzi AACamper is THE ONLY place where you can get a motorhome in somewhere. There are one or two places on Park4night but these are literally gravel pull ins and most of those we found were filled.

This sosta is 16 euros for 24 hours. Electric and water services are extra. It is a huge gravel car park on a slope with some central reservations that have small trees. So some shade is available. There are limited pitches with electric and many of those seemed to have been taken by semi-permanent residents it seems. Facilities are basic but clean, no loo seats, bring your own loo roll; and there is a bar. You have to pay for the showers.

The place was heaving. We think over 100 motorhomes on the night we stopped there. We got there at 0900, having left Pitigliano just before 0800 to avoid further day time charges.  We managed to get a reasonable slot at the end of one of the rows closest to the road access in.  It’s a pick your own pitch system. Ticketed gated entry, pay on exit at the office.

You will need ramps! On at least one side of the vehicle, depending on how you park.

It is a twenty minute walk down a footpath, across some fields, down the side of the main car park and along the road to get to the falls. The footpath is found to the bottom of the site in the left hand corner. The sosta does run its own shuttle bus to and from the falls as well.

Here you will find a bar and toilets with some showers.

Space to sit and leave your belongings is at a premium at the falls. Especially on the upper side. However, the pain is worth it! The falls are warm bath temperature. The water is aquamarine but clean. The floor of the various pools is clean with rounded white pea gravel.

It was heavenly.

Like those Japanese Baboons you see on Attenborough nature programmes, the ones which in winter immerse themselves in the thermal springs to survive and keep warm, well humans came, gathered soaked. And then left some hours later, wrinkled and smelling rather whiffy; of sulphur!

Worth it. Brilliant

Pools. Mini waterfalls, cascades. People of all shapes and sizes. A cross section of nationalities, ages, beliefs and backgrounds. Faces to the sun; some fully immersed. Some in pools with legs aloft resting up the little waterfalls.

As the steady stream of people arrived to lay eyes on the cascades, there were the inevitable ‘oow’s and ‘aahs’; wow’s and even squeals of joy and delight. May first timers just struck down dumb with awe and wonder; and then the realisation of how to grab a space to layout one’s belongings followed by considerations about how to enter the pools without falling over!

The lithe and graceful, the waddling and plodding; the cautious, timid and then the sheer adrenaline junkies.  All negotiating entry and exit to the pools and ledges, gullies and rocky beaches. Fantastic people watching opportunities. Mint, pure gold!

An afternoon walk up to Saturnia. Not much there but a nice square and nice viewpoints across the countryside. Two routes to the village. Route one goes up the path opposite the sosta entrance. A steady climb all the way, initially road between vineyards, fields olive trees and then a rough footpath, uneven with lots of cobbles and stones and overgrown hedgerows either side. Ankle twisting stuff for the unwary and not mountain bikeable in all honesty.  It finishes with a great walk through a Roman arch and along a length of Roman road.  25 mins walk.

Alternative route 2 is out of main entrance and along the road all the way to village ... around forty minutes through open countryside. 

The rest of the afternoon was planning the rest of the week before we arrive in Florence on October 1st!

And I used the motorhome shower for the first time in over a year. Flushed it through thoroughly first. The water heated up quickly on gas and the ‘hot burst’ setting! It was so hot in the afternoon; the shower stall had dried within ten minutes of me exiting it. Wow!

The solar panels seem to be working really well and we are glad we did the upgrades. There is a blog post on these, just type solar into the search bar above.  

My Victron app shows that on average over the last few weeks, on sunny days, the panels are producing a daily yield of 260 watts. The leisure batteries have never dropped below 12.7v  Likewise the shunt monitor shows the B2B converter and the feed to the vehicle battery is working well.

The conversion was done by Vanbitz at Taunton to our specifications; bypassing the computer box Sargant unit and fitting a new MPPT controller. We decided not to go down the lithium battery route but this set up seems to be working really well.

 

Wednesday 25th September

Starting mileage: 22135

Finishing mileage: forgot to record

Distance driven:

Away by 0830 to avoid paying over 24 hrs and down the SR 74 past Manciano, we rock and roll. Again!  Heading for the coast and the ancient ruins of Ansedonia

Only when we turn off to get to the car park we have to go under a railway bridge, which, unsurprisingly, doesn’t seem to feature on google maps! It’s a 3m height and we scrape through at 2.97. It was close. Very close! And for a few heart thumping moments I thought the raised semi air suspension might be the undoing of us!

The car park for the museum is a huge gravel lot, down the hill, a twenty minute walk away from the entrance.  In middle of nowhere; empty, deserted.

We have this rule. If one of us has a negative gut feeling about a place, we move on, no questions asked. We both had a negative gut feeling. Couldn’t articulate what or why but we sensed if we left Bryony here for two hours, she’d be broken into.

So, we moved on! With great reluctance and disappointment. But, we both had the gut feeling!

We toyed with going around the Ortebello peninsula and lagoons but decided to head north to Alberese and the park office of the Maremma. Cycle map obtained.  One cycle route for free. The others you pay a toll either 5 euros or 10 euros.

Decision made. Not enough to do and we have done the Camargue and many other similar places so we carried on northwards.

It was sunny, plenty of pine trees, rolling surf on the breeze. A beach stop sounds nice!

We have washed up at a huge campsite resort - Rocclette village. 29  euros per night for a ‘comfort pitch’ with water grey and back waste on the pitch, beneath beautiful pine trees.

We could dispute the definition of ‘comfort’! An earth gravel, uneven damp pitch squashed in between other smaller pitches. It is shady! That’s a bonus. And with services on your pitch, that two is a bonus. But, we’ve had better.  The pool, bar, restaurant, mini market complex is great. The staff are super friendly and welcoming. The facilities are clean and free.

The site is huge but at the end of September relatively empty.

We did laundry. We cleaned Bryony. We read and did computer work. Caught a beach sunset. Had a meal at the restaurant. One of us got dined on by resident mosquitos. Maggie was barely affected by them.

I'm a rare vintage for mosquitos. In my hair, eyebrows, ears; ugh. I’d forgotten how much I hate them.

Costs: campsite 29 euros per night but also discount to be applied on exit with our ACSI card.  75 euros fuel top up

 

Thursday 26th September

Mag slept soundly. I didn’t. too hot for a start. Bryony doesn’t have an AC unit and so, even with all roof vents open, I was hot and restless. We had also eaten late in the restaurant last night and that didn’t help. The food choices are good but the restaurant terrace was swarmed by mosquitos, making it an unpleasant dining experience. I was mauled! 

I woke to some significant bumps and bites at the back of my ears, on my ears, around my neck. I felt tired and grumpy but the sun was shining, the pine trees swaying gently, jays hopping about looking or early morning treats. After a twenty minute chat with our English neighbours, the first UK van we have seen in three weeks, we got on the bikes and cycled the coast road to Castiglione della Pescalla.  After coffee we made the mistake of trying to cycle up the narrow street to the castle on the hill top. Stupid idea. Soooo steep!  There is a cycle track alongside the road for much of the way to Castiglione.

From there we carried along the road and cycle track to Marina del Grossetto. This is just one long beach front development of private beach clubs. By now it was windy, sand being blown everywhere and being end of season, most of the places were closed. We found a little bar a few streets back from the beach and then headed back to the site. The round trip was 27 miles and flat all the way.

A chilled afternoon, reading, catching up on photo editing. We have decided to stay a few more days. Tomorrow will be a pool day!

 

Friday 27th September

So, it's 1330 and we haven't moved from the pool area since we arrived at 1030. Two coffees and muffins and croissants later, one of us ought to take a dip in the pool. Sadly, no volunteers are forthcoming. It looks beautiful and clean, the surroundings are well laid out and it is enticing, only, well frankly, it looks cold!

We are still waiting for the afternoon sunshine to heat it up. Well, that's the excuse we are going with and tomorrow we will get some exercise when we get on the E-bikes to cycle to Punta Ala around the headland. Two options to this plan. Over the headland rough tracks OR around on the road. One of us favours option A. The other favours option B. The boss gets to choose! So, we will be going by road then!

The E-bikes have been one of our best investments. I'm coming up 4500 miles on mine in just about five years. We've done a previous blog post about E-bikes and motor homing which you can access here  https://wherenexthun.blogspot.com/2020/11/is-it-worth-investing-in-e-bikes-if-you.html              but essentially here is a quick summary.

Firstly, buy the best E-bikes you can afford. Don’t scrimp on these. They need to survive bouncing up and down on a bike rack! Get ‘reputable’ motor trains. Bosch basically; CX drive chain and get decent batteries of 400watts or more. Again, get a decent make. As London Fire Brigade constantly point out, the overwhelming majority of E-bike battery fires are from cheaper lesser known makes and brands.

E-bikes are convenient. Great for popping to the local supermarket or further afield to explore the area and local attractions. Leave the moho on site, get some fresh air and exercise. A decent make battery should give you a range of 40+ miles depending on gradient and pedalling surfaces. We can get around 50 miles on ours and that's on mixed flat and hills. Remember ours have been recharged a few hundred times now as well. We went for ‘lift out’ batteries, easier to charge at home and in the motorhome.

Go for bikes with solids frames and that come with integrated lights and luggage racks. Robust, mountain bike type frames are ideal for that mix of gravel, off road tracks and tarmac. I have an E mountain bike. Mag’s is a hybrid. Both made by Trek. Both were first generation E-bikes and quite heavy now compared to newer models. We fitted puncture proof tyres to Maggie's. Go on, you are itching to, ask why!  Because, Maggie managed to get three punctures in the space of four weeks and I'd had enough of fixing them at the road and trackside. Since fitting them? No punctures. And one happier husband.

It would be nice to report some stargazing but sadly not. Another trip of seven weeks and what looks like another poor showing. So let's see! That's the 6 weeks in south of Spain once, five weeks in Iceland and seven weeks in the Southern USA touring 11 dark sky sites. All a big fat Nada! It provides Mag with hours of amusement does this!

I send her to test the pool water temperature. She dipped a hand in and said it was cool. Decision made then. We will head for the beach bar before we take root here.

So, I’m sat here at 3pm at the beach bar in the neighbouring resort. They have an agreement with ours that their clients can use the beach facilities here. We’ve been wrist banded to prove we are who we say we are!  We’ve strolled the 900m to the beach bar in the neighbouring resort (we could have caught a golf buggy affair if we had wanted to).

Now, we are easy going, glass half full, optimistic pragmatists by nature. But, I have to say, firstly we much prefer our side of the road for pitch and overall campsite quality. Secondly, it is a poor beach bar frankly. We have far superior on our local beaches down Plymouth! And finally, the beach is covered by high density sunbeds and umbrellas. And I really do mean high density! What an extraordinary way to enjoy a beach! Or not! 15 euros each, yes EACH, for a sunbed and an umbrella! Talk about beach muggings! Oh and a windswept highly wavy beach front with lifeguards who are deeply in love with their smartphones. It makes us really appreciate our local south Devon and Cornish beaches and more importantly our RNLI lifeguards. The epitome of absolute professionalism.

Now, please don’t think us beach snobs! We aren’t. But, we are spoilt for choice when it comes to fantastic beaches where we live. All those amazing beaches in the South Hams area of south Devon; and then the Cornish beaches not far away as well.

On a calm day, if you could find a spot which hasn’t been colonised by orange umbrellas and white sunbeds, it would probably be a very nice beach area. But today, well, it’s what we sailors would call 'rough' and my surfy buddies would call 'messy'. Jumbled waves, whipped up sand, spray haze and a murky, sandy sea. 

So, one shared coke zero and a packet of crisps later and we are back at our pool bar having another coke zero and a toastie. Far more civilised!

Saturday 28th September

Porsches, big Volvo's, BMW's, huge SUV’s then all the Range Rovers. Hundreds of big white plastic yachts and motorboats. Expensive looking, some even sporting matching leather trims on steering wheels and matching colour cushion and wind dodgers.

A huge verdant green Polo pitch complete with exercising beautiful, athletic, noble, skittery but graceful polo horses, each worth well towards six figures. 

Huge beach side villas, expensive looking beach clubs.

Welcome to the other side of the peninsula and the wealthy playground of Punta Ala.

And not for us plebs clearly. 

The yachting wealthy. I've mixed with them before. In my experience two types – knowledgeable, highly skilled, professional, charismatic, interesting and humble. And then the other kind! Loud, obnoxious, and, boring!  As it is the end of the season, my professional eye discerns that most sailor types at the marina are in the first category. Battle hardened and experienced.

The marina area is closing. Bars and cafes have all but closed. People were wondering aimlessly. So, we headed back to a nice bar we’d passed on the way in, just down from the Polo Field. A nice little coffee bar come bookshop come tobacconist where normal people sat outside drinking coffee and munching pastries. More our style.

We'd cycled to Punta Ala via the back roads, a gravelled somewhat puddled and muddy track and then the SP158.

That was the terrifying bit. For the first time I was slightly scared cycling an Italian road. The drivers whizzed by, passing us at less than a metre at times. It didn't feel safe.

The SP61 was much better, quieter, flatter, more scenic.

The last 500 metres to the marina road was up a badly rutted and gullies narrow track.  I was overtaken by seven lycra clad Italian middle-aged mountain bikers, all on new E-bikes. One graciously stopped to explain to me in broken English that the nice English lady had come off her bike and was walking so I shouldn't race too far ahead.  And with a 'Ciao' and a wave he was gone, burning up the gully.  Another gallant Italian.

Mag duly arrived pushing her bike and muttering dire threats about my life expectancy if I took her along any more of this stuff.

On the way back out of Punta Ala, I placated Mag with a coffee stop at a lovely little cafe cum bookshop. 

The ride to Punta Ala took one hour twenty minutes. The return journey fifty. The descent from the tunnel was gradual and long and with the stiff following wind, we managed to free wheel over two miles averaging 25mph. Exhilarating stuff.

Tomorrow we are moving on. We have a date with Florence from Tuesday next week. Sunday, we think we will visit Vetulonia and spend the night at Massa Marittima. Monday, drive the cypress highway and then see where we end up. Some cycling the higher country roads would be nice. 

Maggie has gone for a walk. She needs some ‘space’ apparently!  Not sure what I’ve done wrong but I try to make it up to her by finding some nice Agri-turismo sites to stay at over next couple of nights.

Both wanted either 44 euros or 38 euros for a night with electric being extra. If I book either of those, Mag, as holiday banker, will skewer my testicles to my forehead with my own forefinger!

I need another plan!