Sunday 25 May 2003

More Hot Sun

A very lazy, sunny Sunday morning reading in bed followed by a leisurely breakfast (two breakfasts if your name is Tom). Given the beautiful weather, we decided to abandon our planned trip into the mountains and hit the beach. However, everybody else had the same idea and after twenty minutes of trying to find a parking space we decided our original idea was a very good one. We went home to pick up the map and were stopped from leaving again to allow a cycle race to pass – what excitement.

We got underway and headed for the hills, with me navigating and Tom going where he pleased. I had picked a town from the map that looked as if it was at the top of a mountain; I thought we would follow road signs and naturally climb the mountain along decent roads. However, Tom decided to follow a nice car and we climbed the mountain through a residential area which stopped after a short time. We ended up in someone’s drive and then had to reverse and turn to go back down. Then Tom took another route and got stuck in someone else’s drive and had to reverse even further – ditch on one side, bushes on the other. Oh, how we laughed (well I did).

Tom then decided to follow my directions (learning reasonably quickly) and we proceeded up the mountain along more traditional routes through Camiare to Lombrici and then up to Casoli where we parked and got out for a walk. We ambled around the village (one street) and took some photographs. We then got back into the car and drove further up the mountain until we could go no further. We then drove down very slowly – first to counter the incline and secondly to enjoy the views. I took lots of photographs, including some just by pointing the camera over the roof. We went home and had a meal and then went into Viareggio for ice cream and a walk along the beach. Tom had strawberry yogurt which was yummy and I had some fruit sorbert. Honeymoon activity gave way to book reading and a welcome early night. A good day's relaxing was had by all.