Our last days in Spain were wet and the temperatures which up to then had rarely dropped below 23 degrees even at night, plummeted to 15 degrees during the day. It rained for hours (not the short, furious thunderstorms that we had earlier) but continuous heavy rain for three consecutive mornings until 2pm each afternoon when (like clockwork) the rain stopped, the sun came out and the temperatures increased…perfect for sunbathing and eating out.

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The Guzzler required new tyres (the thread on the front tyres were just about legal) and we have many miles to go (we hope)… so we got 2 tyres in a garage down the road and of course, they cost less than at home. Virtually everything is cheaper in Spain. So now we were all set for onward journeys.

The others (Ciaran, Christina & Louise) headed off on Friday morning, Sept 24, to catch their flight back to Dublin. We waved them off and although we will miss them, we couldn’t stop smiling – we didn’t have to head home to work and responsibilities, we simply had to catch a ferry to Italy that Friday night at 11.30 pm. How lucky were we!

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We had booked the ferry a few days previously to go from Barcelona to Civitavecchi (north of Rome – we had to google it to see where it was). The basic price for the twenty hour crossing for a car and 2 adults was €155 but we decided to treat ourselves to some comfort and booked a cabin with outside windows which added another €100. The ferry was late, very late. The first text beeped in on Caoimhin’s phone telling us that the ferry was delayed by two hours and the new departure time was 01.30. We headed on to the port -we had to check out of the holiday house anyway – to the Grimaldi Lines Office where we found we could check-in, park the car in the queue and were given card keys for our ferry cabin and a voucher for a huge ham/cheese/fish roll as compensation for the delays. The only documentation required was a passport – no Covid certs or proof of vaccination. The port was buzzing on a Friday night with container traffic and other ships _ transporting goods is such a huge industry. We strolled into Barcelona (about a 35 minute walk) for a last tapas and copa de vino in a little place with tables on the street. There was jazz music playing and lots of cool-looking people wandering around, the night was warm but breezy and we knew in our hearts that we would miss Spain.

Departure time for the ferry was delayed again – another text – but we were able to board so when we finally departed at about 3 am , we were asleep in our cabin although we had some difficulty finding the cabin -the ferry was enormous with maybe 1000 cabins and was apparently the longest cruise ferry in the world at one time. The ferry had a casino(closed), swimming pool(no water in it) cinema (closed) ice-cream parlour (closed) but the restaurants and bars were open. Many passengers were travelling with their dogs but really the ship was almost empty apart from the truckies _ transporting goods is the main business. We spent a lot of the day wandering around the decks getting up our steps and watching the blue dot on our phones go very slowly across the Mediterranean Sea. We sail between Corsica and Sardinia and stop at Porto Torres in northern Sardinia where more passengers, cars and trucks embark. This type of travel does wonders for your geography.

At about 8pm when we should have been arriving in Civitavecchi, there’s an announcement that because of the delays, every passenger can get a meal in the restaurant for €6 consisting of first course (pasta dish), second course(burger, chicken, chips veg,) bread and water. As a little bottle of water was 2 euros onboard, this was really amazing value – and there was a stampede. The boat was actually fuller than we thought as people came from all corners to avail of the ‘special’ offer.

The doors of the ferry finally opened in Civitavecchi at 1.45 am – there was a huge cheer when the doors opened allowing people to drive off. We expected some checking of documents and Passenger Locator Forms but there was none, we simply drove off into the night. Luckily the guesthouse was only 7 minutes away according to Google. The streets of Civitevecchi were quiet_ no Saturday night revelers. Small parking spots and it was hard to fit our Guzzler into the street parking. The guesthouse was also quiet_ there are some bells outside a security gate. While we are deciding which bell to ring, Caoimhin pushed the gate and it opened, we entered a narrow courtyard and there was another door that opened when we turned the handle. We went in, crept up the stairs and found a stout 5-point lock door with a key on the outside. We opened this and it seemed like we were in someone’s house. To the right, there was a sitting room and kitchen, to the left was a corridor that led to 4 closed doors. One had a key on the outside _ so we went in. It had a double bed that we fall into, totally exhausted I dreamed that we are in the wrong house but was too tired to care.

The following morning, when we bumped into Aldo, the homeowner, in the corridor, he wondered who we were. He had already reported us to booking.com as a ‘no show’ and said that some of the other guests must have left the doors open…they weren’t deliberately left open for us. He couldn’t believe that we had just walked in during the night past all the security doors. But he fed us pastries from the bakery next door and made us cups of strong Italian coffee which blew any lingering cobwebs away – the coffee in Italy is so much better than Spain.

It was Sunday morning, 27 degrees and cloudy when we headed off across the country with no particular place in mind but hoping to find a place to camp. Aldo was intrigued that we had no ‘plan’ (but would probably believe us capable of anything after we had ‘broken in’) and said that Spoleto was nice if we wanted to go inland. We listened to Pavarotti, driving by dusty fields_ it hadn’t rained for months according to Aldo. Roads were worse than in Spain, cars were smaller, drivers were more inpatient (in reality, maniacs behind a wheel), some shops were open on Sunday and we stocked up at the first supermarket we saw in case we didn’t find another one. The bakeries were fantastic (I can see a weight gain happening) and everywhere we stopped, the people were friendly although we find that our heads are now full of Spanish words – ironic when we struggled in Spain.

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We made it to Spoleto, a town in Umbria that we had never heard of it until that morning. There was music in the Square and we were delighted until we found it was a political rally☹️. Avoiding the speeches (they sound the same in any language…the promises), we walked uphill into the charming old town, most people sat outside on cobbled streets, doing what Italians do best, eating and talking! The 12 century cathedral was amazing and the fresco on the outside was stunning (from 1108 by an artist called Solsternus who described himself as ‘ahead of his time’ but nothing else is known about him..

We tried a campsite outside Spoleto but it was closed for the season, we Googled and found an apartment in a little village in the green hills. This was so gorgeous and the people so nice that we would have stayed for another night but it was already.booked. The owners daughter had studied English in Dublin for a month a few years ago. The owners wife brought us a plate of homemade buns, so delicious that there will definitely be a weight gain😋

We reluctantly headed off…we use Google again and book the cheapest place we can find in the a south easterly direction _ a whole house in a village in the mountains in Abruzzo for €35. What a bargain!

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We get a whole house in a village, San Lorenzo, plus a couple of cats that really wanted to leave with us- we had difficulty getting them out of the car. The key was in the door for us – deliberately this time – and we didn’t meet a single person in the town or find a restaurant or bar. The local supermarket which only opened for a few hours a day was well stocked with pasta. The area was stunning – very near L’Aquila which had several earthquakes , the last in 2009 which left 350 people dead – but we left the following morning heading on towards for the Adriatic coast.