Episode 6, into Chianti country, and overtake a Lamborghini

Fri 9th June

We have no Internet at the sosta, so we had to wait for a text from our daughter to find out the election results. Seems the polls were wrong once again, and there is a hung parliament. May’s gamble with the electorate seems to have failed spectacularly.

Time to move on.  4 days here cost €60, not bad for a site with easy access to Florence (once you understand the trams). It’s beside a main road, so was rather noisy (at times, VERY noisy)

We have an moderately urgent need to replenish our LPG tanks - if that runs out I canˋt make my tea or cool my beer! Our 10 days or so in the Alps used a lot of gas for heating the van morning and evening when it dropped to zero outside. Before we left I downloaded a set of satnav POIs for European LPG stations. There is one near our next destination, Greve in Chianti, and Sally set us up a scenic route. However, ascending a steep and narrow hill the gearbox refused to allow me any gear except 4th. After a few minutes wrestling with gears I managed to get moving again, and has at least got us to the LPG station, and then the sosta at Greve in Chianti. I’m hoping we can get home before getting it fixed.

Oops! "please do not take photos..."

There is a superbly appointed and free sosta at GIC. A very touristy but pleasant town, with a colonnaded piazza. You can tell it’s touristy - the menus are in English, and there is an estate agent where properties for sale are exclusively (and expensively) in English. I bet Brexit will have an dramatic effect on house prices!

Early afternoon, we drank our way through half a carafe of Chianti Classico “Vignaggio Prenzano” - I’m by no means a wine buff, but that was very smooth and tasty - even in a restaurant it was only €17 a litre. The wifi here was pretty rubbish, but we did get the gist of the political chaos at home. Seems that 8 government ministers lost their seats, only saved by 11 new Tory seats in Scotland, at the expense of the SNP. The SNP also took a drubbing - seems the Scots were put off by the prospect of another independence referendum. Best of all the Fat Fishcake (aka Alex Salmand) lost his seat. The Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson is a very impressive - she would make a very good prime minister. Without her, Jeremy Corbyn would have been Prime Minister.

taken on my phone

Back into town in the evening, for glasses of Prosecco at a different cafe. Much better wifi:) It seems Mrs May is planning to form a government in alliance with the DUP. It is scandalous that the country will be held to ransom by a bunch of homophobic Irish bigots, (and amazingly, just as Eire elects a gay half Indian as prime minister.   How times have changed!)

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Sat 10th June

Today is market day, and the piazza is full of stalls. We carried 3 heavy bags back to the van. At home, there is speculation about how long Mrs May can hang on - will there be another election? I also signed a petition protesting at the alliance of Tories and DUP - it won’t do any good, of course, but does send a signal. The petition was organised by “Winston Churchill”. Whether that is just a pen name, or there is any relationship...who knows?

Market day in Greve

We ate in town, and it was the first poor value and unpleasant meal I have had in Italy. With hindsight we should have realised that only a few items were freshly cooked, the rest were just defrosted and either deep fried or microwaved.

A shallow river runs through the town, and past the sosta. At night, the noise of frogs singing is deafening. Not just croaking, but a whole range of notes.

Sun 11th June

The sosta is adjacent to the swimming pool, and is supposed to be for motorhomes only. But by mid day most available spaces were taken by local cars, whose occupants were spending the day by the pool. Motorhomes arriving later were unable to get in - moral - arrive here in the morning, before bathers get here.

We have located a wine merchant that sells the Chianti we enjoyed on Friday, and invested in a crate I just hope it tastes as good in England as it does in Tuscany.

I took my camera off on a frog hunt, but although I could hear them, I failed to spot even one. But I did see a few lizards, and an egret spearing fish. Quite close to the centre of the town we saw a large rodent that we took to be a coypu. The light was poor, and I only had my phone camera, so rather a shaky photo.

egret?

Coypu

Mon 12th June 

Time for fresh scenery - we have driven just 20 miles or so to Radda in Chianti, a walled hilltop town. We came here 9 years ago, but now the sosta costs €12 per night, and the machine only accepts coins. Whereas the last town, Greve, had a life of its own and tourism was incidental, the whole raison d’etre of Radda is tourism.

relaxing in Radda

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Tues 13th June

Radda is very pleasant - but there is not a vast amount to see. There is a tiny grocery shop that sells EVERYTHING!  A large selection of cold meats and saucissons, cheeses, fruit and veg, and all the essentials for an Englishman with a second home in Tuscany, including Marmite.

where to buy Marmite in Italy...

Rosemary has found lots of things to draw and paint, and for a while had quite a gaggle of admiring children sitting beside her. I have found a cafe with wifi that sells cappuccino at only €1.40 - I’ve been charged €4 in some places. On Thursday wifi won’t be so essential - cellphone companies will no longer be able o charge absurd prices for accessing data whilst roaming, at least within the EU.

artist's groupies

I have written to my MP to explain why, after 50 years, I no longer support the Conservative party (the final straw was the return of the slimy Gove to the cabinet, and the deal with a bunch of Irish bigots.)

Wed 14th June

Major fire in a residential tower block in London, many dead, and it seems Mrs May’s current adviser, who lost his seat in the recent election, had earlier refused to sanction a review into fire hazards at that block. Polite words fail me….!

We have moved on. firstly to see the garden of Brolio castle. Not a vast amount to see for €5 - the best bit was the highly secure steel gate you have to get through, opened remotely when you have paid your money, and which immediately closes and locks behind you - very Italian. They do seem to have a security fetish. There were also  number of strangely shaped mirror objects lying around.

the only way in to Brolio Castle - and it locks behind you. An idea for the National Trust perhaps?

Brolio castle - and shiny things

Then back past Radda, to Castellina in Chianti, somewhere else we remember with affection from several years ago. On the way we overtook a Lamborghini (Lamborghini tractor, that is). Then the sosta was free, but now costs €10 per night (but which does include electricity), and involves some serious wrestling with the ticket machine. We won that fight, but the French couple in an adjacent van lost the match, having paid the money but not getting the ticket. In the interests of L’Entente Cordiale, I have promised to back up his claim of having paid if he is challenged by any of the various police forces that seem to operate here.

Also arrived, a very large German caravan that took up 3 places, plugged in the electricity cable, didn't pay for parking, unhitched his car and drove away. We were mightily unimpressed with this.

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Thurs 15th June

From today we don’t need to buy overpriced coffee in order to pick up emails and the newspapers, our UK cellphone contract now applies throughout the EU and, I believe, the EEA.

In the morning the German caravanners returned to their caravan, just in time for a very friendly municipal policeman to arrive to check parking tickets. He marched the owner up to the ticket machine to buy the ticket he should have bought yesterday, and told him the sosta was not for caravans, and to depart. About an hour later the same policemen cam back to check he had actually left. (You may be wondering why "no caravans". The whole purpose of the sosta is to bring trade to the local community. Caravanners tend to leave their vans, then drive off for the day, whereas motorhomers look at the town. Caravans attract other caravans, and the sosta can become a didicoy site - we've seen that in France)

We have revisited the nearby Etruscan (pre-Roman) tomb - 4 burial chambers built into the top of a small hill, and also the tiny archaeological museum. Not a lot here, but you do get to climb to the top of the castle tower. (The  castle was “restored” in the 20th century - essentially rebuilt how the restorer felt it should be.)

a view from within an Etruscan tomb

We had an interesting chat with our German neighbours. They are here for the Florence field archery championship. He has to wander through a wood taking potshots at plastic animals. We asked what the orange drink was they had, as we had seen lots of people drinking it. It is an aperitif, apparently, and they gave us 2 small bottles.

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sights to see in Castellina in Chianti...

We had planned to eat ashore this evening, but late afternoon interesting clouds built up, thunder rolled around, and heavy rain seemed imminent. We thought discretion the better part of valour, and ate in - and the rain came to nothing and the thunder and clouds just rolled away.

Fri 16th June

Delightful little town that it is, there really isn’t much to other than spend money in cafes. (You could waste a lot of money on Tuscany souvenirs, or even more money on an original oil painting - none of which I liked). We have moved to only our second campsite of the trip, not far from Sienna, at Montagnola. Must mean the laundry basket is full, and we are running short of knickers...First wash load is on the line, and almost dry after an hour.

A Dutch couple on a the neighbouring pitch are watching their television outside - and loud enough for half the site to hear.

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