Day 5 - Perugia, Umbria

My tent stayed inflated! Don’t know why it drooped before. It might have been the wine I spilt on it; I’m told it can have that affect.

Rode from Venice to Perugia (300 miles). At Florence (Firenze) I stopped to make a call to my mate Theodore who lives in Livorno to see if he was around to meet up but, unfortunately he was working in Scilly until Friday. So rather than heading to the West coast, I continued down the spine of Italy. I alternated between the autostrada (motorway) and the back roads. This enabled me to get the miles done while enjoying the countryside. Also getting off the autostrada gave me a break from dodging the pothole repairs and drivers that don’t indicate and drift between lanes. It’s as if they can’t decide which bit of road to use.Vineyards became rolling hills with old Roman villas dotted about the landscape. Each villa seemed to have the obligatory tall skinny Italian Cypress trees.

I called Sergio to see if his BMW R1100R motorbike brake parts had been replaced. They had, so he will be joining me to tour Greece and Turkey. He and his bike were on a Ferry last year when a fire started in a lorry on the car deck. They had to abandon ship in the life rafts. His bike runs and has a suntan from the smoke damage. He found out the other week that, the brake lines had also suffered, hence the repair. We arranged to meet in Brindisi on Friday to both catch the ferry to Greece. I must be mad getting on ferry with him, him being jinxed and all.

My campsite tonight is called “Il Rocolo”. Rocolo is an old Italian word which has been forgotten and unused. It means the home, the shelter where hunters rest and eat during the night, waiting for the morning and the start of the hunt. There is a Rocolo inside the campsite and it was used by hunters before the war (its construction dates back to the twenties). The hunters would set nets in the olive trees. Then at dusk and early in the morning would go to recover the prey and any during the night that were caught in the nets. The campsite is on a hillside (the hill of trinity) and was once a terraced olive grove. Some of the gnarly ancient trees have been left which provides some shade and matches nicely with my olive green tent. Good find, the staff are friendly and they speak good English. No pool but has free hot showers and a bar with free internet access and all for 14 Euros.