Sat 13th Bedfield LAST DAY

Ok so we're back. Moules last night were superb and in our usual 'Chez Jules' restaurant on the Old 'Place' - accompanied by a carafe (each) of white and red... and then back to Hotel Au Sleeping....standard place...er...loo, shower, bed AND a kettle!

No more pics I'm afraid but it is good to be home even though our fridge seems to have disappeared (..we have suspects) but apart from that all seems well. Goats have welcomed us for about an hours with Sammy bleating more than ever. Em even phoned for a brief 'bleat' (we might've visited on our way back but didn't) and we've PROMISED to go and see her on Weds/Thurs.

Met a few bikers on the ferry - one Swiss chap on a 1953 (German-made) Truimph125.... and three (young) French guys on big sporty (1100, 1200, 1300) machines who were off to annoy the Welsh:  we hope they succeed and wished them bon chance.

We did 181 miles today making our total for the trip 4,193 miles. Pretty good given we hardly touched motorways nor went very fast: zoomed up to 85mph today tho' pulling away from some silly car-driver which was quite fun.

We're already planning the next big bike adventure - probably North Spain but NOT for three weeks this time. 10-12 days'd be just right I think and we might even do some shorter mini-trips (3-4-5 days) in between.

The BIKE was fantastic and worked perfectly in every respect. We thought we actually took everything we needed too and only had to buy a bottle-opener/corkscrew, a pair of nail-clippers and a plug for hotel sinks without one.....quite well organised apart from that.

Anyone who is brave enough is welcome to come around to MFC and see even more photos and some videos - bikers might enjoy this the most but BEWARE....you'll want to come with us next time!

THAT'S ALL....... er..........THE END!
Rob and Debbie XXXX

Fri 12th Boulogne DAY 20

Breakfast on the road at 9.30am today

Not much to say about today and we didn’t take any photos. We left Troyes quite chilly and got so cold we had to stop and get out warm stuff. It went down to about 16 degree: in other words bloody freezing. It was windy, cold and it rained and WE GOT WET! Grrrr.

      On the plus side we broke 4,000 miles today and we’re going to have MOULES tonight. Ferry is at 11.20am and we might go and visit Rob’s Mum if it’s not raining. We’ll be home sometimes in the afternoon on Sat after twenty days ‘on the road'. The Last Post will go on the blog when we’ve unpacked, found some wine and put the bike away.

Debbie and Rob in our room - tired after 4,000 miles in three weeks!

Goldwing cleaning, shining and servicing will happen on Sunday….

Thur 11th Troyes DAY 19

Parked for coffee in the mountains - just us!

Can't belive we actually got here - to Troyes just South of Reims, I mean. A huge day of riding - biggest yet - with at least 11hours on the bike and 419 miles done! BUT what a trip - the most beautiful and spectacular ride so far through the Alps and miles and miles of superb bends and swoopy corners. Perfect for 60-65mph whizzing.
We were actually COLD for the first time in two-and-a-half weeks. At coffee time I had to get Debbie's wind jacket out so she could maintain some warmth - she's worn it all day! Rob gets his heat from the engine and is shielded from the wind by the fairing.

The photos say it all and, as you can see, we have had a fantastic day riding.

Mountain road

Lake from above - in the Alps, somewhere!

Had a very good meal actually but we were very glad that we only had one 'plat'. Debbie had a knuckle of pork and Rob had 'Assiette de Cochon'....which he re-named assiette POUR cochon because there was so much on the plate.

There have been  couple of riding 'incidents' over the last day or two but I can only remember these two.

Just on the last day exit-ing Italy and entering France we came round a bend and there was a car stopped on our side of the road, the two passengers discussing whether or not to take the road to their left whilst the cars in the lane they should've been in were whizzing past. We screeched to a halt about a foot from their bumper and tried not to fall over, as balance went rather. Their bemused response was to raise an arm in apology and drive back into their stream of traffic.

Rob on bike in the Alps

There were quite a few fast overtaking other bikes over the last couple of days, on the bike friendly routes, but there was one in particular who seemed to be finding out just exactly HOW fast his machine would go. You could actually see perspective diminish as he was passing us with a racing whine one second and then suddenly on the horizon the next.

Yet another coffee break - Debbie is freezing on RHS

Although it was a very long day we seem to be getting better at coping with long hours 'in the saddle' and dealing with fast motorway as well as hair-pin bend kind of riding. We took more little breaks than usual today and that seems to be the

best way to be able to do long days on the move.

Today we're off to the coast ready to catch the 11.20am ferry in the morning. We've seen cloud for the first time in days this morning so I hope it doesn't actually rain!

Only two more posts to go.....and then this is all history.

Weds 10th Dignes-les-Bains DAY 18

Debbie and bike on Napoleon Route

The BEST biking day so far and we've only done half of 'Route Napoleon'. This basically goes from Grasse near Nice to Grenoble in mid-France and skirts along the Alps. Great roads to ride and we have some amazing videos which we'll share when we get home. Lots of other bikes and ours by no means the biggest. In fact there was one bright purple monster trike which made everyone sick as it trundled past with a HUGE hairy man in charge and a tiny person (hard to see if male or female) in an armchair behind him - both smirking rather complacently.

Route Napoleon sign we found on the wall in Castellane

We went from Alba on a small road, completely on our own for miles, passing houses filled with bails of hay and quite a few tractors going about their business. Eventually we HAD to get on the Autostrada/Autoroute to make the crossover from Italy to France and it was quite difficult to order two cappuccini in the right language but they did understand!








...and a great couple of places where we did videos but also took some still photos 'cos it was so brill.

Great bit of road with stone arch - bit tricky as you don't really know what is coming the other way!

Tues 9th Alba DAY 17

Duomom in Alba - empty piazza

HURRAY! We've broken through the 3,000 mile barrier and arrived in Albe, North Italy. Our B 'b B has the fastest talking woman so far who rattled off her instructions and then finished her flourish with a questioning 'Capice?' with raised eyebrows and firm stare.... I asked her to repeat some little bits for me, which she did, but seems a bit cross that I was so slow and that I didn't get it first time. I hope I got everything right as she seems the sort not to suffer fools lightly. Jolly nice room, though - self catering...er....breakfast is in the fridge which IS cold this time: our last two hotels have had hot fridges - which rather spoils the point of having beer and champagne in ready to sell 'cos no-one would ever use their offerings.

As usual, when one goes for a walk, the afternoons are pretty well deserted by people who are sleeping/siesta-ing after lunch. Everything closes at about 1pm and then re-opens at 4.30ish when it is always noticeably cooler. Pic on the left shows one of the main piazzas at about 3pm.

Alba - night time at 10.30 ish

......and then here'a street in mid-flow AFTER we'd had our evening meal. It is 10.30pm (quite late for us) and we've never seen so many pushchairs and babies: there were FIVE in a row at one point and we had to flatten ourselves against the wall to allow the baby-army with their determined drivers through. Actually lots of the prams were empty and the babes toddling round entertaining everyone - quite sweet really but OUR children were always in bed as soon as we could get them there!

Alba is a very pretty town but we had to walk and walk to find somewhere to eat. Each restaurant had a DJ set up outside who blasted the punter, and anyone else who happened to be walking past, with loud pumping music. Actually it was quite fun in a way, but we only found two places that suited us. First one was VERY expensive so, after a cursory flip through their menu, we escaped and went walking again. Debbie had taglialioni (very thin pasta) with Black Truffles and lashings of butter: great pasta but the truffles seemed pointless and quite hard and tastless. Rob had Frazziolini (sorry, can't remember how to spell it) which was delicious with little octopus, clams and other sea creatures and a yummy tomato sauce.

Alba - spire in the afternoon sunshine

Then back home for an early night (mmmmh.... rather mucked that up tonight) ready for the return to Fance and the first half of the Napoleon Route......biker's paradise apparently but you'll know what we think tomorrow night!

Mon 8th Montecatini Terme DAY 16

BIG riding day today travelling from below Rome (Isernia) to Montecatini Terme. 362 miles, which might not sound much but we did it pretty well all on non-motorway roads through the mountains in the middle if Italy. Some of the very best riding so far with amazing vistas and huge mountains.

Coffee stop but we had to climb for it!

We stopped in this village for morning coffee but had to park at the bottom of the town and WALK to the top - lovely place...so quiet and tranquil with speechless townsfolk on seeing the shining Goldwing......probably frowning and thinking, ''ooh, er, they must be hot in all those clothes.''
We only arrived at about 8pm and were desperate for a beer and a shower (hot, hot hot) so I haven't even taken the photos of the camera today. All pics were taken from the back of the bike where Debbie has been text-ing, photo-ing and map-reading. We were in the saddle, so to speak, for about 10 hours yesterday and, hopefully, it'll be a bit less today: bums are getting hardier but still we experience discomfort at the end of the the long stints.

All the pics are taken by Debbie from pillion and show some of the spectacular sights. The really amazing ones were just too big and the roads too winding and steep to actually click-a-pic on the move and there is NOWHERE to stop.

....from the bike.

N.B. I didn't realise till today that IF you clicked on the pictures they open up bigger and the you can go back just like browsing on the internet!

View from our Hotel.....quite normal around these parts!

We thought we were staying in this mountain village but this was only the view FROM our Hotel.....the Grand Hotel Europa.

Sunday 7th Isernia DAY15

Well today we started our journey home - a little sad to think that we're going back but there is still a week and quite a few miles to cover having done 2,501 so far. It should be a bit shorter to get home but not much and we have about the same time to do it but without the resting days - so I hope that works out OK. We went autostrada for quite a way today which is relaxing in one way - you get the miles done fast too BUT one has to keep an eye open in order to remain alive.

On the bike as we were leaving Acquapesa
Happy, but hot!

We seem to be one of the very few wearing proper biking clothing and even those whizzing past us - must be aboue 65mph 'cos that what we do - are in tee-shirts, shorts and sandals. I venture to think there are also frowning and thinking, 'su cui è quella gente che fa con tutti quei vestiti… devono essere pazze….o inglese' or if you are slow at Italian then...... ''what are those people doing with all those clothes on... they must be mad....or English!'' 


(....mmmh, methinks Noel Coward must've done a big motorbiking holiday in Italy)





Our Grand Hotel Europa in Isernia is really good - out on a limb in the city and we tried to find a city centre at 3.30 but it was just too bloody hot and we gave up and came back and turned on the air-conditioning and Debbie went for a swim: she's now snoring away getting ready for a second attempt to find somewhere to eat for tonight.

Debbie, Nikki and Elio on the balcony, before sunset
and
BEFORE eating......

The ride was very pleasant in places but the camera was away today and, except for  one 'leaving' pic by Nikki, all are of yesterday, food and enjoyment. Just a pity we didn't get a photo of us all together Elio, Nikki, Harriet, Felix and Rosa - who was most entertaining and taught Rob a few new words in Italian...molto grazie!

There are, of course, a LOT more photos and quite a few videos but they are all to big to post so we'll probably have a few 'viewing' so anyone brave enough can visit Bedfield from Sun 14th and we'll bore you rigid.




This last picture from yesterday shows us on the balcony watching the sunset and relaxing in the warm.

Debbie and Rob - looking good after 29 years - ooh, and a bit more!

Sat 6th Acquappesa DAY 14

ACQUAPESA is about 200 miles South of Naples on the West coast.

0 miles – bike having another well-earned rest and is now clean and shiny again.

The balcony at Acquappesa - inviting sea: not much different
from 29 years ago when we stayed in this exact house!

This morning we got up early and walked 2kms to the market in Cetraro, chained the shopping basket to the railings and climbed up into the old town where we were promised pizza (breakfast type) and beer for breakfast. When we got there the pizza hadn’t been delivered yet and no-one felt like a beer so it was coffee and a rest. Nikki and Harri then took us (with Felix in tow with his bike) on a tour of the old town. All tiny little passages and everyone said good morning with a cheery smile. We then walked back down to the fruit and veg market and bought tomatoes, courgette flowers, aubergines, watermelon, bietola (spinach-like green stuff) and always basil etc thrown in free at each place. Another coffee stop for Rob but the others had ‘granita’ – a home-made lemon icy drink (needed a spoon to consume). Back to the market for more tomatoes and then walked home. Debbie and Nikki then went out again to another shop to get water, beer and wine…

Shopping in the local market - great tomatoes etc

Lunch was tomato and mozzarella with basil but, ooh, what a taste. Gallons of the stuff too with lovely bread to soak up the milk oozing from the mozzarella: yummy.

Debbie and Rob in the sea - Debbie is the happy one - Rob
is the white one on the right wondering what to do next!

The afternoon, so hot and sultry, was read-sleep-read-doze zzzzzzzzzz and then a bright swim in the impossibly blue sea with only a bit of 21^st century detritus – I think I did encounter one little ‘poo’ but nothing a good ol’ shower couldn’t deal with afterwards.

...next was drying off on the beach, of course.

Elio and Rosa (Nona) arrive sometime and the evening meal is well underway for the event. Aubergines are baking already for the Sicilian Pasta and some other delights are in the making.  We start our homeward trek tomorrow morning but after a walk into Acquappesa for breakfast at 6.30ish. Harriet made impossibly delicious food and we had to go to bed earlier than planned 'cos we were all too full. BUT not till after more vino rosso and this sunset.

...and yes, it was easily as good as this picture.

Fri 5th Acquappesa DAY 13

Safe Napolese bike parking + goose rearing place

We left Napoli at about 9am after retrieving the bike from the shady garage men but they were quite please with their bottle of beer and 30 euros (!) fee for making sure it was safe. We did find this goose parked next to the Goldwing but one that will never lay golden eggs, poor thing.

Getting out of Napoli was less of a hassle than we imagined and we sailed onto the correct autostrada with the aid of SatNav but in our complacency didn’t pay attention and missed the turning onto the second autostrada. This sent poor little SatNav into a spiral of self doubt and we did a silly tour around (and we have no idea were we went for about 15 miles) until we miraculously ended up on the road we should have taken in the first place.

Coastline from Bike - Debbie took this....obviously.

The rest of the day was easy – down to Salerno and onto more scenic roads all along the coast. A journey form Naples to Acquappesa is normally 3 hours or so hammering down the motorway but our little winding roads took us about 8 hours. Splendid scenery and, yes, great corners to swoop around again BUT at one point there was a little notice saying that the road was not very good. WELL (and then sigh) we had to slow down to under 15mph or we would’ve been boinged off the bike. Others didn’t seem to slow down at all and we were still overtaken but after a mile or so it settled back to normal – whatever that means.

The pictures say it all about today.

The road we just rode along.

Got to Acquappesa at about 5pm greeted by Nikki and a cold beer…and a swim in the Med...marvellous and as far south as we are going. 2,250 miles thus far and on Sunday we start the journey home.

Last pic of the day.

....just another picture - pretty usual for today!

Thur 4th Naples DAY 12

Our first task this morning was to post three postcards. One would have thought this was a straightforward process but it was SUCH FUN! First we found the post-office by asking a street vendor who basically cleared his throat giving us an answer but DEBBIE understood this to mean ‘just around the corner to your left’…ahem….and there it was. We had to wait for the ‘air-lock’ to open and close three times as it let three individuals into the VERY SECRET...shhhh…post-office. Once inside we had to work out what to do, and they (the PO) have found a way to make people who live East of the English Channel WAIT THEIR TURN!

Post office queue - after our visit BUT NOT our fault

...er…BUT…this means finding a little yellow machine which dispenses numbers for the various departments. PO, AO, EO and SO…..we chose wisely (a quote from Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom) and elected PO and then waited for 35 minutes to be served by the slowest post officers in the world. However, once we got there she was very cheery and weighed each postcard with equal severity (as though it were the most important document) and printed her little (sorry…HUGE) sticky barcode plus stamp. This all involved much discussion as to where our postcards were going and if the price was OK. She then tried to stick the big printouts onto our little postcards and they wouldn’t fit so out came the scissors – lots and lots of people waiting behind us WITH important stuff – and trimmed  the aforementioned printout to fit...BUT that was not all ‘cos she then remembered that an Air Mail sticker was needed too, and this obliterated some of the writing on the postcards… we worked very hard not to laugh…and left ready for a coffee after 45 minutes. SO, IF YOU are/were the recipient of a Vesuvius postcard then you should know it took about the same time to post as to climb the bloody thing! Here’s the queue waiting to get in to the PO after we left! (This bit of blog made Debbie and I cry laughing)

Galleria Umberto - we had a coffee here

Actually we’ve had a brilliant day. We then went to the Galleria Umberto – a huge glass and iron structure where one goes to have coffee, keep cool and pass the time of day (yeah, perfect for me and Deb…mmmmh!). The Galleria was all of this and we have a pleasant 20mins there.

After this we sauntered to a large Piazza where the San Frederico di Paolo Chiesa was but there was a political demonstration about lack of work, accompanied by armed guards with riot shields on one side so we veered around opposite-wise and took the opportunity to have the whole piazza to ourselves. Nothing untoward happened but quite a few places/attractions kept closed just in case things got ‘ugly’.

We met the most charming information chap who bemoaned the problem of lack of work in the city and sort-of supported the demo but said that all the tourist attractions would not be open till it was ‘safe’. He suggested we went to the subterranean tour of Naples, which we did later and to come back in the afternoon when things had calmed down.

View from bridge of Castel dell' Ovo - Vesuvius behind and
kids swimming off a dinghy in front - very heart-warming

Next we wandered, and at this temperature (30-32ish), that’s all you can really muster, down to the Bay of Naples and went to the Castel dell’Ovo. This so named ‘cos of it’s egg-like security (not sure what that meant but hey-ho). We climbed to the top (helped by a bit of elevator and air-conditioning) and took some pictures from the top of sea and city. Certainly a good view but rather dwarfed by the ocean liners or cruisers that looked like extra buildings on the horizon.

Part of underground Theatre of Roman times

Next was a fascinating visit to the underground theatre (from Greek and Roman times) which was discovered relatively recently in Naples. It was very interesting that modern buildings had been constructed on top of old sites and the Napolese had bought-out the landowners to excavate and reconstruct quite a bit of what was there. We had a great tour with quite a ‘camp’ guide (who spoke impeccable English…and even though we were the ONLY people on the tour who WERE English it was conducted in our language – we explained that it would be OK in French or Spanish but he didn’t believe us….) and were marched through our visit with some authority and pizzazz (er….not pizzas…by the way). 

Small tunnels to get to the cisterns

We had to walk down some quite small tunnels to get to the various cisterns and here's one of them. There were a couple of 'larger' people who couldn't make it - particularly a very tall Dutch chap who really tried but (at about 6'10'') was just too big to fit the little parts of the entries.

On the sunny side of the street........

After our trip down into the bowels of Naples we then walked back to the Hotel (in search of cold white wine and a beer or two) and saw, in day-light, some of the magnetic streets we'd only experienced by night-time. Just too hot 'on the sunny side of the street' - to go up them and also to quote a well-known song. 

A really good day to end our Napoli section as we’re off SOUTH to see Nikki in Acquapesa even tho’ SatNav doesn’t know where it is. We found it before in 1982 (…without SatNav) so we’ll probably be able to again!







We’re OFF LINE for two or three days but there’ll be an up-date on Sunday when were back in the 21^st century…at least from a technology point of view. Hopefully we can retrieve the bike from the Garage Men who are looking after it here in Napoli…they seem OK but both father and (his more savvy son) both need a shave…………

Weds 3rd Pompeii and Vesvius DAY11

Pompeii Scavi (Pompeii excavations)
We went to Pompeii today - tried to 29 years ago but it was closed and we had to get back to England! Today we caught the 8.06am train (with a few others, but not many) and got to Pompeii in about 15 mins. Walked there from the station in about a minute and walked straight in. There are lots of pics which will not really need explaining except that the one of Debbie in the main forum was at about 9am and we were the only 2 people there. At 12pm you could hardly see the forum for people so all our pics are from the morning showing the buildings and not very many tourists! How cool.

Deb - early am - Pompeii forum 

Here she is all on her own! We walked and walked and saw most of the things that one should. Plaster casts of people who died in the eruption and the whole thing was really inspiring - I wish I'd listened more to my Latin teacher , at school, who was really enthusiastic about all this - AND had the same pics I have taken today but....alas.....I didn't. ....and now have to read all about it to try an reconstruct what he was on about.

Apollo's forum/temple

Here is Apollo's temple...........

....mmmh...yes,well...use your imagination.

....and an advertisement of what might be available in the brothel!

Villa del Misterio - murals

Amazing murals in the 'Villa del Misterio'.... vivid and depicting a young girl's initiation in o the priestess-hood.











WE THEN WALKED UP VESUVIUS.......with the help of a small bus but it was very, very hot.... here's the crater at the top.

Vesuvius crater - we walked up here.

And Debbie's face shows how much of an effort it was..............

'Hot' Debbie - on top of Vesuvius with Naples in the background

This is Debbie on top of Vesuvius - very how but pleased we made it up there.



At the bottom again we bought gallons of water and noticed our feet were a bit covered in lava dust! Bussed it back to the train station - back to the hotel and then out again for pizza and lots of wine. Great stuff!

That's all for today 'cos were knackered and need to sleep and rest for tomorrow in crazy Naples. got lots of plans but it will be our lasy full day here as we're heading SOUTH about 300 miles to visit Nikki in Acquapesa for a couple of days before starting our journey back towards home. We'll have done about 2,400 miles on the outward trip and it SHOULD be a shade shorter coming back but we'll see!

Vesuvius feet - afterwards, of course.

Tues 2nd ...to Naples DAY 10

We rode the next stage of the trip today and only one photo during the day. We did 327miles some on really good Autostrada but some on the most amazingly variable road I’ve ever been on. Some surfaces were perfect – smooth, even and predictable but, even mid-corner, the surface would change to worse than dirt-track in that there were bits of road actually missing and pot-holes galore which needed avoiding.  Quite hard to get lulled into a false sense of security on the new and smooth places and then rattle your jaws at the next instance.

We travelled down from Macerata (which too us about 40mins to leave ‘cos we couldn’t find the motorway – crap signs and confusing pointers with the wrong names on) to Pescara then overland via Foggia and then on to Naples.

These signs appear AT the junction you need to turn making
no time at all to decide. Very scary esp. when everyone else
knows where they are going and do it molto presto!

Naples…. The most scary place I have ever driven. We arrived at about 3pm and dear little SatNav took us straight to our Hotel in the middle of the ancient district. Getting there was amazing. It seems the Neapolitans do what they want, when they want especially in heavy traffic. Traffic lights are COMPLETELY IGNORED by almost everyone and if you don’t just GET ACROSS the junction everyone gets annoyed and hoots like mad. Pedestrians are similarly minded so when there’s a million people trying to do a London-like crossroads it is basically a free-for-all with the scooters winning, pedestrians next (they shout ‘cos they can’t hoot) and then small cars followed by big cars…. we were last in the competition but got quite good at it quite quickly even though we lost.

Via Biagio del Librai - buzzing and wonderful

Rob mashed in the left pannier, on a laundry van’s tailgate, trying to ride the wrong way up a one-way street (on purpose, of course) finding a parking place. We eventually arranged for a garage to look after the Goldwing (for a price) er…safe now in the distinctly ‘shady’ environs we are staying in for the next few days.

We did go to the railway station – there is no way are we will attempt to get to Pompeii and back on the bike after this afternoon’s fun – and were served by an absolutely delightful man who couldn’t really understand us behind his booth so he came out and spoke to us in person. He made sure both he and us understood what to do and the cheapest way to do it and went back inside to sell us our returns to Pompeii for Thursday: wonderful. We left happy in search of a bar!

Our hotel is cool, air-conditioned and we’re in our room having a beer or two before venturing onto the streets for some evening diversion…what ever that might be.
The streets are FULL of rubbish and it's such a pity because the city is so brilliant with huge palaces, churches and buzzing with activity and commerce. Dinner was in a lovely little bistro - pizzas and a crisp bottle house wine and really cheap too! This last pic says it all...

Beautiful background - foreground...er...rubbish!

Mon 1st Macerata 3 DAY 9

We were back on the bike today but left most of our stuff in the Hostel – we had sort-of worked this out before we left that if we dumped all out things in our hotel we could venture out and then leave all our biking gear in/on the bike and change at the side of the road into cooler (temperature) stuff. Worked perfectly and (Mike, you’ll be impressed with this) I left my socks on the fairing to dry off and NO-ONE took them!

We left quite early and aimed firstly for Jesi (somewhere Debbie had visited about 28 years ago) but soon were distracted by signs for Tolentino, where Joanne had been yesterday. We decided to make a more circuitous route taking in Tolentino and were very glad that it happened that way.

Cloisters in Tolentino

 Tolentino is another ancient town full of grand buildings and very pleasant coffee too! The highlight was the Cathedral of St Nicholas. The cloisters were just so beautiful and peaceful with murals on the walls under the arches – see pics. There were masses of masses going on at 7.30, 8.30, 9.30 and 10.30 (!) four ‘sittings’ …or should that be ‘kneelings’….. no music but lots of talking – ooh yes, and a further four masses, on the half-hour, started later…er…. after lunch, of course. We stood outside waiting for the 10.30 to come (to an end) and a very friendly Augustine Monk popped out of no-where and ushered us IN saying we needed to go to the Crypt and then into the museum and, by then the mass would have finished and we could see the Duomo.

Murals around the cloisters in St Nicholas - Tolentino

 The first little chapel we went into was covered in sparkling fresco, all brilliantly coloured and dynamic. No photos were allowed (again) and, this time, I didn’t sneak one in this time – sorry! This chapel’s artwork was partly attributed to the Giotto school and was, indeed, very impressive.  The cathedral itself was, as usual, very ornate and the ceiling was another breathtaking vision. Basically about 40 squares about 3mX3m each with saints in 3D and gold, gold gold everywhere: very OTT but not ugly or coarse but really rather splendid.

Then we went to Jesi and were a little disappointed – seemingly it closed on Mondays but we had a good walk and found a market where we bought delicious tomatoes, peaches and grapes from a gnarled old woman with bright shining eyes. We devoured these for lunch at 4.30 back at the Hostel…after….

Clock tower in Tolentino

….swooping round from Jesi to Senegallia via Ostra (another couple of youthful-Debbie’s memories) and then onto Ancona and followed the coast road South – solid boob-to-boob, pec-to-pec, thigh-against-thigh sunbathing for about 25kms…..HORRIBLE.....’hot’ was the only word that fitted the scene and one could use it in every possible context. It took at least an hour of effort to GET AWAY from the sunbathers but we kept on getting turned back to the sea-side by each and every road we to took to get away from it. Eventually we found a way out and back to Good Ol’ Macerata for beers, lunch and blogging, after filling up the bike with fuel.

Lunch (at 4.30) back at the Hostel on the terrace.

Off to Napoli early tomorrow – we Google Earth’d our Hotel – street view – dunno HOW we’re ever going to find it in the real world but maybe dear little confused SatNav will help us in the end!

Sun 31st Macerata 2 Day 8

Sferistero  - The Opera Arena from the outside (this morning)

Today has been a lazy day where we haven't been travelling on the bike nor doing anything in particular. We thought we'd just stay in Macerata and have a look at what this pretty town has. In the morning we had a meagre breakfast of tea/coffee and not much else and then went out to see what was what. We found out that a lot ofthe churches etc were open, to look at that is, in the morning but unavailable later. We visited the Duomo (cathedral) which was quite amazing but there was a body wrapped in wax in a glass casket - t'was some Saint or other but we couldn't find out which. We also learnt the patron Saint of Macerata is San Guiliano (in the 15th century-ish) who found a two people in his bed and he assumed it was his wife ...so he killed them both...er....of course.....he subsequently discovered it was his parents (lame excuse,I say) and chopped off his arm in penance. They made him a Saint AND ....get this...IF you give the Duomo a day's notice you can get to view IT....yes...the arm! Makes Rigoletto paying for an assassin to murder his daughter seem quite ordinary (and I know it was a mistake...)

We also visited a super building called the Palazzo Ricci. restored in the 1750's it housed a modern art collection of Macerata (and environs) painters. We were allowed in for free BUT had to have a guide. She only spoke Italian but we managed well and understood most of what she said. The tour lasted about an hour and a quarter and as we reached the entrance a very posh English couple had arrived - our Italian speaking guide invited us to sign the guest book and while we were doing so went to meet the new arrivals. The English woman seemed miffed that she have to have a guide and said, and I quote, "....but you do do it in ENGLISH, of course".... to which was rather a lot of frowning and shrugging of shoulders and then someone else said "I think it's only in Italian" and there was much huffing and puffing...at this point we said 'Molto grazie e arrivederci.....que buono il expositione....ciao!' etc etc and left with embarrassment - our guide did seem to quite amused tho'.

We then went back to our hostel for lunch and one of the soloists from 'Cosi fan tutte', that Joanne is in the middle of right now, was warming up in the breakfast room of our hostel - here he is - hope this little video works! The singer was very good and I went in and asked him if he'd like a =n accompanist so he could stand and warm-up , rather than sit at the piano. He seemed keen till I asked him if he had any music  when he said he hadn't and I realised he had played all of his 'Cosi' arias from memory as he was rehearsing....I went and finished my lunch and took this little video - click the play button to make it go...

We then had our first proper siesta before going to the Macerata Museo of carriages. Fascinating history of the horse and carriage with lots of detail and beautiful, exquisite examples perfectly restored. We even went for a simulated carriage ride. The last part was a beautiful room reminiscent of the Vatican - I took this pic (below) and then asked if we were allowed to ....the answer was NO!

Amazing room above the Carriage museum

Here's the pic I should not have taken...sorry!

Tonight we met up with Joanne before her last Opera (Cosi) and met quite a few of her fellow Opera tourers. They were a delightful lot and we rather took over a small wine bar and made loads of locals wait while we drank our wine and talked about concerts and motorbiking!  Then Deb and I went and ate ourselves silly at one of Macerata's best restaurants. Several courses and too much wine and now really ready for bed. Back on the bike tomorrow going North up the coast visiting some ancient coatal towns and having another kind of relaxing day before the great trek South to Naples (with Vesuvius and Pompeii) and then further on to Acquapesa to see Nikki.