The drive home

It’s always nice to be home but particularly so with such good weather.  As ever our journey back was long, driving to the north of Italy was frantic. There may be fewer lorries on the autostrada on Sundays but the traffic was still heavy and the service areas incredibly crowded. We stopped for our picnic lunch in 37.5 degrees.

Our usual Aosta hotel was not available, they were taking a holiday themselves, so we searched for an alternative.  I was very taken with a pretty little locanda run by three sisters but MrFF was not taken by the fact the restaurant was vegan.  It turned out to be a delight, the food was delicious, breakfast was the best I’ve had in years and I am a connoisseur of the continental brekkie.  Who wouldn’t be happy waking to this view then eating fresh fruit, many types of bread, fluffy pancakes, banana bread, brownies, apple cake, the best croissants ever, yoghurt, good coffee.

On our drive to our French 2 night stopover we found time to visit the Charles de Gaulle Memorial, situated outside a little village in a quiet and calm wooded area, we were impressed.

We also called en route to quickly look at Lac du Der which isn’t far from our accommodation. It was so nice we went back on our non travel day and took a walk.  It’s a lovely facility with holiday cabins in the woods, camping, boats, restaurants, cycle paths and everyone quietly enjoying the peace.

Back to our apartment for a swim, out for dinner, we left by 8 next morning.  We arrived in good time at the port but received a thorough check at border control, that involved completely unpacking our car and opening our suitcases so we were almost last onto the ferry. We had to park among the giant lorries and wait for everyone else to disembark but it was another epic journey safely completed.

Yesterday MrFF walked down to our beautiful Lido, had a picnic lunch, swam and sat in the sun, he said it was the mostly relaxing day he’d had in weeks and I can well believe that.

Final flora and fauna post

I won’t overwhelm you with nature posts, this will be the last one from Italy as we leave tomorrow.

I took a walk to the bottom of our road late afternoon and spotted this, why had I not seen it before its easily visible from our terrace.  The giant flower spike of an agave, almost as tall as the telegraph pole.  I am really hoping it will still be there and in bloom when we return and that Pietro whose house it is opposite won’t have had it cut down.  The flowering process takes a few months, after which the stem topples over and pups, new young plants, are produced.  The mother plant which could be 100 years old dies, even if the flower stem is removed now it will not survive. 

Now for some nature

So far this year we haven’t been invaded by porcupine, badgers or wild boar digging up the garden. That may change during the drought of high summer when they search for water and easy digging for grubs and worms.

We’ve noticed during our first year without any cats at all that we have many more little lizards about and they all have their tails intact.  However last week I saw a fairly large snake in the front garden, later MrFF spotted two of them and next day they were both intertwined on the path outside the kitchen door.  I don’t know if they were fighting or mating, it wasn’t very romantic, but we haven't seen them since. I checked because we do have poisonous snakes about, a neighbours dog was bitten and died many years ago, but these seem to be harmless whip snakes. We have been told that having cats around keeps snakes away, let’s hope there isn’t a large family here when we come back in September.

Below is the nest of a solitary black bee, it’s on the terrace outside the lounge door at the junction of the floor tiles and the skirting.  The olives are in flower now so we welcome the pollinators and don’t use any chemicals in the garden for that reason.  The nest is staying.

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Then MrsB decided to build an extension. I consulted a biologist friend who tells me these are egg chambers and when I checked the first one has been sealed so the first eggs are laid. Now she is on her third property, we could end up with a whole terrace of these little chimneys.

For years we’ve had a few bats swooping over our balcony as it gets dark I love to see them.  On Saturday I was delighted to spot one hanging at front of the house, tucked in between the gutter and the fascia board.  Then I found another near the front door and I am sure I saw several little ones that quickly disappeared under the roof tiles.  This is great news.  We have no loft space or attic, the roof is directly above the bedrooms which makes them very hot in summer.  The bats can only get under the tiles, they do no harm and a lot of good.  I checked at dusk and they had moved, they were back next morning.  And the best news of all is that as in the UK bats in Italy are a protected species, it is illegal to disturb their roost which they return to each year.  So I assume the Comune will not be allowed to demolish our house if we don’t get the planning violation sorted. Maybe I need to let them know it’s a protected property, I might also declare our garden a nature reserve, see how they like that.

Days of dusty feet

We will start our drive back to Yorkshire in a weeks time.  Meanwhile the heat has arrived in Lazio, it’s 27 degrees today fortunately with a slight breeze.  No definite mosquito sightings yet, MrFF thought he was bitten once but I am hoping they will stay away till we go.

We have made much progress inside and out including cutting both sides of our large laurel hedge, that is at least 4 days of hard work.  Of course everything will run riot over the summer and we’ll do all the same jobs again in September.

I am rising early, opening the doors before the sun comes up to get some cool into the house, watering the pots and sweeping the terraces. A camisole, shorts and lashings of SPF50 are my dress of choice.  I am sticky, dusty and generally dishevelled until an outside shower amongst the wisteria and a change into more respectable clothes for our al fresco dinner.   I love these sweltering days when it gets too hot for serious work, we are alone on the mountainside with just the birds for company and the occasional hang glider drifting overhead. Summer has arrived.