Saturday, 24 June, 2017 – Weather Warm but better

Julie goes off for a walk to the market. The official group walk also goes there and Julie connects with them. Meanwhile I stay at the Hotel to work on the Blog since the Internet reception is so good. Some photos from Julie.

Capo buys some sardines which many get into including Julie. This is a surprise for me as she had gotten quite sick with the sardines on our last trip to Spain.

We catch the bus which is a new one and much smaller for the hills we would eventually meet. A new driver too. It is quite a long drive to Piedmont so we stop for a toilet break and panini. There is absolute chaos in the Autostop with people everywhere, service very spotty etc.

We continue along to the west side of Italy (3 hours) to La Morra in Piedmont staying in the Hotel Palas Cerequio. Five of the guys stay in another place because ours is not big enough for our entire group. The Palas is a blend of very old buildings which have been modernized and some new modern buildings. Quite stunning really with magnificent views over the vineyards.

Our room is by the pool and it is a two level place with the top floor being the bedroom and toilet / washroom and the bottom floor the work area, spa, shower. It is slightly inconvenient that the toilet is upstairs as most of the time is spent downstairs.

Most of the guys jump into the pool. I go there too but still in my street clothes. There are a fair number of snacks and drinks.

There is no water in the town. It does not come on until around 10:00 that night. Capo wanted us to dress up but the girls were saying they wouldn’t dress up without a shower. They did anyway.

Chris Love had told us on the bus coming up about his many experiences in Piedmont and why it was one of his favourite places. This included our restaurant for tonight Ristorante Bovio.

There is a lot of discussion about Gavin and Margret – although they had been married 39 years he had never properly proposed. So he did then. I thought Margaret said No but I guess not. In any case, Susan sang two love songs including my suggestion of Its Now or Never.

Then it is on the bus back to the home bases. It is after midnight which has an effect on our starting time tomorrow. The good news is that the water is back on.