Its fascinating this travelling lark! We stopped off at a supermarket in a little town yesterday for food supplies… something we seem to do a couple of times each day. On emerging back out onto the quite intense heat we found a young man stood by the bikes waiting for us. Jason has been living in the area for the last 4 years whilst working on a ‘heap of stones’ that his father had bought a few years ago. After a brief conversation he invited us to come and stay with his family and perhaps camp in the garden. Directions were given and whilst Jason ran a few errands we ambled slowly up the hillside to the village of Benabbio to grab a cold drink at the local Pizzeria whilst awaiting his return. We then followed on up a small side turning the aforementioned ‘heap of stones’ which is in fact a beautifully restored 10 bedroomed baroque mansion!

It is in fact still an ongoing project, but it is truly a place worthy of a Grand Designs programme; all the more so when Jason then informs us that this is his families first DIY project… WOW!

Having met the family and friends currently involved on the work including 1 month old daughter Dario, we are then told that rather than camp in the garden, they have rooms for us… the surprises just go on and on.

So grand tour, shower, glass of wine and chat then of back down to the pizzeria for the best pizza I have ever tasted washed down with ample quantities of red wine and ice cold water followed by a couple of big bowls of ice cream which were passed round and round the table of six until empty…and all for the princely sum on 10 Euro… once again WOW!

So here I sit watching a magnificent sunrise on another perfect Tuscan day and pondering what next! The plan was to head further across towards Ancona today for the ferry to Split but I’ll see what transpire after breakfast.