A Pile of Old Ruins !

I slept so well last night in the silence of the corn field and awoke to an unfamiliar dawn chorus of different bird songs just as the sky lit up in a refrain of last nights sunset; what a way to start a day. I was up breakfasted, cleanup and packed for another early start on the road before the heat of the day began to make itself felt.

Overnight I had made a decision that was to change my course somewhat; Pompei was only a couple of hours away… well on straight roads anyway, and that was to be today’s destination. What a disappointment that turned out to be after the glory of Assisi. Now if you’d asked me in advance which I was most looking forward to I would undoubtedly have answered Pompei. I’ve always loved wandering around roman remain, you can imagine the Roman empire in all it’s might still strutting around, doing what Romans did! But Pompei lacks anything of the grandeur and splendour of other sites I have visited; it is simply a dead city. The authorities, who are happy to relieve you of your 11 euros have done nothing to help to bring it to life for the thousands who come through the gates. Yes, it has a magnificent Amphitheatre, but with much of it behind locked gates, the only other feature for me was it’s vastness. OK, there was the odd little bit of mosaic, the odd bit of fresco but overall I felt it completely lacked any form of presentation. Oh, I’m sure scholars of Roman remains will decry my lack of enthusiasm but for Joe Public who in his tens of thousands supports the project with his 11 Euro, little has been done to bring it to life.

So I left Pompei with feelings of better things to come to look for a camp site… Ah, well, yes, they don’t seem to do camping around this area. A quick look at the map and I spotted Amafi, right on the coast. I knew the name but that was all. There followed the most hair-raising ride of my life! Now I’m quite used to hairpin bends (or switchbacks as my Canandian friends call them), I’ve ridden more over the last few weeks than you can shake a stick at! But mix that with a narrow road with a vertical rock wall on one side, a sold stone wall on the other; and half of Italy’s maniac drivers on both 2 and 4 wheels all fighting for supremacy as though it were the Monaco Grand Prix… No Thanks, I actually chickened out half way along and headed for the mountains. Amazingly I didn’t see a single accident; so many near misses I lost count, but not one single bump, scrape or fatality , amazing!

Anyway, change of tactic, jumped on the motorway and got out of town. That got me back to quiet hillsides and more cornfields… which is where I am again camped tonight watching yet another fabulous sunset… Day done!

Now I'll head for Greece!