26 June – An easy drive to the ferry at Messina as it is Sunday. We missed the turn and ended up at the wrong ferry wharf. A kind local with a motor scooter escorted us to the correct terminal where we lined up. It is a strange system, where they load as many cars etc as they can until the sailing time comes, stop the line, and then the ferry just leaves. We missed being loaded but were front of the queue for the next ferry 40 minutes later. If you can imagine this part of Italy as a “boot”, the ferry lands on the toe and we followed the motorway along the coast and then turned inland to our next camp basically on the instep of the boot. It was a huge camp set in nice shading pine trees right on the beach. Unfortunately there was a strong on shore breeze making the beach unpleasant.

27 June – A lazy day with washing, camper checks and haircuts. This camp had LPG so we were able to swap our near empty Italian gas bottle. The wind is still blowing so after a siesta we cycled to the two villages in this area.. We had asked at reception for directions and we must have got it wrong as we cycled 5 kms to a village with virtually nothing there. We turned around and biked 6 kms back to the other village which had a money machine and a hardware shop, where after some interesting miming, we bought some heatproof spray paint to paint the range splash back. When we got back to “Lefty” I discovered I was missing my clip on sun glasses. Another 2 km ride back to the hardware shop solved the problem. It had been a while since we had done any real exercise so the biking in 30 degrees made up for that.

28 June – Back to the “boot” geography – We drove on a good road around the instep and across to the heel where we are at a camp 20 kms from Brindisi, where our ferry to Corfu (Greece) departs from on the 30th. This is mostly dry farming country but at one stage we drove around a huge oil refinery. We had a swim at a small beach with cloudy water. I think we have been spoiled by the clear water in Sicily, then back to the camp huge swimming pool. We have decided to leave here around lunch time tomorrow and stay in Brindisi at an “Aires”

29 June – As this camp had a free carwash area we gave “Lefty” a well deserved half trip wash then cooled off in the pool before lunch and a drive into Brindisi. We were desperate for a shop and found a good supermarket where we stocked up. We drove into the town to the overnight parking indicated in our Italian book, but with no success. It has to be said that this book has been a bit of a failure! We continued on to the port where we picked up our tickets. There were many trucks and another campervan parked in a huge car park at the terminal so we decided to join them for the night as our check in time is 9:30 tomorrow. As it turned out it was not a bad place to stay.

30 June – Went to the check in to discover that our ferry was now not loading until 2:00 pm. We found a nice shady tree to sit under and pass the time. At 12:30 a ferry came in and everyone started to make their way down the loading lanes so we joined them. The loading was a shambles. Typically Italian, with much lane swapping and pushing and horn blowing. Eventually we were on board. We have “on board camping” which means we can stay in our camper, plug into the mains, have a view of the sea, and cook. The ferry eventually departed at 3:00pm (3 hours late). It is a bit of an old scruffy rust bucket but the crossing was smooth. I even cooked dinner. When we eventually arrived at 11:45pm (it seemed they were in no hurry to make up the lost time) it was too late to find a camp so we spied a camper parked on the wharf and joined it for the night.

1 July – Not a bad night with not too much noise considering the ferries coming and going. We discovered that we could pay 2 euro and stay 24 hours so we stayed where we were and walked into the old town of Corfu. It was very pretty but obviously there were many British tourists here. There was even a Marks and Spencers. We went back to the wharf and checked out the ferry to the mainland which we will take in 4 or 5 days. We drove along the coastal road north to our next camp at Sidara on the north west tip. A good windy road with many lovely views of secluded bays. It reminded us very much of driving around the Marlborough Sounds. The camp turned out to be hidden away in a 1000 year old olive grove with an eccentric owner who spoke good English. We cycled to the local beach (not great) and had a swim in clear water. When it was cooler we cycled into the town. It obviously caters for British tourists with most signs in English and the usual British food (steak and chips etc) advertised everywhere.

2 July – A short drive thru the interior of Corfu brought us to Paleokastritsa on the west coast. The country was beautiful with olive groves and tall cypress trees poking through and cute villages. On the ferry we saw heaps of restored sports cars (British and European) They were on a two day rally of Corfu. We encountered them again on a windy road where there was a special stage. They waved us thru so we were in the middle of it all! The camp is once again in an olive grove on a series of terraces. There are a number of lovely beaches and coves with steep paths down to them. We cycled to the main beach and had a couple of great swims and then back to the closest beach to the camp for the same. We will probably stay 3 nights here.

3 July - We have not mentioned the weather lately because it is the same every day. Sunny and hot (32 degrees) and warm at night. After a wash we cycled down into the town and Val looked at the stalls for crocs and a blouse but with no luck. We swam and sunbathed on our closest beach. All the beaches would be a hot longish walk, so the bikes are very handy. After lunch and a siesta we cycled to the start of a steep track which leads to an unusual village called Lakones, perched on the edge of a cliff on a small plateau. The climb was challenging but the views from the village were well worth the effort. After a soft drink at a restaurant (no ice creams available) we boulder hopped back to Paleokastritsa. In the evening we walked to a taverna for an ouzo.

4 July – We met a British couple with a 4 month old baby camped opposite us who are doing a trip like us but in reverse. (not the gear!) They had come thru Montenegro and Albania (our boggy countries) and were able tell us that they had had no trouble and gave us information on the border crossings, local taxes and insurance. Great to here all this first hand, as up until now we had only read about it on the net. We cycled down to the far end of the town and walked up to a little monastery on a head land. Very picturesque and some great views of the area. After some time on the main beach we went to down a steep path to a grotto where we could dive into the clear water. In the afternoon we returned to our local beach for our last swims in this area. We went to a local restaurant for dinner. We had Kleflidka which were beautiful lamb shanks (Greek style) and Bakalava dripping in honey for dessert.

5 July – This camp is run by a couple of lovely jovial rotund sisters who are always smiling. We left this morning and drove thru to Corfu town to buy our ferry tickets to the mainland. Quite a saving if you buy the day before. We drove along the south coast and stopped at a beach for a swim with lots of noisy locals. Hard to say if the Greeks are more noisy than Italians! Boy do they get excited though. We are now in a camp 10kms from the ferry which sails at 9:00am tomorrow.