It’s really hot this morning so we had an early start and said goodbye to K&K. They headed off for Garda and we went south to Viareggio and got onto the motorway as soon as possible. I promise you the stress free journey was worth every penny of the €18.60 toll, plus of course we were here (Viareggio camping), and all set up by lunchtime. After lunch we cycled the 2 miles to the railway station and discovered we could get our tickets for Pisa for the next day then. We just had to frank them when we travelled by putting them into a machine on the platform (if it were that simple!). Having checked times etc we enjoyed a pleasant ride around the harbour and ended with a trip to the seafront, lovely.
The site is alright but having selected a suitable pitch we had a run in with a miserable Dutch man and his wife because apparently if we parked there on the sunny pitch instead of the next pitch over which was in shadow, we would interfere with their TV reception. Now if the man had politely asked and explained we would not have minded, after all we are here for only two nights, but he barked at Joan and ordered her to move! We did comply in the end but she was not happy. I fail to understand why this year all we have encountered have been miserable Dutchmen and women plus surly Germans! Hopefully when we meet up with Joe and Ingrid in a few weeks time they will restore our faith in friendly people. Perhaps all the nice ones we usually meet are staying at home this year?
There is a strange token system for showers here and I knew instinctively they were going to be trouble. We asked the young girl at reception if you needed two or was there plenty of water with one. Oh yes, one is fine, she said, so this morning we trotted off to our respective parts of the building for our showers. As I took off my final piece of clothing a plaintive voice cried, Bryan, are you there? Yes pet. Well I am covered in shampoo and the water has STOPPED! Hang on, so I rapidly put on my shorts again and nipped around hoping that Joan would be just inside and I could give her my token. My foot is sticking out under the door she called, and naturally it was the farthest point of this huge shower block that she could possibly be from the entrance! However I nipped in and out very quickly and nobody noticed, well nobody screamed anyway. We later discovered what went wrong but the small one was not amused and drew herself up to her full 5’ 1½”, went to the office (after she’d dried her hair of course) and got another token for me, so all was well.
When we had been to the station we had found the bike racks so all we had to do was get there on time. Of course being us, we were a good 20 minutes early but that was fine. With the bikes all securely locked and our tickets punched we looked forward to a pleasant trip. On our arrival at Pisa of course everybody streamed towards the tower so it wasn’t rocket science to find it but we did a short detour and saw a few other sites of interest on the way. I confess we did the tourist thing but baulked at the very long queue to actually go up the tower, which would have been nice.
Next we headed for a nice restaurant where we could sit outside and enjoy a pizza and a pint/ glass of wine. We selected one from where we could sit and enjoy the view of the tower while watching the world go by. This turned out to be a very big mistake indeed. The pizza plus drink plus ambiance was fine and not too expensive BUT it started to thunder, then as we finished our meal it started to rain. By the time we left for the station it was raining quite heavily, however when we arrived back at Viareggio station there was a full scale thunderstorm raging and the drains had stopped working a long time ago! That was when Joan said, oh dear the window above our bed is open!!! The rain did ease momentarily and we retrieved the bikes, then it came down with a vengeance. We had left our hats locked on the bikes and they were surprisingly dry considering but the cycle home was almost a swim! The rain became so heavy we could hardly see. In fairness to all the drivers, they slowed down when they passed us but by the time we got back to the van we were soaked to the skin. Fortunately Joan had put her coat in my pack but even with the hood up (she put her helmet on top), she still got pretty wet. (Hair was dry apart from her fringe Kathleen).
We dived into the van and stripped all our clothes off and put them straight onto the floor in the shower. Next it was close the windows and check whether the bed was wet. Fortunately the midge nets and sun blinds had been pulled, so no rain had as yet come in but I don’t think they would have lasted much longer. Then we started drying everything and when the worst was sorted we noticed the chap next door had a problem with his awning so our hero (me!) quickly donned swimming trunks and went to help. Actually it was broken and he had just returned so he just had to wind it in, but the thought was there!
Those who have followed this and are still awake will realise that IF we had gone home for lunch none of this would have happened, plus of course I would have been a lot richer.
I am sure you will not be at all surprised to find there are NO pictures of the above storm!
Love
Bryan and Joan xxxx
No comments:
Post a Comment