I think I may have found my spiritual home here in Parco del Gargano.
We’re about 380m above sea level, overlooking the Adriatic. We haven’t had a thunderstorm here, and it’s not rained. In fact, the weather was fabulous today (Wed, 16th) without being too hot. The view from the pool is amazing, with the Adriatic sea disappearing into the haze below us.
Gargano is “the bit that sticks out from mainland Italy”; probably where the ankle would be if Sicily were the foot. I believe that most of Gargano is a National Park (or nature reserve) with exceptionally diverse habitats.
I thought it would be flat. Wrong! The highest peaks here are around 900m (almost 3000 feet) above sea level, and it reaches that height in just 6km from sea level. So it’s pretty damned steep. Our motorhome has a 5-speed, automatic gearbox. There was no way it was going to use anything higher than 3rd gear on the main road coming up here.
I’m sure the crickets, high up in the trees, do a sort of Mexican wave. It can be eerily silent, then one cricket starts up. Followed by another, then another, and so on until you can hear almost nothing else. This goes on for 20 minutes or so, at which time they start to peter out until the very last one winds down to a stop. Sounds like a couple of pieces of rough, damp cork being rubbed together, albeit a strangely comforting background noise.
Crickets video/sound clip – turn the sound up & listen closely! (Beware, it’s over 38MBy)Update – 18th & 19th July:
Vico del Gargano is the nearest town; about 50 mins away by bike, all of it uphill. I know, because we did it yesterday (17th).
It was market day and the place was absolutely buzzing. There’s a kind of roundabout coming into the town, I say “kind of”: it actually seems to be more of a decoration, being constructed out of cobbles with intricate patterns within (where the cobbles haven’t broken-out, that is). There seems to be no sense of discipline at this roundabout and negotiating it via whatever means requires nerves of steel & 360 degree vision. To add to the confusion, there’s also a petrol station with 2 pumps within the roundabout, and when we where there yesterday (about midday), there was a refuelling tanker there to add to the chaos. Wonderful.
The market seems to be THE place to buy stuff. Forget supermarkets (at least the Italian versions); everyone does the weekly shopping at the market. We managed to buy 2 melons, a load of small courgettes, and a bag of new potatoes for €2.50. You don’t get melons like these in Tesco.
On the subject of food, Italian bread is NOT to die for. It’s dire. Tasteless, and – unless eaten within 30 minutes of being baked – rock hard and liable to remove the skin from the roof of your mouth. On the other hand, bags of strong flour and fresh yeast are readily available in the shops, so Joy has taken to baking our own. Smells just like pizza dough when its in the oven, and tastes a whole lot better than the “pane” (pronounced paa-ne) you would buy. This has made the purchase & installation of an oven in the motorhome fully justifiable!
Co-incidentally with the market, or possibly in conjunction with it, is the festival of the “Fallen Madonna with the big boobies”. Oh sorry – that was ‘allo, ‘allo. This was the festival of the “Madonna del Carmine”. I must admit, I’ve never heard of her, but she must have been a pretty big noise around these parts as she warrants a 4-day long festival in Vico del Gargano.
We missed the processions; we first heard, then saw the fireworks last night from the campsite (we actually thought it was blasting in a nearby quarry, or military artillery practice. Whatever, it wasn’t very restful.), and – sadly – only caught the last 5 minutes of a performance by the Grande Orchestra di Fiata “G. Ligonzo”. They were very, very good.
Unfortunately, it was now midday and – like everything else – they shut up shop, so we didn’t get to hear much of their performance.
I’m writing this update now on Fri 18. Trouble is, I don’t know when I’ll get a chance to upload it to the blog: the internet connection here is truly useless. Apparently, there’s supposed to be a WiFi hotspot up by the bar. It seems to work within a 2 metre radius of the bar itself. Whilst it’s easy enough to connect to their WiFi point within this range, the onward connection to the internet is the real problem. Far worse even than dial-up modem speeds back home (if that still exists). Sometimes, it’s less than 1Kbps, so trying to upload photos is a frustrating waste of time – even after I’ve doctored them to reduce the file size. So you may end up reading this with the photo placeholders still in place, I’m afraid. (PS: 19/7/14: managed to get the photos uploaded & linked. Yay!)
The motorhome itself has been behaving admirably (apart from the obviously obscene amount of fuel it uses). I can happily confirm that the skylight doesn’t leak when it doesn’t rain. Which it hasn’t done for four days now. However, I think our fresh water tank may now be slightly less than fully watertight, judging from the damp patch on our best Axminster. This was discovered after making 10 or so 100 metre round trips to the nearest water tap to fill our 5 litre container which, in turn, I then poured into our fresh water tank. Whilst this is a really great campsite, it – once again – is not terribly-
well thought-out for motorhomes. None of the taps are within a 20 metre hose length of anywhere we can get the van – not that we can move the van at a moment’s notice. Hence the multiple trips on foot. All helps the fitness levels. But the best shag-pile is still ominously moist.
Stars, bats, sheep, goats, horses & wild boar:
There’s very little light pollution here. When you look at the night sky, you see stars. millions of them. In fact, the view of them is masked only by trees and bats. You never hear the bats, but when you look up at night, they’re constantly flitting between the trees, sometimes within a few metres of your head.They often leave you wondering if you really DID see something just then.
Being somewhat of an eco campsite, they keep a variety of animals here, including half a dozen or so cats & kittens and a 3 week old terrapin in a glass bowl with its own (plastic) palm tree!
There is also a white stallion & a shetland pony to keep it company. There is also a small flock of sheep and 3 goats; these seem to have the run of the campsite and – despite the reputation of goats for eating practically anything – none of our clothes or other belongings have disappeared (yet). But if they do, we’ll have a pretty good idea of who the culprits are.
Allegedly, there’s a wild board kept here too, though (I’m probably glad to say) I haven’t come face-to-face with it yet.