Monday 10th June – Prutz, Austria

 

When we chose Camping Sole Neve, we also considered a number of other sites from the ASCI book that were clustered around Lake Caldonazzo and our route. The sun was shining and it was a lovely drive down with extensive views over the lake and the Adige Valley. Caldonazzo and its lake looked really nice and we both thought that a longer stay there would be good at some time in the future.
We drove up the very wide Adige valley and were soon surrounded by the many vineyards of the Trentino Alto Adige that produce many white and red wines. Fruit trees were also in abundance and stalls beside the road sold a wide selection of fruit.
We followed the River Adige until we reached Burgusio (Burgeis) where on our way down we had seen two places of interest – The Monastery of Santa Maria and The Castle of Principe Fürstenburg. The latter is only open for an hour and a half on Mondays and Thursdays and we would have struggled to get there in time, so we decided to just visit the monastery. It is a Benedictine monastery that is still in use but part of it is open to the public, including a museum. We saw two carriages owned by former abbots and visited the impressive church before paying to go into the museum. Some of the exhibits had short explanations in English but most of the information was in Italian and German, the two languages of this area of Italy. This wasn’t a problem as we had been issued with audio guides that were simple to use and the audio was informative and very well read. I am always a little dubious about museums in ecclesiastical buildings as they often consist of robes and precious religious objects and very little else. Yes, this museum did have some of that but there were lots of other objects and good information about the history of the abbey and the Benedictines.
We drove on past two lakes and the source of the River Adige that runs for 415 km before flowing into the Adriatic. The Austrian border came soon after that at the Resia (Reschen) Pass and we were soon following the River Inn that flows north from the pass.
We arrived at Activ-Camping Prutz in the town of Prutz, where we stayed last year, and booked in for a night.
Photos: Lake Caldonazzo; We passed lots of cliffs like this on either side of the Adige valley; Looking up at the Convent of Santa Maria with the Castle of Principe Fürstenburg in the foreground; One small part of the view from the monastery with one of the monks working in the vegetable garden; One of the 12^th century brass knockers from the monastery church doors.

Sunday 9th June 2024 – Carbonare di Folgaria, Italy

 

We were going to visit the Ravenna museum in Classe, a short walk from the camperstop, but it didn’t open until 10:00 and we decided to leave it for our next visit. It was very hot and humid yet again but we were heading for the mountains where we hoped that it would be a little cooler. Our target was Carbonare di Folgaria and the Sole Neve Camping. We always try to vary our routes and this time we drove around Ravenna and up the coast in the direction of Venice. That was an interesting route as we passed wetlands (lots of flamingos and egrets), lagoons and wide rivers. On some of the rivers there were traditional fishing installations – wooden huts with huge square nets suspended over the river on long poles. I really wanted to get a photo of these but there was never anywhere to stop.
We turned inland and, as we approached the mountains, the temperature started to drop. We had forgotten that Sundays are a very popular day for the Italians to go out in the cars and, especially, on their motorbikes. This made the mountain roads and hairpin bends rather interesting with motorbikes overtaking in unreasonable places or appearing on the wrong side of the road on those bends.
We arrived at the campsite with the temperature in the early 20 degrees – bliss! Camping Sole Neve is at 1100 metres amidst beautiful scenery and the white clouds were wreathed around the mountain peaks. We had not had the rain promised by the forecast but, even if it rained now, we were happy.
Much to our surprise, the fridge was cold and the freezer food had refrozen. Obviously, the food had to be thrown away but it appears that the problem was the ambient temperature. Just like us, the fridge found it difficult to cope with temperatures in the 30s!
Photos: Our pitch and view at Sole Neve Camping.

Saturday 8th June 2024 – Ravenna, Italy

 

A little walking around the deck with occasional views of the Italian coast interspersed blog writing and Jane reading entries for the Yeovil Literary Prize. The French Open entertained us later together with following the Bath v Northampton Rugby Premiership Final. The latter was a nail-biter with Bath losing a player to a red card after half an hour and, despite our support, narrowly lost. Still, two years ago Bath were at the bottom of the league, so it has been a great recovery and we have high hopes for next season.
We have never been on a long ferry trip where the seas were so calm. There was not a ripple on the deep blue sea below an endless expanse of blue sky. Sadly, no sightings of dolphins!
The ferry arrived an hour and a half later than scheduled and we were almost the last off the ferry. We then took the motorway to reduce the time it would take us to get to Ravenna in the 30°C heat. We parked in official motorhome parking spaces in the centre of Ravenna on the way out and we now used a similar facility in a car park on the outskirts of Ravenna near the Basilica of St. Apollinare Nuovo in Classe. At €2.25 for 24 hours, it is a popular camperstop but there was plenty of space for us. We had been concerned about the fridge for a few days and weren’t sure whether it was purely the extreme heat or a fault. We were hoping that the cooler conditions at sea (we were parked in the open) might mean that the fridge would recover but it became clear that we had a serious problem and all of the food in the freezer had defrosted, the milk had turned to yoghurt and other food would need to be thrown out.
Photos: Jane enjoying the cruise; Arriving in Ancona.