sunday 20th May update

Sunday 20^th May. I noticed that all my recent blog entries have been deleted. Maybe someone at ‘internet GHQ’ thought my penalty shoot out references were racist. Hopefully this update might correct matters. Great technicians and penalty takers them Germans also make excellent motorhomes. Weather disappointing dull and occasional showers.

Saturday 19^th May. Keeping this blog up to date is a bit like making entries in the nursing notes of  recovering patients in the 70’s…..inclined to merely write ‘good day’ or ‘slept well’. However will steer clear of that……as on occasions such entries were made when the patient had been AWOL for a number of days. There always does seem to be something to write about. A bit cooler today a mere 20c so went on bike ride. After a couple of miles Barbara said she spotted a sign saying Villasimius 7 kilometres. Since this is our intended next stopover we decided to go and review the campsite. Big mistake it was a round trip of 35 miles along a mountainous coast. A bit like trying to cycle the Big One at Blackpool. Still Villasimius had a spectacular coastline, town wasn’t up to much and the campsite was empty and nothing special. The ride made us hungry so we bought two Panini’s at a café. These were merely heated ham rolls that tasted like cardboard. I always thought that Panini’s were football cards that kids swapped with each other in the 90’s. Should have swapped my David Beckham for Steven Gerrard might have been tastier. Returned to campsite and after several hours on his own Pickles had done his Keith Moon / Rock Star trick and trashed his ‘room’. He does this regularly as a protest to being left alone, he tips up his water bowl and empties his food dish all over the floor. I swear if there’d been a TV in the van it would have ended up in the pool.

Evening… went to watch the Chelsea v B. Munich final. Initially was quite neutral (dislike J. Terry) but as the match progressed and the bar filled up with Germans I found myself wishing for a Chelsea victory. What a delight an English side beating a German one on penalties. The bar emptied, lots of packamacs over heads and references to ‘returning next year’.

Friday 18^th May, Settled on to site, its in a great location. 50yds from a lagoon where we can watch the pink flamingo’s feeding during the day, sometimes they fly over the campsite to land on the water. Beach is only 100yds away and it’s a beautiful long stretch of sand. A lovely location and an excellent site with a good sized pool and flat shaded pitches. There’s a camp shop and a supermarket a mile away. However we’re missing economy supermarkets like Lidl. Its also noticeable that the ‘resorts’ seem a bit slow to get going for the season with very few bars and restaurants open. Good day on beach.

Thursday 17^th May

Reversed left, right, left, forward, left, back etc. Wasn’t made easy by the campsite workman who seems hell bent on digging a moat around our van. Still, he put down his tools and helped me negotiate past his wheelbarrow. Nice of him. Overall we enjoyed this site and its quietness and closeness to the beach. Headed further south past Muravera looked at three sites. First one was quite commercial, Canvas holidays had a set up there, lots of building work going on. Internet charges excessive and charges to take a shower (Camping 4 Mori). Second one ( Torre Salinas was nice but basic). Hit the jackpot with the third (Le Dune) in Costa Rey. Nice pool, next to sea, internet reasonable and the woman gave us 1 euro off the ACSI rates. Only concern is where are the shops!

Wednesday. 16^th May  Strange morning, clear blue skies and bright sunshine but really powerful winds coming down the mountains. The wind dropped about mid day so a couple of hours spent on the beach.

Over the last few years we have become increasingly aware of our popularity with our European ‘friends’ this is clearly evident on this site. There is one other van on this site that measures 300metres x 100 m, however 2 separate German vans arrived today and immediately parked either side of us, each one approximately 10 feet away. This will make reversing out difficult tomorrow.

Tuesday 15^th May  was a lovely day, about 22c, spent a good 3 hours on beach and had a nice swim. Later we went to the supermarket. Started to worry when Barbara walked past the baby bottles and teats section!  Returned to site about 6pm and cycled south down Lido di Orri. It was surprising to see that the road went on for some miles and all the way along there were small deserted coves and beaches each with its own bar. We spotted a German van ‘wild camping’ on a beach car park and we priced the motorhome sosta (equivalent to French Aire) which worked out at around 12 euros with electric and showers. Campsite at 16 euros still seems better deal.

Monday 14^th May was quite windy and the wind was a bit cold. We managed to find  our own cove, protected by the winds and spent a nice relaxing couple of hours there. Went for a walk with Pickles in the buggy, starting to worry about Barbara and this baby buggy thing…she’s started to put Pickles ‘down’ in it for his afternoon nap.

On Sunday 13^th May. morning a Dutch Rally arrived made up of about 20+ vans. They immediately surrounded us and plugged in to our electric box….everything blew. It was now getting like Wagontrain but good humoured. Everyone was friendly but we were reassured that they were only here for one night. Temperature today, Sunday, 30c. Took a swim in the afternoon (Pickles had a morning and an evening one). Then went off to Tortoli on bikes (Pickles in tow behind). Watched second half of the amazing Man City v QPR game in a bar then returned to site. Elderly Dutch couple next door enquired about the Childs buggy outside our van? No internet access on site but man on reception believes I am very important and have to contact my office so has promised me 5 mins on his computer. Difficult to load photies but will try on next site.

Saturday 12^th May.

We left Camping Tamerici on Saturday after 2 lovely days in temperatures of around mid 70’s. The boat trip to Sardinia was uneventful but interesting. Instructions stated that dogs must be put in the kennels provided and when these are full other dogs are allowed to go on the upper decks but must be muzzled. We followed all the other dog lovers and it was soon obvious that rules are there to be broken. No dogs were muzzled. The kennels were all empty. Dogs were in the lower decks sat in the restaurant and even sat at the bar ordering drinks! So much for the £9 muzzle we bought! There were no seats on the upper deck so we dashed back down to the van and took our La Fuma recliners up to enjoy the cruise. Pickles loved the boat trip, he’s been on lots but he’s usually locked down below in the car. He enjoyed watching all of the goings on.

We docked in Sardinia after 7 hours. We then drove about 120 miles to Tortoli mid way down the eastern side. There was hardly any traffic on the road, we stopped in Nuoro for some provisions but then couldn’t get back on the Tortoli road due to a deviation which we finally got around. The countryside looked green, with steep mountains and forests. The final leg to Tortolli was quite winding with lots of hairpin bends but fortunately all downhill. The actual campsite we chose is in Lido di orri. It is quite a big site and occupied by two other vans a Swiss couple and a German couple. It’s a lovely location right on a beautiful deserted beach. The only downside is the 3 amp electric which means we cant use most of our electric items.