May 31st 2010

Sorry, I have this post out of order, (second time I have done that!) I blame it on my age!

Ceriale – Camping Baciccia – ACSI2010-1735 – continued

Monday, we decide to explore further south along the coast, and cycle through Borghetto Santo Spirito, Loana, Pietre Ligure, 16 miles there and back.

This section of coast is a bit more "up market" than Ceriale and Albenga. There is a lot of money (EU money, from the signs), being spent upgrading it. They are building a promenade all along the coast, it will be beautiful, assuming the money does not run out before they finish it!

There is the inevitable church to explore, the inside is typically ornate Italian, and 

there is a very unusual "artwork", made of coloured sand. 

In addition to the resort, there is an "old town" at Pitre Ligure, with pretty Piazzas, and quaint narrow streets, much nicer than the resort in my humble opinion.

May 29th 2010 - May 30th 2010

Ceriale – Camping Baciccia – ACSI2010-1735 – continued



We (Kathleen and I) cycle to Alassio and back, (16 miles).


Going there is flat as far as Albenga, but then a slow but steady climb, with a final downhill stretch.

Alassio was presumably once a fishing village, but has since become a resort.

From memory it was a popular destination for Brits in the late 1950’s, but now mass tourism has passed it by.


We have a beer to fortify us for the climb back up the hill. We are asked if we want small of medium. We opt for medium, which turns out to be about pint size, but we get, crisps, salted nuts, tuna salad, palma ham, garlic sausage, and bread, as well. It costs 8Euro, but not bad for a mini meal and two pints!

The climb out of Alassio is quite steep, the photograph probably does not show just how steep.

Kathleen is not actually visible, she is just in front of the white car (on the right) and two motorcycles, pedaling valiantly. She makes it to the top, with not a word of complaint.

You have probably noticed that we have not had a hair care day for a while.

Well today is a double dose.

Not only is it hair washing and straightening, but both Joan and Kathleen require the hair colouring to be topped up.

So today it is the full works, colouring, washing, drying, straightening.

Please do not assume that they have any grey hairs of course, they are simply having a tint, to enhance their natural hair colour, becuase the bright sunlight has faded their hair. (No I don't believe that either).

Bryan, comes out of retirement, (he was at some point in his working life a ladies hairdresser), to attend to their needs, and soon has a hairdressing salon going under our awning. Much to the amusement of passers by.

Once hairdressing tasks are completed, evening meals eaten, and skype calls made, we settle down to an evening of Red Wine and Rose Wine.

I feel I should point out that the photographs of the hairdressing have been published at considerable personal risk. Joan in particular is very sensitive about this, and has threatened me with personal injury if I publish the blog containing these photographs. Her threats mean I dare not fall asleep in the sun, in case she performs surgery on me with a blunt knife.

Sunday, church as usual, this means a cycle ride into Ceriale.

While the girls are at church, Bryan and I, retire to a pavement cafe for coffee.

We are eventually joined by Kathleen and Joan, which of course means that the drinks switch to wine.

The cafe does not do meals, only nibbles, so we move on to a restaurant for lunch.

The restaurant is called "Il Restaurante Grotti", but it does not live up to it's name, because we have an excellent meal. Joan, Bryan and Kathleen all have pasta in one form or another whilst I have swordfish.

The Waiter (in the blue shirt), and the Chef (far right), see photographs below, do not speak any English, but we manage to get by in German, French and Italian (from Bryan's phrase book). It all works, because we end up with a meal each, copious amounts of alcohol, and a sweet, the end price being 80Euro including the tip.

In addition to an excellent meal, which takes up most of the afternoon, we have a good old laugh. The girls in particular become typical "Brits abroad" as the amount of alcohol consumed increases (wine at the cafe, Campari while studying the menu, Wine with the meal, followed by a couple of complimentary drinks, the name of which I have forgotten).

Just to complete the line up, the chap in the middle with his arms around the women, is the owner, whilst the chap in the red shirt was another diner, who just joined in the photograph.

We eventually wobble our way back to the campsite on our bikes, and Kathleen, in singing mood, entertains a little Italian girl, whose name is Julia.

May 28th 2010

Ceriale – Camping Baciccia – ACSI2010-1735 - continued

Friday starts overcast but warm, We cycle into Albenga, which is quite a large town. It is an Italian seaside resort, but not a package tour destination.

It has an extensive medieval centre, with numerous piazzas joined together by dozens of very narrow streets and alleys.

After the exploring we retire to a bar for a much needed drink (what a surprise).

We are served with beers which are 7.4% alcohol, quite strong stuff. We are also given salted nuts, olives and crisps as part of the deal. There is much discussion of why it is, that, in the UK, we cannot have 24hours drinking, without the streets being awash with vomit and drunks, but in the rest of Europe, they can drink all day and all night, with never a sight of a drunk.


In the afternoon, we have lunch and relax (quite how it is possible to relax, when doing nothing in the first place, is a good question).


While Bryan practices his Saxaphone, Joan does watercolour painting, and Kathleen does the crossword, I read yesterdays Daily Mail and ponder I gain from these campervan trips to various countries.


One obvious point is the exposure to other languages, and I feel I am beginning to become proficient in a second language. Unfortunately, the second language is not French, Spanish, Italian or German, no it is FemaleSpeak.


I have become fluent in a few phrases (of FemaleSpeak), which I will share with you, and which may be of particular interest to any male readers.


“Do you fancy a cup of tea” – translation – “Would you like to get up from your seat, where you are reading the newspaper, and put the kettle on, because I would like a cup of tea and do not want to interrupt my crossword puzzle”


“Goodness! It is four o’clock already” – translation – “it is time to begin preparing the evening meal, but I am doing my crossword, so would you care to stop whatever you are doing and prepare some vegetables, cut up the meat etc etc”


“I will make a cup of tea” – translation – “I will put the kettle on, then I will play my guitar and forget all about the tea, in the meantime, you can wash the dishes, dry them, put them away, finish making the tea, and bring me a cup”


“I feel thirsty” (usually spoken when lying on sun lounger) – translation – “will you put down your book, at this interesting point in the story, pour me a drink, preferably cool and alcoholic, and put it down in easy reach of my right hand, so that I do not need to move”.

After our evening meal (and putting the kettle on), Kathleen entertains anyone who within earshot.

May 25th 2010 - May 27th 2010

Port Grimaud – Les Prairies de La Mer – ACSI2010-1523 - continued

Tuesday, Bryan and Joan, and Bob and Gina are packing to leave tomorrow, heading their separate ways.



I visit a bar/restaurant (Le Jardin de la Mer), which Joan had noticed was offering free internet access. When I arrived (at about 15:00), the place was just closing for the afternoon, but for the price of a beer, I was given the password for the Wifi, and a seat on the veranda, where I was able to download photographs and prepare this as a draft for free, instead of at the extortionate prices offered by the campsite for wifi.


On my return from the bar, I find that, Joan, has been instructing Kathleen and Gina in the art of cake making using the Remoska. The area around our vans is pervaded with the smell of cakes baking, plenty of jealous people I think.


We have a Date and Walnut cake, made by Kathleen, under supervision from Joan, and a German Apple Cake made by Joan, with Kathleen and Gina under instruction. Recipes and instructions are carefully noted and Bob and I look forward to a future rich in beautifully made cakes.

The German Apple Cake is demolished as our joint sweet. The Date and Walnut cake is halved between the Cricks and ourselves. Joan generous as ever shares her half with Bob and Gina, so far Kathleen has not even shared our half with me!


Wednesday, and they all leave, so now we are surrounded by empty spaces, until at about midday, a Swiss Caravanning couple arrive, and an Italian couple in a Campervan shortly afterwards.

The first two slices of Date and Walnut cake are eaten at lunch time. It is superb. Kathleen is going to be unbearable now that she has added cake making to her many skills!

Dana is an accomplished cake maker, I can only assume that the skill must be a gene which has been dormant in Kathleen, but passed on to Dana, it has somehow now been activated in Kathleen (I hope permenantly).

I return to the bar/restaurant, and buy myself a large beer so that I can use the internet again (it is a hard life), continue with the blog and top up my mobile phone just in case I need to make calls to Houston, since so far, our pending new arrival has not arrived.



Wednesday, and they all leave, so now we are surrounded by empty spaces, until at about midday, a Swiss Caravanning couple arrive.

Thursday, we finish our packing and get on the road to Italy. As usual we stay off the motorway as much as possible, but on this route it is a mistake, once in Italy, the coast road through places such as San Remo is a torturous road with heavy traffic, and motor scooters taking suicidal risks to overtake. It may cost 20Euro to bypass it on the motorway, but it is worth it.

Ceriale – Camping Baciccia – ACSI2010-1735

It is very busy when we arrive. Fortunately Bryan and Joan have reserved us a pitch. The owner supervises me reversing on to it. It is so tight I have to remove the bikes from the bike rack, to gaion an extra metre of room. But evetually I am on the pitch, getting off again might be another story!

Monday 25th May 2009 - Tuesday 26th May 2009

Bungalow Camping Baciccia, Ceriale/Savona (ACSI2009-1469) N44.08164 E8.21777

After scanning the ASCI book, we decide to head to Ceriale, we stayed in this area last year with Joan and Bryan, on our way home from Croatia via Venice.

The route is simple, mostly motorway, and there is little cause for argument with the satnav, but on leaving the motorway, we find the toll booth is unmanned (fairly common in Italy). Since we are driving a Van with the steering wheel on the “wrong” side, handling the tolls is the passenger’s task. Problem one is I fail to get near enough to the machine so that the boss can reach the buttons for the machine from her seat. So she has to scramble out of the cab to get near enough to the machine, minus her glasses of course. The machines are quite neat, and “speak” the instructions as to which buttons to press and how much you need to pay. The instructions or course are in Italian, and on this particular machine the button to switch to English instructions clearly did not work, and it just kept on issuing instructions in Italian. This led to an argument between the Boss and the toll machine, picture if you will an irate Kathleen shouting at a toll machine which of course continued to repeat the same Italian phrase over and over.

Last year when we were in this area, we stayed at a site called Bella Vista, so we decided to try the other site in the area. In our view it is better than Bella Vista, one advantage is that it is not as far up the hill, so cycling back from the supermarket with a full pack is much less hard work!

Today we set off to cycle to Allasio, which according to our map reading is about 7 miles north of here along the coast. Enroute we had to pass through Albenga (about 4 miles away). This was a pleasantly surprising place. It is a “working” town, rather than a tourist destination, but is has an a very old section, with a labyrinth of narrow streets. It looks Arabic, but according to the information in the museum it is Byzantine (what ever that is). There is also a 4th century church dedicated to John the Baptist, with murals and a full immersion font all amazingly well preserved considering their age.