Pineto – Castel San Pietro Terme – Porlezza

Pineto to Castel San Pietro Terme to Porlezza - 423 miles

Sunday and Monday had been designated chill-out days so once we'd got the domestics out of the way that's precisely what we did. Once the “locals” had gone home the site was quiet and peaceful, except of course when Jamie decided other dogs were infiltrating “his” space as were the lizards and occasional squirrel! He got himself locked away in the van a couple of times, but he also got plenty of walks especially on the beach which was almost deserted. Unfortunately it was very stony and also quite steep and when we threw his ball it rolled straight into the sea and disappeared – it shelved quickly and there looked to be a strong undertow, which probably explained the lack of bathers. Monday evening we went to the site pizzeria and enjoyed freshly cooked pizza, but it seems only Terry got what was actually ordered, the others got sort of their orders but not quite what was expected. Never mind it was all enjoyed as a last meal together.

Look carefully, one of Jamie's targets!

Because it was really time to move on. Derek and June had decided to stay over a few days and we had got our route and itinerary roughly planned to give us a couple of days leeway just in case. So Tuesday saw a somewhat tearful departure and we headed for the autostrada. Named the Adriatico, this pretty well follows the coast, by-passing the towns and villages of course and is in much better condition than the ordinary road so it was really a no-brainer. Despite the (reasonable) toll charges we think after taking account of the fuel saved, not to mention the wear and tear on the van suspension, it worked out cheaper overall. We did drop off for a short while to sort out some shopping and lunch.

Farno - the old gate

Approaching Rimini the clouds got very dark and before long we were in a torrential downpour which flooded, and almost stopped, the autostrada. Cars, trucks and motorcycles were pulling onto the hard shoulder to take shelter under the bridges but we managed to carry on, albeit at around 20 mph, until we'd cleared the rain. A little later we left the autostrada and headed cross-country to the small town of Castel San Pietro Terme where there was a free sosta which we found quite easily although it was almost full of parked cars. Unfortunately this is a hazard with free parking but we've found it usually clears around teatime, which was the case here.

After a quiet night we rejoined the autostrada for the next leg which was to take us into Switzerland. The route involved passing the major centres of Bologna and Milan, where there was also a significant meeting of major roads so it was very busy, but Italians don't do traffic jams so it was also a bit hectic. Our short sojourns off these main arteries, for fuel and sustenance, were a bit of a relief but we survived with only one waved fist – well we think it was his fist.........

So into Switzerland, again with a minimum of formality. It had been a little difficult choosing an overnight stop; there are few aires/sostas in Switzerland and ACSI wasn't well represented in our intended area, around Lugano. However there were a couple of places around 17km to the east so we headed there, only to pop back into Italy again – Lugano and it's very attractive lake extends the Swiss border in a narrow peninsular south into Italy.

Lugano

Lake Lugano

The lake from the campsite

Porlezza is a small holiday town on the shore of Lake Lugano with a couple of nice campsites. Our choice was on the lakeside and although a goodly number of pitches were occupied by permanent units it was quite quiet – well until Jamie started his tricks again! Can't really blame him though, he'd been cooped up in the van for 2 days. We booked in for just the one night.