Sorrento

Rain again during the night but clearing up quickly as we surfaced. Our plan today was to visit Sorrento, a little way along the Bay of Naples, and rather than take the van and try to find somewhere to stay, we elected to take the local train which only takes half an hour and costs €2.40. So once again settling Jamie, we walked the few hundred yards to the station, bought tickets and boarded the next train which was only 10 mins – they run every half hour. Whilst waiting we were amused by the colourful train that came the other way.

Colourful trains

 A slightly newer train took us to Sorrento where we left the station and ambled into the town. There's no getting away with it, Sorrento is a holiday town and apart from a couple of museums has nothing cultural going for it. We were fully aware of this of course but as it was on our list of places to see somewhere different was most welcome after the past few days. We wandered around, firstly looking for the shop where Bren bought an inlaid wood side table 40 years ago – it's still there but now under new ownership.

Bay of Naples

A walk through the main square, over the gorge that dissects the town and then down to the viewing point overlooking the front. It is quite a steep cliff down to the actual port/seafront area but as there didn't seem anything worth making the effort for we didn't. Spectacular view of the Bay of Naples though, complete with cruise ship whose passengers were thronging the narrow streets lined with small shops of all descriptions. An ice cream in the hot sun before we headed back to the centre of town and then the railway station to return to Pompeii.

Really a couple of hours was enough to see most of what was on offer; we could have lingered longer but it became a choice of whether to have lunch here or back at the van. The fact we had splurged out last night didn't have anything to do with our decision of course.........

So another rattle-trap of a train, the driver of which appeared to be trying to make up time after leaving two minutes late (it is single track in places so coordination is important), and back to a patient Jamie for lunch and an afternoon of relaxing and planning. With less than two weeks to our booked Channel crossing we want to make sure that we don't have to rush at the last minute so it looks like we'll be starting to head north tomorrow.