22 days
12 campsites
700 miles
3 breakdowns
1 Argument

Delayed post…..Great night out of food in Barcelona, followed by staying the night in Jono’s apartment in town, dad and Dave up and off to sort camper, I stayed in town for some tapas lunch, another great tapas. Waved goodbye Jono and Frida for potentially a year (more of that in another post), back to campsite to join boys, find them asleep after boozy lunch, more work to camper, get cross with Faulty Towers campsite – they seem to find customers an inconvenience, get 22nd insect bite so hide in camper for evening eating underdone pasta, wake up preparing to take ferry to Italy that evening, Dave not in good mood, day gets worse, dad realises he missed flight, book him another flight, pay up at campsite and leave to go to port, get lost on route, Dave gets a bit crosser, go for drink in town near port and some dinner, realise mistake on ferry booking, Dave gets even crosser, wave goodbye to dad in a hurry, dash to port to try and sort, allowed on ferry but have to pay fee again, can’t afford cabin so in seats, Spanish ticket vendor immune to my frustrated tears, ferry leaves 2hrs late at midnight, huge cruise ship with more staff than passengers, we turn to wine for comfort, we find seats and make camp beds, sleep really well, I get up and spend day on deck, think i saw dolphin but might have been a big brown fish (TBC), watched the lorry drivers perve at girls in bikinis, Dave sleeps for 18hours, wakes up less cross, I accidentally eat veal for dinner on ferry, learn the Italian for veal, get food poisoning from cottaletta, spend 24hrs in agony and still no better, ferry gets in late, driving in dark new adventure, decide a hotel is needed, find sweet Italian hotel, have a wonderful night of sleep in a bed, delicious breakfast, wake up happy (yes even Dave), all crassness over with we get on the road to Rome, see about 20 prostitutes lining the road with no underwear and short skirts/t-shirts (raised eyebrows), arrive at Flaminia Campsite, get deal for 20EUR per night all in, amazing pool with cocktail bar etc, bathrooms nicer than ours at home with classical music playing and a ladies ‘beauty area’, wonderful restaurant and bar – giddy we have finally found a place to unwind, head into Rome – train from campsite takes 15 mins to centre of town, go to Vatican City, visit Basilica and Sistine chapel, see a lot of Roman stuff for Dave, amazing sites and history, wonder around town, find Little restaurant in backstreet for dinner, come across more American tourists than Italians, try and speak only Italian to order food, end up with 2 puddings each have to hide some in backpack, back to campsite, sleep great, wake up planning no plans, I cycle to shops and get supplies, spend day by pool…..really feel like we are on holiday/honeymoon…..Colosseum tomorrow….and all smiles!

Heard an American group in restaurant call to the waitress ‘check!’….she innocently replies; ‘no but i did once work in Prague’…priceless.

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