Colloritto to Pisa was the first step – very straightforward on the map but in practice winding through minor roads and small towns which all had their own traffic lights to make sure everyone took the longest time to transit. On to the autostrada from Florence to Pisa where traffic whizzed along at 70+ mph and to Pisa Airport where we were congratulating ourselves for arriving in good time. Too soon for congratulations. We entered the airport behind a large bus which had to halt because some people had left cars parked in the roadway. Streams of traffic bunched up behind us, waiting patiently at first for the cars to move, then increasingly annoyed as the minutes passed and no-one appeared. After 15 minutes- seeming like hours – sitting immediately behind the bus, with hundreds of horns blasting behind us – Kelli took drastic action, driving up onto the footpath beside the bus and squeezing past with about 1 cm to spare. Others followed that route but progress was very slow and when we last passed that area the blockage still applied and the horns still blasted, with only a few of the small cars able to squeeze through the gap that Kelli had pioneered. After that, Pisa to Coventry by plane was a breeze, although clouds blocked our view until almost there when we could see the hedgerows and the varying outlines of the green fields of midland England.
Coventry
Highlights of Coventry? A service at the Cathedral, a beautiful modern building which is alongside the ruins of the original, destroyed by bombs during the war.
Lovely modern stained glass and an almost empty church. Why? England were playing in round three of the World Cup and 99.9% of England were glued to the TV. The noisiest part of them emerged after the game ( narrowly won), waving flags, shouting and wandering all over the roads- so we bought a takeaway meal and retired quietly and safely to our room. Next morning we discovered that there were other pests as we both had pretty but uncomfortable patterns of bites from bed-bugs. On to Newcastle, via Harrogate where we stopped for a cream tea at Betty’s – justly famous.
Newcastle on Tyne.
We stayed in South Shields with Stephanie ( an old workmate of Kelli’s from London) and husband Peter. Their house was on the seafront and our third floor room had a fantastic outlook over the gardens and coastline, together with a telescope to focus on the many ships coming in to port, including ferries from Norway and Holland. A really good place to stay as we enjoyed some long walks along the coast – very rugged and dotted with places of past shipwrecks
– and exploration of Newcastle which is developing through a revitalization of the city centre and the riverfront, including a pedestrian Millennium Bridge, with a dramatic arch which can tilt to allow river traffic to pass underneath.
Our next saga takes us from Newcastle to Lindisfarne or Holy Island, on to Glasgow were we parted from the car, by train to Oban, ferry to the Isle of Mull, bus across Mull, ferry from Mull to Iona, and by foot to our lodgings in the rebuilt abbey, first begun in 563 AD! Iona was fascinating. But my time is up so that will have to wait for the next installment.
