Liguria and the Piedmont, May 2018

[Pauline]

Saturday May 26 2018 - Leaving

One last coffee at an Autogrill on the autostrada. Coming into Milan I was navigating and made a bad call, so instead of autostrada all the way to the airport (Linate), we drove into Milan! I blame the inconsistent signs and my lack of attention because I was putting away the change from paying at the toll booth. Plus the bloody satnav could have been more clear.

Thick traffic and an extra 30 minutes of driving, but we saw a bit of Milan outskirts. We had left an extra hour in our schedule so reached the airport in plenty of time. The flight home was less than 2 hours. We were out of Heathrow quickly and the Saturday afternoon holiday weekend traffic was good. We made it home in under 3 hours.

Sunny and warm here. Everything is green and blooming, including my new hedge which looks fabulous.

Autogrill

• Pauline
• May 27, 2018
• italy

The artistry of the sugar bowl.

Back home in Dorset

• Pauline
• May 27, 2018

The new hedge grew in while we were away.

 

[Ian Sutton]

Hi Pauline
If it helps, we're often confused by the directions following toll booths, as you need to be going for the right lane immediately as you pass through the barrier - indeed with experience of the route, we'd be choosing a specific booth to make life easier. Saying that I think it might be just the once we've taken the wrong turning in such situations. However rather embarrassingly, we did turn onto a toll road by mistake in Aosta, took the next turning (after maybe 10km), came back on the normal roads.... then proceeded to make exactly the same mistake at the same junction! Thankfully we're mostly chilled about such situations, preferring to laugh at our mistakes (which we did for the length of both mistakes), and always remembering that a wrong turning invariably does not take you off a cliff, or into the gates of hell (unless it days Slough on the signpost).

Regards
Ian

 

[Ian Sutton]

p.s. garden looking very green
I've been busy in ours today, digging up some herbs and elephant garlic to give away, plus planting more peas, calabrese, zucchini, tomatoes and sweetcorn. The last pot-housed bulbs came out today as well.

Also fun to look at the overgrown starling chicks nagging their parents to be fed from the fatballs / filled coconut. They'll be kicked out the nest very soon I think!

 

[Pauline]

Thankfully we're mostly chilled about such situations

Steve would like to point out that I am not the least bit chilled in these situations!! I like to beat myself up about it for an hour and then look for other people to blame.

My garden full of birds deserted me because there has been no seed for the last 3 weeks. It is out there now waiting for them!

 

[Valerie]

Just catching up on your trip...looks beautiful there, and very walker-friendly!