The plan today was to head to Lerici and hopefully get the ferry to Cinque Terre but we all got up a bit late after last night's excess. Once again we had stayed up late. That said we were going to give it a go. Tim Davies had hired a Fiat 500 and so we squeezed into that...the Land Rover's spare wheel was wrecked and so we thought it best to use the Hairdresser car in case of punctures. Again it was a nice day and a pleasant drive to Lerici. We parked up and had a wander down the impressive seafront. It's always a pleasure to walk across this promenade. We'd just managed to miss the ferry and the next one wasn't due until 2.30pm but would then take a few hours to get down the coast so we agreed we'd give it a miss and take in the local surroundings instead. We grabbed a coffee and watched life go by, which is always a good thing to do in Italy. The marina was full of boats and makes you wonder why people bother having them if they're not going to take them out, especially on a day like this?

We then took a stroll up the hill to the nearby Castle and very interesting it was...well it would have been if we could have got in, it was just closing for lunch, the busy people who worked there told us it would reopen at 4pm.....nice work. So rather than me go on about it, here's a link which will give you far more information than I possibly could: http://www.liguriaguide.com/lerici-cast le.html . It was good fun walking around the exterior though and we did get to see some great views. Again, if you're ever in this area check it out. The weather was stunning and we all thought it time to get in the sea for a swim so we walked around the castle and found a little bay and dived in. The water was a bit colder than I thought it would be but didn't cause anaphylactic shock, which was a result.

Lunch was on a veranda below the castle overlooking the bay. It doesn't really get much better than this does it ? We sipped some wine and ordered the seafood and very good it was too. I dare say that if it had been anywhere else, we'd have been filling in Mortgage applications to pay the bill, but this being Italy it was very reasonable. Suitably bloated we headed back to Casa Lucia to catch the last heat of the afternoon and blob by the pool. Once again the ale and Vino collapso appeared as if by magic and another evening was spent having a giggle. Tim Davies would be leaving tomorrow to head back to Blighty for his son's birthday party and so it was a quieter night...even for me, Rhid kept the party going though and I'm not sure what time he hit the hay.