We don't rush this morning after last night's barrage, but we do find there are two white churches at opposite ends of Lucca so little wonder we got confused last night. We finally leave the aire at 11:00 after a leisurely cooked breakfast and take the autostrada to Florence through some beautiful Tuscan countryside. We arrive at Camping Michelangelo 90 minutes later after our approach takes us past the viewpoint with the famous scene of Florence's rooftops dom...

We are already awake when the cheese plant starts up at 07:00 [not the ubiquitous 70's house flora before anyone thinks it]. It's a bright morning with superb views over the hills. Ali buys some cheese and coloured pasta then we set off for Lucca at 10:15. Snoopy offers two routes; using the autostradas it it 142 miles in 3hr 27min or 89 miles in 3:39 on the SS12. We choose the latter, 70 miles of which turns out to be a continuous ribbon of hills and bends, ...

The rain has stopped but the canal beside the aire has risen and is flowing even faster than yesterday. We are ready to leave at 09:20 but there's a con-flab at the gate over how much to pay and two vans in the way. Eventually it's sorted by an attendant and vans can leave to let the early morning queue come in, and we are through the gate at 09:50 Out of the city we join the autostrada towards Modena because the good, smooth roads will cut 2 hours off our jour...

After last night's storm it is much fresher and there is no haze meaning the colours of the rocks, towns and lake are much more vivid. We could easily stay longer but it's time to move on from this restful place. Ali goes to settle the bill and is surprised to be given a bottle of wine by Luca as, in his words, a thankyou for using his site. There are further goodbyes from our Dutch 'neighbours' and another lady stops for a short chat as we are using the ser...

This morning is cooler and less humid than yesterday. Ali uses the site laundry to catch up on our washing. While we're waiting we plan some routes and places for the next few days. It's lovely to have a morning doing not very much. At midday we go up to the site access road, which is smooth, flat tarmac, so Nick can have a good walk after a few too many days sitting around, then we go into the restaurant for lunch. Our second meal there is every bit as go...