It was great to get back on the bike and "on the road again", (Sung in your best Willy Nelson voice). So after spending a week in Lucca sorting things out and enjoying an Italian spring we said goodbye to our friends and headed for the hills. The mountains to the north of Lucca were like nothing we had seen in Italy before and we thoroughly enjoyed them, the forests were lush and the views spectacular. We were heading to Modena first and then onto Maranello to th...

After 9 weeks back home in Perth, Julie and I spent 28 hours traveling by plane, train and automobile back to our second home in Lucca Italy to find a country that was nothing like we had left. With good rains and sun in the later part of winter and the beginning of spring, everything is green and growing, all the trees now have leaves again and the grasses are two feet tall, and the air is cleaner with little to no burning off happening and the need for heating...

We have been here in Lucca for a while now. We fill in our days meditating, exercising, reading, writing our journal and going for walks. We are at the foot of some mountains, so there is ample opportunity to go bush walking, but most days we just walk the local streets. Most days are clear with blue skies, but daytime temperatures are usually between 9 and 13, but some days it doesn't get above 7. Most nights are around minus 2, but we have had as low as minu...

We're back in Lucca now after having a wonderful English Christmas with my sister and her family and my auntie, cousin and his family, I think that is right, it all gets complicated. There were seventeen for Christmas lunch, we had it in a marquee in my cousin's backyard, fortunately it was heated. The spread of food he and his wife put on was amazing and we had all the trimmings with Christmas tree, lights, drinks, Christmas music and we all even received a pres...

After Catania we decided we had had enough of big cities and their noise, dirt, rubbish and graffiti, so we headed for Agrigento where we knew there were some Greek ruins. We tried to avoid traffic by taking back roads and staying off the main roads, it didn't really work. At Agrigento we found a caravan park with a cabin and good Internet were we booked into for two nights. After settling in we went for a walk to the harbor for coffee and cake. The next day we c...