Monday 19th May

A fine day again & we took the opportunity to visit Deruta, which is known for its ceramics. We followed Freya in her rented Mercedes & it was quite hard to keep up in the Bambi. Unfortunately Dick’s left knee was playing up badly so operating the clutch was very painful but after a couple of detours we made it. Luckily he is gradually mastering the car & the local driving habits. Sadly the road surfaces leave a lot to be desired in many places & the driving style is pretty adventurous. The old town is lined with shops selling majolica, which didn’t appeal strongly to either of us but we had a fine coffee in the main piazza & admired the architecture & the cleanliness of the place. The town is suffering from a dearth of tourists so it is rather sad for all the locals.

We returned to another excellent lunch at the villa & then had a very slack afternoon before adjourning to a local restaurant for dinner. The pressure is really getting to us.

Off to the little Bodega chasing Freya again. Here we had a most unusual meal starting with ante paste which was delicious & then each choosing what we thought was a main course. d*** had smoked herring & the ladies all had beef tendons & we all got a surprise. The tendons were pieces of chopped gristle in a bowl of corn & other vegetables served tepid & the fish was tiny chunks of the herring marinated in a very spicy chilli sauce served with bread & butter. d*** was the only satisfied customer I think.