Jeff: We arrived at the house sit! The holiday begins

The ferry ride wasn’t too bad and the time did fly thanks to our books, the laptop and all the food we packed. Once we arrived at Livorno we managed to get off the boat and headed in land on the toll road for about an hour before arriving at a camperstop in Vinci where we settled in for the evening, after chatting to a British motorhomer. The next morning we got up and managed to service the van ready for the house sit before heading to the supermarket to get some supplies before heading to Monte Santa Maria Tiberina where we will be for around 3 and a half weeks. We got off the toll road and quickly got pulled in by the police. I was worried at first because Rich had driven off from the toll station while I was still doing up my seatbelt, as I need to take it off to reach the machines and pay the tolls but we soon realised it was a standard quick check, and maybe a training session for one of the officers, and once we presented our documents they waved us on our way. We then started the drive up to the hill and what a hill it is we were soon over 400 meters up and still going but on unpaved roads. Finally just shy of 500 meters up we found the house and parked up the van on the drive and went to see the owners. We will be staying here to look after Daisy who is a lovely labradoodle and a little old lady now. We do love looking after her and she is so sweet.

We unpacked for the rest of the day and got ourselves familiar with the house and gardens which are stunning. The views out in the valley are great and we look forward to exploring the areas.

The next morning we took a drive further up the hill to the town of Monte Santa Maria Tiberina (MSM) where we found the one little restaurant that also doubled up as the town shop and the old cobbled streets leading to even better views than the house has. Afterwards we headed to the nearest town which is Citta di Castello which is around 15 minutes away where there are supermarkets, cafes, restaurants and shops. We got some food in and found out where the key services were before heading back to the house for the afternoon. Rich decided he wanted to see what the cycle from the house to the ridge, which led to MSM was like, and quickly regretted it as not only was it steep but lots of it were unpaved gravel which made cycling up it really difficult. We did make it up and cycled across the ridge for a portion of it but this was still hilly than we had expected and Rich was ready to head back so back down the hill we went, not as fast as normal as the gravel really is difficult to cycle on. Back at the house Rich went out for a test drive with the owner so he could get used to driving their car as we will be using that while out here and we will be driving them to the airport tomorrow. It was a quiet weekend for us really but it was nice after the non-stop of Sardinia to have a couple of days to sort out our things and get ourselves sorted including getting all the washing done.

On the Sunday we headed to the airport in the early afternoon to drop off the owners for their flight and then picking up Rich’s parents who were coming out to join us for 11 days. This seemed to go fairly smoothly and we got home in time for a late dinner, which I had cooked before leaving, and a glass of wine before we headed to bed.

The next morning we got up and headed out to the main town to show Karen and David around and get some food for us all to eat over the next few days. Being vegan we always end up at multiple supermarkets to get everything we need so we headed to a couple of different ones but managed to get everything before heading back to the house to relax for the rest of the day.

The following day we headed up to show Karen and David around MSM and then headed back to Citta di Castello to look around the old town and the different sites it had to offer, getting lost in the little streets before stopping for a coffee and then heading back to the house.

The following day Rich and I decided to try our first run and for all of you who read this regularly you know I HATE running up hills and given that we are ¾ of the way up a hill we have a little problem. Its not like it’s a little hill either, we are nearly 500 meters up and MSM is around 600 meters up so no matter what there will be some up hill running but we had to look at how to reduce that as much as possible for me. We had a little brainwave and we decided that Rich would ride my bike down to the 5km mark and I would run down, he would then run up and as crossed paths he would hand me the key and once I reached the bike I could unlock it and cycle back up. Well it didn’t go to badly. I made it down (including running up the hills that I came across) and got to the bike fine and cycled up, passing Rich on the way and made it back to the house and set up the area to stretch before he got back. We then showered and had breakfast before heading out to Lake Trasimeno for the afternoon. Unfortunalty we missed the boat we were aiming for due to traffic on the roads but we went to a couple of the different towns surrounding the lake including Passignano sul Trasimeno which was a cute old town and a great view point we climbed the 102 stairs to. After a nice stop in a café we headed back to see Daisy and relax for the evening.

On Thursday Rich and his parents headed into Florence for the day while I stayed at the house with Daisy and enjoyed the sunshine. We relaxed by the pool and chilled inside when it got a little hot outside. Rich and his parents managed to get around the city with a few ups and downs but saw the David Statue, had a nice lunch and several stops for coffees and generally had a nice but busy time in the city. They didn’t get back till after 7pm and were all very tired after a long day so we chilled and had a couple of drinks before an early night for all.

On Friday Rich and I tried the run again and it was successful again but we both had to jump in the pool straight after the run as it was so hot and we were sweaty. After a busy day yesterday we decided to all stay by the pool for the day, that and the 29 degree weather dictated this choice, and we all managed to get in the pool at different points during the day to cool off while relaxing in the sun. Rich and I enjoyed jumping in and generally being childish and it did feel a lot like a holiday. We didn’t leave the house all day but it was the relaxing day we all needed.

The next day there was a market in Citta di Castello that Karen wanted to go to so we visited it and walked around for awhile before we headed to a café for a drink. We decided to have a BBQ that night so we stopped at the shop to get some food for the BBQ and headed back to the house for the afternoon/evening.

The following day Rich and I got up and again did the run and cycle on the hill followed by a very needed dip in the pool!. For today I had planned for us to go to Perugia which is the nearest largest town and had lots to see. I planned lots to see but what I hadn’t quite realised is how hilly the city was so poor Karen and David were walked up and down lots of hills and stairs all day. We managed to see the Rocca Paolina which is an old fortress built on a city and its three stories of huge halls and was built in around 1500. It has lots of corridors and off shoots to explore and some escalators to help get to the different levels. We spent a fair amount of time there before it was time for some breakfast at a café. Afterwards we headed to the old town and found a chocolate shop (this town is home to the chocolate factory which we visited in 2017 when we were here and makes the famous Baci chocolates) and we all bought some before exploring the old town a little. I wanted to visit the deep well which you can walk through but as it was closed for lunch we walked to the old aqueduct which is now a walkway through part of the town with houses on either side opening up onto the aqueduct. After this we had to walk back up to the main town and all needed a cold drink after while we waited for the well to open. Once open we headed down into the well which was interesting but small. It was built in the 3^rd century BC and used for 2000 years. It is 37 meters deep and has over 400 thousand litres of water in it. We walked over the foot bridge in the well giving you views up to the top and to the start of the water below. After this we headed back to the car (having failed to get any lunch, except some gelato) and back to the house for the evening.

Karen and David have been here for a week now and we have been for over a week and I cant believe where the time has gone already. We still have lots planned for the coming weeks while we are here.