Italian Gadabout

GMJ said:
It's Labour Day in Italy today Rog so I guess the long weekend got loads of people out and about.

We made it to Sicily unscathed Rog. All we need now is some nice weather. It was lovely on Sunday when we got here but rained from midday yesterday and didn't stop all day!
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But your Sicilian rain must have been warmer, Graham, than the weekend long load that we had in Fife [aided and abetted by the wind off the Forth ...]. The language probably sounded the same though ... 🤣

Steve
 
It's 17 degrees at home and dry.

This morning it was 15 degrees and peeing it down here in Sicily!
 
As I sit here now it is bucketing it down and set to be the same until Friday!!

Never mind, needs must. We picked up our hire car today and are off to Taormina despite the rain!
 
We managed to get a dry hour and a bit in the town despite getting soaked just walking 50m to our car from our pitch!!
 
A530F386-9ADC-4C49-B2E0-C227784544D7.jpeg4C85B151-FAEC-4588-B84A-43135CB6BA18.jpeg1149D1D6-7089-45AD-90ED-A71EC681F9EC.jpegD66E6159-958D-4972-BBA2-9101FC686835.jpegWell, sorry I haven’t posted for a few days. The truth is we are still here at Montalto Marina, enjoying fabulous weather in a very tranquil aire. We are so fond of the place, that we intend to stay for a couple of more weeks.
We have been out and about locally, yesterday we we visited Viterbo, which has a wonderful walled city. No photos sadly, because we were actually looking for Lidls, which had been moved, so by the time we did find it the day was almost over! Greater success at Tuscania, which again is very ancient, with a massive wall and tiny one-way streets.
The day was not long enough to walk all around.
Made contact with a commercial garage, a couple of kms along the road, who are going to see if they can work out what’s causing the whine we get when driving. I’ve tried using tape, but she has trouble breathing, so that’s no good!
Should know a bit more tomorrow, after they’ve had a look🤞

Tuscania.
 
Nice pics Rog. Re the tape 😂

I was discussing the narrow streets with Bea recently during a tour around the old town area of Figeac. She said homes back then were built close to each other keeps homes and streets cooler to live and walk along. I haven’t researched this myself, it does make sense, though.
 
Well, this morning started relatively early, my neighbour on this site speaks passable English, and through him I have managed to speak to a few garages.
The one I really liked had the wheels jacked up in minutes, and the offending wheel became obvious very quickly. They took a few details from the Registration Document and a new wheel bearing was ordered. This could take a week to arrive, but they are going to call us as soon as it’s in, and arrange a date to have it fitted. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that it’s the same wheel (offside rear) that had the blowout a few weeks ago. Probably damaged the bearing when the wheel hit the ground.
Anyway, we’ll just have to sit here, in the sunshine, until we get the Phonecall. It’s a tough life!
 
It’s all happening on Thursday!
Have to be at the garage by 8am, and we are having a new wheel bearing and an oil and filters change at the same time. Hopefully they will be finished before lunch, because it would appear that ‘siesta’ is strictly observed, and having felt the heat of the midday sun, I’m inclined to agree!
 
Difficult to describe the stupid grin on my face, when we drove out of the garage earlier on. With an oil change and new filters and the offending wheel bearing replaced, she felt so smooth and solid!
Acceleration was much improved, it’s amazing how you don’t notice when she’s running sluggish. I was able to build up speed on the slip road and just blend into the motorway traffic, superb!
Noticeably poorer, but two very happy bunnies!
 
I remember that feeling in Germany some years ago. I'd spent my driving days listening to the wheel bearing to try and understand whether they would complete the trip and get me home.

It was a Dutch neighbour who said just get it fixed and stop the worrying. Guess what, he was right, because there was a Fiat garage less than a mile away, and when I drove away I had that stupid grin too. 🙂
 
Had a bit of a run out this morning, (I just wanted to NOT listen to my new wheel bearing)!
Anyway we have ended up in Orvieto. We are in a beautiful Sosta which is perfect for visiting the old walled city. There is a furnicular railway from the sosta up to the medieval city, and (we are told) on arrival there is a bus to take us on a guided tour.
There are washing machines here, free services, free showers and free EHU included in the price of €20 per night, so we’ll stay here for a couple of nights before making our way back to Montalto.
Tomorrow, weather permitting, we’ll ‘explore’ the old city and try to get lots of half decent photos.
Here is the view of Lago Di Bolseno, which we skirted on the way over here and this sosta.57CC2220-E93A-4357-9247-BF34315F6042.jpegF7087FC5-87D2-4113-8F39-D560F94DE291.jpeg4319F3BC-9B27-4112-866C-4D69F6311449.jpegC09D4C1B-BA44-4DB2-9215-9AF244D3CDDF.jpeg
 
RoaminRog said:
No Gordon, we don’t bring the car abroad anymore, it’s too much hassle. We only bring it to Meets in the UK, it comes in very handy if someone needs a hospital quickly!
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Hope you have a great remainder of holiday weve been following your journey as runnach as well been envious but I hope to have another van soon
take care and stay safe mate
 
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