Preparations

Having already made two short visits to Italy in recent years we couldn't resist the temptation of a week in cousin Rob's villa in Umbria in order to take photographs for his website.  Having freed ourselves up for 5 weeks in order to do a trip up the west coast of Scotland we decided to put this on hold and spend five weeks driving down to Umbria and back.  (Scotland next year).  We opted not to take the caravan but update our camping equipment and stop wherever we find ourselves.  We catch the Hull to Zeebrugge ferry next Wednesday 24th April and plan to drive down through Belgium, France and Switzerland crossing into Italy via the Gotthard pass/tunnel.  From here we shall head down to northern Tuscany and take in both some of the famous Tuscan countryside and also Florence.  Then it will be down to the villa on the edge of the Sibillini National Park for a week.  On our way back we plan on exploring southern Tuscany, particularly the Orcia Valley before moving on to the Cinque Terre.  From here we shall return to France and spend a short time in the Vercours before heading back through France and Belgium to the Ferry.

Over the last few weeks we have been gathering maps and guides and enjoying modernising some our our camping equipment.

Trying out the new tent in friends Stephen and Dianne's garden

Yep we did it.

 To complete this first blog I thought it appropriate to include a few images from our last visit to Umbria and Tuscany to whet our appetite.

The Church of St Francis, Assisi.

Wonderful Italian tiled roofs.

The Duomo, Sienna

The Umbrian countryside near, Spoleto.

Aqueduct, Spoleto.

Roof tops, Perugia.

Can't wait to get back to these old weathered pastel buildings with their shutters.

The view from my daughter's flat when she was a student in Perugia.

Stromy skies over Perugia.

Perugia at night.

Perugia.