Ciao peeps

We’re on the last leg of our summer drive down to Italy. It’s gone remarkably smooth so far (knock on wood and spit :)) It might have something to do with us buying the Flexi fare with Eurotunnel as for the last few years, the trains across the channel have just been getting worse and worse, delayed every single time, and when you’re on a tightly timed driving schedule it just puts you in a stressed out bad mood.

When I booked our tickets earlier this year, the UK were supposed to leave the EU in March and so we decided to spend the extra money on a posh fare because we could both foresee queues, chaos and delays. Well, as you know, Brexit didn’t happen in March and we just sailed through the terminal in Folkstone and across the channel without delays and with a free breakfast takeaway from this little lounge our posh tickets gave us access to. In future, if we have the money, this is the way to travel.

We stopped at Adinkerke to get some cigarettes (yes, I know!) and then drove through Belgium, Luxemburg and into France and stopping at a hotel in Danne-et-quatre-vents. The Logis Hotel Notre-Dame is nice and clean with plenty of parking and a very good restaurant. It was however difficult to find because Google maps sent us the wrong way, to the other side of town, and it would not accept that it was wrong. We were tired and hungry and in badly need of a glass of wine when I gave in and let my husband follow rather unclear signs into the forest. After a few minutes drive we found it. There were lots of hikers there and all around the hotel were signs for various walking tracks and we decided to go back there at some point in the future and have a nature kind of holiday.

As we were on a tight schedule and wanted to get to our next hotel in good time for some chill time in their garden, we skipped breakfast and left early. A slight delay on the journey came in the form of Ikea. We always find it difficult to pass one by without popping in for something and we’d been trying to get hold of some of their wood stain for the garden furniture for some time. This German Ikea had lots of it and we also ended up buying a monkey for Little Bear who is, with his parents, coming to stay with us for a few weeks in July.

For our second and last night of the drive we stayed at La Cascina in Fontanellato, south of Cremona. We’ve stayed there many times before and I’ve raved about their Torta Fritta, a kind of fried bread, in a previous post. Deep fried yummy bread with local prociutto crudo. I’ve still not attempted to make them, but I will, one day. We spent the evening drinking Prosecco under cover from the rain and eating gorgeous food whilst dreaming of spending a couple of self-sufficiant years at Col Buttero. Maybe it’s not just a dream, maybe some day we’ll have cleared enough space for growing veg and vines and figured out how to best get a green source of electricity.

A presto ragazzi