Things started to look a little less promising for a fun-packed weekend when Stuart took himself off mid-meal to go and sit quietly on the sofa and moments later was found curled up sleeping - he may have had a busy day, but this was a bit extreme. Indeed, when we woke him to go home, he managed to utter 'feeling thyroidy tired' before just about managing to put one foot in front of the other to stagger to the car. Of course as soon as we got home he was first to bed - and didn't stir again until 11am the next day.
Meanwhile, my Saturday had started bright and early with the animals as usual, I'd done some washing, cleaned out the cat litter tray, sat and had a coffee and chat with Sheila and even started making lunch before Stuart appeared (looking shattered), and it was another hour again before we saw Kerys and Ben!
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| Bored, waiting for his friends to get up? Or just enjoying the aromas of the herb garden... |
Once everyone had been mustered, we ate lunch together (brunch for the late risers) while planning what to do with what was left of the day. Since Ben had already had a sleepover at the Phillips', it was only fair that we offered to return the hospitality - and with Erik away for the weekend, Henry jumped at the chance to come and stay with Ben, and Ben was over the moon at being told he could have Henry over. Before all that though, we needed to give Reggie a walk and we decided we'd try and do a brief bit of sight-seeing to try and rescue a bit of the day that had mainly been taken up with sleeping for three of the five of us.
We took Reggie into Pescia for a walk along the river, at the end of which we walked along to La Barrachina for ice creams. Reggie wasn't so keen on this part of the trip - too many people and loud noises for his liking, but he did get to lick out the empty ice cream cups at the end.
Once that was done, we took Reggie back to the house, made sure the cats were safely out of harm's (Reggie's) way and piled back into the car to head further up the valley than usual. We drove all the way up to Lanciole, then through Lanciole, past Crespole to Calamecca. We'd never explored the little villages right at the top of the valley - these ones are not part of the 'dieci castella' and fall under the Piteglio comune, rather than Pescia.
We were surprised to find Calamecca a veritable hive of activity - there were people milling around and trestle tables were being set up for some form of celebration later on that evening. As we walked around the tiny village, we were amazed to walk past a jewellery shop (a display of handmade jewellery outside someone's house) and a workshop, and we bumped into people everywhere. With the exception of Vellano and maybe Sorana and Castelvecchio, the majority of the dieci castella in our valley are so quiet that they feel like beautiful little ghost towns - it feels like time has stood still and the only real signs of life are the odd sleepy cat walking around and the well tended pot plants on door steps. We were amazed to find a few weeks back that Lanciole was such a lively little place when we met up with Rachael and Steve at the circolo there - it was simply buzzing, and it seems that its neighbouring villages are similarly lively.
After a stroll around Calamecca, we drove on until we found Serra Pistoiese - we've often seen this little village perched high up on a ridge above Lanciole, but today was the first time we'd even tried to work out how to reach it! When we arrived we yet again found it buzzing with life. There was a sizeable bar/restaurant next to the car park, which was already full of families, groups of nonnas, old men playing cards and so on. The village itself is as pretty as a picture - as they all seem to be - and the views breathtaking. From the village you can see all the way across to the Valleriana valley and Aramo in the distance, while in the other direction you can see in the distance the vast mountains of the Apuane Alps and the high peaks of the Garfagnana - simply stunning. We will definitely be paying return visits to Serra Pistoiese - not least because we found out that there is a chip festival held in the village in September!
Time was marching on by this point, and the Phillipses were due in less than an hour, so we hopped back in the car and wended our way back down the hill, through Goraiolo, Macchino and Vellano, back to the house. It was all hands to the pump when we got back - Stuart, Kerys and Ben went to dig up some potatoes and collect tomatoes and cucumbers (yes more cucumbers) while I started cooking the vegetable chilli that we'd planned for the evening meal.
Chris, Sue and Henry arrived at 7pm and we spent another lovely evening chatting, laughing and chewing the fat while Ben and Henry played board games outside. Chris and Sue left just after 10.30pm, but the evening was far from over - at least for those who had slept until almost midday...
When at 11pm Stuart, Kerys, Ben and Henry began another board game (Settlers of Catan), I decided to call time on my evening and headed upstairs to read for a bit and try to sleep. I think Sheila excused herself shortly after me and headed to the peace and quiet of the apartment. The board game continued until a little before 1am (complete with shrieks of excitement and arguments, the sounds of which travelled directly upstairs to the bedroom), at which point it was finally bedtime for everyone else.
Sunday morning was a repeat of Saturday - I got up, I did some washing, I had a coffee and chat with Sheila... while Stuart languished in bed feeling exhausted, again, and the kids slept in. Stuart eventually surfaced - only to head back to bed feeling tired and rough shortly afterwards. When Henry and Ben got up they started up another game of chess in between playing with Reggie and pestering Kerys. When Stuart still hadn't re-surfaced at 2.30pm, I realised it would be up to me to take everyone out for a dog walk before Henry had to go home in the afternoon.
So we all got ready, leaving Stuart in bed, got Reggie into the car and headed off up the hill to the cava. We had a nice walk along the cava track, and Reggie got to do all his usual tearing off into the woods and back out again, scrambling up the banks and back down again. The only thing he wasn't able to do this time was to bark at the little babbling stream that runs across the path - as the stream currently doesn't exist, having dried up in all the hot, dry weather!
After completing our walk, we got Reggie back to the car, we all piled in, I turned the key in the ignition... and nothing happened. WHAT?!!!! I tried again. The same. I tried again. The same. Of course, we were facing uphill, so a bump start wasn't going to happen. I called Stuart to let him know what had happened - either Chris or Sue was due to arrive at the house shortly to collect Henry, so at least we knew that someone would be able to get up to us and try to help or at least ferry people back down the hill. After speaking to Stuart I kept trying the engine and on about the fifth attempt, it sprung into life. Hallelujah!!!!
With relief washing over me, I spun the car around and trundled back down the hill. A very washed-out-looking Stuart was just assembling tow ropes when we pulled up at the house, and we were all thankful that they wouldn't be necessary after all!
Chris arrived shortly afterwards to collect Henry, blissfully oblivious to the fact that he had almost been roped into spending his afternoon messing about with tow ropes and non-starting cars. A lucky escape!
After Chris and Henry had gone, Stuart decided that despite still feeling rotten, he wanted to do something with what little was left of the day, so we all got ourselves ready and headed out to Castelvecchio to the ham sandwich festival. Yes, the ham sandwich festival.
We were amazed to find the roads leading up to Castelvecchio absolutely packed with parked cars - this was clearly a popular festa! We parked as close to the top of the village as we could find a space, and started our Castelvecchio visit with a look inside the Romanesque church. We'd never been inside the church before, but with today being festa day, everything was open, so we decided to have a nose inside.
The church is attractive on the outside, but inside - simply stunning. Churches and cathedrals are always beautiful buildings, but this was something different, it blew us away. It was very simple in many ways - no stained glass, no painted ceilings, no plaster - but absolutely beautiful, with carved stone pillars and doorways and the most amazing high ceiling. Incredible.
After our church visit, we made our way into the centre of the town, which once again was buzzing with people. Our first stop was, of course, to have ham sandwiches (prosciutto sandwiches to be more accurate). The prosciutto was delicious, but there was a LOT of bread and it was a bit of a struggle to get through it all. The boys managed courageously, but each of us girls quietly snuck a bit of bread away in a serviette to take home to Reggie.
We then ambled through the village, stopping off on the way to look into the Oratorio di SS Rosario - a tiny little chapel that is adorned with 16th century frescoes, and another place that we'd heard a lot about but hadn't ever managed to see before.
A little further around the village we stumbled across a stall selling sausage sandwiches - so everyone apart from me decided to give one of those a go. Once again, they found the sandwiches very bready and a bit dry, so once again, Reggie got a little doggy bag!
Finally, we made our way back up out of the village and made a quick stop at the restaurant/cafe/pub 'La Pieve' for drinks and ice creams before wending our way back home.
Reggie was thrilled with the treasures we had brought home for him. He was so excited that it was all we could do to stop him eating the serviette along with the pieces of bread and little piece of sausage we'd brought home for him!
We finished the evening with a drink and some snacks on the guest patio while Ben attempted to teach Reggie some new tricks (Reggie wasn't feeling too receptive though - there were too many other interesting scents and noises to distract him as darkness fell), and finally headed to bed at a more reasonable hour than of late.
So it didn't quite pan out to be the weekend of sightseeing and adventure that I had eagerly anticipated, but it was good to have a proper break from the office nonetheless. Week two of our visitors' stay is due to start out wet and thundery, but after that it should be sunshine all the way.
Lovely weekend it was too,!!!
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