Francigena in flip flops

It was something of a subdued end to the week following the departure of Stuart's Mum, Kerys and Ben. It's always something of a shock to the system (albeit a pleasant one) when friends and family arrive as for so much of the time it's just the two of us here (plus animals), but we soon settle into things and the second shock comes when they then leave again - the house seems quiet and empty and the exuberance of the last week (or fortnight in this case) has evaporated. It usually takes only a day or so for us to readjust and slip back into our normal routine, but for whatever reason it seemed extra-quiet this time around, and even Reggie looked forlornly at us, as if he was accusing us of having sent his playmates away.

It was a relief to get to the weekend, by which time we were starting get into the swing of things again, and we spent a few hours on Saturday afternoon (after the obligatory Reggie walk in the morning) in the orto, planting out a few new things for the coming seasons (beetroot, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli) and harvesting yet more abundant crops. After our sweaty couple of hours in the veg beds we headed straight to Amanda's to offer her the pick of the crop and earned a whopping €9.50 for our efforts - our biggest single haul to date.

For me, the most exciting element of this year's crops are the melons. For some reason I find it incredible that we've actually grown our very own melons. Delicious melons at that! This weekend was the first time we've been able to pick fully ripe ones, and we devoured one ourselves and gave the other to Amanda.

Beans, aubergines, tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes and two melons.

Look at the size of those! Deliciously sweet beef tomatoes grown from seeds given to us by Donatella.

Pumpkins and squashes coming along.

Sweetness and sunshine on a plate - our first ripe melon tasted like nectar.

On Sunday, we decided to take it easy and after our Reggie walk and a light lunch, we headed out for some sight-seeing.

The small town of Vinci is about 45 minutes' drive away from our house, and we'd been meaning to visit it for a while. Vinci is of course famous for lending its name to the world famous Renaissance artist-sculptor-engineer-scientist-inventor (all-round genius) Leonardo da Vinci, who was born there in April 1452.

We were surprised to find that within 30 minutes we were in countryside more reminiscent of 'classic Tuscany' - rolling hills covered in grape vines, with grand farmhouses and villas sitting atop the hills and cypress trees lining their driveways. We also noticed that we were already in Chianti countryside - the vines all belonging to producers all making the famous Tuscan red. Definitely an area to return to for some wine tasting now we know we're so close!

Once we arrived in Vinci, we wandered around the pretty streets of the town and soon spotted a footpath sign for a path to the birthplace of Leonardo - which was in fact just outside the town in a small hamlet called Anchiano. About 3km to be precise. We decided to make the mini-pilgrimage on foot despite ridiculously inappropriate footwear (flip flops on my part) and despite a searing heat that had us both sporting the particularly attractive 'wet-look'. Inappropriate footwear and sizzling temperatures aside, the walk was very pleasant, along a wide, easy track, with lovely views over the rolling Tuscan hills as we went, and we felt smug when we finally hit the road and saw other tourists rolling up in their cars (a little less smug when they stepped out of their air conditioned cars without a bead of sweat on them, but that's a different matter!). The footpath to Leo's house happened to be a tiny section of the famous via Francigena - the ancient pilgrimage route that in medieval times connected Canterbury, in England, to Rome. We've come across the route in our area many times, but this was the first time we'd actually walked any (tiny) part of it.

As seems to be our way, we avoided the museums of Vinci - on this occasion at least. We agreed that these would be fascinating museums to come back to another day - perhaps on a slightly cooler day and with an earlier start to fit everything in. Definitely somewhere to bring our guests, and to recommend as a day trip for holidaymakers using our apartment.

Vinci.

Leonardo's birthplace in Anchiano.

View from Anchiano.

Few weeks seem to go by at the moment without our car throwing a spanner in the works (did I mention that while Stuart's family were here, on Sheila's birthday itself, Sheila, Kerys, Ben and I had to push the car out of a space in Montecarlo so it could be turned around and bump started?), and Saturday was no exception. We got back to the car hot and bothered, got in, turned the ignition, and nothing. We had to laugh (thankfully we could laugh because we were in a large, flat car park with space enough to push). After Stuart had pushed and heaved the car backwards out of its space, he took over in the driver's seat while I went to give it a push - and was very kindly joined in my endeavours by a German(?) holiday maker and his young son who had spotted our trials from the other side of the car park and offered to lend a hand.

Once we were motoring and had yelled a quick thank you to the benevolent tourists, we headed back out of town for another quick stop, this time in the small town of Cerreto Guidi, another Renaissance Tuscan village, but this time dominated by the enormous Medici villa at its centre. This particular villa was built in 1555 by order of Cosimo I dei Medici (of the famous Medici dynasty) who used it mainly as a hunting residence for the family. The imposing building now houses a collection of hunting weaponry.

Medici Villa in Cerreto Guidi.

After a quick look around the outside of the villa, we headed back to the car to continue our journey home. Thankfully, the car started when we went back to it this time, so feeling hot and weary, we wended our way back to more familiar territory and stopped off in the square in Pescia for some light refreshments at Bar Pulter before continuing our way home after a great afternoon of exploratory sightseeing.