Where shall we go to next?

Day ? Not quite sure on the Indian Pacific

Posted on March 7, 2025 by julieallen36

Now the days on board the train are all starting to blur and we’re really not sure what day of the week it is or how long we’ve been on here. However, we both did report a reasonable nights sleep and in fact, I’d go as far as to say that I’m really enjoying it!

Life on board is very easy , even having a shower as the train trundles along is ok and the water is nice and hot and reliable. Luxury.

We had a relaxed breakfast today as there were no adventures until the evening. So we sat eating breakfast with Kirie and Rob from Sydney’s North Beaches and played spot the kangaroo out of the window. There were plenty about but it’s impossible to catch them on camera!

We then spent the morning and most of the afternoon in our cabin watching the scenery go by. Again it kept changing as we travelled past the lagoon coast then industrial parts of Port Pirie before getting nearer to Adelaide where the scenery changed to vast agricultural landscapes of wheat fields, sheep and cattle. Down here it looked really dry and apparently it hasn’t rained for months maybe even years.

This was a lovely lazy way to spend time and I was able to get my sketchbook out whilst Jane read her book on a chair we borrowed so that she could face forwards.

Other people on the train pass the hours playing cards, drinking the wine lake of Australia dry or listening to Adam the musician. Our next door neighbours, on the other hand, kept their ‘Privacy’ notice on their door for the whole trip. I only ever heard them once when she screamed wildly at him (I’m guessing here) – ‘STOP IT!’. I think someone was really having trouble getting sleep.

Anyways…..at about 3-30pm we pulled into Long Plains and it was time for all those travelling onto Sydney to get off the train and onto coaches. We were off to the Barossa Valley and a winery called Seppelsfield. After an introductory glass of bubbles on the lawn we were taken into a large room where we had a wine tasting and small food parings. I sat next to Dimitri the jovial Swiss fellow who was up for a game of scoring the wines! Opposite me was Alastair who was an enormous English GP who introduced himself to everyone by talking about his plot of ‘Murder on the Indian Pacific’. Maybe that’s what had been going on in Cabin G5.

The wines and food pairings were all very tasty and soon it was time to move into the main cellar area which is a vast barn like place with huge long tables for everyone to sit at and a stage. We were sat right at the front and enjoyed the music from a local band who were really good.

Everyone at our table was initially very very quiet but we enjoyed the platters of food and as the wine flowed freely we all livened up! By the end of the evening we were all singing along to Sweet Caroline and the Proclaimers ‘I’m Gonna Be’ (500 miles) and loads of people got up and danced.

Part way through the evening they did something called ‘Firing of the Barrel’ which seemed to involve a man with a flame thrower setting fire to the inside of a used barrel. Of course the old alcohol went up in flames and scorched the inside so that it could then be used to store more wine, giving its flavour more complexity. Or maybe there barrels will be exported for whisky storage.

At the end of another excellent evening we were loaded back onto coaches and I slept the hours trip back to the train which was now in Adelaide waiting for us.

The only slight dampener on the evening was that when we got back to our cabin our little tickets for tomorrow’s trip said we were doing our second choice ‘Painting Like a Pro’. As we’d had everything confirmed in writing before we left home so this wasn’t right at all, something fishy was going on. So, I marched up the train to see Thomas who had taken over as the Section Manager for our part of the train at Adelaide (where in fact the whole crew changed). Thomas looked rather scared as I explained that this would not do at all and promised to look into it and get back to me in the morning. I felt confident that he’d sort of out and reported back to Jane before falling asleep like a baby 😴

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Adelaide, Australia, Barossa Valley, Indian Pacific Train | 4 Comments

Crossing the Nullarbor Plain

Posted on March 6, 2025 by julieallen36

It was still Sunday and after our early morning trip and breakfast, we were able to sit back and enjoy the ride. By now we were crossing the Nullarbor Plain which, as the name suggests, is an almost treeless area of semi-arid country. It is the world’s largest single exposure of limestone bedrock of about 200,000 square kilometres. To start with there was a very red soil and some lovely, blobby eucalyptus trees but these gradually disappeared and we were left looking out of the stones vast plains. There was no wildlife to be seen and only the occasional pile of bleached bones at the side of the track.

We spent the afternoon in the Outback Explorer lounge trying to blog but there is no reception to be had out here. Then we joined in a trivia quiz run by Adam the singer. It became quite competitive but Jane and I were a bit poor! Even getting the age of Princess Elizabeth when she ascended to the throne wrong. We noticed that lots of our fellow travellers were making the most of the free bar onboard and we finally gave in at 4pm and ordered a glass of wine!

Along the way we stopped at Rawlina which is one of the largest sheep stations in Australia with 30,000 sheep over 2.5 million acres of land. But today there was not a single sheep to be seen.

We also travelled along the single longest stretch of straight railway in the world at 478kms and now we passed into Southern Australia where the clocks moved forward by 2.5 hours!

Our final stop of the day was in Cook, firmly in the middle of nowhere. It used to be a service centre for the railway but had been abandoned in 1997 and now only 4 people live here. Including the splendid fellow who had prepared our bonfire and lantern trail. So after dinner with nice Nigel and Gareth from South Africa now living in Stroud, we all got off the train and enjoyed a sing song round the fire and gazing at the stars above us. It was a very clear night and the Milky Way looked awesome. The singing was lead by our own Adam but also joined by the very chipper Adam Thompson from the Ozzie group Chocolate Starfish who were quite big in the 1990s, apparently.

It had been a very long day and so it was back to the cabin for a good nights sleep.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Australia, Cook, Indian Pacific Train, Nullarbor | 1 Comment

Day 2 on the Indian Pacific. Go big or go home.

Posted on March 5, 2025 by julieallen36

Hm……sleep. Discuss. Well , it wasn’t easy but I’m pleased to report that Jane, despite her back, did get a fair nights sleep on the lower bunk. However, up on the top bunk it was terribly hot. The bed, although pretty narrow, was quite comfortable. However, the train itself was v rickety and noisy as it rattles along at about 80mph. At times, in the blue cabin light, it felt like it might fly off the rails and I kept thinking ‘How can it be so bumpy when it’s just a straight rail line?’. I felt like a backseat train driver making sure we stayed on track. All night…..

At about midnight, I needed to come down the ladder to visit the en-suite facilities. I also discovered how to turn off the blue light but I’m not sure the pitch black dark helped with my sense of disorientation. I slept very fitfully until about 5-30am when I was woken by noises outside in the corridor. I looked at my watch and wondered why my alarm hadn’t gone off at 5-15?

Crikey, we now had just 30 minutes to get up and dressed as we needed to be in the Outback Bar ready for our day trip at 6am. Bleary eyed we put on our long trousers, long sleeved shirts and boots as described in our instructions.
We slowly pulled into Kalgoorlie and disembarked. The groups were split up onto coaches for the different tour options. We’d chosen the Superpit Tour which would take us right into the huge working gold mine. I was beyond excited to be doing this as a Geography nerd and Jane happily went along with the plan.

We boarded our coach with Alan the driver whose commentary throughout was somewhat negative. He was very cross with the people who got on with short sleeves and insisted that they’d have to wear overalls which were ‘very unpleasant’. We were all given Hi-Viz jackets and plastic protection glasses and Alan made it clear that we had to wear them when he said as otherwise he would lose his job.

Our first stop was Hannam’s North Tourist Mine. We’d only stop here for a cup of tea and a loo break but Alan said it was ‘ridiculous’ as we could easily spend at least a couple of hours here. The main attractions for us were the big trucks!! These weren’t in use and we were able to climb all over them which was great fun.
Next we drove on and into the Superpit mine site itself. Alan threw lots of facts and figures out about the huge piles of boulders, massive cranes, enormous machinery and of course the monster trucks. I’m afraid it was still a little early and I couldn’t take it all in so you will need to fact-check my statistics of the day yourselves!

My Top 10 AlanFacts
1) Size of the pit. The pit is an oblong in shape 3.5km x 1.5km x 600m deep
2) Amount of alcohol you are allowed in your bloodstream when entering the pit – 0%
3) Number of monster dump trucks going up and down in the mine – 40 at a cost of Aus$ 3million each
4) Date when the goldfields were created 2.6 to 2.9 billion years ago in the Dolerite rock.
5) Number of dump trucks that have enough gold ore in them to be sent to the mill (rather than just dump their 250 tonne load) 1:6
6) The Golden Mile is one of the world’s richest gold deposits and by 2019 had produced how many gold bars? 50,000
7) How much can a big truck driver earn in a year working one week on, one week off? Aus$ 100,000
8) When did they first discover gold at Kalgoorlie ? 1893
9) How many little rocks did Jane sneak into her pocket in the hope that it might contain some gold? None, Alan was very clear that we were all being watched by multiple sources and would be strip searched if they suspected any funny business.
10) Amount of Sodium Cyanide used in the process of extracting gold, globally. 35000 tonnes. I have used Prof Google here and it’s obviously a very touchy subject and on their Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines website, they seem defensive about its use.

We also made two stops at a couple of amazing viewpoints looking right over the Superpit. It was at one of these that we needed to wear our glasses and even a hard-hat. What a treat. It was incredible to see the bands of different coloured rocks and the now ant-like Monster Trucks winding their way up and down.

I must say, Alan did seem very optimistic about the future of the mine saying that there was probably enough gold here to keep the company busy for another 60 years. He drove us back to the train in time for a lovely brunch. The day was only just beginning.

PS Today, even the photos are BIG! I’ve had some trouble making images fit the grid so decided to send the full images today. Let me know which you prefer in the comments. Thanks. 🙏

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Australia, Indian Pacific Train, Kalgoorlie, Superpit | 4 Comments

No Worries, mate!

Posted on March 5, 2025 by julieallen36

(Update…..our travels have been continuing but we’ve been on a train and our WiFi v limited. Now that we’ve arrived in Sydney I will try and address the current backlog of adventures! But not all at once! ) So here we go….a few days back…….

Sorry for the radio silence folks. We’ve been holed up in our lovely Country Comfort Hotel in Perth relaxing and recovering. So, we basically enjoyed a day and a half by the pool in the beautiful sunny weather and 30 degree heat! Our only trip out was by Uber to a local pharmacy. Did I mention that we had a ridiculous amount of luggage? Well unfortunately, this had taken its toll on Jane’s back and she is suffering from a serious twinge to her lower back. Eek! This was going to need stronger meds than we have with us….hence the trip out to the extremely helpful pharmacy ladies. The other thing that seemed to work quite well was the jacuzzi by the pool.

We’ve noticed that everyone seems to have a great attitude and whatever you ask for, you get the response ‘No worries, mate!’ And they mean it. This was the case in the hotel reception and restaurant so it was very easy to just stay put! We could explore Perth more when we return.

Yesterday (Saturday 1st) we arranged a late checkout at 12 noon and then had another 3 hrs to kill by the pool before our taxi would pick us up. It wasn’t quite so relaxing today as the kids are now on half term and had taken over the pool with their inflatables and bombing! One particular group amused us by sitting in the jacuzzi blowing up their rash shirts with the jets of bubbly water making themselves look like Michelin men!

When it came time for us to get ready, we had all our stuff in a Conference Room (No worries, mate! ) and we got changed and repacked ready to go. We now each had an enormous suitcase, a holdall bag, a backpack and a suit-bag. I was very worried that they wouldn’t let us on the train with all this stuff.

Our taxi collected us and we drove the short distance to the East Perth Train Terminal where it was very exciting to see the Indian Pacific Train waiting for us. It is absolutely enormous with 29 carriages, 2 locomotives, 30 crew and 20 platinum beds and 182 Gold Beds.

We quickly checked in and were very pleased to say goodbye to our huge suitcases. We’d only see them again 4 days later in Sydney. We were told to go onto the platform where there was some entertainment, snacks and drinks and even some wildlife. So, you can imagine how overwhelmed we were when the wildlife turned out to be a snake (no thanks) and a pair of Koala Bears. We were allowed to go right up close and even stroke its little leg (the koala obv, snakes don’t have legs, silly!) It actually made me well up as it was all so unexpected and lovely.

Next Anne-Marie, the Perth manager, wanted our photo and also insisted on taking our other heavy bags off us and would take them to our cabin!!! No worries mate! Literally, no worries!

We made our way to the refreshments and sat down with Morag and Ian from Dundee. There was some very loud singing going on and although we tried to chat with our Scottish friends, I’m afraid I could only hear about 1/4 of what they said but just nodded encouragingly.

Soon it was time to board (5pm) and we made our way upto coach G where Paul, our host, greeted us and welcomed us onboard. We found our room and admired its host of facilities. These included a bunk bed, an en-suite toilet and shower, a small amount of storage and floor space. We soon got ourselves organised and waited for the train to leave.

Unfortunately, when we did leave it became apparent that our request for a forward facing carriage had been ignored. Oh dear….Paul said he would need to get his manager. He turned up and obviously hadn’t read the ‘No Worries’ memo. There was nothing he could do about the direction of travel but he did reassure that the train would be reversed from Adelaide onwards. He kept asking if we had any other questions but when we did, he just sort of snorted, as if this was all beneath him to have to deal with.

Ah well, he was obviously having a stressful time! Luckily Paul made up for it by giving us a cuddly eagle 🦅 soft toy and Marcello, in charge of the dining car , was an absolutely star in letting us eat earlier than our card said and letting Jane sit in a forward facing seat.

We were joined by Nigel from Chinnor for dinner in the Queen Adelaide restaurant car. Nigel told us that this was a dream trip for him too after a serious illness. He’d also treated himself to an Aston Martin! The food and wine were extremely good and then it was time for bed. The room got made up and I climbed the little ladder up to my bunk bed! We were both very tired and couldn’t suss out how to turn off the blue ceiling light. Let’s see how sleeping goes!

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Australia, Indian Pacific Train, Perth | 4 Comments

Perth – Are we there yet?

Posted on February 28, 2025 by julieallen36

G’day mates! Yes, indeed we are here. In fact we arrived yesterday (Thurs) after our epic Qantas flight from London Heathrow to Perth. It was supposed to take 16.5 hours but when we got on board there was a happy announcement that it would only be 15.5- hurrah! And that takes you and your ridiculous amounts of luggage, the 15 thousand kilometres to Australia, direct.

Luckily, the day before’s not-so-happy message ‘Important Update regarding Inflight Entertainment for your flight’ …….ie it might not work 🙀🙀 turned out to be a false alarm, as they managed to fix it just in time. So, we passed a few hours enjoying the good selection of movies, TV shows, music, games and even an audiobook. Jane gobbled up 3 movies – Conclave 4*, Anora 4* and Wild Robot 5* . I watched Lee 4* and then flipped from one thing to the next.

The flight, in this Boeing 787 Dreamliner, was generally pretty smooth but despite this, we got v little sleep, due possibly to over-excitement. As we flew into Perth we had great views of the long, empty beaches and the city as a whole. We also flew over the surrounding countryside which looked parched and where there had been bushfires in the weeks before, apparently.

The airport is only quite small and we were quickly through before facing the man at Bio Security. We’d been given several warnings about how strict they are about you not bringing in guns, food, soil, drugs etc and so I was keen to declare to the man that we only had tea bags, Minstrels and squirty squash but had not found a box for these to tick on the form. His response to this was that there wasn’t room on the form to create tick boxes for everything and, pointing to the exit, he told us to ‘Get Out!’. This was all said with a smile – Welcome to Australia 😁

Once out, we phoned our hotel, the nearby Country Comfort and the v nice lady came to pick us up in their courtesy bus. The drive back took about 10mins through the wide streets of suburban Perth. It looked very lovely in the midday cloud with manicured front lawns and beautiful trees of every shade. Jane even spotted some parakeets in the branches of the Gum trees.

We had a two hour Power Nap and then woke ourselves up to try and avoid the jet lag. We had a really nice tea in their Firehouse Restaurant (pulled pork bao buns and chicken satay skewers followed by a lemon meringue , all to share). And our two schooners of beer were just the ticket. I think we’re gonna love it here ❤️ 🇦🇺

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Australia, Oz, Perth | 2 Comments

Australia……we’re on our way!

Posted on February 25, 2025 by julieallen36

Yes, folks you guessed correct. We are indeed off to Australia tomorrow morning. After months and months of planning and preparation we are finally on our way. We have ignored all advice to travel light and have a ridiculous amount of luggage.

Currently, holed up in the Leonardo Hotel near Terminal 3 we are relaxing watching Mary Berry cook a pear tart. On the TV obviously, not in the kitchen.

We were collected by lovely Luke, our taxi driver, who collected us at 1pm and drove us safely down to London. We were due to stay at brother Pete’s in Reigate but I couldn’t take the stress of worrying about getting to Heathrow on the M25 on the day of travel. So, Luke and his taxi and the Leonardo Hotel were the worry-free alternative. Great decision as now we just need to get the airport Hoppa tomorrow. Hurrah.

Our flight leaves tomorrow at 11-50am and then 16.5 hours later we will land in Perth, Australia. It’s a direct flight, no stops at all. Let’s see how that goes!!

See you on the other side of the World!

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Australia, Perth | 8 Comments

Can you guess where we’re going very soon?

Posted on February 19, 2025 by julieallen36

Just the small matter of Jane retiring before we’re off!

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A Splendid Birthday on Lake Como

Posted on September 20, 2024 by julieallen36

After walking such a lot yesterday, I planned a slightly lazier day for Jane’s birthday. We were going to visit the famous Villa del Balbianello Gardens. These are right near our hotel. I hadn’t realised that we’d need to book in order to get in so had only just managed to get tickets a few days ago and we were lucky to get in. I booked a tour of the house as well as time in the gardens.

On our last Day in Italy it was Jane’s birthday and the sun made an early appearance which was nice. After opening her cards and reading lots of WhatsApp messages, we had our breakfast on the terrace. It was a little chilly but once again we enjoyed the Valtelinna treats of honey, fresh raspberry Jam, blueberry Jam and pancakes. The tiny fresh figs are also my new favourite thing. The couple that we chatted to in the hotel restaurant last night both wished Jane a happy birthday before they went off to Como to buy him a new pair of shoes.

I wanted to catch the little taxi boat that goes from Lenno to the Villa but when we got there there was a hand written sign saying he wouldn’t be starting until 12 noon today. I’d read online that he’s a bit unreliable. Hm. Now we needed to walk and it takes about 30 mins to walk up the hill of the promontory and to the Villa’s entrance. We were quite early and in fact weren’t allowed to even start the walk for 30 mins and it was then a fairly steep walk up to the entrance proper.

Once in, the gardens are immediately spectacular and we had a quick look before it was time for our house tour at 11-15. The guide spoke great English and there were only 15 people in the group so it felt very exclusive.

We worked our way down from the fifth floor through a series of wonderful rooms, not particularly large but all filled with history and fascinating artefacts. The Villa was built in the 12th century but it was the last owner who held the most interest. Count Guido Monzino was the son of the owner of Standa Department Stores and extremely wealthy. Guido too was a businessman but his passion was exploring. He’d bought Villa Balbianello in 1974 and wanted to turn the house into a cross between a well organised museum and a school for explorers. He’d been to The North Pole and organised the first successful climb of Mount Everest by an Italian (although he actually couldn’t make the summit due to heart problems). My favourite room had glass cabinets full of of really ancient and priceless masks including ones from Greece (5000BC), Thailand, Greenland and Mexico. It was like a collection from the British Museum.

Other floors had tiny Inuit monster carvings and memorabilia from his expenditions like the sled he’d used in the North Pole and clothes he wore on Everest.

Other rooms were ‘just’ his living rooms like the cocktail room, the bedrooms, dining room and even a very lush blue smoking room! These were covered in the finest fabrics, with French and Italian chandeliers and paintings done in reverse on glass. The views from every window down to Lake Como and her surrounding mountains are sublime. There was a unique way of stopping us tourists sitting on any of the chairs…they’d placed a spiky sweet chestnut on each of them.

Guido Monzino died in 1988 (lung cancer) and donated the whole house and gardens to the Italian National Trust or FAI. Next we explored the gardens. They’re not huge but the paths wind around the house and the promontory and again has the most beautiful views from the terraces across and down to the Lake. There aren’t many flowers but it’s the trees that are so famous for their fabulous ‘Blobby’ shapes. Well that’s the Holm Oak and a couple of Camphor Trees. They’re huge and take a whole team of people a month to prune them. There are also enormous Cyprus Trees and an incredible creeping fig that climbs all over the walls in a well trained manner.

The gardens are also famous for appearing in films. Notably a scene from Stars Wars 2: Attack of the Clones where Anakin and Padma steal a kiss by the balustrades! People were queuing up and moving the benches so that they could have their photo taken in the exact same spot today. Someone was even wearing a cloak…..

The other really famous film is Casino Royale with Daniel Craig as James Bond.

People can pay to use the gardens to get married and today there was indeed an American Bride and Groom having their wedding photos taken here. Despite all of the Instagram/Tik Tok Influencers here today, we really enjoyed our visit but now it was time to catch the boat back home. We had a little wait on the steps at the back of the Villa , where I did another sketch. The boat ride is in one of those really nice old boats and can only hold 12 people. It takes just a few mins to whizz back to Lenno and costs 8 Euros per person but it’s well worth it for the chance to see the Villa in all its glory from the water.

We celebrated being back in Lenno with a Gelato from our favourite shop. Today I had Pear and also Apple and Cinnamon. Jane meanwhile had Marsala and also Sicilian Almond. All were declared absolutely scrummy and tasted exactly like the real thing, in ice cream form. Delicious!

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the hotel. We’d contemplated sitting by the pool and maybe I’d even go in for a swim. However, the sun had gone again and so we just sat at the front of the hotel, enjoying the views and doing the crossword! We then had a FaceTime with Mum before it was time to get ready to go out for tonight’s meal. I know…..we were venturing out! We’d booked this restaurant that I’d found on TripAdvisor from back home but I hadn’t really realised quite how far it was from the hotel. Or that getting about is not as easy as you’d think. Taxis are like hen’s teeth and have to be booked at least 24 hours in advance and cost a fortune. Taxi boats are out of the question unless you have time to organise a mortgage. I have been fascinated to see who does actually have enough money to book these and I can report that it is American and Chinese folk.

Anyway, I digress….after discussing our predicament with the lovely lady on reception at our hotel a couple of days ago, we knew we needed to catch the 17:50 bus towards Como. Well, we were there about 10mins early and waited and waited and waited…..until 18:15. Nothing. There were people at the stop opposite who seemed to have the same problem but no way of knowing when , if ever, the bus would come. Eventually, knowing it would take us 40mins to walk, we gave up and decided to go on foot. I have to say, I am very proud of Jane for being prepared to give this a go on her birthday. She’s a good girl. ❤️

The walk would require us to walk all along the very busy and narrow main road. Once again, in parts there is no pavement at all and on a couple of occasions we dipped off down cobbled paths towards the lake to avoid the fear of oncoming traffic. It was taking ages to get there and even though it turned out we were now walking a different part of the flipping Greenway, we weren’t terribly interested in its picturesqueness! I just wanted us to get safely to the Restaurant Locanda La Tirlindana! Eventually, we made it and the sight of the pretty restaurant in the cobbled square of Sala Comacina , right next to the Lake and its peaceful harbour, was a very welcome one. We sat under the ancient plane trees, listening to the sound of the church bells and watching the night sky darken and all the lights twinkling in the villages on the opposite side of the lake. The lovely Harvest Moon even made an appearance. And the food was our favourite of the whole holiday. Their Ravioli filled with Marscapone cheese and in a lemon /butter sauce was worth all the rave reviews and the lamb chops with mint sauce and veg was a welcome change and perfectly cooked. The desserts weren’t half bad either..I chose a taste of 4 different things and Jane had the White Tiramisu. Well who knew such a heavenly dish existed!

Just as we were contemplating ordering a coffee our lovely taxi arrived. Thank goodness we hadn’t planned to get the bus back. 18915 steps was enough for today.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Italy, Lenno, Villa Del Balbianello | Leave a comment

Greenway Loop walk from Lenno to Tremezzo.

Posted on September 18, 2024 by julieallen36

When deciding what we were going to do today, we had a choice. Either we could catch a No 10 bus to Como (1hr) in order to catch the funicular railway (7mins) up the mountain for views of Lake Como and then catch the two hour ferry back to Lenno. OR….we could walk a section of the Greenway path from Lenno to Tremezzo. I’d found this loop walk on a fabulous Website called MyLakeComo before I came away. They have all sorts of hikes to suggest along with loads of other ideas for activities to do around here. The information is very detailed and I really fancied doing this 5km ‘easy’ walk which I thought was well within our capability. I was very glad when Jane agreed that this was what we’d do and forget about the Como trip which exhausted me just thinking about it!

The weather today was supposed to start out with bright sunshine but a 7am look out through the curtains showed that this wasn’t entirely true. Cloudy and very chilly!

Anyway, by 10am we were on our way and walked along to the Gelataria, where the walks starts. Everywhere seemed to be closed today as it’s Wednesday so it was really peaceful. The Website has a link to directions using Google Maps but I couldn’t seem to get this to work. Instead, we relied on the description of the route which I’d taken photos of on my phone. The Greenway itself is well sign-posted and marked with steel symbols along the way.

The route runs right in front of our hotel ‘Albergo Lenno’ then along the shoreline before climbing up a steep cobbled path back to the main road. Here we left the Greenway and had to walk along the main road which has barely any pavement and is incredibly busy. Luckily we soon cut off back down to the Lake and into a little park. Here the guidance said ‘when you find an open gate, do not hesitate to go through’. We found ourselves in a lovely Italianate garden area right in front of the beautiful Villa Fontane. The views from here were fabulous as the sun had now come out and the sky was blue.

Next we walked along to the piazza in the hamlet of Azzano. Here there is an ancient magnolia tree 16m high and with a 1.3metres wide trunk. I sat under it which was lovely until one of the buds fell down from a great height and landed on my foot with a thud. Ouch!

Now we headed upwards along steep lanes with nice views but only to come back down again to the hamlet of Bolvedo. This is the start of Tremezzo and the lakeside here is particularly beautiful with the stunning Villa Quiete and a pretty orange church. Jane spotted the terrace of the Bar Roma, bathed in sunshine and right by the Lake. A great place for a sketch. And it turns out an Aperol Spritz for Jane, who was starting her birthday celebrations as day early. I blame this on the Italians, who seem to drink a Spritz no matter the time of day! I meanwhile, had a small beer and we both welcomed the freebies of crisps, and a plate of bread, cheese and Bresaola (another Valtelina delicacy of salted aged beef). Free! Who’d have thought it.

After this welcome break we walked along the promenade to another park at Teresio Olivelli, where steps down into the water provide a nice place for a dip. There were indeed two brave girls giving it a go.

Now we headed back towards Lenno by climbing up steep lanes and cobbled alleys and then walked through a series of hamlets of Valesio, Balogna, Viana and Intignano. None of these are shown on Google maps, so thank goodness for the Greenway signs to lead us! Up here there were lovely views all around and it was very quiet wandering past local homes and gardens, fabulous villas, olive groves and all the time with great views down to Lake Como. The sun by now had gone in again but it felt great to be this high up away from the madding crowd. We finally came back down to the lake via an incredibly steep cobbled path called Pola Vecchia and we were back in the hotel by 3pm. Haha 2 hrs walk indeed!

I have to say this has been one of my favourite days of the trip. For info, I just checked in with Jane and her favourite day so far was our Venice trip to Burano.

We ate in our hotel again tonight. This is not like us at all but it’s really easy and the food is great. There are several older couples who have been coming here for years. They get the same room allocated every time and the same table for dinner. They even seem to get their own special menu. Could this be us in a few years time?

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Greenway, Italy, Lake Como, Lenno | Leave a comment

Four Weddings in an Italian Garden

Posted on September 17, 2024 by julieallen36

After yesterday’s shenanigans I found it really difficult to sleep. I closed my eyes and all I could see were tunnels and bends. Not very nice. I must have fallen asleep at some point because I woke up at 6am thinking about logistics for the next few days. My main responsibility on holiday is ‘planning’ whereas Jane is responsible for where we eat, money, charging batteries, tea and coffee. I have however, been appointed as Chief Door Opener as-well, which is nice.

Anyway….our plans for today were a little more relaxed. We were off to Bellagio just across the lake by ferry. I’d found a really good blog that gave what seemed a good route to explore Bellagio so we planned to follow this.

We were up relatively early again to catch the ferry at 10:10am. Luckily the ferry station is right outside our hotel and so it’s really easy. We woke up to a beautiful sunny day and it was lovely by the lake so early where it was still very quiet. The views from the front of the ferry were fantastic all around and I couldn’t sit still- preferring to stay standing and enjoyed the views and taking way too many photos.

The ferry stops at Tremezzo and Villa Carlotta before arriving in Bellagio after 30 mins. The sun was already in and out of the clouds but we were so lucky, as later everything clouded over. It was spectacular.

When we arrived in Bellagio it was surprisingly quiet. Everything I’d read said that this place would be heaving with tourists. But apparently they make a slow start to the day.

We started off by wandering along to La Punta Spartivento which is right at the end of the Penninsula that Bellagio is on. The views from here were fab and I took the opportunity to do a little sketch. Very enjoyable.

Next we went to see some real art as we visited the Gallery of Jerry Fresia who is an American artist based in Bellagio. I’d met Jerry as a student on one of his workshops at Broadway Arts Festival several years ago. It was lovely to see his wife again who was utterly charming and friendly. I also enjoyed seeing Jerry’s paintings in the flesh. They’re so much larger in life than on Instagram. Sadly , I couldn’t see Jerry as he is teaching a workshop here in Bellagio this week.

Next we started following the route I’d found on the blog proper. We were now in the upper part of the village walking along Via Garibaldi. We visited the little market in the piazza near the church of San Giacomo. The random bell ringing really did sound lovely.

Sadly the Xmas decoration shop had closed but we did find ‘Bottega Di Legno della Familigia Tacchi’ which sells all sorts of wooden toys and decorations as well as practical things like chopping boards. It was doing an incredible trade and we found a lovely new Xmas decoration!

The upper part of the village is joined to the lower part (waterside) by a series of pebbled Salina’s. These are narrow and steep alleys lined with shops and cafes etc and by now packed with tourists. Our ‘guide’ told us to ignore these and to come down the much quieter Salina Genazzini, which we did.

We decided that we needed a loo break and a little sustenance and so stopped at the Hotel Splendide’s waterfront bar. It was indeed very splendid and after a brief respite we were ready to go again. Now we walked away from the harbour and along a lovely flower filled promenade. We were heading to the gardens of Villa Melzi. This impressive villa was built between 1802 and 1805 and whilst still privately owned, is now a national monument looked after by the Italian National Trust. The gardens were beautiful, right on the lakeside and with century old trees, a Japanese water garden as well as classical statues and a grotto.

The gardens are so beautiful that there were four couples having their wedding photos taken at various lovely spots.

By now we’d done quite a bit of walking and I was beginning to fade. We made our way back to the harbour and bought ourselves, yes you guessed it, a gelato. Yum , Amaretto was a v good choice today. We sat down by the water taxi station (yours for a meagre £3- 400 per hour…) and I did another little sketch. Then we decided we’d better join the queue for our ferry back to Lenno. Oh..big mistake , when we got to ‘platform’ 2 the queues were huge and they were prioritising entry for three very large groups. This was 20 mins before the 3:50 was due to leave. Inevitably, when the small ferry arrived we were about 8 people away from being allowed to board as the boat was full of ‘groups’ and people who had now just pushed in from the back of the queue pretending they were part of the ‘group’. Hm, there was nothing else for it but to stand and wait for the next ferry at 4:45! Someone behind us commented that you come here thinking you’ll be able to hop about all over the lake on ferries but it just doesn’t work like that, it’s all actually rather complicated …..and busy.

Ah well, the time passed quickly and the sun came out again making the water sparkle for our journey home. We stumbled out of the boat and straight into our lovely hotel and decided to eat in the restaurant here again. It is really very good and very easy. A very relaxing and enjoyable day.