Our next campsite was Campeggio Villagio San Giusto up a narrow winding road that took us on top of the world! There were wonderful views from the site. We had planned to stay nearer to the town of Vinci on a camperstop but when we arrived we found it had been invaded by itinerants (travellers) and we would not have felt safe - who knows we might wake up in the morning with our wheels missing and the bikes taken off the back?!!!
The campsite staff were friendly and they offered a shuttle into town for 10€ return so we were able to visit the Museo de Leonardino - not a bad thing to do considering the temperature was soaring to 35* during the day.
Leonardo was an amazing man, not only a gifted artist (Mona Lisa) but his studies of the human form and engineering designs were hundreds of years ahead of his time. The museum was absolutely fascinating, it made me feel like he was able to see into the future -on display were wooden models of his machines and inventions including his conception of a car, flying machines and war machinery like a machine gun.
The drawing of a bicycle was undiscovered for over 300 years, eventually found stuck between two pages in his book. His visions from the fifteenth century were mind-blowing!
After a hot and sticky night we packed up a picnic and with a map loaned from the reception we set out into the hills and trudged up to the summit of the hill to an archeological site of an Etrusian settlement from the 7th century BC.
We then followed the path around the top of the hill stopping for a picnic in a shady spot along the way.
We only met a few people during our hike, one man with a very excitable dog said wild boar and we later saw a sign indicating they were in the area - all the ominous rustling in the hedgerows made us a trifle jumpy - was it a wild boar, a snake or just a harmless lizard?
When we got back to the site we really appreciated a cold drink and a cool shower - the heat was sizzling!
We had a terrible nights sleep with music from a local restaurant playing until 5am - not what you expect when you're tucked away in the hills supposedly 'far from the madding crowd'
In the morning as we were just leaving we encountered a very distressed English couple, they had lost their passports when checking in the night before and were very anxious about having to go to the consulate in Rome. When I went to reception to pay I mentioned it and apparently they had been found on the ground and handed in. Keith ran back to their camper to tell them and they were so delighted they hugged and kissed us both with relief!!
We decided to be a bit more adventurous for our next stop and chose a campsite in the Tuscan hills, campsite Le Fonti. Once we left the motorway heading towards Genova we wound up a long mountain road for 50km, the heavy snow in the winter had damaged the road surface so much that it was a tricky drive with hairpin bends, steep drops and potholes that you could lose a small child in. The tortuous drive was worth it when we got there as the area was beautiful and the views from our pitch across the mountains were stunning.
We had a fabulous stay here for 2 days, walking in the mountains ( lovely but for the 4 mile uphill climb) and exploring the local village where people looked at us because we were tourists.
The drop in temperature was quite a relief but we did end up stuck in the van for the afternoon in a thunderstorm. We were ready to get back to the heat so on Wednesday we headed to the coast slowly working our way back north towards Genoa.
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