Today's plan was to head north west to Volterra and work our way south from there. We went to the local garage to top up with petrol but being a Sunday there was no one working and we decided it'd be easier to find an attended one than to work out how to buy using our credit card (something which is becoming increasingly common in England so we really should practise more).
The petrol gauge just showed blocks, 8 = full tank and the roads in
Tuscany aren't the most fuel efficient being full of hair pin bends, hills and
of course the wretched speed limits. Unfortunately we hadn't driven very far when I
noticed we were down to just 2 bars so we Googled the nearest petrol station
and it was about 20 miles away, south of Pomarance. Except when we got
there it didn't take credit cards and we had very little cash left so we had to
drive another 15 miles further and when we got there it was the most expensive
we'd seen anyway - €0.18 per litre more than our village one - that'll teach us
to be idle technophobes. Anyway we were
relieved to have a full tank and set off exploring again.
This looked like a ruin from the road but when I stopped to photograph it a large Labrador type dog came bounding out so maybe it was occupied after all.
The area is noted for its geothermic activity and the smell of sulphur permeates the air. There is a huge power plant which can be seen from all around.
And the web of pipe work running alongside, under and over the roads is quite amazing.
I had to laugh at the positioning of this bench. In the first place the view wasn't particularly good and secondly I'm confident the tree would block what view there was within a short space of time.
The towers certainly dominated the town of Castelnuovo Val di Cecina (actually we'd taken a wrong turning so shouldn't have had this view, but it illustrates my point well).
Castelnuovo is a medieval village built on the side of a hill and said to resemble a bunch of grapes hanging - I can see that, just!
Our guidebook (c.2007) mentions a lovely walk through chestnut woods to a river with rock pools, overlooked by two ancient stone bridges. Sounds like a perfect location for today's picnic lunch. Sadly the directions were more than vague "as short walk east of the village" was all we had to go on, but we put River Pavone into the satnav and were directed to an unmade road at the bottom of the valley. We drove along a few kilometers hoping to find the bridges, but all we found was a dried up river bed - although in no way could the distance we went be described as a short walk. Quite a few mountain bikers rode past us and eventually a truck came along so I asked in my best Italian where the river was - unfortunately he replied in this best Italian and I didn't understand a word. We gave up and drove back up to town where we found a spot in the car park intending to eat our lunch there. Ian noticed a walkway leading down towards the valley and sure enough a few steps later we found a broken sign, facing away from us and behind a fence. But it did point the way to the bridges, so off we went.
A small flying creature dive bombed us and I assumed it was a locust or similar but to my delight it was a mantis - only the second one we've ever seen (first time being when we were staying on the banks of the R. Zambezi). This one wasn't as brightly coloured, but nevertheless was a beguiling little creature and I spent ages trying for a good shot with, or course, the wrong lens.
Down and down we walked, Ian lugging the cool bag, until we ran out of path and continued on rough ground past some shacks, kennels, small holdings and goodness knows what until eventually we came to a road. Left would take us to the main road out of town, so we turned right and started walking back uphill towards the town. It was a tough climb in the heat so it made sense to lighten Ian's load by eating lunch and drinking some of the water. We felt like a couple of tramps sitting outside this derelict house.
We'd walked a fair way down and this was our view back up to the town.
Rather than retrace our steps up the uneven pathway, we followed signs to the old town and what a delight we found. The sign on the right is the dreaded ZTL (Zona Traffico Limitato).
And what a marvellous juxtaposition
This reminds me of Squeeze Gut Alley in Whitstable
