Ferrara. 1st stop.

We drop the daughter off at the airport. She’s off to Sicily for a week to study Italian. It makes me feel more Italian, dropping someone off at the airport. And then we’re off to Ferrara for a night. It’s the first stop on our way down south. A grandiose city, grey and stern for me. It is a town of bikes, driving in I had to look all ways because they were everywhere.

There's an antique fair in the centre and a race as well. The town is happening. We go to the Estense castle, in the heart of the city and surrounded by a beautiful moat, very picturesque.

There is an amazing sculpture exhibition in the courtyard made by two women. ‘Women, horsemen, arms, love. Humanity. ‘ Battle scarred and crazed horses, women in armour tackling men or making love to them. It is surreal and incredible. Each copper animal and persons are made of hundreds of copper squares and terracotta. It’s life size and stunning.. It is about marginalisation and immigration and was inspired by Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto, written in 1516.

Then we go through the castle to find extensive damage from a recent earthquake with what looks like large quantities of sticky tape holding parts of it together. We go down into the prisons below and are glad to get back up into the light filled rooms and a gallery with a fantastic collection of interesting modern paintings.

My friend got an infection in his finger and it seemed worse since we left so he hired a bike in this town of bicycles and went to the hospital. They cleaned and dressed it and he returned in time for dinner.

We ate at Hostaria Sovaranola, a very old tavern. We had pumpkin mousse with a balsamic glaze and smoked ricotta and I had stuffed rabbit and the dessert was Pannacotta with an amaretti crumb. Excellent. Ps. Imagine buying your rice in a floral canvas bag! Love the little details in Italy.

Cromer and home.

The wildness of English seascape and wildflowers back home.

And then onto Cromer for wild tides and an old pub to stay in. There’s a huge pier with a theatre at the end and we walk out with trepidation as the waves are starting to creep close to the walkway and there we sit, in the wind, freezing, drinking an Amaretto and trying to stay warm. It’s another Victorian town perched on cliffs with pastel coloured buildings that have weathered years of high tides.

The hotel where we're staying is a pub which is beautiful but I've chosen the night of some sort of football match. The revelry goes on way beyond my bedtime but we survive.

Then it's off for a day trip to Overstrand, another wild beach with little colourful cabins along

the water front and long wooden piers out to sea to try and break the waves and keep some of the beach in tack. Evidently once you could find amber and agates here but try as we might, we find nothing.

Norwich is next, we’re way out of town but the walk will do us good or so I tell myself. Another walled town but not as walled as York. Lovely craft shops and galleries and interesting churches but we’re done in a day and ready to move on. We’re on our way back to Auronzo, home via Manea where we are staying with my friend's sister.

We are fed fantastic food, a tray bake of chicken and fennel with lemon and salad, we are missing home cooked food. We watch squirrels and birds at the bird house and I see a rare black squirrel. That afternoon we're taken for a walk to a bird watching break which is set up expressly for the English bird watchers, no doubt in their tweed and with binoculars in tow. We see all sorts of marsh birds as this area is a wild life area and it's fascinating.

The next morning we're back to Venice and then onwards to home but we have to get through the crowds at the airport first. We are masked and aware but still in pandemic mode but we're the only ones, everyone else is taking their chances. We arrive in Italy where the Italians are masked and still not taking chances. We seem to be Covid free and head up to the mountains after picking up a hire car.

The fields are full of wildflowers! Every window box in the village is full of flowers, geraniums, begonias, pelargoniums.

We all relax into the mountain atmosphere. We walk, cook and wait for the daughter’s partner to arrive. We pick her up at Tai and the next day we go up to San Candido where we run into a choir festival and beerfest. Everyone has a drink except me as I’m the designated driver. The place is crowded with the summer tourists. There are motorbikes and cyclists everywhere making driving a bit nerve wracking but I’ll have to get used to it. Tomorrow we’re heading for a trip around Italy.

Durham and Stilton - castles and cheese.

Hotel Indigo is magnificent! Our room is beautifully retro.

It was the old Shire Hall but has been converted and there are fossils in the staircase and photos of geodes throughout. The daughter is very happy. I go around taking photos of the beautiful tile work and stained glass windows. One writer said it was “deplorable” in his Buildings of England book but I’m entranced.

We walk into the old town in a sudden downpour of rain and shelter in a pub for lunch and then suddenly the sun is out and we walk along the green forested walkway past the UNESCO castle that is now the dormitories for the University. It’s so lush and beautiful with the castle views and the old bridge.

The town is in full Jubilee regalia and quaint vintage style shops and a market hall. It’s a university town and the level of energy in these towns is always palpable. Young people strolling the streets, dressed up, dressed town, discussing life and all it’s vagaries. It’s a good people watching town.

Breakfast is served in a beautiful room with a selfie chair as I call it. Can't help but have a photo before we walk in and have an excellent full English breakfast.

After that, we head to Stilton . We find a pub for lunch and I have mushrooms with a creamy Stilton cheese sauce but as much as I look, there are no Stilton cheese delis around, even though this village gave it's name to the cheese, being sold to travellers in the Bell Inn or Angel Inn where we were staying. I find a leadlight window in a the pub that looks possibly like it's got a round of stilton on it but that's it. We end up having Indian that night and wandering the streets looking and smelling the beautiful English roses.