9 April 2024 – Steaming up the Adriatica

Miles driven today = 128

Total Miles to date = 3,653

I was up with the larks this morning and had successfully swapped out the defunct water pump for the replacement one I had stored in the garage before we are usually even out of bed.

Shortly after leaving the campsite we drove past the Arco di San Felice which is a Sea Arch not dissimilar to Durdle Door but in pure white stone with a turquoise sea.  Unfortunately we missed the lay-by which would have allowed us to jump out for a photo so you’ll just have to take my word for it.  It was stunning!

For a town which is unashamedly a seaside resort, Vieste looked really pleasant with pillars of white stone stood in the sea and a church at the end of its old town promontory.  It’s obviously gearing itself up for the season with beaches being swept and general titification going on all around.  We only stayed long enough to stock up at EuroSpin but I’d definitely consider another visit.

We made our way over to the Northern Coast of the Gargano and to Peschici, which sits high on a rocky crag and shortly after that we were able to pull over at a view point from which we could see all the way along the coast to Rodi Garganico.

We spotted a few of these fishing contraptions today.  They work by simply lowering a large net into the water and then raising it again sometime later, trapping any fish which had been ill advised enough to swim over it.   We saw very similar devices being used in Kerala, Southern India when we were there a few years ago.

The road then became extremely curvaceous for a while with a greater concentration of hairpin bends than we have seen at anytime previously on this trip.  Possibly even matching those we encountered in the Picos in Northern Spain a couple of years ago.  But when we reached the SS693 things straightened out nicely with tunnels and bridges removing the need to hug the contours quite so vigorously.

We cruised past 2 large lakes separated from the Sea by sand bars, the Largo di Lesina and the Largo di Varano, before merging with the SS16, otherwise known as the “Adriatica”.  We’ve been on a few stretches of this before as it runs for 1,000 kilometres from the tip of Italy’s heel to Padua in the North.  Today it was our constant companion for the second half of the journey as it hugged the Adriatic coastline.

As it approached lunchtime we kept our eyes open for somewhere convenient to stop.  We considered just pulling into a lay-by but we noticed that some of these had skimpily attired young ladies sitting in them, presumably for the purposes of soliciting passing truckers and motorists.  Well we didn’t want to get caught up in any of that old nonsense, so a short way before Termoli we turned off to Lido Campomarino and had our lunch under the shade of the overhanging trees.

After sandwiches and a quick look at the beach we were back on the SS16, skirting around both Termoli and Vasto.  I’d pencilled in a campsite at Valle Caterina but when we got there a very apologetic member of staff explained that they won’t be open until later in April.  We had a quick look at Park4Night and carried on for a few more kilometres to a great little beachside Sosta with a bar and a restaurant which is actually open, so after several hours on the road we definitely deserved a beer while we watched the waves.

I’m fairly certain that the snow covered peak you can see behind the van here is Monte Amaro and when I was looking on the map to find out what it was called I was surprised to see that we are already further North than Rome.  The intention is to put a similar number of miles under our wheels tomorrow so that we have a chance to explore some of the more northerly parts of Italy before we blast our way along the German Autobahns and back to Calais.

10 April 2024 - Autostrada into Le Marche