True
to form as we leave Siena we get immediately lost and find some road closures.
Perhaps the City doesn’t want us to leave just yet. In the process of getting
lost though we stumble upon the cheapest fuel yet on our travels in Italy,
which is quite significant when you take into account the extortionate cost of
fuel here. In some cases €0.50 more per litre than in France. Not good for the
budget.
Montalcino
is another Tuscan Hill town a short hop from Siena, where we plan to overnight.
The book of occasional fiction assures us this is possible. The journey takes us
through evermore rural Tuscan countryside; swathes of fields recently harvested
give it a scorched look. In the early evening sunlight they could be mistaken
for sand dunes – or is this the continuing after effects of last night’s
excesses? Neither of us is sure. What we are sure about however is how high up
Montalcino is as we draw close. Not ideal for Onzo in this heat. (Why does it
seem to get so much hotter about 5-6pm every evening?). We begin the ascent
which as per usual goes on and on. Around every hairpin there is another,
followed by a long straight steep piece of road. And, as is also always the
case we have for company behind us a line of irate Italian drivers. Onzo’s
overheating issues rarely cause an enforced pullover, but in this case it’s that
or blow up, so we give it 10 minutes in a layby and we are good to go. Light is
at the end of the tunnel (or so we think) as we can see the summit (I kid you
not). As we approach town following the camping car signs we notice that our
final destination is up the most inappropriate track for campers you could ever
imagine. Italians, (unlike the French) seem to insist on putting the camper
parks either miles from town centres or in the most awful godforsaken parts of
town. This one involves traversing a 1 in 3 single track hill for 600 metres,
with speed bumps (why?) to eventually end up in the camper park. It strikes us
as mad. Not only is the hill virtually impassable for campers (let alone Onzo)
most of the old folks who make up the majority of campers would be unable or
unwilling to scale the savage incline. After another rest in a layby we go for
the ascent. Onzo, unhappy about this violation, unwillingly does the job. First
gear all the way (that’s how steep it was), nearly 3 tonnes of camper creeping
to the top. Celebratory beers and a bottle of coolant for Onzo as we crest the
peak. Sighs of relief all round.
