Campervan Therapy

Bonifacio Port As we arrive at the Port for the hour crossing to Sardinia’s St. Teresa Gallura, a man in an orange jumpsuit indicates vaguely towards the sea. At this point I decide that he’s not a port worker at all, but an imposter, but he’s pretty insistent so we find ourselves precariously perched on…

St. Florent’s Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta We love the blue bay and  rugged headland from St. Florent’s 15th Century Citadel, built by the Genoese and bombarded by Nelson. The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta is a kilometre walk east. A simple, limestone building, it’s surrounded by meadows on the site of Roman Nebbium. Even…

Biguglia – Dian’Arte On our way to St. Florent, we detour – just because we can – to the Dian’Arte sculpture museum, showcasing the work of Gabriel Diana. We stroll around bronzes of Corsica’s emblematic moor’s head, men and women, stretched as if elastic, a rusting globe topped with a tree of human figures, a…

We struggle to find a campsite with an available pitch near Genoa where we’re getting the ferry to Corsica’s Bastia – it’s August after all. La Vesima Campsite, Arenzano This ramshackle campsite is sandwiched between Liguria’s SS1 coast road and the railway line. Rugged cliffs hem in the small shingle beach, making it claustrophobic. The…

Local Producers – Valsar Butchers MAPS.ME tells us there’s a walking trail opposite the campsite, running parallel with Sarre’s hectic SS26. Here there’s no sirens, no beeping cars, no speeding motorbikes, but a peaceful path by flower filled gardens, vines, orchards and vegetable gardens. And so we find Valsar, butchers. We load up with spicy…

The Piccolo San Bernardo Pass Fran the Van climbs up to the Alpine pass, the Col Petit St. Bernard, on the French side, and the Piccolo San Bernardo on the Italian. Jagged mountains, heathland and indigo lake leaves me silent – and, for those who know me, that is a rare occurrence. It’s only 14…