As we went to bed last night Sarah’s acute hearing detected that dreaded high pitch buzzing which means only one thing – mosquito. Sarah is, unfortunately, badly affected by by mossie bites. She already sports several inflamed scars from earlier this holiday. This time she took drastic action. Luckily our friend Shan had bought us mossie nets that cover our faces as a leaving present. Sarah decided this was the time to put them to the test and put hers on. As she lay in bed with her head covered with a net I assumed it was a joke – no – it stayed on throughout the night, and it did it’s job, not a single bite.
Sarah models her new head gear
After breakfast we went for a walk on the heathland adjacent to our campsite. It was sunny and warm as we started across the already dry ground towards the gorge edge. This was the same gorge on which Matera is situated, but on the opposite side. We walked along the ravine edge with great views of Matera and the gorge, with a river many hundreds of feet below us. Butterflies flitted amongst the spring flowers and the ever present lizards kept Mabel alert. She chases anything that moves, but her hunt instinct is only triggered by movement. However, by the time a lizard moves it is too late and it’s gone into a bush or the crack in a wall.
Matera
As we walked we came across several abandoned rock dwellings. We also found one of the several rock churches which have been carved into the gorge sides over the last 1200 years. This one, along with the other important churches, are protected by railings, but it was possible to look inside to see the remains of beautiful ancient frescoes.
Rock Dwelling
Rock Church Entrance
Rock church painting
At the nearest point to Matera a young couple from Italy and France asked me to take their photo on the gorge rim and they reciprocated for us.
On the long walk back to the campsite Melek was limping and Sarah carried him for part of the way. Clearly the long hours in Matera yesterday followed by this hike, all in uncomfortable heat for such a long haired dog, was too much for the little lad.
More beautiful wild flowers
In the afternoon we left what has been one of our favourite campsites and headed back to the sea. SatNav was once again on form as he tried to take us across a bridge with a 3.5 tonne limit. Even though Basil is on a strict diet, SatNav should know that he still tops out at over 4 tonnes.
The enforced detour was down the normal atrocious Italian rural roads. But this road had a special surprise in store for us. As we went down an apparently normal piece of straight highway Basil started pitching up and down, back to front, like a bucking bronco. In quick succession Sarah and I were thrown up and down in our seats and in the back of Basil the contents of every drawer and cupboard were likewise alternatively airborne and compressed, in quick succession. I quickly brought Basil under control and Sarah went aft to check the damage. Nothing appears broken but most of Basil’s contents have been randomly reordered!
We finally arrived at the small coastal resort of Lido di Metaponto. It was as dead as the proverbial grave. Not a thing stirred. I had identified a private sosta for our stop, but a quick inspection showed that nothing had been done to it since last September and it was most unappealing. A quick tour of the town led us to an area used for picnics in the summer. We have parked Basil for another free night. It’s next to a stream and Sarah already has her anti mossie headgear on. I don’t know how she’s going to eat dinner through that!
The shocking news from London has reached us tonight. We are luckily able to connect to BBC radio via the internet and we are glued to it, keeping up to date. Our thoughts are with all those who have been affected in this horrific incident.