When we are spending time on a campsite, with nothing in particular to do, our attention tends to get drawn to the tiniest of things and we can, I must be honest, get a little obsessed with them. So it was yesterday, as I mentioned, and today, with our German neighbour and his cats. Yesterday we had counted five cats and today Sarah counted at least seven! Seven cats in a motorhome – we were fascinated. It just seemed insane. And so it turned out. I happened to be walking past the said motorhome and started a conversation with our neighbour and it turns out he only has two cats. On his first day at the site he made the mistake of putting food out for some of the campsite cats and ended up with eleven. He has now stopped putting food out but they all still come and sit under his motorhome.

The day has been spend doing not very much. Sarah has done the laundry and washed her hair, the main two reasons we nearly always stop on a campsite once a week. The wind eased a little so we have been able to sit out, albeit with our fleeces on. Of course the dogs have been on numerous walks.

The campsite is actually much bigger than we originally thought. It has a sort of canal/marina which juts into the site and there is an equally large area on the far side. There is a boat lift and boats, big and small, currently out of the water along the edge of the marina. In the summer I’m sure this is a very lively site full of motorboats, waterskiing and all sorts of other water based shenanigans.

I took my long lens and binoculars to an area, just off the campsite, which is fairly natural with reed beds, but although I saw plenty of birds they were all species that I can see in my normal haunts back home. I think I saw some Italian sparrows, but they were not close enough to be sure. By Italian Sparrow, I do not mean a normal sparrow which lives in Italy, rather, believe it or not, there is a species of Sparrow particular to Italy. It looks like a Tree Sparrow (as opposed to a House Sparrow), but with some subtle, but noticeable differences. Alright you can all wake up now. That’s enough bird nonsense.

We have noticed that out in the middle of the lake there is a large island which contains a church and numerous substantial houses. It looks rather interesting if we had time and there appears to be a boat service out to the island several times a day. Maybe next time.

Tomorrow we start our tour of the towns of Umbria – first Gubbio.