It took a while for the plains of Puglia to be replaced with increasingly large hills. It was getting late, so we used our Campercontact application to find the next town with a parking area for motorhomes.

Castelpignano

It was a steep and torturous climb up to the top of this town, but it was worth all the effort – though, the effort was mostly Gunter’s. We were parked in a beautiful medieval town, right under the ruins of an old castle. We needed groceries for dinner, so went for a quick walk through the town, which honestly looked like it hasn’t changed much since it was built, however many hundreds of years ago. Judging by the confused looks of the locals, they probably don’t get many tourists.

It wasn’t possible to visit the ruins without a prior appointment – and a large group. So, I settled for the second best option, and view from our little dronecino. I loved it, and the town, stretched thin along a steep slither of mountain. I love it when we get days like this, instead of the all too frequent car parks with no view.

 

Day 70

We didn’t get up to a lot this morning. The weather was a little grim, and it seems we’re fair weather tourists. Suddenly seeing grey skies after weeks of sunshine was a bit of a shock.

As we drove further into the mountains in Molise, we were both amazed at how much it reminded us of Hokkaido. It was lusciously green and wild – you could almost say overgrown. The sunny, yet still grey and overcast skies were also all too common in Hokkaido.

That illusion disappeared as soon we saw the mountain top towns that were everywhere in this area. There were so many that we stopped trying to find a place to pull over for photos of them. It was nearly impossible to find places to pull over anyway – well, at least not a safe place to pull over, plenty of others will just stop and block the road…

Barrea and Scanno

The road took us through the hilltop towns of Barrea and Scanno, which were just about as beautiful as the photos make them look. They were certainly no strangers to tourism, and an unfriendly a place to bring a motorhome. We managed to stop in a few places for quick photos of the wonderful medieval towns, with their terracotta rooves, and uniform stone walls.

As we continued down the valley from Scanno, passing the small but beautiful lake, the valley tightened into a canyon, which continued to tighten and tighten, like a vice. It was stunning driving, with large drops over to the side of the tight corners. You already know why there are no photos.

This green mountainous landscape, dotted with hilltop villages continued on and on as we drove towards Tuscany. I’d liked to have hiked one of the larger mountains in the region, but the weather was set to worsen, and not only am I a fair weather tourist, I’m also a fair weather hiker – very much a fair weather hiker.