Rain

Our 3 hour journey to Verona (as is our tradition) turns into 8. 

It actually only takes us 5 hours to reach Verona, but 3 to find an open campsite. Northern Italy is now out of season and we have a terrible experience, towing the caravan from one end of the city to the other, finding all campsites closed. 

Our last resort is one from our book which says it's open all year. It's down a long track, it's dark and if it isn't open it will be incredibly difficult to turn around. 

Luckily it is and we pull our caravan up gratefully amongst the draping Kiwi bushes. 

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Our next few days pass in a whirl. Our friends Sarah and Bella are coming to Verona to spent a couple of days with us. 

We pick them up from the airport and as they are on a tight 2 1/2 day schedule, we head straight into Verona. It takes an hour or so for Emily and Bella to stop squealing.

It's raining. Hard. Unrelenting driving rain, that persists for hours on end. In other parts of Italy there is flooding. We shelter in a gelateria. Is there anywhere else to shelter I ask??

At the end of the day, we are quite literally soaked through. Our boots and jeans are saturated.

Sarah kindly lets us use their shower at the hotel and I have to borrow clothes and go home bare foot. My boots take the three days Sarah and Bella are in Verona to dry.

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