Last night it was very cold indeed in our van in the car park in Sulmona. We kept the hot water switched on throughout the night to protect the boiler from frost damage. In the morning ice had formed on the inside of both our single glazed and double glazed windows. More snow had fallen in the night and it was drifting. Just as we were getting up the gas cylinder we had been using ran out. I got dressed and went out and changed the gas cylinders. I decided it was now or never if we were ever going to get out of this car park. With Ann's help I managed to fit the snow chains to the front wheels of the van. It was very difficult as the van was in half metre deep snow and I'd never fitted snow chains onto a vehicle before in my life. After fitting the snow chains, to my absolute amazement, I was able to drive the van through the deep snow and out onto the very snowy road. As I mentioned yesterday the plan was to head to the Adriatic coast where it would probably be warmer. Driving conditions initially were very difficult indeed as you can see from the above picture. It was very hard to see what was road and what was verge or roundabout island. Eventually we got out of Sulmona and onto the main route 17 which had been cleared of snow. We stopped and took off the snow chains.

Eventually we got onto the A25 autostrada towards Pescara on the coast. As we entered the motorway system the barrier was up where you would normally collect a ticket so we drove through and onto the motorway. We stopped on the motorway to refill our gas cylinders. As we approached Pescara on the coast there was still lots of snow about so we turned south onto the A14 motorway towards Bari. We came off the motorway south of Pescara where there was hardly any snow. At the toll booth I tried to explain that the barrier had been open at Sulmona so I didn't have a ticket. I speak no Italian and the toll booth person spoke no English so I paid 8.70 euros and went through having been handed what I assumed to be a receipt. Later on closer examination it turned out to be a penalty ticket for 76.80 euros for not having a ticket in the motorway system. The actual bill is for 68.10 euros as I had already paid the 8.70 euro toll! If they follow this up I'm going to try to appeal and in the meantime I'm not paying anything more!

We are stopped for the night in a car park by the Adriatic at Torino di Sangro. It's blowing a gale and sleeting from time to time but it is definitely not freezing here and the snow and ice on the van is melting. Here's our sea view. I must say this isn't  my image of the Med!

The local palm trees don't look too happy in this weather.

Here's another view from our van. I guess this photo might feature well in a competition for the best shot of a really really off season holiday resort.

Despite the nasty weather Ann has been out and about with the camera this afternoon at Torino di Sangro. Here's a log on the beach.

And here's an off season play park in a state of mild dilapidation.

And here's one final look at the sunny Mediterranean before it gets dark. On the off chance that anyone is following this blog could I please take this opportunity to wish you a happy new year?

A lot of snow fell last night on the car park in Sulmona where we are staying and it continued to snow all day. There were some other vans parked here last night and some of their people were making more or less desperate efforts to leave during the morning. Here someone is trying to fit snow chains in a blizzard.

Eventually I decided to venture out. Here's our van pictured about mid day.

Driving conditions were very difficult on the road going past the car park - I don't think the driver of this car intended to end up sideways across the road.

My feet got incredibly cold when I went outside in the snow as the snow was getting inside my shoes and melting. The shops are closed round here from about 1.00 till 4.00 for "lunch". So I ventured out again about 3.30 to seek advice on a few matters at the town tourist office. Following their advice I managed to find a shop where I could buy a pair of "moon boots" for each of us and another shop where I bought snow chains for the van. It was fantastic to have warm dry feet!

Unfortunately the moon boots I had bought for Ann did not fit her so we went back to the shop I'd got them from together to try to change them for ones that would fit.

We saw this snowy public art a on the way.

Unfortunately we couldn't find any moon boots to fit Ann. The shop kindly refunded the cost of her boots.

There were plenty of people out and about in town despite the difficult conditions. When we got back to the van at about 6.30 the snow was approximately 50 centimetres deep in the car park - deeper in places due to drifting in the strong gusts of wind. I don't think we have much gas left but we must try to keep ourselves and the van warm. Also our leisure battery is very low and we have had to run the van engine at times today to keep some charge in it. We will have to leave here tomorrow one way on another. If we can get out of the car park and get the snow chains on we should be able to get onto a big road and head for the Adriatic coast where it will probably be warmer. If we can't get out of the car park we will have to try to drain the van's water system to prevent frost damage and go to stay in a hotel.

It snowed in the night at Stiffe. In the morning it began to snow more heavily. We decided that the small roads we had been travelling on were dangerous so we went back north a few kilometres and joined route 17 going south east near L'Aquila.

We went along okay for a while until we passed the town of Sulmona and headed up towards a high pass. The snow got thicker and the road more slippery so we decided to turn around and head back to Sulmona.

We found a large car park, waited for the snow to abate and headed off into town. This is the tourist office.

Next to the tourist office is this rather ornate church.

It's even more ornate inside. I think they call this style baroque.

Sulmona is famous for the manufacture of confetti. Not the stupid little paper discs that get thrown around at British weddings - confetti here means really delicious sweets that get thrown around at Italian weddings. We bought some and they really are delicious!

There is a very well preserved medieval aqueduct in the main square.

The square is named after Garibaldi - the father of modern Italy?

Snow covered mountains rear up at the end of many streets. It's dark now and very cold and we're back in our van with the heating on.

Last night there was a violent thunder storm at Ferentillo. It was quite dramatic with the lightening flashes lighting up the surrounding hills. This morning was quite a contrast with dry sunny weather. We set off south east and stopped near the town of Rieti to fill up with diesel. The man working at the fuel station was from Mali and had been in Italy for some years. He said how things were really bad in Mali now with Al Qaeda causing massive problems. He shared our enthusiasm for the Malian band Tinariwen. We crossed a snowy pass between Riati and L'Aquila.

It was quite strange to have come all this way south without encountering any snow and then to come across it here.

We were up at over 1000 metres but the road was fine. The authorities had even cleared this parking place where we stopped for a brew.

We have now crossed from Umbria into the mountainous region of Abruzzo. We are stopped for the night in the village of Stiffe. Here is a picture of their church. It is in a terrible state - probably the result of earthquake damage.

The bell-tower has a massive crack!

The whole village seems to be being held up by girders and scaffolding.

High above the village hangs a massive crane which seems to be coordinating the efforts to stop the whole place falling down.

There are however fantastic views to the Grand Sasso - the highest range in the Apennines with peaks of up to 2900 metres high. The sky is clear now and we are at a height of 750 metres so were expecting a cold night!

Beautiful sunny morning at Castiglione del Largo but it soon clouded over as we headed south on the  short one hour journey to Todi. The town is accessed form the public parking area via this funicular railway.

The town is set on top of a high hill with amazing views in all directions to the surrounding Umbrian countryside.

The main square in Todi is generally considered to be one of the finest medieval piazzas in all of Italy.

Here's a view of the square looking from the other end (towards the church).

The church is nothing much on the inside but it's much worse looking the other way as the end wall is covered by an appallingly bad copy of a Michaelangelo fresco.

 

Having had a good look around Todi we moved on south east to the mountain village of Ferentillo. It was getting a bit murky by the time we arrived.

Much of the village is built on an almost vertical slope.

What had drawn us here was the church of San Stefano which has a number of mummified bodies in its crypt. Basically if anyone died round here who the authorities thought were unsuitable to bury in the cemetery they put them in the crypt and the environmental conditions there were such that instead of rotting away they became mummified. Apparently amongst others there is a chinese couple in there who had come to Umbria on holiday and died of cholera. Unfortunately the crypt closes at 4.30 pm and we arrived there at 4.31 pm. As tomorrow is Sunday the crypt will be closed for "Holy Mass" so unfortunately we will probably miss out on seeing the mummies.

The weather has turned really nasty this evening - it's pouring with rain and blowing a gale - so we're parked in the village for the night with the heating in the van turned up high.

We hadn't seen many camper vans in use, as opposed to parked outside houses, so far on this trip but there were quite a few parked with us at Siena last night. One GR (Greek) registration, one GB (ourselves) and the rest I (Italian).

Today we made a quite short journey south to the town of Castiglione del Lago on the shore of Lake Trasimeno. We are just over the border in Umbria having left Tuscany a few kilometres back. Here's the view from our parking place.

The old part of the town is set high above the lake with commanding views in all directions.

There are the remains of a medieval castle.

There is also a rather ornate church with yet another dome. It was quite spooky in there today as it was windy and the dome was making a weird howling noise! Lucky I'm not superstitious!

This square with shops is in the middle of the old part of the town.

There are various attempts at beaches along the lakeside. Pity there is such a cold wind today. I think it's from the north east - probably coming down from the Alps!

This morning we made the short journey from San Gimignano to Siena. We paid for 24 hours parking close to the town centre and walked into the town. As we approached we could see Siena Cathedral "The Duomo" poking out over the top of the surrounding buildings.

When we got to the Cathedral it was closed. I always thought that 25th December was quite an important day for Christians!?

We moved on to the main square Il Campo.

Apparently a horse race is staged around the square in the summer.

We went back to the Duomo and hung around.

At 4.00 pm the church was unlocked and the waiting hordes got in.

Very impressive cathedral.

There were numerous medieval frescos in the Cathedral.

You can see why it's called the Duomo.

Having done the Cathedral we moved on to San Domenico. Unfortunately photography is not allowed inside as I would like to have photographed the preserved head of Saint Catherine of Siena which is predominantly displayed within the enormous church. They do like a good relic round here!

By this time it had got dark and we had had enough so we returned "home" down the town escalators.

It was time to make our preparations for the festive meal.

We imported this rare speciality which we had bought specially for the occasion at Tesco in Newton Abbot before our departure abroad.

Best wishes for the festive season to all our readers (if indeed we have any).