all at sea

...today's blip was something of an accident. I started the day with a mental itinerary to cover every eventually that the weather might throw at us. The only fixed item on the list being that we needed to end up at Pisa airport as some of our visitors were heading back to Blighty.

As the sun was more out than in, I decided to take our guests out over the mountains to end up at a quirky but very interesting pizzeria for lunch. The high point of the journey was when a hoopoe flew across an olive grove in front of us. The low point was when the pizzeria turned out to be shut!

Fortunately, the lovely old town of Sarzana was only a little further and we were able enjoy a delicious meal in a small osteria and some delicious ice-cream in a posh gelateria.

Adapting my itinerary as I went, I planned to take the coast road down the Tuscan Riviera, where we would end up somewhere near Pisa in time for an early evening meal before the airport. As we approached Bocca di Magra, it became apparent that the bridge over the river was closed and that we would have to retrace our steps back to Sarzana. Consequently, I adapted the plan again and decided we should have a little explore.

I was so glad we did because we found a lovely way-marked footpath that we followed as far as Punta Bianca, where we were able to scramble down onto the rocks. The sea was wonderfully choppy in the brisk wind and the views were marvellous right across to Corsica.

The island and headland you can see in my blip are at the very southern tip of the Cinque Terre just off Portovenere...