Friday 19th August

Si drove to the bakers this morning – lovely bread. We spent most of the morning looking through guide books trying to decide where to go. In the end opted for a hermitage in a gorge. It was very pretty you could walk down to the river and along to a dramatic waterfall. The water was very cold, it hurt to put your feet in. Si bravely got across to some rocks to take this photo.

He then dropped the camera in the water but we left it in the glove compartment to bake and it seems to be ok. We went in search of arrosticini, a local lamb dish, but it was getting late so we had to settle for a pizza in Sulmona.

We were sat outside what looked like a florist but we eventually realised was a confetti shop. The local industry is to make sugar almond flowers mainly for weddings (and tourists!). We bought some for Sarah who is looking after the rabbit.

Si and Clive spent most of the evening sorting out the car. The wing mirror we had on order turned out to be the wrong size. They also had to get a quote for the dent. Clive persuaded someone he knows to come out on his holiday to look at it. The final amount for mirror and dent was €360 and we have to pay in cash. We also had to pay for the hire in cash so we had reached our daily limit. We’ll have to go to the cash point and car hire on the way to the station tomorrow. The owner of the car we hit never rang us so presumably won’t now.

In the square tonight it was an accordion and a balalaika (we think) they were also selling pasta and fried cheese sandwiches. We’d already eaten but bought some of the spaghetti to try. It was very plain just oil and some fresh chillies on top.