I cannot really describe today as a good day, in many ways it went from bad to worse. And the network connection where I am now is very slow, so I don't know if I can ever post any of the few photos I have taken.
Apparently it rained extremely heavily last night, with the result that no trains ran in this whole area today, because of flooding on the line. It all sounds horribly familiar.
A coach collected us from our hotel at 10am and drove us to the station to catch our train. It dropped us 100 yards or so from the station as the traffic was awful and we walked to the station to find it completely crammed with people all gesticulating and shouting and no trains at all.
Fortunately, we have a tour manager and he managed to hire us another coach at vast cost - €1500. But because of bad traffic, flooding etc, the said coach was very late so we waited for 3 hours in the station. There was no waiting room, so we sat in the café, but soon were asked to leave as the seats were for patrons of the café - not unreasonably. Paul and I solved this problem by buying things from the café and then taking a long while to eat and drink them, so we had seats for most of the three hours.
Eventually, the coach arrived, but not before the rain had started hammering down again. The coach came as close to the station as the mad traffic would permit, and we waded out to it. Paul and I must have been more fortunate than most because our cases didn't get too wet - possibly because we had purchased huge umbrellas in Lecce. People with small British umbrellas got very wet, and some people's cases were soaking and they had to unpack and try to dry their clothes once they arrived.
Heaven knows how the poor driver managed, because visibility was very poor, but he drove us through flooded olive groves and flooded fields and down flooded roads to Bari, where we had to change coach. The coach which had been supposed to meet us at Foggia station met us at a service station north of Bari instead, and we changed from one coach to another. Fortunately, it had stopped raining by then.
We drove through a flat area of salt pans and market gardens, most of which were flooded.
Eventually, we reached the Gargano Peninsula and then the road turned into a switchback full of hairpin bends. We wound our way through forests high above the sea, with superb views from time to time through the thick forest. I took some good views.
You can see how high up we were - and how threatening the sky looks!
Part of the peninsula is a national park, and there are some spectacularly pretty parts.
We arrived at the hotel eventually, after more than 5 hours in the bus, and found our rooms.
Dinner did not go well. The hotel was very full and there was not enough food for the buffet of antipasti. We had been given a choice of turkey or vegetables for our main course, so I had chosen vegetables. The antipasti was a variety of grilled cold vegetables. The first course was vegetable pasta. Then I had my main course of vegetables. Strangely enough, the pudding was tiramisu. I wouldn't have been much surprised if it had been some sort of vegetables!
Our boat trip for tomorrow has been cancelled, as the weather is too rough. Our tour manager had planned to take us instead on the public bus to a local beauty spot, but tomorrow is Sunday so there are no buses. So he suggested going to the beach on the hotel shuttle bus. But the hotel shuttle bus has come to the end of its summer contract. Anyway, the weather forecast tomorrow is for thunderstorms and heavy rain. It's probably just as well we have plenty of books on our kindles!
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