Back in Sardinia

Here we are, back in the land of wine, olive oil, fresh vegetables and sunshine.
We arrived on the 7th, crossing the sea from Toulon to Porto Torres. Before the crossing we had been travelling over land  by bus and train as we have now decided to ditch the air travel for ecological reasons. We hope to carry on travelling this way in the future and we will try to take the opportunity to visit places as we go, stopping in and enjoying the localities as we encounter them.

The bus from Drum to Inverness

Inverness station

Lesley checking the beds

getting ready

Last Supper in Inverness station

We left Invernes on the Caledonian sleeper to then take a Eurostar train from London to Paris in the morning. In Paris we changed station to ride with the French TGV all the way to the south of  France arriving in Toulon early evening.

Saint Pancras

Station breakfast

Euston train station

Gare de Lyon

We had chosen a hotel near the station and it was easy to get sort it and go out for dinner in a small restaurant run by a young Moroccan  boy.

Grand Hotel de la Gare

Next day was dedicated to explore Toulon, a nice medium size town with a lovely sea front looking south west on the harbour full of sailing boats of many sizes, including sophisticated 007 style multimillion  yachts.
                                                             
                                                                 

Port of Toulon

Toulon train station

Steak (?), mixed salad and anchovy sauce; Corsican beer

vegetarian burger with goat's cheese and figs

Funicular to see view over Toulon from mountain top

Moored in the harbour were also the commercial and passenger ships, one of which we were going to board later in the evening. Lots of restaurants were lined all along the seafront, offering us our morning croissants and coffee.  We then explored the town, becoming hot and exhausted, in the way enthusiastic tourists do.  Lunch in a restaurant on a tree-shaded square provided touch of  French cuisine and a well-deserved rest.
The crossing from Toulon to Porto Torres was a 10 hour smooth  gentle journey and we slept well in our comfy cabin.

Watching a sister ferry leaving the harbour

Arriving in Sardinia spot on time at 8 am (in spite of a 2-hour departure delay from Toulon) gave us a wait of 3.5 hours before catching the bus to Santa Teresa, 3 km from our house. We sat in a café' at the port enjoying a proper thick chocolate and coffee, cappuccino with brioche for breakfast and listening to the local retired oldies exchanging their Saturday morning gossip, recipes, political opinions.

We then spent a few days at the seaside in Marazzino before arriving here in Oliena. A quick visit to the house in the countryside for some cleaning was necessary before we transfer ourselves over there and start some work. Today (Saturday 14th) we are going to a wedding.
Weather is very nice and the summer was very hot and torrid for very long time. Temperatures are still around 30 and forecast still gives a couple of weeks of hot weather. We will take the opportunity to sort out the leaking roof - once and for all - we hope!  So, this job has priority at the moment.
After that we will start collecting almonds (there are not many this year), then at the end of the month it will be grape harvesting for the production of wine.