Saturday 19th October

Around Otranto

Up early to try and dodge the rain and enjoyed a hearty breakfast before donning the walking gear for a limber up walk of around 8 Kms.

The town was still hardly populated as we made our way down through the old town, where many shops had put up the shutters for the year and gone on holidays.

Jane started day poorly when she recognised she had one of her poles and one of mine, the latter could not adjust low enough for her so most of the day she was like a drunken sailor.

The town  has a beautiful beach and port as well as a castle and old town full of shops of the usual variety. Cafes were doing a bit of early business as we walked the canal and headed out into the valley which was primarily olives and vegetables.

The majority of olive trees had been dramatically affected by the disease and growers were trying to remedy things by giving trees a super hard prune or alternatively replanting.

Struck up a conversation in mixed dialect with an old grower and he explained that the disease and drought had affected him and  other locals badly. The ‘For sale’ sign painted on his fence said it all. He was laboriously pruning / shaping low  growing healthier  branches- gave me one as a gift  ie an olive branch of hope and good luck from what  we could glean.

Further down the road another farmer was tidying up acres of grove with just a whipper snipper.

There were many deserted farms with the only splash of wealth being a farm selling truffles and running a restaurant.

On the floor of the valley we came across a rock church over which a protective awning had been installed. There was a huge rock altar that dominated it and a very faded fresco in one of the holes carved into the wall.

In the cultivated areas there was an enormous amount of rock in the ploughed fields, not sure what would be grown in such soil.

Being close to coast it was affected by wind and the farmers used bamboo plantings as windbreaks.

Soon we were walking along a big channel, basically waterless,  that led us back to town. Close to the end we ran into a couple of local walkers and traded stories about walks we had all completed.

It was an amazing duplication.

Got back  home just before it started to bucket down, but we needed to head into town to do the laundry. So it was on with ponchos and armed with a prawn roll from local cafe we splashed our way to the laundromat sharing machines with an eclectic bunch. 

Imteresting sign on all of the washers and dryers with a Red Cross over a cat and dog. Not sure if you couldn’t put them in the appliances or they could not come inside. 

Did a bit of window shopping and general sightseeing before heading home to dry out , cleaned up and then popped up to the bar for an afternoon tipple. Worst beer, but best nibbles and Italian gin on tour.

Listened to the falling rain and pawed over forecasts for tomorrow’s coastal walk, before finding another hidden gem restaurant for dinner. The pasta was great and plenty of sauce left for a bit of scapetta ( soaking it up with bread).

Twas a lonely walk back home at 900pm with the only company being other diners leaving restaurants and doing likewise.

More rain tomorrow, but that can be dealt with then.