Saturday 6th February
Amalfi – Salerno
There was a lot to be done today so we had to get up a bit earlier than usual and were out of the b and b by 9.30, or would have been if the heavens hadn’t opened and a real monsoon began. We might as well have been wading through a river, whilst going down the 200 steps to the car as all the spate water poured down the steps alongside us!


We set off to have a look at some the villages where Alec’s father had been stationed. Vietri is now a suburb of Salerno but Cava di Terrini has an attractive square where he had spent much time trying to find a radio signal. It is approached through a very narrow gully so must have been difficult terrain to fight in. We had to drop the car back in the centre of Salerno by 1.00 so found a hotel a few miles south along the coast, dumped our bags and returned it just before they closed. It is funny how one’s priorities change, but whilst driving we had seen a lot of stray dogs hanging around the side of the road near rubbish tips and had felt very sorry for them. When returning to the hotel on our bikes the same dogs (some with hideously large heads and fangs), decided to give chase at high speed. We both found ourselves hoping they would be squashed by a car before catching up with us! Luckily we all parted unscathed, but they are a bit of a problem in less affluent areas as they hang around just waiting to pounce to alleviate boredom, I think.
The weather was quite fowl, wet, very windy and pretty cold so we were glad to get back to our very civilised 4* room at a very good rate! We probably should have explored more of Salerno but it just wasn’t the right time.