Pay our bill and say our goodbyes to our wonderful hosts Jenny and Mauro who have given us a stay to remember. We receive a parting gift from Jenny of a bottle of local red wine and a jar of honey, a lovely surprise.
Pietra Rosa represents the best of what agriturismo should be all about- superb location, home-cooked food from local produce generous, genial hosts who clearly enjoy what they are doing.
Our first port of call is to Gola del Furbo which in sunnier weather looks quite magnificent. We meet up with two groups of schoolchildren out on educational tours and they remind us that kids are the same the world over, noisy, happy, mischievous, a challenge for their teachers and a joy to observe.
From Fossombrone we decide to take a detour on the freeway to Fano, a coastal resort on the Adriatic.
To describe the beach as a disappointment is the understatement of the century. Gail's view in her usual subtle way " the worst beach I've ever seen". Hard to argue with her assessment as the 'beach' is totally made up of pebbles and even worse is covered with literally 1000's of brightly coloured beach umbrellas, currently unused but no doubt lying in wait for the ever-eager sun-seekers who will descend on the resort during the summer season. We leave Fano as quickly as possible, realising how blessed we are in Aus to have such coastal areas.
Continue to just south of Ancora where we head towards the south-west and the beautiful hilltop town of Macerata. For once the Lonely Planet has it right- Macerata is one of Italy's better kept secrets and is just as impressive as many Umbrian and Tuscan hill towns, but without the hordes of tourists.
Leaving Macerata we drive on to Sarnano through increasingly impressive scenery as the mountains of the Sibillini National Park come into view, still snow-capped although we are now well into spring.
After passing through the pretty village of Amandola we pick up the major road east towards our final destination of the Agriturismo Castrum at Castorano, a seemingly simple end to our day!
Wrong again! Tom Tom has been doing a great job all day and duly led us to our B and B by 7.30. He wasn't to know that the owner does not live at the accommodation so we had a bit of a wait while the owner's husband who was working in the fields phoned his wife to let us into our apartment.
Castrum is surrounded by olive groves and vineyards with snow-covered mountains in the distance and the self-catering apartment comes with all mod cons, BBQ and swimming pool although the weather is not co-operating at present. After Pietra Rosa this establishment appears rather more regimented and less of a real 'agriturismo'. However, as we find out during the evening and the next day Guiseppina Maolini, the owner, is kindness itself and does everything possible to make our stay comfortable.
Given the lateness of the hour, and the fact that my prosthetic right knee is suffering from driving a manual car over narrow winding roads for about 7 hours, we decide to eat part of next day's breakfast and get a good night's sleep.
The Obese Ferret.
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