Well it certainly was an eventful trip.Amazingly enough despite the trials and tribulations we actually managed to acheive a great deal including repointing the bottom level of the house and digging out most of a ground floor room.

The trip didn't start well.I have not used Euroline coaches before and I certainly won't again.The coaches were quite comfortable but the trip was unbearably long with a change in Milan at 5am in a bus station where the loos and cafe were closed.

When we did arrive in Rome found it almost impossible to locate the office of sixt rental probably as it was underneath the Villa Borghese Park with so signs! Anyway the drive from rome to Abruzzo is through the most fantastic mountain scenery so I soon relaxed.

After a long journey arriving after 10pm it was a relief to find the house rat free and wonderfully cool after the hot car.

The next day we started to check over everything and immediately found the copper (or rame) downpipes had all been stolen, along wth an old bed frame,a metal compost container and even more mysteriously an old Fiat 500 left rotting in the hedge for at least 30 years! Other Brits have experienced breakins and thefts so you can no longer go out and leave your door unlocked in our part of Abruzzo!

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1.French customs search all our bags on the side of the motorway !
2.The copper pipes didn't last long.
3. Plenty of Scorpions about.

In the garden we heard plenty of birds including the wonderful Golden Oriel but most birds steer clear of humans.I wonder why? Butterflies and fireflies were everywhere.

We had plenty of close encounters with wildlife including a snake in the house and a large Scorpion that crawled up my leg.Most of the snakes that we saw were harmless 'Serpente Nero' but there were vipers about too! The scorpions in Italy are pretty harmless too unless you are allergic to their sting.Nevertheless its probably a good idea to wear gloves if you are moving things.

The biggest problem of all was my neighbours' total lack of action on fixing the hole in his roof.It was obvious from the state of the kitchen that water was getting through to my walls and ceilings and a local downpour one day sent torrents of water into the upstairs bedroom.We've decided to halt any work on that side of the house because of this water damage.Lets hope I can soon get the problem resolved.

Meetings with the Falegnameria, Geometra and Muratore took up a fair amount of time but we still managed to get out and sample some of the delicious local cusine! Our main problem was that the antipasto dish was so filling we had difficulty eating anything that followed.

Earth Houses in Abruzzo I am becoming more and more interested in these traditional buildings found mainly around Casalincontrada near Chieti.The usual type of mortar in old buildings is made from mud with little if any lime added.We found that the whole of the front of our house was filled with this type of mortar. Because we are not in an exposed an area the mortar was in very good condition although it does get wet.for more information you can contact the Organisation TERRAE ONLUS VIA FP MICHETTI, 2 666012 CASALINCONTRADA (CH) ABRUZZO,ITALIA

Lime Render I found it extremly difficult to buy any NHL lime in Abruzzo.Most of the builders merchants only sell the dry hydrate although Castorama do sell hydraulic lime in very small packs. The product I used was made by Biocalce called Rinzaffo as this was the only material that was suitable and avaialble from Bellante .Looking on the web site they make a product called Pietra which is more suitable for repointing work.