Landlocked in Loreto.

LORETO, ITALY.

Not a good night's sleep. The ship's motors caused the sunlight blinds to rattle. Still, on a 17 hour sailing we did not have to rise early. Had breakfast and lunch in the motor ome and spent the bulk off the day reading. Rosie took the opportunity to catch up on her emails in the Marathon Lounge.

The disembarkation process is concerning. The wagons are jammed tightly together. I was hoping to turn round before going down the ramp in reverse. However, it was not to be, I had to revere all the way down. The banksman were excellent, one in particular shouting for me to look at him and not to use my wing mirrors.

We call the ticket office only to find ferries don't sail to Croatia on a Tuesday. We book for tomorrow but are not so lucky with discounts, the rep rejects all attempts. And, no camping on board means that we have to buy a cabin.

Our stop for the night is in Loreto. Legend has it that angels flew the house in Bethlehem when it was threatened by Muslim invaders. I'm not sure that I can buy into that. The town is basically a church surrounding the rembants of the house and a convent housing the sisters of the order.

Restaurants are scarce, we end up eating pizza slices in a local takeaway. The owner gives us some vanilla creams in batter for free. 3 squares of pizza and two plastics of local wine all for 7.50 euro.