Tag Archives: dirt

It always pays to look the other way

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Just north of Pienza in Tuscany is a stand of Cypress trees that have been photographed more often than most others. The reason is they seem to represent Tuscany to tourists and they are visible from the main road. In each season they summarise the beauty of the region.

It’s not unusual to see half a dozen cars stopped at the side of the road with the occupants out shooting the grove of trees.

Interestingly very few people turn around and look the other way to a view that, in my humble opinion, is even more Tuscan. Captured here in late Autumn.

White Roads

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This was a phrase we had not heard before we started motoring around Tuscany. While it sounds quite exotic, it is simply the local name for dirt roads.

In Tuscany there are quite a few.

On a map you will see many roads criss-crossing Tuscany and the distance between places seems small by New Zealand standards. It’s only when you drive that you realise what sort of road it is and the trip time changes accordingly.

Clean me - please.

The road to the cottage is a white road 3kms long. As you can see by the back of the mighty Peugeot (which is a black car, honestly) in summer the roads can get quite dusty. Today, in honour of it’s impending trip to Positano, the Pug is getting it’s first serious clean.

I’ve even bought a sponge and some carwash from the local supermercato.

I’ll just wait until the temperature outside drops below 30 degrees before I start. Ah, that gives me time for a beer.