Sirolo by the sea

 Thursday

8 August 

Day 39

57 to go

Paul slept a little better last night thankfully. We were in no hurry to get out of bed, so stayed put until 9am, then got ourselves cleaned up and went down to see Francesco and have breakfast. I went through the photos from yesterday and we sat chatting, having a relaxing morning. Dad phoned, they are still enjoying their cruise of Norway.

We packed our bag with the things we thought we would need for our outing to the beach with Gianluca and Chiara and then they arrived at 1130am to take us to Sirolo. The journey was mostly via the paid motorway. They pointed out various things of interest, including the Misano race track and San Marino in the distance. 

We made our seaside destination at 1.15pm and the first stop was gelato for lunch. We made our way through to the square and found a cute little spot to enjoy our dessert. From here we checked out the amazing view over the water and then began the long, steep descent down to the beach. The narrow strip of pebbled beach was filled with holiday makers on sun chairs under umbrellas. We moved on to another area that was not covered and we set up our own camp.

Set up, we were straight into the warm water. It was not particularly deep, but we had to watch where we put our feet, as there were large boulders. Once you found one, you could just bob about in the sea. 

We stayed in the water for about an hour and then we moved to sit on the beach and watch the other people swim. We ate our fruit and other snacks while talking together. We didn’t leave the beach until 5pm. 

We climbed the steep stairs to a bus bay, where we could get the bus to the town. There were a lot of people waiting and they all tried to cram on when it arrived. We opted not to squeeze into the sardine can and waited for it to return 20 minutes later. This was a good idea as we got a seat and it was not as crowded. Boy did the bus work hard to get up the hill. The steep gradient and curves meant it was climbing at a slow pace., but as long as it continued moving forward, we were happy. 

We returned to the car for 6pm. Rather than heading straight home, we went to a bar with a view and enjoyed a drink and some nibbles to finish off a great day out. We then returned to the car and began the journey home. There was a beautiful sunset and the countryside was glowing. There were numerous fields of sunflowers all looking rather sad, with their heads drooping. We had missed them being in full bloom. 

We finally arrived home at 8.45pm, grateful for a terrific day. We shared dinner with Francesco and chatted about our day, before retiring at the 10pm.