Packed up and ready to by 9, we headed eastwards as best we could to Tarano ( we wanted small quiet roads, Google and the GPS wanted bigger ones!). We drove through olive groves, small towns and the occasional solar energy park. Taranto was the main town we passed - huge industrial area including the biggest steel plant in Europe according to Wikipedia - it looked it too.
We had a brief stop in Marina di Ginosa where we headed off the route to get to the beach. However we failed to find an open beach cafe for a coffee (one was open but it didn’t look great and was playing really loud music) so we drove on.
We then drove through some fantastic countryside with white washed hilltop villages and vines everywhere. Some of the vines were not yet harvested - although we saw at least one trailer of grapes - so we stopped to take some photos.
Thereafter we headed into higher ground with some stunning hillsides.
A quick stop for a picnic in the shade and off again towards Scalea.
We passed through a little town called Lauria with a fantastic descent to the coast.
The Ionian coast looks lovely and our accommodation is a villa with superb views west over the sea. Drinks by the pool as the sun set.
Sadly our queen comes to St Giles today with her family watching over her
Daily drive 200 miles
Total trip 2294 miles
