babbo_umbro
Established member
Returned from Umbria a couple of weeks ago. This was the 4x4's seventh trip to and from central Italy and it went as well as ever. Did 3480 miles at just over 42 mpg. Total mileage is now 43000, so about two-thirds of its running has been to and from Italy and driving around while living there. As remarked in another thread, tyre wear is low - I'll replace all four in the next six weeks or so but the Conti CrossContacts would probably last till spring if necessary. Oil consumption is also negligible.
Came back with the usual load - two adults, four bags, 40 litres of wine and ten of olive oil (the best there is, by the way, as the harsh Umbrian winters and higher altitude mean that spraying against the olive fly is unnecessary so there are no traces of organ-phosphates). The way the TA pulls up long inclines still impresses me - the approach to the San Gottardo tunnel climbs steadily for miles and the Panda just sails up, only needing to drop to fifth if held up by traffic.
We live about 25 miles in a straight line from the areas worst hit by the earthquakes and experienced several substantial tremors while we were there, and relatively gentle aftershocks were occurring 20 or 30 times an hour. Our watchtower is probably about 600 years old so it has experienced a lot of this sort of thing but the repeated shaking is a worry, though no damage is apparent so far. Places that we know really well - Norcia and Castelluccio di Norcia in particular - have been very badly hit; there are hardly any houses still standing in Castelluccio, where the few remaining residents have been cut off except by helicopter and are angry that the only people who seem to come and go with no problems are television crews. The Basilica of San Benedetto at Norcia has been flattened but - for me - the loss of the abbey of Sant'Eutizio near Preci is a greater sadness. The Nera river near Visso has been dammed by a landslide and is running down what's left of the main road.
Came back with the usual load - two adults, four bags, 40 litres of wine and ten of olive oil (the best there is, by the way, as the harsh Umbrian winters and higher altitude mean that spraying against the olive fly is unnecessary so there are no traces of organ-phosphates). The way the TA pulls up long inclines still impresses me - the approach to the San Gottardo tunnel climbs steadily for miles and the Panda just sails up, only needing to drop to fifth if held up by traffic.
We live about 25 miles in a straight line from the areas worst hit by the earthquakes and experienced several substantial tremors while we were there, and relatively gentle aftershocks were occurring 20 or 30 times an hour. Our watchtower is probably about 600 years old so it has experienced a lot of this sort of thing but the repeated shaking is a worry, though no damage is apparent so far. Places that we know really well - Norcia and Castelluccio di Norcia in particular - have been very badly hit; there are hardly any houses still standing in Castelluccio, where the few remaining residents have been cut off except by helicopter and are angry that the only people who seem to come and go with no problems are television crews. The Basilica of San Benedetto at Norcia has been flattened but - for me - the loss of the abbey of Sant'Eutizio near Preci is a greater sadness. The Nera river near Visso has been dammed by a landslide and is running down what's left of the main road.
