Thisaway or thataway?

Today I’m sharing a more lighthearted look at something that became so important to us as we explored the Gargano Peninsular and quite literally pointed the way ahead as we undertook the routes between our accommodation (our bags were transferred ahead of us) and the circular routes helping us explore our current location.

We became quite adept at spotting them as we walked, and quite often they also lifted your spirits especially towards the end of the walk. No one likes unintended detours, or worse having to retrace your steps, especially when the kilometres have already racked up.

Several of the way markers we so though, did make me smile - like this one, they really didn’t want you to miss it did they?

We were used to following the white and red dash marks on previous walks and holidays we’ve been on, but a few new ones appeared on this trip; the red and white circle above - which wierdly looks like a fish to me, and also some yellow and black markings.

Often they’d appear together.

And on opposing ‘sides’ of the tree. Which I’m sure made perfect sense as you approached the tree from either direction, but standing alongside the tree just spelled confusion.

In the heart of forest they was clearer signage, as you’d expect - no one wants anyone lost in there! It’s also more geared up to day visitors so it made sense, and it was much appreciated as being able to follow the signs without relying heavily on our walking notes was appreciated.

Likewise on the Pilgrim Trail the signage was good, though as this was a move on day we were still checking the walking notes to make sure we didn’t stray off our route unintentionally. Though once we got to the bottom of the valley, with the only way being up we focussed on getting up there rather than the notes!

On this route we did encounter some ad-hoc gates too, not all of them like this one came with modern conveniences!

But it was the yellow and black markings which we followed as we headed up Mount Saraceno as the trip drew to a close, and they didn’t want you missing any turns either.

These were hard to miss, but somehow that last walk was the walk where we needed to retrace our steps - thankfully not by much though. All of the markers are much appreciated by many walkers, so this is definitely a post to celebrate the markers and those that maintain them.

Vive the way markers!

Additions and acquisitions to my craft room this September

It seems that crafting is now part of my everyday life in a way that I couldn’t have imagined when we moved here - and I’m not sad about it. I don’t always get to do some craft every day, but if I don’t I’m pretty sure I’m thinking about new projects or possibly even shopping online, or in real life.

I’m beginning to think it’s true that buying, or acquiring, new supplies is a separate hobby to actually using them, and it’s one I’ve been working on over a number of years. Now though I have the time to start using it all, or some of it at least.

With more crafting time in my days my productivity has definitely increased - you’ll have seen earlier posts on my newly put into practice skills proclaiming my pouch love, and the updates to my quilty plans. I’ve realised though that the accountability these posts give me is good, and so I’m planning to share more about what I add to my craft room every month in this new series of posts.

Some of these I will most likely already shared, like the vintage table runner and £1 fabric sample from our weekend in Malton - not forgetting the cute hand painted little cards.

My plan for the vintage table runner is to have it on standby to use in my hand sewing EPP (English Paper Piecing) blue diamonds project, that’s if I can bear to cut this one up as it is so pretty. For the green chevron fabric sample, that’s looking at a new life as a project bag, though I need to find the perfect fabric to pair with it, but one that doesn’t detract from the striking design.

I’m a convert to Aurifil thread for quilting and generally most of the other projects I’ve been sewing recently, but I’m also a lazy colour changer! This is something I want to be better at, and braver too and as I’m nearly through my ‘go to’ white thread I added some pretty variegated threads to my basket at the Morris Works Quilt Shop to encourage more thread changes!

AURIFIL THREADS: NATURAL WHITE (2021), DESERT DAWN (4648), LIBERTY (3852) & MARRAKESH (3817)

Planning to make more clothes

I also want to make more wearables, and at a recent Sewing Group meeting I saw someone wearing some great 3/4 length culottes strangely not that dissimilar to those in the image below. After thinking I like those, somehow my next thought was I could make some - who even am I?

As fate would have it this pattern dropped into my inbox soon after, and so a plan formulated. I bought the pattern, opting for the A0 printed version (rather than just the PDF self print and stick option) and I’m planning to use the bargain material I picked up from the fabric stall in Newark Market which was closing down. It’s a bold print and so I’m hoping that will disguise any blips I have…

When the pattern arrived I realised I’d also need an invisible zip, and then I remembered that zips are a whole other world - especially when you don’t really know what colour you need to match to your fabric, which isn’t helped when shopping online. So I turned to eBay and picked up more invisible zips than I will probably ever need for £15, reasoning that one of these colours must work. And if I make more of these culottes then I’m a step ahead with the zip already…

It’s true I have made myself a dress, and I have worn it a few times over the summer - and it does bring compliments, more importantly it hasn’t fallen apart. And sewing is just sewing (sort of!), so it should be within my grasp, especially now that I’ve had plenty of zip practice following all those pouches!

Watch this space (but remember to blink).

Still adding to my stash

At the charity sew day for Project Linus UK I picked up these two bundles of fabric from the sale table for less than a fiver. The lighter colours have a touch of Cath Kidston about them, and I liked how they looked alongside the dark fabrics - I’ve a feeling that these may appear in another charity quilt at some point.

Repurposing too

I have finally ‘retired’ my favourite Joules t-shirt, which is well past wearing in public stage - even for gardening, sadly. But I can’t quite bring myself to throw it away completely, or turn it into rags as MOH suggested. Instead I’ve added this to my ‘potential pouch’ pile, and I’ve sorted out some lining and a zip too so there’s some chance this will happen in the not too distant future.

On the wall

Well, it isn’t quite - but that’s the plan. This month I want to get my newly-picked up, carefully unwrapped, admired and then laid on the spare bed for safekeeping Vogue pattern page picture up on my craft room wall. I’m so pleased with how they turned out, that it’ll be good to see them every day. And it’s just as well the pictures were cheap - unbelievably just a pound each, as the framing was a bit more than that - I have expensive tastes clearly!

So that’s a wander through the new things in my craft room, let me know if you enjoyed reading this post - and what you’ve added to your craft supplies this month.

Heading across the bay

After a rest day of sorts, we were more ready to tackle the final scheduled walk of our holiday. We knew that one of the paths detailed on our walking notes was closed for urgent repairs, and alternative directions had been provided. These meant that rather than approach Monte Saraceno from the beach, we’d approach from the landward side, which after reading the original notes, which said ‘the ascent was steep (vertiginous in places)’ I think I was pretty glad to be honest.

The amended route would take us up Monte Saraceno which is home to a necropolis with 500 tombs dating back to the ancient Daunia civilisation, and armed with our supplies bought on yesterday’s jaunt into Mattinata we set off, after stopping to take this picture which shows where we were heading.

After leaving the hotel instead of heading to walk along the pebbly beach (that was another bonus of the changed route!) we headed back towards the road we’d arrived on a couple of days before, and past many more olive trees than we’d seen that day.

There was more to see alongside the olive pruning that kept our interest up.

We walked until reaching these roadworks which thankfully weren’t in the direction we were heading, but as we orientated ourselves we worked out this was the route we would be due to take to head into the town of Mattinata later on our walk. But that was for later so on we went admiring the plants and scenery that surrounded us.

By now we were heading up, and already the views were opening up. The headland in the distance is where we’d walked from, and where we would be walking back to later on. I always like to keep that in mind!

The amended walking notes which had been emailed to us before we left were pretty clear, but nonetheless I’m always grateful for clear directional instructions such as this:

Now we were getting a glimpse of what was ahead of us, and it looked fascinating.

And we had a perfect view of the small white town of Mattinata which we’d visited yesterday.

And up we went.

Until we realised we’d gone wrong following the path pictured above. It could have been right, but it wasn’t, and when we continued to skirt around the wall with no mention of it in the notes we checked again, and then retraced our steps before fairly easily finding the correct path, noticing that this one matched the walking notes more - and for longer.

Up we went, and down (and across) we looked. Just look at all those olive, and most likely some almond trees, growing in their grid layout.

It was idyllic, and we saw very few other walkers, or in fact anyone until we were much closer to our destination.

Excavations on Monte Saraceno have identified the remains of a necropolis with over 500 tombs, showing that the area was already inhabited in the C6th BC, by the Dauni population. The deceased were huddled along with the objects dearest to them, and shields and other objects covered the graves of stone slabs, some of which can be found in the town’s Archaeological Civic Musuem.

Reaching the top we were unsure quite where we’d arrived if you know what I mean, as the original and more detailed walking notes would have had us arriving from the beach. We explored for a bit, found a nice rock and tucked into our lunch working out our next move.

After sitting and enjoying the tranquility for a bit, then weaving our way through the many paths for a much longer bit we decided to retrace our steps and head back. This time with much less reliance on the walking notes, and more reliance on our memories - which generally seemed to work.

It always amazes me that by walking the same route in reverse you see so many different things. On this walk I think that was because we weren’t finding the way, and so were more relaxed, which meant there was more capacity to take in our surroundings.

Arriving back at those roadworks we’d seen earlier, we decided to rebel again and head back to the hotel rather than detour rather the town. We were off home the next day, and wasn’t in need of anything more that the beach bars or the hotel couldn’t provide.

A great week’s walking around the Gargano Peninsular had been completed successfully, and with a crocked ankle too, which at one point I wasn’t sure I’d be saying at the end of the week. I’ve a few more posts pencilled in from this trip sharing more of the flora, and those gnarly olive trees which seemed to grow any which way, so look out for those.