The sea at last ! - and only my second sighting since Sue and I had swum together at the Lido at Venezia. I had arrived at Sperlonga after leaving Roma early in the morning. I had joined the Roma ring road and exited on the Via Casilina. I took LRU up the hairpins to the Monte Casino monastery which was destroyed by the allies and heavily defended by the Germans during World War 2. ( Author Alex Bowlby's book 'Countdown to Casino' describes the battle of the Mignano Gap in 1943 and the part played by the monastery at Monte Casino.) When at Casino I experienced some difficulty in finding the road up to the monastery. Help came in the form of my own personal scooter escort who offered to show me the way. The young scooter rider - like almost everyone wherever I stopped - expressed interest in LRU and asked how old she was. When I said 'Cinquanta due' they seemed amazed that I had travelled all the way from Manchester. In the absence of other traffic LRU fairly galloped up through the hairpin bends and its exhaust note was music to my ears.

Now travelling along the coast road I enjoyed the views of the sculptured coast line and bright shimmering Tyrrhenian Sea. I appreciated the cooling breeze off the sea. I had been enjoying all my Italian food but the food at the Sperlonga Ostello was excellent so feeling replete I headed for the beach to watch the setting sun. There were a few people on the sandy beach and such was the warmth of the water some people were still swimming.

My final destination, the ruins of Pompei, was now only 140 kilometres away. Setting off from Sperlonga at 7am in the morning proved to have been a good move since I soon joined the autostrada that circumnavigated Napoli. Towards the middle of the day I turned off down a very short slip road and suddenly found myself in the hustle and bustle of Pompei. The Ostello would not open till mid-afternoon but this suited me fine. I parked LRU in the piazza and as the heat of the midday sun was upon me I sought the shade of palm trees in the nearby park. I settled on a park bench and allowed the present day chattering Pompeians to lull me to sleep. Absolute bliss!

When you are waiting for a miscreant Italian bus driver who arbitrarily decides that your stop is the one he will miss out on route to Mount Vesuvius you think of many things! I wondered if old Vesuvius would erupt while I was there? Maybe not since apparently it last erupted in 1944. Since that awesome day in 79AD it is hard to believe that present day archeological excavations are still uncovering buildings and artifacts which have been buried under ash and trees for centuries. Records indicate that excavations first started in 1748!

Our little bus-stop-party consisted of two young men from America and Canada - the latter with his girlfriend. She and I managed to convince La Autobus Company that we did need picking up after enlisting the help of an Italian lady from the Tourist Information Office. It really was a great deal of trouble for us all. I realised that I could have gone up on LRU but these guys had no form of transport having arrived by train so I felt it was a just cause and anyway LRU was having a well deserved rest.

We all enjoyed the trip up to Vesuvius.The bus only goes up to two thirds of the height. The rest has to be negotiated on foot up a well worn ash laden track. It was not possible to secure good photographs from the volcano's perimeter across to Naples Bay towards Sorrento and Pompei as the heat haze was very prominent.

I must confess that after my climb up to Vesuvius the previous day my walk around the ruins of Pompei was quite exhausting and there were no places to snooze in the hot midday sun. Every time I stopped somewhere the roaming dogs came out of their hiding places looking for a free lunch. Everything - the gladiators house, amphitheatre, streets and aqua systems - seemed remarkably well preserved. A Hollywood film studio would be hard pressed to create such a sight as this. As I trudged my heavy legs back to the Ostello I made a decision to swap another planned day in Pompei for an additional one in Sperlonga to be by the sea and avail myself of the superb food. I whiled away my last evening in Pompei chatting and writing post cards.

I left Pompei - the timeless city - at 7am. LRU bounced along the uneven larva basalt cobbled roads. I had decided to return to Sperlonga via Napoli but LRU found the congestion intolerable so I joined the autostrada at the earliest opportunity. I had no qualms about the toll expense as I have always adopted the philosophy of maintaining LRU regardless of cost. This decision - like others before - e.g. joining the autobahn in Germany - was part of it. It really is all about preservation and enjoyment for as long as possible into the future.