Acquedotto Alberobello

Cisternino, Puglia. Friday 19-May-2023.

We have often walked the nearest section of the Acquedotto Ciclovia from Locorotondo to Ceglie Messapica (map) where it has been upgraded to a good trail for walkers, joggers & cyclists. Now we have discovered a new walkable section from near Locorotondo to near Alberobello. 

In April whilst perusing a book of walks for ideas Mary noticed another walkable section to the north of Locorotondo, just 10km from Cisternino! We immediately went to explore with a picnic lunch and what we found was a delightful path through wooded landscape awash with wild flowers and butterflies plus pigs, horses and raptors. 

The first time we walked it we stopped for lunch after eight kilometres and then turned back. Later we did the remainder of this section and discovered that we had been only one and a half kilometre from the end. On a fine day recently we went back and did the complete walk (9km each way) in one go!

Edit [Wednesday 24-May-2023]:

Q. Is it smooth enough for cycling?
A. Easily good enough for cycling. As smooth as the main ciclovia but not as wide so definitely single file. We saw several cyclists. A couple of caveats. 

1. There are a couple of locked gates where you’ll have to lift your bike over, one at the Alberobello entrance and another a couple of km in from that end. 
2. The straight section in the middle is where the acquedotto goes through the hill and the path goes up and over to rejoin the other side - partly rocky. Watch for that corner if coming from the Locorotondo end and don’t go straight ahead into a dead end.

View Google map version online:

Alberobello end: 

• What3Words ///getting.simultaneous.inseparable, 
• Coordinates: 40.81537,17.255894.

Locorotondo end: 

• What3Words ///slyness.clinic.locker, 
• Coordinates: 40.784269,17.335773.

Download the GPX file for your device.

Gallery:

Aqueduct.

Bee Orchid.

Rose chafer beetle.

Common blue butterflies (male and female).

Common blue butterfly (female).

Countryside.

Ponte di San Marco.

Navigation in case you were confused.

Dennis the Menace beetle.

Foal - a new addition to the horses since our first foray.

Honeywort.

Green lizard.

Owlfly.

Painted lady butterfly.

Entrance (Alberobello end) [Google map].

Bridge.

Near entrance (Alberobello end).

Rootling pig in field opposite entrance (Alberobello end).

Purple emperors (male and female).

Tree blossom.

Red flowers on verge. 

Near entrance (Locorotondo end).

Triffid (aka wild fennel) with me for comparison.

White flowers.

Giant dandelion.

Horses on path.

More wild flowers.

More wild flowers.

Purple emperor butterfly.

In each section of the path different flora prevailed.

An amazing profusion of nature in action - lots of flowers and pollinators all working together.

The Eamont Way

Penrith, Cumbria. Tuesday 18-April-2023.

The Eamont Way is a new walking route of 5.5 miles from Penrith Railway Station to Pooley Bridge Steamer Pier. It is the work of Friends of the Ullswater Way. It is actually a collection of existing paths with new signs and gates and was only inaugurated on Friday 14th April, a few days before this walk.  

Having missed the inaugural walk we decided to give it a go ourselves and then walk back via Askham following another walk from my Lake District Walks with History book. The latter is described as "an atmospheric walk across lonely moors dotted with mysterious Bronze Age remains". 

Part 1: Outbound along the Eamont Way.

We downloaded and printed off the map. 

Download map (pdf, new window)

We then walked up to the station and found the start point. A short walk down to the A66 and then cut off down a side path.

River Eamont. Fairly full after recent rains.

This barn conversion near Sockbridge is called Wordsworth Cottage. Apparently it was formerly part of the estate once owned by Wordsworth’s grandfather who lived in nearby Sockbridge Hall.

The route goes through a mixture of fields and lovely country lanes.

We saw many daffodils but not yet up to Wordsworths "A host, of golden daffodils". We also saw many cute lambs who all ran to Mum when you approached the fence to take a photo.

Kirkbarrow Hall. This Gothic house on the main road, now a dairy farm, once belonged to Leonard Dacre, described by Queen Elizabeth as a "very cankred subtill traitor" for his role in the Rising of the North (1569).  Read more on the Friends of the Ullswater Way site.

The walk is pretty level, no huge ups and down through beautiful countryside.

The boat house at Pooley Bridge and the end of the Eamont Way.

Part 2: Return via Askham Fell.

A lovely place for a rest, looking over Ullswater.

Getting up onto Askham fell with views of Ullswater.

Galava & Brocavum were two local Roman forts. The Roman mile (mille passus, lit. "thousand paces"; abbr. m.p.) consisted of a thousand paces as measured by every other step—as in the total distance of the left foot hitting the ground 1,000 times.

The bronze age Cockpit stone circle. According to the book no-one knows for sure why it was built or why, as friend have pointed out, the grass is always greener inside the circle. 

The Cop Stone, another Bronze Age mystery. About 1.5m high and 1m thick, today a solitary stone but believed originally to be part of a cairn ring about 20m in diameter.

Heading back to Askham, the imposing Lowther Castle with the Pennines in the background.

Moving time 5:09:20. Distance 25.23km.

Lovely day for it but about 25km in all so definitely felt a bit weary afterwards. Our poor feet!

Wine Tasting - A Tour of Italy

Bassenthwaite Lake Station, Cumbria. Thursday 04-May-2023.

Our rescheduled return back to Italy meant we could fit it this tasting. Obviously living in Italy for half the year we have tasted many of these wines even if not these specific producers. 

The tasting covered wines from all over Italy. It was interesting to take a canter through a complete country in one session and get a good impression of the breadth of wines from the different regions. They were presented one at a time, there was no compare-and-contrast in pairs like last time (Wine Tasting - France vs Rest of the World).

I had to google the Bampfield points mention in the Chianti description. I know about Robert Parker and his (over-)influential ratings but Bampfield was a new one on me. He is an MW (Master of Wine) so knows what he's talking about and Lidl are using his scorings to label their wines.

Our hostess was good at drawing out the crowd's opinions with lots of "What do you think of this?" and "How much do you think this costs?". Most wines got general approval apart from a couple of Moaning Minnies on the next table, fortunately they were in the minority. 

Below are their tasting notes followed by Mary's star ratings and her notes.

Finest Prosecco Veneto (North East), Tesco £8.50

Fresh and elegant with a lingering finish, look for citrus and pear flavours with peach blossom aromas. Best as an aperitif or to pair with salmon. 

Bonus question - which grape is used to produce Prosecco? Answer: Glera is the principal grape. 

✱ Transparent, slight sweetness, floral.

Prior Bortolomiol Valdobbiandene 2021 Veneto (North East), Lake District Wines £20.00

This velvety, fruity, aromatic prosecco is crisp and fine with strong fruity hints and sharp apple and citrus flavours. Ideal as an aperitif or with fish or vegetable dishes especially those dressed with olive oil. 

✱✱ V. slight colour, fresher, subtler flavour, more elegant.

Tasca Regaliali Bianco Sicily (South), Majestic £8.99

Made from Inzolia, a local grape variety that is aromatic and floral, delicate but not bland, it has fruit flavours of apple, peach and pink grapefruit. Best served with shellfish, fish or vegetarian dishes. 

✱✱ Lovely texture & nose, fresh, appley & peach.

Garibaldi Gavi Piedmont (North) Lakeland, Vintners £15.00

When Gavi is really good it outshines the rather bland pinot grigio and this is a special Gavi indeed! With layers of crisp apple, pears and almonds, the wine is full and round with a lightly acidic, clean finish. A flexible wine for food pairing, especially good with light cheeses, fish or white meats and salads. 

✱✱ Faint nose, clean, fresh, slightly woody, green apple, mouthwatering.

Stella Alpina Pinot Grigio Alto Aldige (North), Majestic £10.99

With a reputation for high-end, quality wines, this comes from one of the regions better producers and is in a different league to entry-level pinot grigio. Look for a rich, pure palate of peach, melon and kiwi fruit with the crispest of finishes. Good with difficult-to-pair tomato salads or fresh seafood dishes. 

✱✱✱ Lime, peach, peach kernel, melon, nice balance (acid / flavour). Probably one of the best Pinot Grigio we have tasted.

Triplica Greco Di Tufo Campania South West), Majestic £9.99

Campania produces some of Italy's most prestigious white wines. The higher altitude growing areas are cooler, giving the grapes time to ripen in the sunshine without over-heating or losing too much acidity. Crafted by one of the most dynamic and talented winemakers, Alessandro Michelon, you can expect excellence. It is perfumed, tropical and refreshing with hints of mango, pear and fresh herbs. Enjoy with fresh mozzarella. 

✱✱½ Mango, pear?, good acidity, good flavour & length.

Chianti Reserva Tuscany (Mid-West), Lidi £6.49

Rated an amazing 92 out of 100 Bampfield points, this authentic and typical example of a Chianti displays a maturity above its age. It has notes of fruitcake and sweet spice and a dry, balsamic finish. Great with spag bol or lasagne. 

✱✱✱ Raisins, herbs on nose, dried fruit, soft tannins, dry finish.

integro Negroamaro 2021 Puglia (South East), Booths £10.00

Negroamaro is one of Italy's native grapes and Puglia has the best conditions for its cultivation. The wine is a little spicy with hints of blueberry and blackberry. It is rich, sleek, complex and smooth.

✱✱✱✱ Intense nose, prunes, spicy, cedar, complex, long. Lovely wine and available from our very local Booths supermarket!

Campofiorin Masi Veneto (North East), Majestic £12.99

A velvety-smooth complex wine due to its second fermentation with partially dried grapes producing wines comparable with Amarone but without the price tag! Expect notes of ripe cherry with hints of tobacco, vanilla and cinnamon spice. Enjoy with cheese or charcuterie. 

✱✱✱ Intense nose, figs, cherry, vanilla, tobacco.

Aglianico Del Vulture Basilicata (South), Majestic £9.99

The later ripening Aglianico grape is one of Italy's hidden gems, producing intense, spicy wines that are great with Mediterranean dishes and which will age well. The volcanic vineyard soils produce very well-structured wines with notes of dark fruit and black pepper. 

✱✱✱ Dark, dark fruit, rhubarb, scrub, pepper, tannic, young?

Barolo denominazione controllata Piedmont (North), Tesco £19.00

Harvested by hand and aged in oak barrels for 24 months, this special wine showcases the unusual Nebbiolo grape producing subtle perfumes, strong tannins and a bouquet of ripe fruit, sweet spices and a hint of vanilla. Pair with beef stew or wild mushroom risotto. 

✱✱✱½ Light in colour, strawberry, vanilla, tannic, good flavour.

Montepulciano D'abruzzo Abruzzo (East central), Tesco £7.00

Proud of its Gold award in the 2022 International Wine Challenge, this high quality wine from the Abruzzo hills overlooking the Adriatic is inky-black, rich, full-bodied and complex with juicy black fruit, savoury spice and a typical chocolatey finish. It will pair well with bold and hearty dishes.

✱✱✱ Spicy, vanilla, woody, dark fruits, spicy, tannic.

In summary we placed the cheap prosecco at the bottom and the Puglian Negroamaro at the top of the leader board closely followed by the Barolo.

As before we stayed in The Pheasant Inn just a couple of minutes walk from the venue. Last time we got a special off-season deal, this time we paid full whack - not such a deal. Next time we will look at last minute deals or staying in Keswick and using our bus pass to get to and from the event.

Matching Food and Wine at Pairings Wine Bar

York, England. Saturday 29-April-20.

We like restaurants that recommend matching wines, favourite examples are Enoteca Turi in London and Four and Twenty in Penrith. 

Pairings Wine Bar in York recommends matching food with wine - getting your priorities right! Mary had found out about this somehow and booked the Premium Food and Drink Experience. We had an excellent tasting hosted by the charming and knowledgable Abbie. She introduced us to new wine discoveries and many of the wines triggered memories of other times and places. Next day she sent us an email with tasting notes for the wine experience otherwise this would have been a very short blog!

Joseph Perrier Cuvee Royale Brut Champagne // Arturo Sanchez Jamon Iberico Gran Reserva.

Sussing out her audience, Abbie asked "Do you know how champagne is made?" Errm, yes. We must have visited some eight or ten champagne houses on our way to and from canal and other holidays in France. Stopovers in Rheims and Épernay means that we have visited everything from the slick, corporate, multimedia presentation at Mercier to our personal guide, Guillaume, at Perrier-Jouët to the on‑request‑only tasting at Ruinart (the Rosé was lovely). Also we did a fantastic grand marque tasting at a BBR Champagne School.

The Joseph Perrier Cuvee Royale Brut was lovely, the classic cuvee blend consisting of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. We drink a lot of the local "prosecco" in Puglia but opening a bottle of champagne reminds you that it is a superior drink! The Jamon was lovely, very dark, chewy and strongly flavoured - a bit closer to biltong than parma.

Blankbottle Orbitofrontal Cortex // Beetroot Cured Gravlax

More memories. This wine comes from Stellenbosch in the Western Cape, South Africa. We visited that region on our first trip to South Africa back in 2007: SA Trip 4: Stellenbosch. We subsequently bought an apartment in Hermanus and have visited dozens of South African wineries, tasted many fine wines and there are always more to discover. Read more about our South African adventure.

This is a unknown blend - the notes say "BLANKbottle is breaking every rule in the book. It produces 30 different wines a year, with half never to see the light of day again. No label has any information about varietals or blends. This particular blend was subconsciously blended by winemaker Pieter Hauptfleisch Walser’s brain. From the very little that we know, it consists of around 10 grapes, but only five are known to us; Clairette Blanc, Grenache Blanc, Semillion, Verdelho and Fernao Pires. Plenty of complex flavours such as peach, aniseed, and walnuts."

The beetroot cured salmon was lovely and paired well. At this point I realised that we weren't having a meal we were doing a tasting but by then it was too late to photograph the preceding courses.

Ken Forrester FMC Chenin Blanc, 2020 // Pork Rillette

Another Stellenbosch wine. Notes from Pairings: "A careful selection of up to 10 harvests through the same vineyard, choosing the grapes at their peak, then naturally fermented in French oak both new and old, then aged for a year in barrel on the lees." 

South African Chenin Blanc is one of our favourite wines. We have tasted Ken Forrester's wines before but this is one of his specials and a perfect match for the rillette.

Durigutti Proyecto Las Compuertas // Pork and Fennel Salami

The notes from Pairings list a number of wines from this producer but doesn't say what varietals go into this particular wine. There are a number featuring Malbec so I'll go with that: "Brothers Hector and Pablo are passionate about expressing the characteristics of Argentina’s various terroirs along with freshness and bright, focused fruit, which is enhanced by their preference to age wine in concrete."

The salami is local as are all the foods and Abbie was able to tell us the provenance for each one; we were pleased to learn that the wine bar is supporting local producers.

Suertes del Marques 7 Fuentes // Manchego DOP

Now something really different. I've never had a wine from Tenerife: 

"Country of Origin: Tenerife, Region: Valle de la Orotava, Grape: 90% Listan-Negro, 10% Tintilla.

Originating from several plots of land with clay loam soil with volcanic origin. They have different orientations, and the altitude can vary from 350 to 700 meters above sea level. The age of the vines ranges from 8 to 100 years depending on the plot.  Each plot is harvested separately, and the fermentation of the grapes is also done separately in stainless steel tanks with temperature control. The fermentation process is short with maceration of the skins. The wine is aged for 8 months in concrete tanks (60%) and in French Oak Barrels (40%)'"

Sadly I cannot recall my impressions of this pairing.

As the night was yet young we decided another glass of wine was in order. We had to vacate our table so we sat up at the bar for a flight of three reds - 50ml of each so only equivalent to one glass.

Coravin Red Flight 2:

• Brunello Di Montalcino ‘White Label’ Casanova Di Neri 2017 
• Amon Ra, Ben Glaetzer 2018 [Barossa Shiraz, their top wine]
• Soul of a Lion, DAOU, 2018  [California Bordeaux blend]

We drink almost no American wines so were interested to try the very expensive Soul of a Lion at approx £120 a bottle. I would struggle to pay that much for a bottle but trying it as part of a tasting flight allows for a low risk trial.

These wines were very different - tasty and complex - but we were too busy chatting to make any notes and Pairings had no write up for these.

Postscript:

There was a couple next to us as we sat at the bar and when they heard us mention Penrith to Abbie they perked up and asked if we had been to Fell Bar. "Is there any other pub in Penrith?" I quipped. Turns out they were Phil and Claire of Black Cat gin based in Brougham Hall and whose No. 1 gin I had tasted in Fell. Also Abbie's gran lives in Stainton, a village just outside Penrith so another example of how small a world it is.

We bumped into Phil again the next day in Fell bar, had an interesting chat about gin production and arranged to visit their distillery in Brougham Hall. 

We went on Friday and bought a couple of bottles: No. 2 (pink peppercorn and pomegranate) and No. 3 (olive and rosemary). These gins are strongly flavoured (especially No. 2) and designed to be drunk with mixers, a little too intense to be drunk neat. 

Nice to try yet another gin, see My Life In ... Gin; also My Life In ... Wine.

City Break - York

York, UK. Friday/Sunday 28/30-April-2023.

Following on from our week in Bakewell we segued straight into a weekend in York. Not only because I'd never been to York but also because it gave us a "Y" for our parkrun alphabet.

Mary went mad and booked us into the Grand Hotel for a bit of luxury. Their valet parking is a bit steep at £35 per night but the friendly concierge pointed us at the station car park 5 minutes walk away which was only £6.75 per day.

Friday night we dined at Guy Fawkes at the recommendation of the in-laws, George and Sandra. Food was fine and I learned that Guy Fawkes was from York so I'm older and wiser now.

Saturday morning we walked out to parkrun at the racecourse. Very popular with many other parkrun tourists out for their "Y", probably around 600 people.  As always a great bunch of volunteers.

Nice flat course with start and finish in different places so Mary ended up carrying my rucksack for last 2km 😟! 

My results 29/04/2023. 27:20 [301 / 607]. Now I have the t-shirt!

We went for a post-parkrun breakfast en-route back to the city centre, The cafe was doing a roaring trade in bacon butties. Had to include this photo of their menu. All together now: 🎵 Spam, spam, spam, spam ...

During the day we did the tourist bit wandering around randomly including The Shambles which is supposedly the inspiration for Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter series. Not true it seems but that didn't stop the entrepreneurial shopkeepers from selling all manner of magical memorabilia.

York Minster.

City Gate.

Cute timber-framed house.

In the evening we went to Pairings for an excellent wine and food experience - read more at Matching Food and Wine at Pairings Wine Bar.

Sunday we went for a circumambulation of the city walls. 

No dogs.

Then back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and home.