411. Tight

Pompei

Camp to LPG

After breakfast, basking in the sun, Roman and I headed for the gas bottle place recommended by the camp manager. We bought our current ten kilogram gas bottle in Morocco and only use it for cooking on the stove and in the oven. Mostly it is just the oven which we use most days as the two inductive hobs in the awning do the stove cooking while we are ensconced in camp. Each time we need gas we have to discard our existing bottle as there is no standard. We set off for the half hour drive there and back not at all sure if our destination would supply gas at all after yesterday's experience.

Panda

The roads were tiny and the Disco ain't. Lots of blind corners and the roads are only two Pandas wide at best, often narrowing to single lane. Pandas, Fiestas and Bambinas definitely have small mans disease and make a lot of noise, though not enough to shift a Disco. Frustratingly for them, I am in holiday smile and wave mode. Arriving at an incredibly run down yard full of dead trucks and gear I did spot a large, above ground, LPG tank and a man at a loading bay. He took our bottle and filled it without comment and dispatched us to the office where a friendly chap charged twelve euros for our ten kilograms of butane. I couldn't believe my luck. The traffic was grid-locked and I think the round trip took us about two hours. I have no idea how anybody gets things done in places like this.

Resewing the awning where some of the tie downs had ripped off in the strong winds and discovered that eleven people had died hereabouts during the storm, mostly by falling trees. I wasn't surprised.