FUSINA CAMPSITE, VENICE – fog, fleas, foamies and fun! 1976

OFF TO VENICE AND FUSINA CAMPSITE …

SATURDAY 2ND OCTOBER, 1976

“Up early.  Rolled the foamies!!
The foamies are explained in a letter home: “we’re quite efficient at getting up, fed and tents packed etc in 1 and a half hours (up at 6 every travelling day!)  The worst job in the morning is rolling the foamies (that go under our sleeping bags) and squeezing them all in between 2 sets of seats; they are rather temperamental things and tend to spring out and flow into the gangway if not given their due attention.”

Left for Venice.  Good card games at the back.  Scenery of hills, trees and picturesque houses – tunnels etc (hopeless to try and read!)  Then fog descended and saw nothing.

Got to Fusina after lunch – cabins not tents!!  Seems nice campsite but lots of mosquitoes.
My letter home says: “The campsite was really rather luxurious – hot showers and what’s more we managed to book into cabins and so got a bed!  It may have been rather flea infested but it was real high living.”

Run into Venice briefly in afternoon and saw gondolas tied up by canals, lovely bridges; not time to see much else (apart from station).

Evening spent in the bar of camp – Fusina is rather famous for rowdy evenings in the bar because the camp is always full of bus tours!  Graffiti on walls, exuberant barmen etc.  Eventually only Julie, Paul, Mark and me left, retired to bus – few others there.  Sat at back listening to Supertramp.

We’ve had t-shirts designed with Asian Greyhound on – the design is a bus inside a large carafe of wine! ”

More photos on Facebook Page, Overlanders: http://bit.ly/bEVp5V

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This campsite was used as the setting in my novel THE VANISHING OF RUTH to introduce one of the key characters – the charismatic Marcus.

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TALES FROM AN UNTIDY BUS – washing strewn everywhere and there’s a body in the aisle, 1976

EXTRACTS FROM LETTER HOME, WRITTEN IN FLORENCE, ITALY, 1976

” … refrained from spending small fortunes on leather goods (and of course the pink inflatable pocket size statue of David – thought you’d like it for the new mantelpiece at Suardal!)
However we treated ourselves to real Italian pizzas and ice cream (water melon flavour)

… the rain has caught up with us again I think we’re cursed.  Tonight we’re going into a disco – the Red Garter.

By the way we’re not going to Tehran which is a bit of a shame, so don’t write there.  Geoff the driver (a Scot) said that writing on p.cs or aerogrammes to Asia is advisable so no one will break into them.  (It takes about 4 days for a letter to get to Istanbul).

We’re a day ahead of schedule if you’re following on the map!  The group we met in Paris were a month overdue from Kathmandu, so I may be spending Xmas in the Khyber Pass!  Half their group were struck by hypertytus [sic] and flown home!

Well, signing off – got to tidy the bus!  At the moment all the packs are down, washing is strewn from railings and there’s a body sleeping in the aisle (Fred who appeared in Paris and makes himself useful cleaning windows etc – done the trip before).

Off to Venice tomorrow,
Love and kisses,
Jan