It was 7.30am when the alarm woke us, a massive thunderstorm, and when the thunder cracked straight after the lighting it made poor Harry tremble, and not just once! Not even Rachel could sleep through this, and although it was 15c outside, it didn’t stop the massive hailstones from peppering his roof, fingers crossed there’s no damage up there.

It was just 12 miles to our next Umbrian port of call.

  

It may surprise you that the World’s tallest man made waterfall wasn’t built in this millennium in Dubai, America or Singapore, but in 271BC by the Romans in Umbria.

The Cascata delle Marmore is in 3 sections which is a total of 183 metres high with the top section being the tallest at 83 metres. Although the Romans started it, there were all kinds of problems over the centuries with flooding, and it’s present day construction was not completed until the 18^th century. The history of it is fascinating, involving Roman senates representing the towns of Terni and Rieti, arguing in an effort to prevent their towns from flooding, and eventually centuries later various popes taking charge of the situation, until it was finally resolved in 1787!

The full read is here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascata_delle_Marmore

Today, if you want to see the waterfalls properly you need to pay 10€. We thought this a bit odd as we’d seen huge natural waterfalls in Norway for free, one of the few things that are free in Norway! But when you see how they have developed the walkways and access points for this man-made waterfall it starts to make a little more sense.

Have you ever heard of a waterfall being turned on for tourists? Well they do here, there’s a timetable for when it’s at ‘full flow’, preceded by a warning siren. This may seem a bit false, but in fact it’s the other way around. The natural flow from the river is actually diverted to supply electricity, which means at these times the water coming down the falls is ok, but not t shirt wettingly good.

I paid my 10€ and we nipped back to Harry for morning coffee and toast in preparation for what I expected to be a decent walk. It was about 10am when the sirens started and as I stepped out of the van, some 500 metres away, there was no doubt that somebody had opened the big tap, the spray was visible straight away. I arrived at the foot of the falls to see a stone bench with a bronze cloak and an engraved book containing a poem by British poet Lord Byron, referring to the river feeding the waterfall (Velino).

As I walked up the slopes and 600 steps to the very top, the trickle, if you pardon the pun, of tourists coming down looked remarkably fresh. I know I’m not as fit as I used to be, but I was surprised how relaxed these sightseers looked. It wasn’t until I eventually arrived at the top that I saw the sign for the shuttle bus! 

The tunnel leading to a rather 'wetting' experience!

No plastic cape for this tough northern lad which
 turned out to be much more than a t shirt wetting experience!

Back to the van for lunch and a ponder whether we stay the night in this newly constructed sosta, which had yet to have the barriers installed and was therefore free, or head off in search of other unexplored (for us) areas of Umbria. We plumped for the latter and headed off in a northeastly direction to a highly rated aire/sosta at Preci, at the foot of the Sibillini mountain range. The road up there was siesta inducing sweeping country roads with a 43/31mph speed limit! By the time we arrived we had almost forgotten which country we were in never mind which county, but despite making a very brief acquaintance with province of Marche, we were still (just) in Umbria.

The Italians may wind us up in many ways, mainly to do with driving and roads, but one thing we are extremely grateful for is their sostas. It’s a classic case of supply and demand, the places which are in high demand like the cities, coast, lakes and all the other touristy places charge, in some cases silly money, for very little. Off the beaten track you find all services including electricity completely free of charge, sometimes a great view, sometimes by a lovely village, that’s as good as it gets.