Today the guys here at Bellaugello Gay Guest House related their various stories of the funivia in Gubbio.

There is a large hill that rises behind the medieval city of Gubbio and there are three ways of getting to the top – walk, drive or take the funivia.

The cable-way runs from just outside the centro storico to the summit near the church of San Ubaldo.  It is kinda old fashioned in that it runs continiously and you have to step into the cars, well they are not really cars they are more like cages, in fact they are cages suspended from the moving cable.

There are two ways of looking at the ride, the first is it might not be for the faint hearted or those that suffer from vertigo, the other is that it gives you plenty of time to enjoy the panorama over the cotto roofs of Gubbio whilst hugging your man tightly, personally I opt for the second choice.

Once at the top there are a selection of restaurants, of course the church of San Ubaldo with its simple but pleasing cloister, and a lovely walk downhill through the trees past the three chapels and back into the city near the catherdral.

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It has been one of those days.  I awoke early here at Bellaugello Gay Guest House, flung on a pair of shorts and made a cup of tea and went outside and had the breakfast table laid before 7am.  It was well past dawn, but still a crispness in the air, a loud clamour of the dawn chorus otherwise tranquillity.

Stephen left today.  He had been here a month and was a keen helper and fun to have around.  It was his first experience in such an environment and he did in a weak moment admit to sometimes being a little sad when guests departed at the end of their stays – funny I thought it was only me that felt like that.  He is studying economics at University and off on an exchange to Canada to meet who knows whom… but he would also make a great hotelier.   In the past month we have met many interesting people from many countries and served and enjoyed several dinners together as can be seen in an earlier post.

His train left from Perugia Ponte San Giovanni at 14.00.  It is a 45 minute drive to the station and just an hour before we were planning to leave I received a phone call I had to get to Gubbio (the opposite direction) to sign a document, and it had to be done now! So a rush to Gubbio and then to PSG.  We got there with minutes to spare and with ticket bought and convalidated headed for the platform.  The train was in and after big hugs Stephen went across to the other platform.  I didn’t see him board the train and evenually as the train was pulling out went across the rails myself.  It was like a scene from the film “Brief Encounter” the train pulling out and a guy with luggage standing at the far end of the platform.  Aparently the doors did not work and he could not board the train – and the guard did not help – or maybe did not speak Swedish.

Luckily there was a train soon after and I have just received a message to say he is safely on the plane bound for Stockholm.

I returned home to Bellaugello Gay B&B and decided on an hour of relax near the pool.  Fortunately for me there were others by the pool and we struck up conversation. Usually when I go to lie by the pool and catch a few rays and perfect that all over tan, I do not settle and instead think of all the jobs that I should be doing, and go off and do them, but this afternoon was different.  The conversation light and easy and I was soon in full relax mode and let the jobs pass me by.

Tomorrow will be a different day!

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I have a few spaces to fill in various Suites this coming August and am able to offer a discount of 5% on our published rates for any booking of seven or more consecutive nights here at Bellaugello Gay Guest House here near Perugia in Italy

Email me:  Click here to email Bellaugello with the promotional code “last minute august” to discover the great rates.

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Last night here at Bellaugello Gay Guest House in Umbria, Italy we decided on a barbecue.  Stephen loaded our bbq with fragrant wood, and I busied myself with making salads and baking potatoes and sweetcorn.

The fire stubbornly refused to provide us with the necessary embers first off so it was a late start, however made up by scrumptious bruschetta, local Umbrian bread toasted, rubbed with garlic and drizzled (oh how I hate that word, but it is apt in this instance) with our own Bellaugello cold pressed olive oil.

Grilled corn, chicken, meaty sausages and plump ribs were devoured as the conversation reverted to English, which seems all to often to be the common if not first language of those round the table.  A sagrantino di Montefalco, good robust Umbrian wine complimented the food.

A gentle breeze wafted as we tucked into chilled water-melon and imbibed a variety of grappas and discussed whether or not a midnight dip in the pool was in order…….

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Those wonderfully pendulous sensual erotic even fruit known as figs were plucked herein the garden of Bellaugello Gay Guest House in Umbria Italy and using my old copper jam pan brought over from Scotland were turned into the most fragrant sweet marmalade which I have been serving here for breakfasts on the terrace here at Bellaugello gay b&b.  pics to follow, and also apricot marmalade when I find the time!

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Caught on camera last night at Bellaugello Gay Guest House in Umbria, Italy our guests enjoying a convivial dinner on the terrace. It had again been a wonderfully sunny day and the evening brought a cooling breeze, just perfect for dinner ‘al fresco’

A great friend and neighbour had brought me some summer truffles found here in Valdichiascio with the express instructions that I should share them with my guests, so being one to obey I did.

I prepared gnocchi with truffle oil and grated summer valdichiascio truffles as a primo.  For secondo I made my version of Porchetta, the local pork speciality of whole roast pork stuffed with herbs.  The garden is overflowing with herbs, the sage being particularly prolific, so they were chopped and combined with lemon zest and stuffed into the rolled up pork which was slowly roasted.  Stephen had opted for a crostata for pudding this time an apricot flavour.

Guests seated round the table were from Austria, Belgium, Britain, France, Italy, Switzerland, we all found common languages and shared our day’s experiences.  Some guys had been cycling to the river, others lazing by the pool, others walking the ancient streets of medieval Gubbio, and others driven from Venice and Le Marche. Stories were compared and prefered towns and art and artists discussed as the local Umbrian wines from Lungarotti, Goretti, and Arnaldo-Caprai were quaffed, a thoroughly enjoyable evening

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Wow!! today is a scorcher…  Bellaugello Gay Guest House in Umbria bathes in sunshine

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I thought it about time to post a few of the comments written in our guestbook here at Bellaugello Gay Guest House in Umbria, Italy.  I have asked the webdesigners to insert a section into the main website, however we arestill in discussion as they want to charge me for every entry, and I want to be able to post freely, thus the scan pages from the guestbook….   click on the images to read the pages in full

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Another glorius sunny day here at Bellaugello Gay Guest House in Umbria, Italy.  The temperatures are in the mid to high 30s and a soft cooling breeze ruffles the curtains at the windows and rustles the leaves on the trees in the garden.

A gentle but continious sound of a motor horn announced the arrival of the post this morning here at Bellaugello Gay Guest House near Gubbio.

Why oh why when there is a registered letter does the just too pretty postgirl sit in her car and peep the horn, and not get out and deliver the letter to the door?  She can probably see activity, but prefers to sti in the car and have me stroll up to the gate.

However it is better than one of the parcel delivery services who always telephone to inform me that they have a parcel for me and have no idea where Valdichiascio (our valley) is, and so they want to leave the parcel at the local petrol station.  The parcel has travelled the world, possibly a purchase from Amazon or a supplier, and door to door delivery paid for, yet the parcel carrier decides whose door to leave the parcel at.  I tell him i do not have a car – how is he to know he never comes to the house, I aks him how I am supposed to collect the 25kg parcel from the petrol station 5km away and he just gerbles some dialectical Italian in reply…….

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