My mums decided to revise their Italian language skills and spend autumn in Italy, again. Who knew that we had booked into the exact place that their language teacher had said was a “must see” a year ago – but mummies had forgotten. Coincidence is a wonderful thing!

Stresa, on Lago Maggiore was agreed as the place to catch up with Karen and Astrid, alas, senza Toby. We spent some days exploring the Borromean Islands – Isola Bella, Isola Madre and Isola dei Pescatori – by boat and on land.

In order to go on a hike on Mottarone I went on my first chairlift which was fun, although the over zealous authorities made me wear a muzzle!

Luckily, we had the most delicious lunch at the top of the mountain at Villa Pizzini so all was forgiven. Unfortunately, four supposedly intelligent women couldn’t follow a path down the mountain, and so we got lost. Very lost! “There’s the wires for the cable car” they kept saying as this was our destination in order to avoid a four hour hike in the dark.Who knew electricity pylons and cable cars looked the same!

Fate intervened, and we bumped into two other lady walkers who were kitted out properly – with maps!! We were pointed in the right direction and managed to get the last cable car down the mountain. Phew!

On another day,  our trusty steed, Trooper, took us to Baveno where I got to play on a sandy beach on the lake shore. We then headed to Orta San Giulio where we realised my lead had been left in Baveno! After a walk around and tasty lunch we drove all the way back to Baveno to find my lead in exactly the spot it had been left in, outside the Church! MJ was sure it was something to do with all the churches visited and candles lit, during our travels.

“Luckily” for me, Aunty Astrid is a dab hand at pulling fur out, so before she left she started to strip me (nothing untoward, it’s a technical grooming term – honest!) to make sure I was looking my most handsome for our ongoing travels. I don’t particularly like it, but I think you’ll agree, the results speak for themselves!

Upon returning to Bologna I was reminded of the nicknames this wonderful city has which, in many ways, reminded me of me -The Learned One (obviously) The Fat One (according to some people; rude!) and The Red One (in certain light) .

It’s such a great city with lots of places to re-visit and enjoy but also there were still new things to do and see. We certainly sold it well, as we had three groups of visitors during the month we were there.

Whilst Bologna gave us the opportunity to meet up with old friends, I also made some new buddies!

Bologna is also a great base from which to visit other amazing Italian cities.

All too quickly our month in Bologna had sped by, but the ball playing in Piazza Maggiore will stay in my heart forever.

To burn off the excess calories gained in Bologna, we headed to the hiking trails of Cinque Terre! Bad, bad move…!

We were able to rejig our plans and decided instead of heading to Puglia we would go to (flat!) Lucca for recuperation and rehabilitation (for MN, at least!) We’d heard a lot of good things about Lucca, and MN had found an english speaking physio, so we were still excited about our unplanned return to Tuscany, and the lead up to the festivities of Yuletide!