With roughly 430km the section between Siena and Napoli was the furthest section on our route to Brindisi (taking the passage to Munich aside). The idea to take the coastal route was put aside early. We knew it is going to be a mostly Autostrada day. As we arrived later in Siena than expected – we decided to rather stroll through the city in the morning than spend time in Napoli in the evening.
We checked out from the hotel early and headed to the garage Siena Parcheggi – Parcheggio Il Duomo were we arrived at 8:45 am. The central old part of Siena is truly amazing. It is built on a hill and full of interesting buildings and sites that are worth being explored. Two or three days are necessary at least to do this properly – we only had four hours until 1pm.
Our little walk took us through small alleyways and streets to the Il Duomo. Instead of going inside we agreed coming back on doing another vacation at some point in the future and explore more of Siena and Tuscony. A few corners later we found ourselves on Il Campo – an incredible plaza surrounded by Cafés, Restaurants and nice stores. They were starting to prepare for the famous horse race in the city – which will be on Aug 16th. One part of me would really like to see this – but I am not a huge fan of massive crowds and one thing is clear: the small streets and pathways of Siena will be packed on this day.
My wife has not watched the movie “Gladiator”. So when I said we make a small detour before we hit the Autostrada – she was not aware that I wanted to drive to Terrapille – which would add roughly add another 90min to our daily section. But Google maps adjusted my tour due to an accident and we ended up on the road SR175 instead the SR2. When I noticed this I headed to Asciano via the SP438.
The street is in a really rough condition – and the speed limit is reduced to 30km/h for good reasons. Nevertheless it was a treat – no traffic at all and an amazing view across the countryside. As driver you cannot completely enjoy it however. As mentioned the streets are rough and hitting a pothole with the Morgan’s sliding pillar suspension is not much of a joy. Just before Asciano is also started to rain heavily. I quickly put the roof on which just takes two minutes with a bit of practice.
But our engine decided that it wanted a lot get break. The power loss issues were back. They appear in various situations – more and more I thought that it is a Vapor lock issue. The ignition coil was warm but not hot. But the Weber was quite hot. After letting it cool down – the car started normally and we could drive on.
Having lost too much time already I had to dump the Terrapille plan and took the shortest way to the Autostrada. Rain, power loss issues and traffic slowed us down the entire afternoon. The remaining 380km took us six hours in total and were nothing but a struggle. The only positive aspect: we got to Napoli by 8pm on a Friday evening – a time were the worst city traffic is already over.
Fixing C6622 
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