Flower Pictures in Tuscany

Fresh from England any orchid at all is a rarity, but after an hour we are already blasé and we no longer stop for 'just another spotted The other challenge is reaching our destination, when every few yards we spot a flower spike on the roadside and have to screech to a halt to identify it. The challenge will be to find those places by car, along the strada bianca (dirt roads) that crisscross the countryside. We know where we are heading - south of Siena some friends have been walking through veritable meadows filled with orchids. I'll have to note the best views and try to come back in early morning or evening light, when it all magically turns golden and lucid.

If I give in to temptation and snap every tempting vista, I'm going to find the bright midday light turns everything to dull monochrome, flattens the colours and wastes all my film before I've even started on the orchids. Well yes it is. Is it possible to take a bad photograph in Tuscany? Every which way you look there is a picture postcard scene, comprising the essential props of a Tuscan photo - cypress trees, warm brick farmhouse and stone church, with gently curving green hills behind. The air is fresher and the hint of flowers strengthens until we are overwhelmed by the honeyed scent of broom, pouring in through the car windows.

Heading off in a hire car, we leave Pisa behind and take to the hills, a winding, twisting, and convoluted back road towards Siena.