We had to go over the road to the cafe for our inclusive breakfast this morning. If you can call it that. I'd told Grizzly not to expect too much, even so, I wasn't expecting what we got. We had 2 pastries and a coffee each. Juice was extra, so we declined. When we left, the chap from the cafe followed us across the road to say only one pastry was included in brekkie. €2.60 extra please! What a f*****g liberty! €88 for the night and you get 1 croissant and a cuppa included. Grizzly was not best pleased.
It was a very pleasant 23 degrees when we left. Unlike yesterday, the first part of the trip was very good. Nice roads, open and smooth coupled with stunning coutryside and some fantastic houses too.
Life was good. Even the arsey Italian driver who didn't like me going to the head of the queue at the roadworks didn't dampen my spirits. Just made me laugh. He soon caught me and overtook, so he could gesture to me. He got the coffee bean hand shake in return but not to be outdone, he gave me an Italian finger 3 times. 🤣
Our only POI for today was to stop in a little town called Vernante. A birthdsy treat for Grizzly. For some reason, I'm not quite sure of, the place is obsessed with Pinocchio. There's a statue in a little park and then, literally hundreds of murals on houses/shops around the town. Grizzly loves murals and graffiti, hence the treat. It really is incredible and definitely worth a look if passing through.
There's also a very nice church in the centre with a painted exterior. The inside is nice to, with a very nice painted ceiling.
Grizzly was in his element, like a pig in the proverbial. I bet he has some good shots. He took plenty.
It was after we left Vernante that things turned to shit. We were on the only road heading south in the area and the Italian clowns decided to close it! The one constant in the four or so road closures we've had in Italy, is that they never bother to signpost a diversion. Maybe not important if you
are local but if you are passing through like us, you're f****d. Neither Tomtom nor Garmin could plot a route, there just weren't the roads heading south. It was as if Italy didn't want us to leave. We therefore had to to delete that route, incidentally, to our fuel stop, and find another route heading west, which meant heading back 20km or so the way we had just come. Grizzly had to make an impromptu fuel stop, as there was no way he could make the new extended route without. I didn't bother, I knew I was ok for a lot more miles yet.
As it turned out, the new route was ok and we finally broke free of Italy at 2:15pm. A mixture of fast curves, then later on as we climbed into the alps, more twisty stuff, it kept us on our toes, particularly a piece of fresh tarmac with no barriers and a huge drop off the side. Grizzly's favourite bit! Nevertheless, Grizzly said he enjoyed it. A different story from yesterday. One thing I wasn't expecting in the Alps, was 33 degrees but that's what we hit and as I look at my face now, I realise I should have have put a second lot of suncream on. It's a bit red.
The views from up those mountains are breathtaking. I managed to stop and get a photo. I also saw a critter in the road, a small beaver shape with a little fluffy tail. I have no idea what it was.
It was a blooming long day. We'd left Alba before 9am and arrived in La Roque-Esclapon at 5:59pm.
I feel a bit more comfortable now, as my French is a whole lot better than my Italian.
We ate in the hotel. Hotel sounds a bit grand. It's a bar/restaurant with rooms really. It's an old building and the facilities are not quite as good as most we've had but this is our cheapest place, at £47. We spent more on dinner and beers than the room!
For dinner I had moules marinieres et frites. Back in France, would be rude not to, eh?
Tomorrow we are heading for Ales but first we have a couple of POIs, one that features in a well known French song. Can you guess?
Au revoir
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