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Or do they?
23rd March 2016
On Monday 21st March we set off for our second Spring trip. On this occasion, we are planning to get to Pompei and Rome as they are on our bucket list of places to visit in our lifetime. That is the plan, but we are not certain how those plans will unfold.
To get to Pompei using the most sensible route involves taking in Belgium, Germany and Austria. Germany in particular is a country that I do not like driving in as it seems to have the most arrogant drivers that anyone could meet. We are also at a time of great unrest in Europe due to the Migrant Crisis. Yesterday (22nd March) there were 2 bombs in Brussels killing around 35 people. We had to drive through a Police checkpoint as we were near the Belgian border, and when we stopped for the night at Reims there was a massive armed Police presence around the City centre.
Anyway, currently we are at the CIS in Reims for a second night, tomorrow we set off towards Dijon on a southbound route past Lyon. At about Valence, we shall check the weather forecast and the news to decide whether to head towards Italy or second choice of Spain.
Reims is a beautiful city as would be expected as the capital of the Champagne region, since our last visit the tramway has opened up and there is a new tranquility in the streets due to most of the traffic being diverted away. From the outside, the Cathedral is magnificent, with intricate carvings everywhere you look. From the inside it is a different story; dark, dingy and uninspiring. There are some recent stained glass windows, but they fail to inspire as they no longer portray any recognisable image or story.
24th March 2016
It is time to move on from Reims and continue our journey southwards. Destination for today is Marsannay La Cote, a small town just south of Dijon. We have stayed here before in June 2014 and were impressed. The journey was simple with good quality non-toll roads all the way. We stopped for lunch and essential supplies at a supermarket about 50 miles north of Dijon. As we left the supermarket we found that some kind person had scraped the front bumper and left a deep scratch.
Marsannay La Cote is a town where nearly every house has it’s own grape vines and many of the larger properties have their own wines and labels. On every street corner there are signs pointing to the various vineyards in that street. Although it is an interesting town, it possibly wasn’t worth a second visit.
The Aire at Marsannay La Cote is authorised for 5 motorhomes. When we arrived, we made number 3; during the evening there were several more arrivals: 8 German and 5 French motorhomes. Just a little overcrowded. After we went to bed another 3 arrived. They started leaving from 5:00am.
25th March 2016
We had many discussions last night about which route we should take; we had decided to head to Italy rather than Spain, but now needed to decide which route to take: whether to go over the Alps, over the Alps Maritime, or to take the coast road past Nice. It was a battle as there were too many questions: what was the mileage comparison? which mountain passes? where to stop? etc.
We eventually decided to let Tomtom decide, but between the two units that we carry, the routes were very different. Gut feeling was to use the Tomtom unit that hadn’t failed us the most, that was the older unit. Now although I always install the latest updates and maps so that as far as possible they are both running the same software, it would appear that even that cannot produce identical results.
So today we headed East towards the Alps, I was sort of dreading the road as we were heading for uncharted territory. We couldn’t be sure that the mountain roads could be as good as the rest of France. Our ears were unfounded, the roads were billiard ball smooth and nothing worse in terms of hills etc than we had met before on other tours of France.
This was a long, hard journey, especially in the incessant rain. Our eventual destination was in a small village of Myans, just East of Chambery. We had found an Aire/France Passion site, which at 5Euros sounded good for us. We arrived at about 3:30pm and were soon on our pitch enjoying a cup of tea. After tea we were able to have a look around at our site for the night. The views were amazing, all around us were mountains, it didn’t seem that we had climbed that far but the snow capped peaks showed that we had. On the hill immediately above the site was a Sanctuary and above the roof stood a golden statue of The Virgin Mary, it was a magnificent sight.
26th March 2016
Today we cross into Italy, Our route will take us over the Alps on the D1006. This is reputed to be the route that Hannibal took when he lead his army and elephants on way to invade France. Very shortly we were seeing snow on the hills to our sides and as we travelled onwards the snow got closer, to the point where is was still piled up at the side of the road. It was a gloriously sunny day and the sight of the snow and the majesty of the Alps was intoxicating. The towns and villages were becoming more winter sports resorts and the road was becoming steeper and more twisty, but that all came to a halt at a town called Lanslebourg Mont-Cenis. Tomtom said turn right, the sign said Italie, turn right, so we tried to turn right. STOP! was the only thing to do! Our way was blocked by a huge wooden barrier, beyond the barrier was the road, still covered in thick snow and obviously still being used as the end of the ski run.
We had no choice but to turn round and take the Toll Autoroute into Italy. Unfortunately, the nearest entrance to the Autoroute was 28km back down the mountain. Lunch was calling so we stopped on the mountainside and ate with stunning views around us. When we arrived at the Autoroute, we were immediately confronted with Toll Booths. It would appear that our first task was to drive through the Tunnel de Frejus, a 12.8 km tunnel through the Alps. The cost? only 57Euros one way. There were to be many more tunnels on our way to Turin (Torino). This was a very expensive, but very efficient route through the Alps.
We had planned to stop at Turin for the night and found the Aire quite easily; unfortunately, it had become a fairground for the Easter weekend. We were faced with finding a new home for the night. Our final destination was Chieri, a small town just South of Turin. As so often is the case, the small towns are so much more interesting and inviting than the big cities and this was certainly true of Chieri.
27th March 2016
We are now heading for Pisa, and decided today to take a shorter journey and a hopefully, more relaxing day. The journey was certainly shorter, but more relaxing? I don’t think so. If anyone feels that British roads are the worst in Europe, they should try Italy. All roads in Italy are horrendous. There are a destructive test of any vehicle. Now I understand why Italians drive so fast; they are hoping to fly over the potholes.
Home tonight is a small village called Casaleggio Boiro, a little North of Genova, ready for the run down to near Pisa tomorrow.
