Packing up the car I knew this was going to be a fun experience. I also knew that physically there would be a price to pay for being confined in once upright position for so long. I had another week in the gite if I wanted it but I had had a great time with my friend Andrew who came over for a few days and as I have been there on two other occasions last summer I had "used up" the local sites of interest. I also wanted to begin meaningful travel.
Ever since seeing the film "Hannibal" (as in Lector) I wanted to see Florence and early on in my planning is was a "must do". A close friend (cheers Gary) had suggested that if I did go to Italy cross via the Mont Blanc tunnel for the scenery. So i booted up the satnav and 860 miles was the forecast. That is a long way! Mazda3 2.0ltr Sport Coupe or not, it's still a long way!
The drive was pretty routing motorway driving. A word to the wise here folks - tolls. I spent something like £150 on tolls and a similar amount on fuel. Driving is expensive across Europe. Flying is cheaper but that isnt the point really is it? Freedom is the point and as I have said elsewhere on my blog or in a poem freedom does not come cheap - one way or another.
So placing my faith in my immersuably improved core strength to defeat the inevitable back issues I set off and it was pleasent but unremarkable initially. It was 4pm CET. I rested for several hours in a motorway service station about 70 miles north of Lyon then set off again to try to catch the dawn at the same time crossing the Alps. This is where I think my 2-3 month travelling really started. The gite was nice and I could practise my French etc but Italy was not really planned and it was a definate "drive and sort accommodation when I got there" job.
I left the service station and the dawn broke when i was about 30 miles from the border. I cannot tell you the beauty of the Alps in that light. My mouth just fell open again and again and again. Mont Blanc was reasonable clear of cloud and a stunning sight in the bright early morning sun. Talking about stunning sights, the taffiff board at the head of the 2km long Mont Blanc tunnel showed 36.50euro 1 way!!! I choked, the lady in the kiosk laughed, I paid and then I swore. Mont Bleu Tunnell? I will post some pics.
On the other side I was in Italy. A country I had never visited before. At first the difference was not that marked. The housing to an untrained eye looked typically "Alpine" and very quaint. The decent took miles and as i came down I picked up traffic. At first it was mostly French. They wabble all over the road when the get bored but they are ok. Then more and more Italian cars joined the motorway. Then the motorway started to become elevated and narrower than the standard UK gauge. This is the Turin/milan road. Then the elevated motorway became fucking elevated - hundreds of feet up, narrow, going through more tunnells than bridges and the speed increased to over a ton the second "outside" lane. A ton with each Italian allowing at least 6 feet of distance to the car in front that had the nerve not to be going at 130mph. It was scary......at first, then I got into it!
Speed limits were not just ignored by the Italians (and finally I joined in on this) but were ignored by several orders of magnitude. No speed cameras, no police just anarchic mayhem. With The Med on my right I looked down (whilst wavering across the narrow motorway like a local) I looked down on the settlements in the valley floors several hundred feet below it was an amazing drive.
As I approached Florence it dawned on me that I was going to have to drive into the centre to find a hotel. with a hard swallow I gathered my bottle and after 21hrs on the road got myself ready for the gladitorial fight that I imagined Florentine driving to be. Actually it was fine. I found a hotel, The Londra, close to the centre and it had secure parking at had all the other elements of a stock 4* hotel and I booked 2 nights.
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