One Wheel Each: Italy

Thursday 3^rd October Etrouble to St Vincent 45kms

Leisurely pack up and left the camp via the bakery at the camp about 10.30am. Another big descent into Aosta. Busy there but made it into the centre of town and stayed there until 3.30pm as John wanted to get an adapter plug so stayed there until after siesta. Had a coffee in the piazza and then looked around the Roman theatre and then had lunch in a playground which was fun. Headed out of Aosta and towards Chatillon. Turned out to be considerably further than we thought and also had stopped at the Montura shop and bought John a new jacket. No sign of camping in Chatillon so continued on to St Vincent. Met the woman from Kent again and said farewells and then arrived in St Vincent and grabbed some food.

Still no sign of camping and on the main street at dusk getting on my phone outside the closed tourist office when a lovely lady pulled over and offered to help us. She took John in the car to show him where the camp was (down a massive hill) but when they got there, it was closed. They came back and she was going to take us to her B &B up the steep hill but she decided it was too problematic with the bikes so she then took John to some hotels in the square and booked us into a two star pension which was perfect. Took a good while for Papa and his son to fit the bikes into the underground garage behind the fiat bambino and the motorbike. A lot of discussion and not a word of English but sorted it eventually and went up to our room. Relief. Lucy slept on the floor as there were only three beds but it was a roof over our heads.

Etrouble campsite

Herd of cows passing

Aosta central piazza

Coffee

Roman theatre

Aosta war memorial

Cool playground

Lucy, Hugh and their friend

Fresco on church

Squeezing the bikes in with the Bambina and moto

Friday 4^th October St Vincent to Settimo Vittone 34kms

Breakfast was served by Mama at 8am and she was great and it was lovely. She came in with news of the sunken boat of immigrants which went on fire and we couldn’t understand much but she was lovely. Packed up and left at 9.30am. Big farewells and more drama getting the bikes out of the garage. Quite overcast down the valley but descending all the way and plenty of towns, castles, forts etc. Stopped at Verres and did laundry and then we had coffee and croissants and carried on. I went to the loo and got locked in but it luckily came free eventually which was as well and the others didn’t see where I was!

Arrived quickly after a good ride to Settimo Vitone. It was only 4pm but the camp looked good and rain on the way so cut our losses and were delighted when the lovely camp lady offered us a caravan for the same price as a campsite. We were thrilled – especially the kids. Settled in and then walked to the village along the road – about 2kms away along a Roman walkway through vineyards – amazing – and got groceries and had a beer at a little bar and walked back again. Lovely. Dinner in the little shelter she had given us to cook in – great. Very happy.

Breakfast at Mama's

Lucy, Papa, Mama and Hugh

3 wheel car

Interesting bridge out of Aosta

Stop at Verres

Fort di Bard

Roman road

Via Frangicena through vineyards

Old village near Settimo Vitone

Saturday 5^th October

Settimo Vittone. Rest day.

Drizzly rain so decided to stay and have a rest and go to the Fort di Bard. Bussed there which took some deciphering of the timetable and also some courage with the first crazy Italian busdriver. Great visit to the Fort and the Museum of the Alps up in the fort and the Prison Museum of the Fort History – taken by Napolean and his army in 1800. Really amazing and also amazing building with large outdoor lifts and a little climbing wall and an incredible huge fortress.

Found it easy to catch the bus back to Ponte Saint-Martin but then impossible to find the train station where the next one left from. John went to the supermarket and the kids and I walked to the station and we got back just in time for the 5.45pm bus – but John didn’t and we had to watch the bus pull out. The next one was 6.48pm! He arrived about 6pm so we had a drink in the small local bar opposite the station before working out which bus was ours at 6.48pm. Decided the bicycle was a preferred mode of transport! Nice evening again in the cooking shelter and the caravan – and even thought we might stay again with rain forecast the following day.

Looking up Aosta Valley from the Fort di Bard

Climbing wall

Climbing wall casualty

Typical Aostan village

View from lift in Fort

Roman bridge

Cooking shelter with Vespa

Sunday 6^th October

Semito Vittone to Turin 72kms.
Finer than it was meant to be so set off from the caravan after a long talk with the French people touring on their tandems. Left Settimo Vittone finally about 10.30am. Near Ivrea we had a coffee at a really cool patisserie and attracted the attention of the whole café I think. Carried on in rain to Chivasso. Pretty straightforward route finding and then on to Trin, the last part in rain. A bit further than we had intended but cracked it out in pretty fast time. Arrived in rain at 5pmand found a visitor centre after some discussion. The hotels were expensive but it was raining and 5pm so settled for two rooms at the Petite Hotel and were grateful to find somewhere. It is great. Went for a walk in town after tea and it was beautiful in the dark with the lights and everything. Good feeling to be making progress again. Nice hotel – lovely.

Leaving the luxurious caravan

Approach to Turin - rain!

Turin at night

Palazza de Reale

Fountain in rain!

Monday 7^th October

Turin to Bra via Cherasco! 72kms!

What a day! Had a delicious hotel breakfast and then decided to push on to Bra, despite marginal weather. It had teamed with rain all night but not raining when we got up and cleared during the morning. Had a look around and I booked a hotel in Cherasco near Bra on my phone. That was fine and we looked around the market in the square which was amazing and drew a crowd of police and vendors looking at the bikes. Very friendly, lovely kind people. Gave Lucy a nectarine.

Left Turin about 11.30am and headed south along the river. Made slow progress but very beautiful. Got out further and started stressing about the turnoff and the roads we could go on so stopped and had lunch and then took our bikes over an overbridge with some effort and after stopping about six times and losing our patience and asking about three people we finally found the right road.

It had started raining at the end of lunch time and intensified as the afternoon wore on. Luckily it was mostly flat and we made great progress to Carignano. Stopped for a coffee so that we could find a bathroom and I think they haven’t had tourists before but they were lovely and gave the kids a chocolate each. Carried on – very wet by this time and biked to Carmagnola. Made quick progress and very relieved to avoid the motorway which our map showed. Pouring by this time and distressing to see many ladies with umbrellas on the side of the road in the rain! Kids also met their first gypsies outside Macdonalds in the morning in Turin.

Got to Bra eventually which seemed to be a long way and nearly 5pm at this stage. Decided to keep going straight through to Cherasco and have a pizza there rather than try to buy food in our wet state. Even more pouring by this stage and it seemed to be a long way once we found the turnoff and descended a big hill. As we approached Cherasco we went up a huge steep hill – only to find no sign of the hotel and I turned on my phone – difficult in the darkening rain and indeed it was back where we had come from and about three more kms up a switchbacking hill! We were gutted and John confirmed with some people in a shop and garage as we backtracked. Very dark and rainy up the hill and as Lucy said, it was like a convergence of all the traffic in Italy – but finally we arrived at the aptly named Oasis Hotel, going on for 6.30pm. And there was a pizzeria attached.

It was beautiful and the lady was lovely despite some communication issues. We all had a hot hot shower and changed and later went for pizza in the restaurant downstairs which was great. ALL our clothes were dripping wet. Very grateful we had all bought new clothes in Chamonix and that John and I had new jackets. Slept a deep sleep of relief!

Leaving The Petit Hotel

Lucy and friend at the Fruit Market

Italian squirrel

Roundabout

Pizza at the end of a long rainy day

Gelato eaten before photo could be taken

Tuesday 8^th October

Dismal morning so stayed put in the Oasis Hotel. Great. Drizzled most of the day and took all day to get everything dry. Had a lovely breakfast in the hotel and then walked into Bra to get a tool for the bike and had a look around and some lunch in the park. John worked on the bikes and kids did schoolwork. Will eat pizza again tonight as Lucy ordered the wrong one last night and it arrived with octopus and mussel shells on top so I swapped and it was really yummy. So good to have a break and get a bit organised ready for our dash to the coast for John’s birthday on Saturday. Hoping to camp at Bastia Mondovia tomorrow. Schoolwork and lots of drying of clothes.

Tuesday 8^th October

Wednesday 9^th October

Good happy and relaxing day. Said goodbye to the Oasis Hotel after a nice breakfast there and went briefly to the Megashop down the road to get Hugh scuff sandals so he can wear socks instead of jandals. Got on the road at 11am after a stop at our favourite Bra paniforte. Retraced oursteps back towards Chervaso!! And then turned towards Mondovi. It was a gentle uphill ride – overcast but quite warm and dry. It was interrupted by a most unfortunate incident where Hugh was stung by a very nasty wasp three times on the throat – very upsetting for the poor fellow but quickly calmed by an antihistamine and some pawpaw ointment. Luckily he recovered well.

Stopped at a town called ? for lunch and then went to a trattoria in the main street for coffee and gelato to sooth Hugh’s woes. It was great. There were heaps of people there and the kids had gelati and it was cool. Also a big day for the boys as their pedalling is now linked due to a malfunction on Hugh’s sprocket ratchet which John tried to fix yesterday to no avail. Taking a bit to adjust to both having to pedal together as a regular tandem rather than Hugh being able to choose when he pedals and doesn’t.

Carried on towards Bastia Mondovi with very little hope of the campground there being open – or even being able to find it – but indeed it quickly materialised and was indeed open and so we were delighted. Camped at 3pm and totally relaxed. Did washing and had an early dinner and the kids played continuously with a ball. It was just what we needed and actually great to be camping again. In fact we are all in bed and it is only 8.15pm.

Thursday 10thOctober

Bastia Mondovia to Col di Nava 60kms.

Slow packup and away after trying time trying to contact the bike shop in Nice by email. Got away after 11am. Overcast day and a little up and down, but not too bad. Had lunch and carried on and managed to avoid the autostradas and get to Ceva. Had lunch in a park there and began the climb up to Ormea. Stopped at a vegetable stall and a Roman bridge and then rose up to Ormea by about 5pm. It wasn’t at all too bad and made good progress. Stopped for food and to find camping in Ormea but decided to carry on and got to the town of Nava pretty quickly with a solid effort. Then further on to the Col of Nava village where we quickly saw the camping and held our breath that it would be open – which it was – though I think we were the only people there in the whole place. It was beautiful and we were very happy and had dinner under the stars and into bed.

Friday 11^th October

Col di Nava to Dianna Marino

Woke after a hailstorm and six degree sub-zero frost to a glorious day but didn’t get out of bed till 9.30am for fear of the cold. Only Hugh braved it to do some ice-clearing around the place before the sun – yes glorious sun – reached us at 9.30am. Then it was beautiful and we had a lovely crisp morning in the sun eating breakfast and drying everything and packing up. Left from the camp at 1pm! Latest start yet but it was really glorious.

Stopped for a picnic lunch in the village at the Col, two kms on, and then started the descent. Got a bit stressful as my brake pads worn down and very steep and joined the road through the tunnels which was quite busy and many tunnels and then increasing traffic and narrow roads into Imperia. Stopped at a roadside café to catch our breath and go to the toilet about 4.30pm. It was good. Back on the bikes and into the busy town. No sign of camping or tourist info so decided to head north to Diana Marino where we knew there was more hope.

Turned out to be a very steep 4kms climb over Capo Berta to Diana Marino – and John felt a little bad that we didn’t follow the seaside bikeway as I’d suggested. All fine as we found camping easily on arrival and then got groceries. Darkness fell but the rather strange lady next door at the camp gave us seats to use which was great. Not sure she’d ever seen anything quite like us.

Saturday 12^th October Dianna Marino

Had a wonderful day today for John’s 50^th birthday. It was great. Got up and had breakfast in the sun and packed up and left the camp about 11am. Booked a hotel in town for tonight which was good. Went into town and went to a bike shop and then had coffee and some lunch – pizza and croissants and lemon tart – at a nice café. Wandered to the beach after that which was a wonderful dose of salt air and waves and sun. At about 2pm we checked into the hotel and then walked into town and had gelati and a look around. We found a great looking Barber shop and since Hugh let his guard down and agreed to getting his hair cut we struck while the iron was hot. It was a really great experience and Hughie and the Barber took a liking to each other an account of the shop having a signed Italy ’82 world cup shirt and Hughie wearing his Messi shirt. About 5pm we had a glass of rose at a bar and they gave us free snacks and it was lovely. Back to the hotel and changed for dinner before going to a nice restaurant. A great day. Home, had some Baileys. Kids gave John an Opinel knife and I gave John a bottle of wine and Baileys.

Sunday 13^th October

Diana Marino to Vallecrosia. 30kms.

Another good day. Had a wonderful breakfast at the Diana Marino hotel and then got away about 10.30am. Quick work to Imperia around the coast and then harder to get up and out of town. Made it on to a cycleway and stopped for lunch at a cool place in a square and had some sort of seafood patties which were yummy. Carried on the cycleway right through San Remo and it was superb. Nice day. A little overcast. Arrived into Vallecrosia, near Ventimiglia about 4.30pm and found a closed campsite and then an open one there so decided it was wise to stay. All good and since it was our last night in Italy and a good but not stunning meal the night before we went out and ate at a small restaurant called La Bella Napoli and we just had a first course of pasta and a pizza to share and some house wine and it truly was a great night – fun. Just had a really nice time.