Italy

Monday 13th April. Finale Ligure 44.16529 8.33786.

We like Finale Ligure, we stopped here last year in early summer and the small seaside town was very busy. Today was the reverse, all the shops and most of the bars and restaurants were closed as it's Monday. We were looking forward to lunch in the local Osteria but it was closed too, as were all the bakers, so we wandered to the town square for a cold beer. The bowl of crisps was a nice touch, as was the complimentary plate of antipasto but we all know that there's no such thing a a free lunch. Two small beers - €6, ouch. But never mind, the square was pretty, the sun was shining and all was well with the world.

We came back to the Sosta where we had parked and were quickly relieved of €18 by the attendant which was another ouch moment. It's the most we've paid for an overnight stop since we left England and it's not even a campsite but it is located next to the sea so I took the opportunity for a bit of fishing this afternoon. No luck and so the seafood with pasta which I'll shortly be preparing is from the freezer. Phil took the opportunity for a bit of sunbathing but I'm sure she was secretly admiring her hunter/gatherer out of the corner of her eye.

Last night we stopped at San Remo in what is basically a large car park with the Motorhome services a quarter of a mile away (43.80329 7.74737) and as it was Sunday decided against walking in to town. But the town has a great cycle path that follows the coast line for miles so I gave my bike its first real outing. The path was busy with lots of families enjoying the warm sunshine and I managed twelve miles without knocking anyone over or falling off, scared a few folk, mind. Legs were a bit jellyish when I got back but I slept well last night. It's just as well there was a cycle track because I wouldn't dare ride my bike on the roads around these parts. When we left Nice yesterday it seemed that every cycling club in France had turned up for a spin, together with everybody in the area who owned a high powered motorcycle. Add to this the rubbish standard of French drivers (yes, I know I'm generalising but can only speak from experience) and I feared for their safety a few times but we didn't see any accidents. Here in Italy there are as many cyclists and also billions of scooters. My strategy in the Motorhome is to follow my line and trust in the skill of the boys and girls buzzing around me on their scooters. It's worked ok so far and although I'm fairly confident the thought of riding my bike round here scares the life out of me.

We've been blessed with some great weather since we reached Provence and now we are in Italy it's really warming up. Plenty of folk on the beach today in cossies and I'm back in shorts and flip flops, yay.

Here's where are.

 

Pat

 

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