Rain and Tunnels
Tuesday 7th October 2014
I wake up at 6am in the Albergo Cavalieri del Tau in Altopascio , Italy. After a quick breakfast I am on the road soon after 8am.
It's mountain roads at first. I stop for lunch of prosciutto sandwiches and olives at a bar/deli in the mountains.
It's windy on the roads this morning, but there is very little traffic, very slow but fun. Some sunshine on a mostly cloudy morning.
I join the autostrada south of Genoa. Heavy clouds are building.
Not long after I get on the autostrada the heavens open. I head into a service station to take stock. The weather doesn't look like clearing up any time soon, so I switch to the rain gloves, button up with care, raise the screen and get my head down.
Ask
any of my touring mates and they'll tell you that I don't like tunnels.
Not the little rocky French ones, I mean the long, smelly burrows that
go for miles under the Alps and are usually full of aggressive
Italian drivers.
But I'm not complaining about them today. Driving past Genoa on the autostrada one goes through maybe a hundred tunnels. Every one is a respite from the driving rain and gives me a chance to sit up straight on the bike and flex my back muscles, lift my hands from the bars for a brief coast and generally squirm around a bit before resuming crouch-behind-the-screen mode with handlebar death grip as I emerge from the burrow and ride back into the tempest.
Finally the rain is easing as I turn inland from the coast road. A new autostrada hurries me through the mountains to Cuneo. I use the Tomtom to find the Milu B&B, a stylish room in a lovely house on the outskirts of town.
An old gentleman greets me at the door. He speaks no English but soon has his granddaughter on the phone. It is she who runs the B&B and her English is good. It's a bit pricey at €39 with a DIY breakfast provided in the room.
But it's late and the room is comfortable, so I stay.
 |
| Thick cut prosciutto |
I wake up at 6am in the Albergo Cavalieri del Tau in Altopascio , Italy. After a quick breakfast I am on the road soon after 8am.
It's mountain roads at first. I stop for lunch of prosciutto sandwiches and olives at a bar/deli in the mountains.
It's windy on the roads this morning, but there is very little traffic, very slow but fun. Some sunshine on a mostly cloudy morning.
I join the autostrada south of Genoa. Heavy clouds are building.
Not long after I get on the autostrada the heavens open. I head into a service station to take stock. The weather doesn't look like clearing up any time soon, so I switch to the rain gloves, button up with care, raise the screen and get my head down.
 |
| The Milu B&B |
But I'm not complaining about them today. Driving past Genoa on the autostrada one goes through maybe a hundred tunnels. Every one is a respite from the driving rain and gives me a chance to sit up straight on the bike and flex my back muscles, lift my hands from the bars for a brief coast and generally squirm around a bit before resuming crouch-behind-the-screen mode with handlebar death grip as I emerge from the burrow and ride back into the tempest.
Finally the rain is easing as I turn inland from the coast road. A new autostrada hurries me through the mountains to Cuneo. I use the Tomtom to find the Milu B&B, a stylish room in a lovely house on the outskirts of town.
 |
| Nice balcony overlooking the garden |
An old gentleman greets me at the door. He speaks no English but soon has his granddaughter on the phone. It is she who runs the B&B and her English is good. It's a bit pricey at €39 with a DIY breakfast provided in the room.
But it's late and the room is comfortable, so I stay.
Comments
Post a Comment