DATE: Friday 21 July, 1995

PLACE: Lake Como to Chambery (France)

WEATHER: Hot

REMARKS: A tortuous drive back along the lake gets us behind a truck and into a couple of traffic-jams as it tries to pass others going up the lake. We get onto the autostrada eventually and are off to Milan, then Turin, both to be by-passed. The route takes us into the Alps - and these are what the word' awesome' was coined for! If only we had time to pause and ponder. The slopes are almost vertical, clothed in conifers, the tops cloud-shrouded.

We pass through a number of tunnels, some several kilometres long; the older ones with no fans and full of fumes. The longest tunnel is Frejus at 13 kms, which climbs and then drops, and seems to go on forever.

The other side is France. The final Italian toll gate relieves us of 58 000 lire! The autostrada are getting horrendously expensive.

Through the tunnel we change currency and drive on. A stop at a gas station for drinks, etc., relieves us of a good number of francs.

The day is hot, and everyone is tiring quickly, so we pause at enquire at a Hotel Mont Melian - no room, but they book elsewhere for us, and offer the use of their pool if we buy a drink. Offer quickly accepted!

The Hotel (in Chambery) is nice, clean, and modern. A businessman's hotel, all but deserted at the weekend.

The barman at Hotel Mont Melian had told me it was 38 degrees in the afternoon; the night is not much cooler. But there seems to be fewer mosquitoes, which is blessed relief.

A good night's sleep is ruined by the heat, and a nightmare which wakes us all with a fright.


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