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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