I've never been that much interested in Grand prix - thats my excuse. but.. riding round Monaco was a highlight of sorts. The place really is very very strange - immensely crowded. crammed. stuffed. Reading the sat nav was next to impossible as the roads were so tight together. Police everywhere.. though to call them the 'police' was a bit of an insult to other national forces.. they were little more than security for the super rich. thats all.
anyway.. to continue.
We left France the next morning and headed into Italy. Italian roads always come as a shock - but for the most part most of those we used were alright - my theory has always been the Italians spend more on roads used by lots of tourists than anywhere else - just as an attempt to make a favourable impression. Roads in Italy are always interesting though.
The Intention was to head for Cunio - on another forum a chap had organised a tour there and waxed lyrical about how good the roads were. He must have been blind.. because I found the entire area dull as dishwater. But.. first the getting there. We were still in the Alps.. though inland and well out of sight of the sea and also well away from the traffic. The roads were pretty typical. winding through valleys, climbing over low passes. Nothing special. eventually we came to a queue of cars.. a very LONG queue of cars. so like any respectable bikers we rode to the front of the queue and there found a red light with a countdown - 15 minutes!!!!
how long? whats going on? I actually hoped this would turn out to be a single track pass... maybe a good length. a few miles, us at the front - how good is that? it wasn't.
After all that excitement the road eventually dropped out of the mountains and we were speeding along to cunio. what a dull town that was. But it had a Lidl so.. stocked up with comestibles and drinkables and continued north east .he intention was to head towards Austria... get there in two days. cheap petrol. (italian petrol is very pricey) and something other than Pizza or Panini to eat for lunch.
because after Cunio we were well off the tourist trail.. campsites were sparse. the nearest one was about 20 miles west of Turin... so made a beeline for it. lake Avigliana - or some such. free wifi. a bar. an english speaking student managing the place. it was alright.
inevitably a tad tipsy that night.. (again) and next day.. headed for Maggiore. Awful.. really really touristy. and rammed with bikes. saturday. so... we passed through.. had a break at a lovely little roadside cafe before heading for Como.. with a short excursion across switzerland. passing through customs was odd.. being ignored by them completely - not odd. a long line of petrol stations full of Italians. 2 SHELL petrol stations just yards apart on the same side of the road.. miss one? fear not. there were probably 10 or more petrol stations all slap bang next to each other.
Lake como.. we rode its entire west shore.. and it went on forever. 35 miles of it. very touristy at the south end.. quite posh in part too.
stopped for a photo op and a quick drink of juice.
the road passed through the swiss border without any fuss and began to climb.. it had been very warm all day and we had become accustomed to it. it now grew cold.. very very cold. before long we were in the snow!! and still the road climbed up and up onto a fairly high plateau - every single campsite we passed was closed. we came to a very dingy looking St Moritz. it was closed too. So.. on we went. more campsites - closed. it was getting late.. dusk wasn't far off when we started to see signs with a great big 'A' in them... whoop - Austria!! we sped along (at highly illegal speeds) and reached Nauders - right on the border just as it was starting to get dark. The tent was up in a flash. into the cafe to join a load of rowdy and very drunk Austrians watching the footie. while we stuffed our faces with MORE Pizza and beer. I was called a 'Hooligan'. Snod looked very pleased at that.. the bagel.
eventually we were full. a little tipsy and wobbled back to the tent under a sky that was filled with stars. its been a long time since Ive seen a night sky like that.. wonderful. soon asleep and woke to a glorious morning.. one that promised to be warm, dry and sunny. After italy.. Austria seemed very civilised. perfect roads. cheap petrol and great food.
and this:
Italy was flat, hot, and the roads have been baked and worn down to a shiny/slippery surface that is no fun to stop on with a loaded up K100 and its skinny front tyre. The roundabouts aren't even much fun. Even the local drivers were disappointingly normal, far from the legendary kamikaze style of driver you hear about. I only have a couple of pics of this part of Italy, one of the campsite:
Quote from: motobiker
I asked Snod if he wanted to stop.. no. lets carry on. and like a fool I agreed.
What a plonker! But then that pass was ridiculous, a real outlier.. It took 2 hours to cross and seemed intent on keeping us high up in the snow. Suddenly it was a mission to get to the end, back down into the warmth. We made it, but only just.. And after all that MB was then openly insulted which was of course hilarious. The next morning showed we'd been pretty lucky with our find of that campsite, great views and actual proper facilities rather than the dingy things France and Italy seemed to offer. Another strangely blue river too, they all look like that apparently.
The next morning we set off into Austria, the first bit I had ever seen and it was a revelation. We'd been riding up and down single lane roads over and across mountains for maybe an hour then we stopped to take the last photo you see above. "Is it all like this?" I asked. "Yeah" says MB. Hard to believe at the time, but it seems like Austria really is all like that - it helps explain the lack of roads, at least.
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