Delayed from 5th Sept…….We made our way along the Italian coast passing Genoa and the stunning coast line crossing high viaducts and roads on the edge of cliffs. As we passed Genoa the wind really picked up and along with the big lorries passing us we were being blown all over the place so decided for an earlier than planned stop. We stopped in Varazze, a costal town which looked like it would be buzzing if the sun was shining. Without a local campsite we found a hostel/hotel to hide from the wind and impending rain. A slightly strange but sweet little place with a bananas colour scheme and a restaurant with half the mountain poking out of one of the walls.

The following morning got back on the road early. We found a campsite near San Remo and noticeably the weather and end of the season was starting to take it toll. We were one of three others in the site and the other two were the worst kind of English tourist you can imagine. Spending all their time complaining to each other about everything – the campsite, the weather, the food, Italy, France, the caravan club….etc etc We got on our bike and pedalled down to the town to escape. Other than a few stealth sun worshippers the beach was almost empty. With the weather looking a little suspect on the horizon we peddled up hill and ignored the weather by jumping in the pool.

We suddenly realised that this would be our last night in Italy and so opted for dinner in the campsite restaurant. Expecting the usual pizza/pasta options what followed was an extremely pleasant surprise. In all honestly we couldn’t have hoped for more for our last night of so many in Italy – it was a little stroke of luck for us. The restaurant was beautifully lit with hanging lanterns and we could tell was a fairly new adventure for someone. Delicious starters of a caprese salad and cuttlefish salad followed by home made pesto pasta for me. Dave had ordered what we thought was some kind of calamari – we were wrong and happily so when a huge copper pan straight of the heat filled with four huge prawns/longastine cooked in butter and spices turned up. The chef, who turned out to be the very lovely Italian wife of the waiter, came out to talk to us and see if we liked the food and convinced us to try one of her home made puddings. We went to bed full and more than satisfied with our final Italian feast.

In an ideal world our tour would have taken us to Monaco, somewhere we had hoped to see the grand prix earlier in the year. But sadly David’s wish to walk the track route will have to wait for another trip. In general campers and caravans are not permitted in the city and while we thought we would get away with that we couldn’t find a reasonable place to park a 2.3 metre high vehicle (inc roof rack). The same sadly ended up applying for Nice, a place I love, and in the end Cannes. We did try to get into Cannes but on route to the shore we were stuck in incredibly heavy traffic. At one point so busy the lower level traffic light wasn’t visible when it turned red. This resulted in a fairly grumpy police officer on a motorbike pulling up by my window and demanding to know if we had traffic lights in England or not, did we know what red meant….cue my first bit of French for a while. Crisis averted we decided it was time to get out of the traffic and therefore the town – clearly a trip to take in these three will be added to the future holiday list!

Instead we headed for Antibes for a night stop over and reassessment of the route plan. We spent most of the afternoon walking around in circles but I am pretty sure not seeing the nice bits of the town – ie. the old port…..better pop that one onto the revisit list as well!

However – my heart was light and I was excited to be in France and knowing we had a few weeks ahead with very few plans made and all in all just time to enjoy journeys with no time constraints and introduce the camper to the French lifestyle…