2018-03-23 Northern Italy and Southern France San Germane Chisone to San Bartolomeo

Previous Day :: Trek Overview :: Next Day

San Germane Chisone to San Bartolomeo

Northern Italy and Southern France by Hymer Motorhome

San Germane Chisone to San Bartolomeo

Beautiful blue sky this morning although we are surrounded by a very heavy frost. As the sun rises the frost is melted quickly. A man turned up and turned on the water supply to the aire, just as we were told, why are we so surprised – well we’ve heard so many reassuring words in the past that have not come to fruition! The man leaves without saying anything, he does not seem to notice that we are there.

We saw a cat appear from under the Hymer and felt a slight movement; that explains the movement and noise we heard during the night. It’s not the first time that a cat has disturbed our sleep and no doubt it will not be the last. We eat breakfast, attend to the housekeeping necessities, tidy up inside the motorhome then service the cassette, grey water, general garbage and fill up with fresh water, it all takes time, but we handle the jobs smoothly because we have done them so many times.

I drove the first 2 hours, across mostly flat terrain, there are vast areas of fruit trees and kiwi fruit vines, once you know what they are the characteristic shape is easy to recognise. After a lunch stop Gill took over the driving and was rewarded with an incredibly long mountain stretch of roads dominated by hairpin bends and steep descents, very scary at times when you are the passenger. Along this section of roads it was difficult to find anywhere to stop, no lay-bys or temporary parking places.

We got a message from the leader of our dance group to say that the hotel for our stay had been changed, so he gave us the name and I adjusted our destination in google maps.

San Bartolomeo, a dreadful place in my opinion, yet I am sure there are many who love it. So what did I dislike, narrow roads, nowhere to stop, bad drivers pushing and hassling all the time; a town full of small hotels set on tiny plots of land that were completely overdeveloped, as if there were no planning rules. Parking restrictions everywhere. We are fortunate in the sense that we are here before the tourist season really opens, so most of the hotels are closed. It is warm, which is what people come here for, but I would have been very happy to turn around, drive back into France and abandon the dance festival altogether. Judging by what other members of our party said about their journey from the airport they shared my feelings.

Eventually we found a space to park the Hymer, about 10 minutes walk from the hotel. I shall be going there regularly to check that the motorhome is ok. This is a very unusual arrangement for us, we have several nights in a hotel as part of the group, most of them have travelled here by air. We have a reasonably-priced hotel package that includes breakfast and evening meals.

My expectation is that there will be a lot of time waiting around for our dance performances, I hope I am wrong.

Our Hymer motorhome trip to Northern Italy and Southern France

Click any image to enlarge

Summary of motorhome journey Calais to Reims, Northern France