The last of our cooking gas was used for breakfast today so we hit Decathlon (store like Rebel Sports in NZ) before really getting on the road. Roni purchased half of some new togs for a bargain – the other ones were too stretched/big to be safe in any kind of surf these days! They had gas but it had a funny plastic seal on the top so we couldn’t make sure it would function with our cooker...asked staff but the members we enquired of had no idea about camping stuff, sigh. Gas was required so we purchased it anyway in the hope that it would work out ok!
On the road again and into the alps, trying to get into Italy without paying tolls.
We saw some fantastic scenery, stone structures over rivers in a picturesque valley with the township of La Balme surrounded by towering peaks (scampering along beside tunnels to get the pics we wanted!). Past lakes with houses with rocks on their roofs like the Swiss houses in the picture book (Big Golden Book) Roni had growing up.
We thought we had found a toll-free route by following the signs toward Susa (Italian city) and taking a road that wound way up in the mountains. On this road we discovered Redoute Marie-Therese, a MASSIVE fort. Much excitement and many photographs later we continued on. Only to discover that the road was completely blocked by road works! Gutted.
Grappling with the GPS, trying to follow signs and much stress for both driver and navigator then ensued. Eventually we had to give in (it was getting late) and take a toll tunnel...about 36 Euros later we came out the other side. Not happy!
The unique Italian road planning + eccentric driving style caused Roni extreme adrenaline and some consternation for Bray the navigator as we missed a turn off and had to go through another toll. Much driving...by now it was well into dusk! Made it into Torino and searched for their info site with no success. Back to the car and more driving (through crazy roundabouts with parking, traffic lights and no lanes on the roundabouts themselves) to get out of town. After this we hit a massive back up caused by some launch party at the BMW dealership outside of Astri. It took over half an hour to get through a roundabout and 1km or so down the road...by now it was after eight and very dark.
Still no sign of a campsite – or even a rest area for freedom camping. We paused next to the road for dinner in the dark at 9pm and contemplated spending the night there but it didn’t feel right so on we went! No rest areas, parking areas or campsites visible so...
Drove until around 11pm when we found a park down the road from a pub that looked pretty quiet, up in the hills and to sleep in the car we went.
