All the way I was looking at the coast line on my left hand side and watching people coming and going to the sea. Another way of describing it perhaps would be to say this is Italy's "Blackpool". There were loads of seaside vendors and amusement arcades etc.
No issues passing around Rome and eventually arrived at Pisa. Definitely worth the trip, to think this is the place where Galileo dropped different sized weights to prove to people that the acceleration due to gravity is independent of mass.
After Pisa I continued up the west coast of Italy past more "riviera" type towns until the slow progress and heat eventually persuaded me to go for the autostrade option and make progress up towards Genoa.
All went well and since I was now cooler decided to press on towards Turin before looking for somewhere to stay.
This was a mistake, because I left it too late and when I did eventually ask at a service station the petrol pump guy (a reputable source of information!) recommended an hotel in the next town called the "City Hotel". All seemed to be going well and although it was starting to get dark I eventually rolled up at the hotel. It was another "Marie Celeste" moment. The hotel was there, but the door to reception was locked, and no amount of banging could raise anyone. Not to worry, off to find another hotel in the town. Called at the "Torres Hotel" and a nice lady at the reception told me there was some sort of conference / activity going on and I would not find any rooms in any nearby hotels. It is now pitch dark, and I am in a really mountainous region, so I decided to set Tomtom to get me back onto the autostrade, and I would carefully move on to the next town.
Things seemed pretty good on the autostrade and I was feeling pretty fresh ( don't ask me why after the nights sleep I had last night) and so I thought bugger it I will just press on, it can't be that bad what with my trusty mate Tomtom.
So off to Turin, which arrived faster than I expected, and I managed to navigate myself around the ring road, and on to the road to Lyon in France.
Didn't think through exactly where this road would be going, but to cut a long story short it goes up some pretty high mountains.
My freshness is now rapidly turning into knackeredness, and I am beginning to regret the decision just to press on.
I am sure I was passing through great scenery with fantastic views, but as it was pitch black these were rather wasted on me at the time.
I decided I had to stop and get some rest so after frequenting a few service stations with coffee vending machines I eventually pulled into one of those rest stop places that consist of picnic tables, a toilet and nothing more. I parked up the bike, and in full motorcycling gear (including helmet, which is a very comfortable pillow) I just laid down next to the bike and fell asleep for about 40 mins.
Woke up now fresh as a daisy and dawn was just breaking. I could now see exactly how high I had been, because for about 30 mins all I did was travel downhill and into Chambercy. Here is the picture I took at the service station just downhill from where I had slept.
More later,
TOR
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