Day 10 - Pisa to Pietra Ligure

Day 10 started, as they all do, with Grizzly shuffling about and packing his stuff. They do say oldies don't need so much sleep!

 

As we were camping, we had one of those foldy airer things. Sweaty jeans, jackets, etc, had been placed on it the night before though it fell over a couple of times! Without thinking, we left our stuff out. Result, all the stuff was damp from dew. DOH!

 

No brekkie option with camping, so we were away fairly early, with a plan to stop for something later on. As we pulled up to drop the key at the office a guy came over gesturing that people were sleeping and we should move on. He got the Grizzly 'Feck Off' stare. And we were off.

 

The day was gloriously sunny and hot already, so we wouldn't have to worry about waterproofs, that's for sure. First stop was our fuel stop. Getting there would be eventful though, solely due to another tomtom issue. At times I am really struggling without the sound and though we both have tomtom and are running the same routes, tomtom can take different routes for my unit, than it can for Grizzly's. And you can guess what happened.

 

At a roundabout, I went on and off the first exit, as instructed. Grizzly had to wait to get on the roundabout and his tomtom told him 2nd exit. Having taken a left, my next instruction, I waited. He never arrived. I sent him a text to say meet at fuel stop, just in case he stopped to call me and then continued on my way. Painfully slowly, along the seafront, I saw lots of lycra clad cyclists, lots of lycra clad joggers but no sign of Grizzly. Until, that was, as I pulled in to the fuel stop. I have to admit I was relieved to see his chubby red face waiting for me. I fuelled up and we went into the cafe to have a coffee and croissant.

 

Distance wise we didn't have that far to go but time wise it was still something like 5 hours. It soon became clear why. Almost every road in Italy is 50km per hour. Bad enough in the country but we were taking the coast road, where the limit can drop to 30km but even so, rarely gets above that anywhere, due to the sheer volume of traffic. It was a weekday but everyone seemed to be at the beach! All on holiday or taking sickies, because the weather was so fine? And because the weather was so fine, we were gagging for a stop. Finding one took a while but we pulled into a garage for a coffee (Grizzly) and an ice lolly, for me. All too soon though we were back on the road.

 

As we continued our coastal journey, it was remarkable the amount of scooters and cars for that matter, lining the roads. Are they on holiday already? Eventually though we came to Finale Ligure and promptly drove through it! Why I thought we were staying at Finale Ligure, I have no idea. The correct destination, Pietra Ligure was a further 6km down the road. Arriving in the town, of course, I misread the tomtom instructions and took the wrong turning, so there was a brief detour whilst we got it right. It didn't help that the road was one way either.

 

 

As  always seems to be the case, we were on the top floor, probably the only feckers on it. The lift was barely big enough for two people, let alone two big bikers with luggage. It's a manual job too, so outer door has to be opened then two tiny inner doors open inwards! As if that wasn't comic enough, the room small as it was, contained the tiniest wet room you will ever encounter. Small problem, the floor wasn't contoured, so after Grizzly had showered, there was water across the entire floor! There was a balcony though, bathed in sunshine, that let us dry our clothing, etc.

 

Spruced up we took a walk along the seafront and then into town. On the way , we had to wait for a train to cross the level crossing. No sooner had it gone through, than people were dodging under the barrier to walk across! Clearly they were certain nothing else was coming along! What an example to set your kids.

 

Pietra Ligure seafront

 

In the square we found a bar and ordered a couple of beers. When they came, they were accompanied by a plate of nibbles, some crisps and another chip shaped snack.  Another beer and the same result. That was enough that we didn't actually feel the need for a dinner, so we made our way back to the hotel, Grizzly via a coffee bar, where he had 3 coffees! Didn't stop him sleeping though, with the usual musical accompaniment.

 

Beer and nibbles

 

When we got back, it seemed the hotel had been invaded by a group of German students, making lots of noise and drinking lots of alcohol! Least we should have breakfast to ourselves then ;-)

 

Till tomorrow.