We had 1,000 miles to cover to reach Genoa in order to catch the ferry to Morocco. We followed the Mediterranean coast road north from Valencia. We stayed at a camp site just before the French border for our last two nights in Spain and walked into the local village for lunch in one of the sunny squares.
At an overnight stop at aire in France we parked next door to a family of mum and twin eleven year old daughters, travelling in old Mercedes truck. Attached to the rear of the truck was Bella, their pet goat – I hoped Bella didn’t have to trot behind when they drove off. The girls were very friendly and didn’t need a second invitation to come and have a good look around our truck.
Most other nights we stopped at fuel stations along the French motorway. For security reasons we normally parked amongst the HGVs but on one occasion we parked against a perimeter fence. In the morning Tony noticed signs of an attempted break-in, several door locks had damage marks and they had attempted to drill out the driver’s door lock. Fortunately they didn’t gain access but it gave us a wake-up call to be more security conscious. The door lock was still usable but could only be secured from the inside.
By the time we reached Italy the traffic was getting heavy and the main road had morphed into a long series of tunnels and contra-flows caused by miles and miles of road works. There were very few fuel stations and little opportunity to find somewhere stop overnight. We finally found a spot at the port in Savona, an hour’s drive from Genoa. Opposite was a busy family trattoria where we had a home cooked meal, two courses with beer, wine and coffee at a cost of €30 – equanimity was restored!
