On Sunday morning we had lots of time for a bike ride before the final stage of the Tour started – they have it a little later now so that the presentations can be done near sunset at the Arc de Triomphe..
Our ride took us past the nearby village of Monpaple, which was having an art exhibition.
We rode by and on to Aunac where we stopped for another of the very strong coffees.
On our return to Mansle we did stop in Monpaple and had a look around.
There was an abundance of clown paintings – including clown’s painting – but lots of other subjects as well.
The final TdF stage was the usual boring bunk for the first couple of hours – the winner and his team riding side-by-side drinking champagne, etc. I always hope someone’s going to go for it but it never happens.
The only exciting part is when they hit the Champs-Élysées and do the eight circuits to the finish. I was, of course, loudly cheering on Cavendish, but he was pinned in and couldn’t get past Wout van Aert, who won yet another stage. That’s now a very difficult mountain stage, the individual time trial, and the final sprint that he’s won – seems like the young Belgian can do it all. Still, even though he didn’t break Merckx’s record the Cav did tie it, and what a comeback Tour it was for him!
On Tuesday morning we heard sirens rushing along the highway and when we drove up to Ruffec to do some shopping we saw why. A semi-truck had flipped into the ditch and looked like it had caught on fire.
There were several fire trucks and other emergency vehicles and it looked like they were trying to decide how to get the trailers uprighted.
On our ride on Wednesday we went to Tusson for coffee.
Along the way we saw a couple more of the ‘mannequins’ lounging around.
The coffee shop we ended up going to was awesome – it looked quite small from the outside but had a lovely fairly large terrace area at the back.
Most of the folks that came in for coffee and cake were brits, and we enjoyed the best cappuccino we’ve had since we left Italy.
For the first time I ventured into the church that’s on one side of the main square in Mansle.
It actually has some nice stained glass windows, and was wonderfully cool and quiet.
On Thursday we went to the Hope Charity shop in Sauze-Vaussais and picked up a few jigsaw puzzles and some books. On the way out Colin pointed to the hat section and I scored a great black sun hat – I could have used it last weekend and avoided the raccoon eyes.
Race day dawned sunny and beautiful, with enough of a breeze to make the flags fly well.
There was one campervan behind us in our great little pullout, as well as several cars that had arrived during the morning. The lady in the campervan warned Colin to wear a hat and indicated we should be careful of the sun – good advice, of course. I had already smeared shea butter on my forearms, back of the neck and top of my ears (more on that later).
As usual for the Individual Time Trial many of the riders took a re-con ride around the course throughout the morning.
Also as usual at the Tour the Caravan was eagerly awaited by all…
It arrived a bit late, but was worth the wait…
It was even bigger and better than ever, and we cleaned up on goodies…
Including several packets of the doggies’ favourite sausage treats…
Third off the line in the ITT was Mark Cavendish – having tied the great Eddy Merckx’s TDF stage record earlier in the week it’s not likely he’ll break it today, although he’s not a bad time trialer.
It was easy to tell whenever a French racer was approaching as the crowds before us would go crazy.
We’re a bit concerned for a couple of fans just down from us – they keep taking off their shirts and seem unbothered by the fact that they might look like lobsters tomorrow.
As soon as the last rider – current overall leader Tadej Pogacar – passed I ran to our neighbour’s campervan where they had the race on tv.
Wout van Aert won!
And almost better the young 2nd overall Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard was so fast he almost caught up to 3rd place overall Richard Carapaz. That would have been sweet!
We had contemplated staying another night but the traffic didn’t seem to be backed up too badly so we decided to get back to Mansle. The drive was better than expected and we were home in good time.
The next morning I realized what I had missed when applying the shea butter to protect from the sun – my forehead and upper chest were bright red. I look like a raccoon – or maybe the elusive red panda (and I don’t mean the small Italian car!).
Got another nice ride in – a lovely route around to Aunac, with a stop for coffee.
Bastille Day celebrations were fairly subdued – no huge parties or fireworks that I could hear or see.
We got away mid-morning on Thursday – we’re both pretty organized and packing up the campervan didn’t take long. The trip south to the time-trial course took about 2 ½ hours as we travelled on smaller, quieter roads.
The yellow route marking arrows weren’t up yet, but it’s pretty easy to tell when you’re on the route…
We looked for a parking spot along almost the entire route, starting in Libourne and going almost all the way to Saint-Emilion before pulling over and claiming our spot.
We’d passed quite a few campervans already and knew many more would come but didn’t want to risk getting stuck on the wide shoulder as the ground looked a bit soft.
We’re in a nice wide spot with room for one or two more campervans, right next to a large vineyard. This is a UNESCO Heritage area and is well known for it’s excellent wine – we’re beside a field of Merlot grapes.
They’re doing spraying of the vines right now – great timing! We kept all of the windows shut for part of the day but luckily the sprayers knocked off fairly early.
We’ve discovered a problem with the campervan – the sink isn’t draining properly. There’s a bit right at the top that’s a plastic piece of crap and has broken so all of the drain water flows directly into the cutlery drawer underneath. I am now doing dishes in the bathroom sink.
The town of Libourne had their fireworks on Thursday night – I was already in bed but listened to them for quite awhile. Mo heard them too and did her usual little barky/growly thing at them before settling back down on my feet.
Just after breakfast Friday morning a fellow pulled up in a car beside us – the vineyard side, not the road side. We wondered if we were going to get asked to move, but all he did was warn us to close all of the windows as the sprayers would be coming soon.
We knew the machine was approaching, but appreciated the warning and kept the windows closed for an hour after he’d passed.
In the afternoon we took a walk back to the next group of campervans and on the way passed a very beautiful garden that must belong to the owner of the vineyard.
We had a rather lazy day – I finished the last of the three Genghis Khan books and was left wishing for a fourth. We found a second problem with the campervan – the freezer has stopped working and the chicken as well as the salmon were both completely defrosted. Chicken is Friday’s dinner so that’s ok and I made a teriyaki marinade for the salmon so it’s all good.
Late in the evening a bunch of vehicles pulled up on the road, including a semi-truck and several vans. They commenced to put up large signs and some barriers. Apparently we’re right at the ‘4 km to go’ point.
The team had men from several different countries, including a fellow from Louisiana who said he used to do setups for the Cirque du Soleil.
It was quite a production and they didn’t finish until almost 10:30.
A week ago Friday there was a dinner at the bar – we both chose the scampi and chips. As usual there were quite a few Brits there, although they’d put the tables a bit further apart so not so much socializing. During the lockdown last year Edith and Sylvain had used the time to re-decorate a bit – it’s lighter and spiffed up, and looks really good.
When returning home from Ruffec one day we stopped to say a quick hello to Tony and Joyce in Fontenille. It’s the first time I’ve seen Tony since he did the two beautiful paintings for Colin based on two of my photos so I finally go to thank him personally for doing them. One of them is in Papiano, so I’d already seen it last year but the other – of Mo and Benny – I didn’t see until we got to Mansle ten days ago.
We’ve taken a couple of walks down to the campground, and the river is still pretty high, although after the flooding several weeks ago it actually has subsided.
They’ve finished putting the new windows in the Mairie and it looks pretty good – Colin is especially pleased that they’re no longer flying the EU flag.
Last Sunday there was a regional cycling race and Colin drove the lead car while I took a few photos.
Unfortunately the weather sucked and there were a couple of periods of torrential rain where I had to go and take shelter in the car.
During one break in the rain I took the opportunity to walk home before the next downpour hit.
We’ve gone for a couple of nice bike rides – the first up to Aunac for coffee. I have to say it’s very pleasant to ride on roads that aren’t just pothole after pothole – even the small back roads here are in much better shape than most of the ‘main’ roads in Italy.
This Friday we took a day-trip to Cognac, with a quick stop first at a bike shop in Angouleme to get new pads for my front brake. By the time we got to the campervan store near Cognac they had already closed for lunch so we took the opportunity to find a place to eat.
We came upon a cafe in a nearby village and had a lovely roast chicken lunch alongside a bunch of locals.
A very very exciting Tour de France stage a couple of days ago – Mark Cavendish has now tied Eddy Merckx’s stage win record with his fourth win of this year’s race. After being a last minute choice to even go to the TDF, and almost a write-off in some people’s minds makes it even more special for the Manx Missile.
Yesterday we went for another, longer bike ride, this time up to Aigre for coffee. A very good last minute decision was to wear my rain jacket/windbreaker – we were halfway to our destination when the clouds opened and we just got poured on.
The coffee was good and strong, although I do miss Italian cappuccino – cafe creme is not the same!
On the way home we got more rain, but thankfully it didn’t last very long. At the village of Villesoubis there are several cute stuffed ‘scarecrows’, two of which depicted bike riders.
Another special day at the TDF yesterday – Cdn. Michael Woods is now the proud wearer of the King of the Mountains jersey. It would be great if he can keep it until the end next Sunday.
After a bit of a sleep-in we had a morning cappuccino at one of the beach bars, then headed off at 10:00.
In no particular hurry we had a leisurely drive generally west and a bit north, passing through Gap, which was a bit of a drag.
The current highway goes right through the city, although they are finally building a bypass. Maybe next time we come this way we won’t encounter the same issue.
Somewhere between Gap and Die we encountered a road incident – several police cars were gathered near a dump truck that hadn’t quite made a curve in the road and had run headon into a barrier at the side – totally smashed the front-end in.
Our last night on the road (this time) was spent at the edge of the village of Le Champs de Raphael, where we’ve stayed before. I recall that last time I set up my tent and spent half the night wondering if I was going to get blown away in the wind.
The view is awesome, and you can just hear the clanking of the cow bells in the valley below.
When leaving in the morning we encountered a ‘deviation’ that was somewhat confusing. After going about 10 km in the direction we wanted we had to turn around and retrace our route almost completely, as did at least a couple of other vehicles.
We eventually joined the road that Colin was familiar with and made it up to Clermont-Ferrand where we turned west for the rest of the journey.
Whether new or old, viaduct or bridge building use the same basic structure….
We stopped for a quick bite to eat at a small park that had some interesting wood sculptures.
Continuing on refreshed we reached Mansle in the early evening. Had a very welcome hot shower and a nice dinner of salmon with new potatoes and green beans cooked by Neal – very good ‘homecoming’.
Antonio had a Festa at the bar on Saturday – it was very well attended. He had two tv screens setup outside for folks to watch the Italy vs Austria calico/soccer/football game.
Dinner was served very late, and were we ever hungry by then. The first course was pasta with ragu sauce – very tasty. Second course, that came some time later, was a sausage/meatball dish and also tasty. The main course arrived, again some time later and was roast pork, served with a bit of salad. This dish will be mostly eaten by the doggies, I think.
The calcio game went into extra time, and fortunately the home team won 2-1 so all the local fans were very happy.
We went for a final ride on Sunday morning, stopping in Vilanova for a cappuccino. We were seated at an outdoor table next to an elderly gentleman who started up a conversation with us.
While he spoke no english we did manage to talk for awhile and understood that he was born there, and that the local calcio team, from this village of only 300 or so people, managed to beat all of the big teams from large cities such as Rimini, etc.
We managed to leave by 2 in the afternoon on Monday, after many long hard journeys with the wheelbarrow (by Colin) with stuff to the campervan and back. Because of the work going on at the apartment building below us we had to go all the way up and around the bell tower to get to the parking area where the campervan was.
The drive north/northwest was relatively good, and we reached Marina di Carrara at a decent time, stopping for the night very near the Sea. We found out that unfortunately the gas wasn’t coming through so couldn’t make a hot dinner – luckily we had alternatives.
After a fairly early night and a very good sleep we were on the road early the next day – doggies like to arise early, go for a quick walk, and get fed, so since we were awake anyway we hit the road just after 6:00.
We started hitting major road works before Genova – in fact it took us hours to get past the city and to the highway north to Alessandria. It’s great that they’re doing work on the many, many tunnels and viaducts, but boy does it slow things down.
After finally passing the major part of the roadworks we arrived in Cavour slightly before 1:00. We stopped for a beverage (coffee for Colin, and guess what? vino rosso for me) and were on the way again mid-afternoon.
We took the pass from Sestriere to Briancon and got by the French border guards with no problem.
After a long day we made it to a lovely spot just outside Embrun where we stopped for the night.
We go for a bike ride every couple of days – the most recent was over 31 km and we leave nice and early before it starts getting too hot. We’ve stopped a couple of times now for cappuccino at a nice little cafe/bar in Spina partway through the ride.
The back road between Mercatello and Compagnano is one of my current favourites – the surface isn’t great but there’s hardly any traffic, and it’s far less developed than some of the other areas.
The view from the terrace is beautiful as always, and I spend a lot of time sitting under the umbrella with a cup of tea watching village life go on.
The fellow that had been doing stonework for ages last year has finally finished – we see him occasionally on his front terrace on a swing-chair. The small house on the right has been sold and new folks are now in – they got a furniture delivery a few days ago. The ducks are back, although there’s only three of them this year, rather than the twelve there were last year.
We both got haircuts a few days ago – it’s the shortest I’ve had mine since a cut I got in Spain four years ago. So easy to take care of now, especially as we’re going to be on the road again very soon.
On Thursday we went to Trevi for lunch and our favourite place, La Vecchia Posta, was open – outdoor tables only, which was great.
For antipasto we shared a selection of mixed bruschetta, and I had wild boar stew for my main dish. It was just delicious, and with a little help from Mo I actually managed to finish it.
They’ve been working diligently on both the Bell Tower and the condo building just below us. I can’t believe how much stuff they’ve hauled out of the condo building – I think when the earthquake happened the folks were given 15 minutes to grab what they could and maybe haven’t been allowed back since.
I’ve been really trying to soak in the atmosphere here prior to our departure – having spent so much time here last year I feel like two weeks isn’t nearly enough time.
Finally allowed to travel – within 5 hours of restrictions being lifted to Italy I had my flights booked. Before the first flight I had a covid test at the airport – waited in the car in the parking lot for the results. I passed! Or was it failed? In any case I got both emailed and printed pages to show I was safe to travel.
The first check-in was actually the longest – the lady at the counter looked so long at my passport I started to worry – but no problem. I had my covid test proof, my Personal Flight Locator forms, my declaration for getting into Italy – I had it all.
After a goodbye to my patient, kind and loving partner I boarded the first of three flights. The plane to Vancouver was packed, followed by a 3 hour wait for the next flight to Frankfurt. Once again I showed all of my papers, and again no problem.
The flight was quite long, and right after serving us dinner they made us close the windows and shut off the lights. I don’t think it ever actually got dark outside the whole way, but it was a long ‘night’ and I didn’t get any sleep.
Arriving at Frankfurt airport I again showed all of my papers, and again no problem. I found my scheduled flight to Rome on the boards and limped a long way to the listed gate. I had a few hours to wait so read for a bit, then decided to take a little nap – there was plenty of space on the lounge chairs to stretch out, and I was at the right gate so knew I’d hear the folks arriving for the flight and all of the boarding calls.
Wrong….I woke with a start at 3:01 – the flight was supposed to start boarding at 2:50 so I knew immediately something wasn’t right. Still fuzzy-headed from my nap I grabbed my backpack and camera and shuffled to the closest check-in gate. A lady in front of me had just missed her flight to Mallorca and I felt bad for her, while just hoping I hadn’t missed my flight to Rome.
I quickly showed the check-in lady my boarding pass and she said to ‘go that way and turn left’ – well, I was at gate A16 and my flight was now leaving from A56 – a very, very long way – in fact very close to the gate I’d arrived at three hours earlier. I ran as fast as I could, given my injured foot, and arrived huffing and puffing and almost crying to find that I wasn’t quite the last one – about 15 folks were still lined up to board.
The last flight wasn’t too long and I arrived safely at Fiumicino a little bit ahead of schedule. I collected my bag and headed to passport control/security – but there wasn’t any. There were several armed guards standing around, but no one that wanted to see my passport or anything. I simply walked out!
Colin and the little ones arrived only a few minutes later to pick me up and we were on our way ‘home’. It’s not that far to Papiano so we arrived at a decent time, although to me I’d been up and on the move for about 30 hours.
I had a very nice welcome from several of the locals, especially Antonio at the bar. I took it easy for a couple of days getting used to the time change and everything.
On Sunday we went for a nice bike ride of 22 km., and another one this morning of just under 20 km.
There are two major renovation projects going on near us. First of all the bell tower is finally being fixed – they’ve had the funds for it for some time but apparently there was prolonged discussion about exactly what to do. It’s now covered in scaffolding and work is progressing.
The other major project is right below us – a mutli-unit building that was damaged in the earthquake five years ago. They started this morning by blocking off the lane way and have started removing debris from the inside.
The rain started right on time at 8:00, and many more campervans and cars had arrived during the night and over the morning. We had tea and breakfast and stayed inside most of the morning but just after noon the clouds parted and the sun came out.
The team buses and cars went past in a convoy up to the finish at the top 1.5 km from us. We went for a walk down to the bar that’s at the bend below us, following a walking track part of the way.
We had a cappuccino and shared a prosciutto and cheese panini while keeping an eye on the very black clouds that were moving in.
We quickly left but still had a ways to go when the rain hit. I tucked my camera inside my coat – I had the merino wool long-sleeve on as well as the winter coat and was glad of it – and carried Mo part of the way up back to the campervan. We got back ok, just very wet and a bit chilled.
The first two racers arrived at 4:13 in pouring rain – an Ineos rider and an EF rider who was wearing their special jersey designed just for the Giro – I find them a bit hard to look at without going cross-eyed. The EF fellow ended up winning the stage so good for him.
I had a large umbrella with the handle tucked into the pocket of my coat to keep my camera dry while the riders straggled past in small and large groups. The last few – including Alex Dowsett and Tony Martin – came by at 4:52 looking quite bedraggled and a bit miserable. PS – huge kudos to Dowsett for winning a stage a couple of days earlier – congrats!
We’d already decided to stay another night rather than fight traffic down the mountain in the dark so settled in and watched as most of the other folks made their way down.
It was a much quieter night than the previous one with hardly any traffic going by. The next morning we left nice and early – it was a longer drive than we expected to reach the coast near Anzio. We found a lovely campground that turned out to not be open but they were kind enough to ‘make a deal’ with Colin – we had our pick of spots and got nice hot showers to boot.
Feeling very refreshed we had an early night then headed out again after breakfast the next morning.
Right near the campground we passed a couple of ‘ladies on chairs’ – we’d seen some before and Colin had noticed a group of them on the way here.
One of them was dressed up with a short skirt and high red boots, but the other looked bored and didn’t seem to have put much effort into attracting ‘clients’.
Since we were so near Anzio I wanted to see something from the war – we weren’t that interested in going to the museum so I chose the Beach Head War Cemetery.
It’s a beautiful and immaculately kept place, and is for Commonwealth soldiers, sailors and airmen that fell during and after the Allied landing in Anzio to free Italy from the nazis.
Most of the headstones show dates of early 1944 and I only noticed one Canadian marked with the maple leaf, although there were many showing only ‘a fallen soldier’.
Colin waited just outside the entrance with the little ones – it looked to me as if he was sitting in Henry – haha!
We left the cemetery and drove north along the coast to Lido di Ostia where we planned to spend the night as it’s so close to Fiumicino. Along the way we passed many beach access places but most of them were closed. Across the road from one were a couple of young ladies and Colin said ‘oh look – they’re in their bathing costumes – they must have been swimming’ but as we got closer to them I noticed their fishnet stockings and heavy makeup and replied ‘they weren’t swimming – they’re fishing’! We laughed so hard!
Arriving at Ostia we parked across from a restaurant on the sea and went in for lunch. We shared an antipasto of mussels, which were excellent, then for my main course I ordered the calamari, although that’s not what I got.
Instead I was given a large platter of assorted seafood, and was it ever good – there were four or five different things that were all very tasty and I needed help from not only Mo but Colin as well to finish it.
After lunch we walked around a bit, stopping at a farmacia so I could get some wet-wipes to wipe down everything on the airplanes the next day.
I think Mo must have sensed that I was about to leave as she cuddled close to me in my bed all night. Up at 5:00 we had a nice cup of tea and a quick bite to eat then it was off to the airport. We got there in plenty of time and said a quick but heartfelt goodbye until next year – fingers crossed.
I was not looking forward to wearing a mask for over twenty hours but it wasn’t quite as bad as I’d feared. Air Canada had changed my flights several times and I was now flying Lufthansa to Frankfurt, then again with them to Vancouver. The security check in Frankfurt was easy – he just looked at my passport for a minute, stamped it on the last page and waved me thru.
The flight to Vancouver was long – over 10 hours, but I had a window seat and no one had anyone sitting next to them. We went north over England and Scotland, then across Greenland and northern Canada. I watched three movies and a series of documentaries about villages in the Alps but didn’t really get any sleep.
Most of the time it was cloudy, but a couple of times it cleared and the views below were awesome.
I had to go thru security again in Vancouver- the fellow was very nice and we chatted about how long I’d been in Italy and why. He reminded me that I need to quarantine for two weeks once I get home and I was passed thru.
I had to collect my checked luggage as my final flight was Air Canada and Lufthansa doesn’t pass along the bags so after ‘checking in’ again I was finally on my way home. A very long day of travel by the end, but so good to see my dear sweetheart D waiting for me.
It was a truly awesome trip, and being ‘forced’ to spend so much time in Italy turned out to be a bit of a gift. Arrivaderci – until next year!
The morning of my last day in Papiano was beautiful with a lovely sunrise. Chairman Meow came to say goodbye – well, he came for food and a pat on the head…ok really he just came for food but I managed to pat him on the head without getting bitten or slashed.
I took a few final photos of the terrace and the view, and we were on our way around 11:30.
As we passed the bar we waved again to Antonio – we’d said our goodbyes the previous afternoon.
We headed south to Terni, then southeast, passing many sections of roadworks. It slowed the journey down some but lord knows most of the roads need it.
We stopped just short of our destination, right below the town of Rivisondoli.
It was a lovely evening although it’s starting to get chilly as soon as the sun goes down.
The next morning was another beautiful one – we took the dogs for a nice walk along a paved path right next to the camper park, then I checked out some sculptures in a nearby park.
They’re made of metal and seem to be used for lighting fires in. We figure there must be some kind if festival, maybe in the winter – this area a big for skiing, etc.
We continued on past the town of Roccaraso and followed the road to the top that will be the finale of stage 9 of the Giro d’Italia. We’ve been watching the race every day on tv and this one stage will be the only one we’ll be able to get to in person this year.
The 7 km climb to the top isn’t that steep but it will be right at the end of a long hard day for the riders.
There’s no parking allowed at the very top, but lots of wide areas a km or two down. Several campervans were already there but there was lots of space so we did get an excellent spot.
We put up the flags and had a quiet afternoon. The folks that pulled in next to us came over with a cup of espresso for each of us – very sweet but packing quite a caffeine jolt.
Sally McKenzie's European Adventures 