Day 41 Friday 27th June 2008

Today was a rest day before rushing off to France tomorrow. We cleaned some of the marble dust from the car mats, washed the windows, and did some washing. Afterwards we drove over to Sestri Levant (through the tunnels again) to explore the town and to shop at the brand new Coop supermercato (opened Wednesday). We did the latter but lack of parking precluded the former. We returned to Moneglia and had lunch on the balcony.

After a rest we walked down to town to have a paddle in the sea which was very pleasant. We then found our usual gelateria for an ice cream. Then the long slog back up to the apartment. There, about to cook dinner, we ran out of gas so had to ring the owner. Consequently a late dinner.

Start mileage  14667		Finish  14687			Miles travelled = 20
								Total miles = 3202

Day 42 Saturday 28th June 2008

We set out at 9.20 approx to drive to St Remy de Provence in France – about 500km (300 miles). The weather promised to be hot and sunny. We got through the tunnels to Sestri Levant without too much delay and got onto the A12 motorway OK. We met the queues just after Genova and they continued until Finale Ligure, a distance of about 30 miles. In the first 1 and a half hours we covered 50 miles before stopping for a coffee and the next 80 miles took another 2 hours with no stops. The final 180 miles took about 3 and a half hours with a couple of short stops for coffee and driver change. There were several stops for tolls. This must be one of the most expensive parts of the motorway network in France. We arrived at St Remy at about 5.00 pm and quickly found the house we had booked. The owners showed us round and then we unpacked and settled in.

Start mileage 14687			Finish 14999		Miles travelled = 312
								Total travelled = 3514 

Day 43 Sunday 29th June 2008

Another hot and sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. The house is a nice 1 bedroom 1960’s house. The separate toilet and bathroom are a bit pokey but the rest of it is fine. The washing machine was soon put into action.

We walked down into the village/town centre to find the tourist information office. We obtained a tourist map and walked around the tourist route looking at shops and sights and eventually bought some bread and some cheese. A glace was an essential purchase. St Remy has a nice old centre and quite an expansion of streets on the north side. It is bigger than we anticipated but is just where we want to be being within easy distance of Avignon and walking distance to the Roman site of Glanum.

No car miles today.