Day 88 – 31st July Friday – Welcome to Italy!

MacLouf wished us well on our journey, wrote a message in French (and Hebrew) on Bee’s roof and we set off for the Alps. We climbed the French side in bright sunshine, stopping at the top for a nice brew, some photos of the grasshoppers and meadow flowers and an oil check, then descended into Italy and a very misty backdrop. We had lunch at the border and continued winding our way through the mountains on roads that got slower and slower until we reached Cuneo and a more main road.
Although we had been driving for hours, we hadn’t really covered many miles, so we decided to press on to the coast at Savona and find somewhere to park up… big mistake. The coast was beachless, built-up and busy. No sooner had we reached it than the Italian police pulled us over at a roadside check point. We produced all the necessary documents and they called through to the international database. Ten minutes later after they had satisfied themselves we had no drugs on board they let us go. It was getting late and we still couldn’t find anywhere suitable to park up, so we had to pay extortionate rates and stay in a campsite where the showers were extra and the pitch was barely big enough to open the van doors. Not a good introduction to Italy.