Lac Leman to Alessandria

Le Bouveret to Alessandria - 217 miles

Saturday, another hot one – we're slowly getting used to this – and after the usual we got under way, heading for the Simplon Pass, chosen purely because we've never gone this way before. Starting with motorway (and not forgetting to fill in the relevant section of our road permit) we soon came to ordinary roads, again with roadworks where there was not a lot apparently happening. Although not yet really needing it we decided to refuel as a/, we were going over the mountains but more importantly b/, we believed fuel to be more expensive in Italy, which turned out to be the case. We also found a Lidl for some bits we still needed.

It wasn't long before we started the long climb up the pass through some stunning scenery. We've saved the dashcam footage and will try to add some of it in later along with some pictures. We hit the snow line at about 3000 ft although the roads were obviously clear and dry and it was still quite warm. Well pleased with Bertie's performance we topped out at around 6000 ft and stopped in a layby for lunch.

Setting off down the southern side, still in Switzerland, the roads were again good but before long we noticed the smell of very hot brakes so slowed right down and inevitably the traffic, which could not get past, built up. Sorry, but our safety comes first! Eventually arrived at the Italian border, just a small village really but the police/customs were not interested, barely making the effort to wave us through. Almost immediately Terry got confused about a signpost with conflicting information at a roundabout, and of course took the wrong road! We were not using TomTom, or Nellie (our netbook navigator) at the time but we were able to turn round easily and get back on track.

Our planned destination was Alessandria where we had read that there was dedicated motorhome parking close to the centre of town. So we engaged the satnav and headed there, but of course the roads were now nowhere near as good as in Switzerland, more like Morocco or even worse, and we found ourselves doing quite a lot of pothole dodging, even on the Autostrade when we joined it. During planning it had become obvious that using the toll Autostrade was the best way to go as trying to use the other roads would have taken at least twice as long, with the additional cost of fuel being significantly more than the quite reasonable toll fees.

As TomTom directed us into the city and we got close to our destination it became very busy and shortly we spotted a huge funfair – unfortunately it turned out to be very close to the parking area we were headed for and which was, predictably, full of cars. There were a few m/homes parked up so we went in anyway and eventually squeezed into a space that was just big enough for us. As it turned out, the area was by now starting to empty and more spaces became available, but we elected to stay where we were.

Later it started to fill up again and we noticed a large social club just behind us who were obviously having some sort of event because folk were spilling out of it! Later, during a dog walk Terry noticed a strip of land in front of us had been cordoned off, with notices that seemed to suggest some kind of incendiaries – our Italian doesn't go that far. But it was indeed warning of a fireworks display and at 10.30 pm World War III broke out and Jamie went nuts! He absolutely hates fireworks and although we did our best to calm him, he was obviously frightened by all the noise – we'd closed the blinds and windows but it didn't help. Eventually it stopped and Jamie calmed down, but he remained nervous for the next 48 hours.

We stayed at; Motorhome Parking centre of Alessandria - Water & waste disposal. Free