A warm day with clear blue, cloudless sky for our drive today. We caught in the Polizia motorcade with black limos of the G7 Ministers, we got the finger from one of the Polizia!
Out of Lucca climbing again into hills and more hair pin bends and spaghetti roads, getting used to them now. Good work Lane roads through little towns with shops and houses right on the roadside, no pavements. Through tree lined roads, now in full leaf and past another field crop of solar panels. Past huge quarries cutting massive, granite and marble blocks.
Main road into Massa lined with mandarin trees laden with fruit.
Across another high bridge over roof tops of the buildings below. Lumpy, bumpy roads today, tough drive for Bessie and Tony. It is obviously ok to drive cars and cycle while talking on the phone. Through a tunnel 805m then into La Spezia , enormous container port, trucks and containers for miles, makes Tauranga port look tiny.
Lots of apartment blocks, with washing hanging out on balconies. I see the sea !
Fab shots of port before going through another tunnel 950m and another 313m.
Lunch spot
After lunch stop with amazing views, thru another tunnel then narrow winding road down. First site at Manarola is no longer for motorhomes so plan B Montorosso. There was a road slip on a very narrow hair pin bend, down to Cornigula.....route recalculation calculation.......no where to go but down, one lady shook her hands and said not for camping car, go down and turn around......yeah right...train station at bottom of very narrow road, loads of people just got off the train, so had to maneuver them as well as turn round. Then back up,fortunately a truck was I front of us so followed him up so cars coming down had to reverse back to let us get past, very tight roads. Got up a way and sat nav said turn left.....road closed..several cars also came to try to turn.....same sat nav haha...
Tony spoke to truck driver and one of the cars....said have to go back to Lake Special...longer route but better roads. Waited here for a while to let Bessie cool down and have a calming cuppa.....then, deep breath and off again. Colourful village of Grampound on way down.
At least we have some good photos.......finally a sign for Montorosso, relief, still winding hairpin bends but a two lanes road so not so tight for passing traffic. Still climbing, another tunnel 8qm and another 107m Barbara wasn't joking when she said get used to the tunnels!
Right on the bend just before another tunnel, there was our site, luckily the barrier arm was up or we would have been stuck on the road, the site proprietor came in just after us and asked if we had a reservation........only 2 nights available Thursday full booked. Wheeeww lucky us..... €25 a night allinclusive.
Surprised our two neighbours had children, first time seen young families. The owner takes you down to village in the morning for train or boat to other villages and back late afternoon or there is bus. There is also a restaurant over the road next to the tunnel, it would have amazing views.
We would not recommend this drive in a motorhome, however saying that this camp with 14 sites is full all through summer and must book, so obviously plenty of people do it. Must say it was the toughest day so far for driving and arrived quite drained.
Chicken pasta tonight, I cooked as Tony had done more than enough today getting green us here, huge drive for him and Bessie.
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