AUG 13th

Woke up in Lausanne and went to sleep in Carrosio. First thing is to find out if the hotel bill in Lausanne is in Euros or Francs. Francs! Hooray! That saved me £50! I was afraid of the bill because of the view. It didn't look like a cheap view. And the house white didn't taste like cheap wine. But I reckon one night under the stars earns me a night in a hotel. I woke up in Lausanne in a two star hotel and went to sleep in Carrosio under a billion stars. I woke up on one side of The Alps and went to sleep on the other. Call me Hannibal! The Alps are huge. They look more like The Himalayas to me! But Rosie took it all in her stride. She coped well with my heightening vertigo. I didn't much care for the narrow grass verges on the hairpin bends which overlook the abyss. Overtaking vehicles forced me near the edge - holey moley!! and then it was The Gotthard Tunnel and the light at the end of the tunnel is Italy. The road on the Italian side doesn't have hairpin bends and grass verges - it flies through the air on concrete stilts and the butterflies in my tummy would't stop fluttering until Rosie got her wheels back on terra firma. I thought I'd head towards Genoa and see how far I got. Vineyards everywhere! No wonder! This is Gavi. Never been here before but I've drunk lots of it. No restaurant in sight so I just kept going. Sometimes I have an invisible friend on the back and I know she wanted me to stop ages ago but I kept going and found a great restaurant and a quiet spot for my bivouac. If you're ever round this way I recommend " il portico". I had a great meal and Lorella who served me has a passion for English - so she wanted to speak English and I wanted to speak Italian. I'm not shy about driving Rosie from Edinburgh to Rome and Lorella took an interest. The bill was half of what I was expecting so thank you "il portico" - I'll put the other half in the fund. After the wine and grappa I wasn't driving anywhere. No problem. Rosie slept in the car park and I slept 100 yards away on a grass verge under a bridge on a quiet road - no traffic at all. You see, Rosie and I don't sleep together. We are professional colleagues and good friends. My invisible friend on the back has been complaining all day about me driving too fast. I try to tell her that it only seems that way. When the dustbin lorry overtakes you how can you be going too fast? Buona notte!