Week 5

Beziers
A days climb

The mountain I camped on near Cannes

Winding my way around the coastline to Monaco

The view as I ate breakfast

Since the last post; I got things sorted in Barcelona and headed north to Girona. The border crossing to France wasnt as high as I had expected :) After the mountains at the border it was straight up the flat plains from Perpignan to Beziers, then to the coast , constantly battling against the wind. Then to the coast and through a national park near Montpellier where I slept in an abandoned nightclub!!! Next day featured getting horribly lost and too much climbing as I reached Marseille and struggled to escape the city before it got dark. Tasty brioche chinois was the perfect way to start a day of climbing as I headed around St. Tropez and camped on the side of a beautiful mountain 20km from Cannes. Since then Ive been following winding coastal roads up and down seaside mountains all the way to Genova in Italy. Along the way I had lunch at the marina in Monaco which is frantically getting ready for the Formula 1 Grand Prix. The scenery is spectacular, but as always that means lots and lots of hills. Yesterday I felt like I had been climbing bray head continuously (also with a strong wind :) ) for 7 hours, then I had to make a detour over another mountain as a landslide closed the easier road. Italy feels so different to France, the motorbike is king of the tight winding roads and the drivers show no fear as they accellerate around the tight corners usually in the wrong lane, whilst blindly overtaking a truck. Every road is cliffside, the coastline a thin strip between sea and mountain. I was relieved to get to a rest day in Genova, but found out that the hostel is located 600 metres up the side of the mountain through the steepest city streets I have ever seen. Tomorrow I cross the mountains and leave the mediterranean behind until Venice, in place of the flat Italian plains. 3000kms done, 4 countries so far, I wish I could better share how this trip feels, the highs and the lows that Ive experienced. I started this trip with a lot of uncertainty ahead of me. Each day is an adventure for me. I never know where I will end up sleeping that night and no day goes by without an unexpected suprise. Right!! im gonna go and get some gnocchi pesto pasta!!! Please leave some comments if you can, this will be updated again in a week when im in Slovenia!!!

Ciao Ragazzi!!!!!