Bridges and tunnels

As it was dark when we travelled to opposite direction more than 2 months ago, the assistant was now exited to see some French landscapes (the rider is already more than familiar with those). However, the southern France was a bit of a disappointment; flat fields to both directions for as long as you can see and road tolls. It seemed that 50 kilometers is the maximum distance you can travel with one ticked. After that you'll have to pick up a new one, despite of the fact that you just queued to the previous paying station. Somehow the tolls also were annoyingly unefficient; in the worst one we queued more than half an hour. Of course we were travelling on a motorway, so there would probably be more to see along smaller roads. And also we were eager to go, so the time spent in lines was frustrating.

When we reached Nice, the landscape started to change. Suddenly the hills got higher and you could see glimpses of the sea every now and then. It didn't matter that it was getting dark; in our caravan one can tell the size of the hill by the gear in use. For the time being the second gear is fortunately still unused in motorways..

After we crossed the Italian border the road was amazing; in all possible ways. If the highway was not slicing a mountain in a tunnel, it was passing the villages from above, due high bridges. Occasionally you could take peek to someones living room, as the fifth floor apartments had their windows on same level and the distance to the road was only few meters. As a summary you can point out, that the italian roads are not so great (they are narrow and bumby), but the road toll system is excellent. You can drive hundreds of kilometers, change the highway during your journey as many times as needed, and still you only take one ticked while you enter the first pay road and pay it while you exit the last one. 

Our first riding destination in Italy was Cremona circuit. We had a bit of a culture shock while entering the track area.. there were at least 100 other pilots camping on a pit and half of them riding at the same time. A bit different than in Spain, where 15 riders during the week days was considered as crowded. After the first shock it turned out the track deserved it's popularity. While the profile is not that difficult, the challenge comes from shape and condition, which alters all the time. As distinct from the advance information, it was not too even.. instead it was very rough and after a while the rider went with lightning speed back to Hyvinkää track in Finland as all the sand track tricks came back to mind.