Day 9 – Friday 10th May 2013

Day 9 – Friday 10th May 2013
Well, I suppose we should have known it couldn’t last!! The trouble is, when you’re at the top, there’s really only one way you can go isn’t there!! Today has been ‘one of those days!!’. It started off not-great, after an early start of 7am breakfast, with a stroppy waiter at breakfast when I dared to ask for some more milk for the empty jug for cereals! Our task for today was to travel to Porretta Terme by roadbook, some 95.4 miles away, we were timed-out from the hotel in 30 second intervals, our departure time being 08:03:30 and we had 3.5 hours to arrive at our destination (allegedly loads of time!!). The first part was largely on motorway, then there was an optional de-tour to look at some dolmens, which are huge rock mounds, hundreds of feet high, that formed from sea deposits a very long time ago. We decided to opt for the de-tour as we had loads of time (or so we thought!!), but only after we managed to get on the autostrasse (motorway) without collecting the necessary toll ticket, we went through the telepass booth by mistake! That didn’t prove to be too much of a drama as I managed to charm the nice Italian man on the gate when we exited the toll, telling him where we’d got on and he believed me and charged us accordingly, bless! For the charge of €4.60, I gave him €6.00, Ian thought we were ready to go as he revved the engine when the barrier was lifted before I had been given the change, the Italian man shouting to us in his excitable Italian rolling-R’s accent “hey, it’s a Mini, not a Ferrari!!” When we had climbed the dolmen, we proceeded to our destination, and it was only as we progressed and realised the type of roads the remainder of the journey was, coupled with getting stuck behind a number of lorries and Sunday-afternoon drivers for miles upon tortuous miles where it was impossible to overtake, that time got the better of us, and we ended up being around 7 minutes late for our alloted arrival time even after driving the last 20 or so miles like demented idiots – oh bo!!*o$ks! Still, I think Ian and Geoff enjoyed the excuse to drive like crazy Italian rally drivers, even if Carole and I were maybe not quite so keen and at the same time as trying to follow the road book and give directions while being thrown from pillar to post! I think we were just relieved to arrive there eventually still in one piece, slightly late or otherwise! We are fairly sure we will have incurred hefty penalty points for this, but won’t know the extent of the damage until we get to Rome tomorrow, so our glory was very short-lived I’m afraid, I suppose it was good while it lasted!! We had lunch in Porretta Terme, a charming little Italian town, then made our own ways back to Imola for a sulk!! After dinner in the evening, a few of us more mad ones took to the pool bar for a spot of Karaoke – oh dear!!! The evening finished with us packing at some ridiculous hour the next morning as we’re off to Rome to another hotel tomorrow after various calls en-route. Goodnight to a mad day!!