Mon 3 August - To golf or not to golf!

All the hills of the Po valley look very similar: covered in well kept vineyards with villages and churches freely scattered about. To the chimes of 'Ave Maria' from the local church tower, M1 unbuckled the bike reasonably early and set off down hill carefully trying to mark the route in order to find a way back. It wasn't too bad though and the safest way is to follow the same route on the return journey. A circular route with a coffee and croissant in Santo Stefano di Belbo, a small market town was fine. I seemed to be riding strongly which surprised after the wine consumption the night before and even the climb back to the van seemed OK.

Golf was on the agenda and Berstock had given us two recommendations to play north of Milan. We chose Castel Conturbia and set off aiming to replace our defunct gas bottle at any convenient hardware store. Unfortunately, our Totalgaz bottle was not compatible with any Italian connections, forcing a rethink. Try elsewhere or head back to France where we knew it would be compatible? After mulling it over and as we were under no pressure of time or destination, we turned left back to France and headed for Briancon, the nearest town of significance. The town was of interest anyway because of the fortifications by Vauban whose principles had been used for fortress design using the 'rebellin' star shaped defences - and also as a famous Tour de France center for mountain stages. It was a tough climb for EMU from Oulx up over the Col de Montgenevre but apart from getting a bit hot under her bonnet she did really well. Briancon's setting is quite magnificent - on two sharp hills in the steep valleys within the stern surrounding mountains. However, it was so busy! Traffic jams, holiday makers everywhere and parking difficult. We managed the gas exchange in a Totalgaz station and set off north west looking for a camping site away from the town. This route took us up the D1091 and the Clo de Lauteret of TdeF fame. Fortunately, most of the traffic was descending into Briancon. We crested the Col (paying tribute to the Col du Galibier off to the right) and found a smashing municipal site on the left side 7km down the other side. A proper camp site with all the clients doing physical activities and run by Jerome, a darkly bearded scruffbag of a Frenchman whose small red car was well battered and with a rear window long gone and replaced by plastic sheeting. But he was engaging and efficient and the site was cheap too set near the Romanche river and with an impressive array of facilities so our washing of pretty grim stuff was quickly and efficiently done. We dined on board modestly but well while the clouds and occasional rain shrouded the mountains.