Tokens needed for hot water in the showers but it's far too hot for such nonsense so I took a very refreshing cold one.
Had a quick look at the weather forecast in Vickys paper. There's storms to the north and 39 degrees of heat to the west!
Took a very pleasant route down Lake Como then picked up the S340 over Lake Lugano. It's another beautiful lake. Took the motorway north towards Locarno then rode down Lake Maggiore to (Obi Wan) Cannobio.
Stopped at a little pasticceria in Cannobio. Catherine had an ice cream and cold drink. I had a coffee and some little cakes. Like the bread over here, the cakes were sold by weight. Bev - it was like a quaint little Italian Bettys!
Decided to ride higher into the mountains rather than follow the lake and hopefully lose some of this heat. It didn't work and we now know why Michelin mark the P631 as 'dangerous or difficult'. Avoid this one. It's just about wide enough for one car and almost every corner is blind and hanging onto the edge of a cliff. We were very nearly cleaned up by some guy who was driving at the wrong side of the road. He didn't see us until the last second and then swerved towards us when he did. Not an experience I'd want to repeat.
The S33 on the other hand is great. Over the border, over the Simplonpass and down to Brig. Excellent stretch of road and it's now duly noted as one of my favourite passes.
The road over to Chamonix is lovely and the first views of Mont Blanc, as it appears between the trees, are breathtaking.
Tried to get into a campsite in Chamonix which I've used before and remember it had excellent showers. Unfortunately it had closed down, although I couldn't tell if they were demolishing or refurbishing it. Campsite number two was full so I resorted to satnav and thankfully we got lucky with campsite number 3.
The receptionist was a feisty French woman who made a complete mockery out of my language skills. We didn't exchange a word of English so I really tried, but everytime I got something slightly wrong she'd jab her finger at me and shout. She was a right minx. I could hear Catherine peeing herself laughing outside. Catherine remembered how my French teacher at school used to report that I had 'the best Yorkshire-French accent she'd ever heard'. She never understood what that meant until this day.
Got the tents pitched up in a small plot with some other bikers. Paul and Arnie were Danish and checked in just after me. When I asked if they spoke English, Paul replied 'better than your French'! Bit harsh I thought, but this set Catherine off again and she was crying with laughter by now.
Had an Italian chap called Oscar nextdoor and a German called Andreas opposite. Everyone apart from us was climbing Mont Blanc.
Popped into Chamonix for some food. It's a funny town where everything apart from the tourist-orientated restaurants closes early. We picked up a bag of groceries from a little shop selling local produce. We paid 32 euros for a couple of bottles of wine, some sausage, bread and goats cheese. All of it was excellent and made for a great meal.
Andreas was sat out listening to some tunes on his iPod so we invited him to join us for a drink. He accepted and made for good conversation. He is a pastor from Germany and a genuinely nice chap. Rode down to Chamonix on his push bike, towing a trailor with 40kg of camping and climbing equipment. Says he's trying to get a little bit more active as he gets older. Last year he rode his 1100GS down through Africa from Spain. Now he's ridden a pushbike from Germany to climb Mont Blanc!
213 miles
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