I did it, I drove on the wrong side of the road all the way to Rome!
We made it to the channel tunnel in time, checked in the dogs and went straight to the train. The dogs were ok with the pressure change, Sunny cried last time but I think that was more to do with his lack of space than anything else! We drove off and I kept repeating to myself ‘stay at the edge’. It worked perfectly and we drove without incident to Dijon. Stopping for a picnic and to let the dogs stretch their legs on the way we ended up in a tiny village outside the city we found a beautiful campsite (we couldn’t actually tell it was beautiful until the morning). The restaurant was open and we had a delicious meal, fabulous local wine and the girls had cocktails.
It rained in the night, two dogs and mud up to our knees, trying to keep everything clean convinced Child One that she prefers a hotel with an ensuite. I knew there was a reason we call her a princess.
The next day we found the most delicious bakery and ate while we drove to Bologna through the alps. It was exactly like driving on a Christmas cake until the snow started. Pretty little flakes, us oohing and aahing in the car with Christmas songs playing, as we drove on it got thicker and thicker until we could hardly see, it got a bit scary, we couldn’t decide whether to stop and put on the snow chains, which none of us knew how to do. Suddenly, out of nowhere a snow plough appeared and we followed it until we were in the clear. Bit different to snow at home!
We went through the Mont Blanc tunnel and down the mountains with our ears popping and stopped for pizza at a service station. I was informed that mine was spinach and sausage but it tasted of fish, I thought that it was off but apparently they had given me spinach and anchovy by mistake, bit of a shock! Not a fan.
We stayed at an immaculate campsite outside Bologna and went for supper with the Italian’s brother – utterly delicious, not an anchovy in site and 50 year old balsamic, which I naively asked if I could put on salad, it wasn’t until later that I found out how precious it is!
We stayed in Bologna for the morning as the Italian had to work, Child one and I walked around the town which is fabulous and well worth a return trip, especially to see the statues. We got mortadella rolls from the deli round the corner from the brother’s house, left at about two and drove the rest of the way to Roma!
As it took me eight goes to pass my driving test I’m feeling pretty proud of myself now!