Calais to Pontremoli

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ess than 32 hours after leaving Northolt (NW London) we are in Pontremoli, Tuscany, Italy, this is the real benefit of the French Motorail, overnight Calais to Frejus,

I rained on us in showers on the way to the tunnel, nothing the waterproofs couldn't deal with but it took the shine from the chrome and replaced it with roadspray and left us feeling cold. The tunnel was as swift and painless as ever and the motorail terminal was not hard to find. They wanted to load the bike early - it was checked over like a hire car to agree any damage (none) went onto one of those open car carriers and got tied down with tapes. I the went exploring for food and came back with a bottle of wine, some good bread and some truly excellent goats cheese. We also got a single 'Picnic' box and bottle of Muscadet from the terminal. Overpriced but there was no food to be bought on the train. And it was passable when put with the stuff I got in town and the 4 Euros a small can train beer.

The train was good fun. The guys who run the trip were friendly and helpful. The rolling stock was pretty ancient but we managed to get some sleep as we had a six berth cabin to ourselves. We travelled through a rainstorm (I saw rain in Lyons) but it was fine when we detrained in Frejus. We had our complimentary breakfast whilst they unloaded the carrier and the cars but Ashley got to disembark the bike himself.

We saw a lot of cloud and even smelled rain but had no rain on us (and fair weather) all the way from Frejus to Pontremoli. It's showery here, but nothing like as wet as it was when we were here two years ago. We are staying in the same hotel (Napoleon) and they have given us the same room. We're now enjoying beer before dinner but I think I need to stop typing as don't want the computer to get wet... Yes, it's showering again.

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