Wednesday, August 2, 2023
Another simple breakfast of cereal, yoghurt, fruit, home-made crusty bread and good coffee. The manager asks for a photo with his young son and the cars - people definitely notice - and several have wondered if we are with Porsche, testing prototypes or something. It's the fact that there are two almost identical cars ...
By 9:00 we are on the road, heading further up the mountain roads that run kind of parallel to the French / Italian border. I'm content that we are leaving the hot, dry, dusty roads / environment behind us. Clean surfaces without grit, more fuel availability, and cooler ambient temperatures all help make things nicer.
Over the course of the next few hours we see what must be a group of over 100 old Renault 4s (my Dad's all-time favourite car), all decked out in rally gear … part of a huge car trip by the look of it; lots of honking and flashing of lights and waving hi, by them and me! Clearly a group like that appreciates fine autos out being DRIVEN! I'm grinning from ear to ear each time one rips by and think of mum and dad intensely. There are times on this trip when I think they would just love to be doing what we are doing.
The next hours have us traveling through some nice Alpine twisties, in and out of small towns. There is a bit of traffic which forces us to slow down and not be quite so 7/10 all the time. I cannot keep up with Andrew when he's pushing hard, I think simply because he goes faster than I am comfortable doing at the moment. I mean I have driven karts as fast as he has, and been on the track with him chasing around at similar speeds, but if there's one thing I have noticed over the years of doing all that, it's how much quicker he gets to a feeling of comfort to be able to push more and more. It takes me a lot longer.I am really enjoying just carving my way through the curves without being close to the limit of anything. Anyone who says this car can't do long trips doesn't know what they are talking about. It's so refined, smooth and comfy, just eats up the miles.
Just past Arvieux we now hit some amazing rock formations in the famous Col D'Izoard - Andrew taking a cool fluid-mount shot of us traversing. Lots of traffic but still worth it. The cyclists are something else. The speed they go both down (terrifying) and uphill (major respect). Wow. Makes me really look forward to some Ottawa cycling. Hopefully my back and the weather will cooperate.
A most delicious pasta carbonara awaits me at the Refuge Napoleon. It's nice to have a sit-down lunch instead of a rustic picnic for a change, though it is SUPER busy. We won't hang around here for long as neither of us really enjoy the kafuffle of this many vehicles and people all congregating in tight quarters.
I spot an Alpine A110 (direct Cayman competitor) which you can't see at home. The Cayman is prettier.
So ... €50 is pretty steep to traverse a tunnel … I think the Italian government is fleecing people. I mean ok, it is a 13 km long tunnel (!!!!!) but still. You enter it from France, and exit in Italy. Ok that's cool. With the top down, the Boxster is super loud in the tunnel - but it's mostly tire noise actually.
From there, we trundle down into the town where our 'apartment' is and pack the cars up for the night. We've hit a snag though. One of Andrew's new lenses is missing. Nowhere to be found. Somewhere between breakfast at the hotel and now, here at the next one, the camera bag has gone missing. Not with his camera in it ($5000) thank goodness, but with the new lens ($1500) and some memory cards. It's somewhere between here and where we stayed last night. Crap. Andrew is understandably upset and unapproachable right now.
Adding to the consternation, the A/C isn't working, so it's hot as Hades inside. We throw the windows open but there's no breeze to speak of. Yuck. Gonna be a restless night I fear.
Not sure what the plan is tomorrow now - retrace our steps? Forget it? I suggest calling the hotel and the various inns along the route we took, in case anyone turned anything in. There's not a lot we can do tonight as the hour is getting late, so we all turn in grumpy and frustrated with this turn of events.
Hopefully the dawn will bring thoughts, recollections, ideas ...
~ Luke
p.s. You can read the full, no-holds-barred accounting of this day at gtschronicles.com.
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