Get up and leave early, a few kilometers from Duilhac we said goodbye to Franco and Marco, who took one more day of vacation, so Gianni and I took the way home. The stretch of road that we have traveled before taking the highway has been wrapped in a truly unique, magical, unrepeatable atmosphere! The light of the morning with the low sun that created long shadows and the clear air, still fresh, the non-existent traffic in these streets lost in the Languedoc countryside bewitched us with their silence broken only by the roar of our engines. Entered in Tuchan we spotted a friendly Boulangerie and once purchased Pain on chocolat we sat on a comfortable bench under the plane trees to enjoy them while we watched the coming and going of the people who parked the cars, they went in and out of the store and started their day. Turned the corner of the square we drank a coffee in the Bar of the country and then we reluctantly left this idyllic peace to go, after many kilometers, towards the busy life of our days, we reached the highway and we started the long ride back. We made a lot of attention not to exceed the speed limits and we made two stops, the first in France to eat something and then in Italy, from the parts of Sanremo to catch your breath and think about which way to get to Genoa, because the day first, on the 14 th the Morandi Bridge collapsed with enormous human damage (43 victims). At the service station we talked with two policemen who confirmed that we could exit at Genoa Airport and return to West Genoa. Arrived in Rapallo we said goodbye to Gianni and Sestri Levante, to end up in beauty, I left the highway and I made the Passo del Bracco.

Bikers: Gianni Valle, Franco Cozzani, Marco Galeazzi e Leandro Bellani.

Bikers: Gianni Valle, Franco Cozzani, Marco Galeazzi e Leandro Bellani.

Bikers: Gianni Valle, Franco Cozzani, Marco Galeazzi e Leandro Bellani.

After a quick stop to admire the Castle of Queribus, stop at Saint-Paul-de-Fenouillet to buy croissants and pain on chocolat and then at the bar for a coffee. First destination to be reached: Les Gorges de Galamus, a few kilometers from our hotel, unique and evocative. After..

Bikers: Gianni Valle, Franco Cozzani, Marco Galeazzi e Leandro Bellani.

– 5 days to go around the Pyrenees with friends are few, but enough !.
Started at 5:20 am, I met at the exit of the Variante Aurelia tunnel with Franco and his giant friend Marco, then at 6:20 am in Piazzale della Franca in Chiavari we met with Gianni, a good breakfast based on Ligurian focaccia and off to France. A long journey of highway transfer along the Italian and French coast with several “bouchon” passed along the emergency lane, with a heat around 37 ° C, a quick exit for a stop in the shadow, on the state road before Arles, and again on the road to Carcassonne. We stopped to rest, take a breath and drink a kir in a square full of tourists and then we took the last stretch of road to reach Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse where we booked for the night.

Finally the road became a road and we quickly forgot the highway. The hills preceding the Pyrenees have begun.

Bikers: Gianni Valle, Franco Cozzani, Marco Galeazzi e Leandro Bellani.

Three wonderful days in the Piedmont Occitan, organized to perfection by Gianluigi. Four motorcycles from La Spezia and two from Chiavari, we met at the exit of the highway Lavagna, after an initial pioggierellina the sky cleared and crossing the beautiful streets inside the Liguria we arrived at the Sanctuary of Vicoforte where, between stinging and lazy, we made a stopover. In the late afternoon with a spectacular road we climbed from Castelmagno to Colle d’Esischie and then arrived in the evening at the farm “Al Chersogno”, in San Michele di Prazzo, a small hamlet of Prazzo, near Marmora. Nice company and good dinner, then sleeping to recover the energy for the next day.

On Sunday morning we left for a day to live intensely, we took the road to the Colle di Sampeyre, but near the summit we turned left to get off with an adventurous road through the Val Macra coming back to Prazzo, after we redone the climb to the Sampeyre hill: terrific air and beautiful views, I also met a biker who knew me for my trips. Then GianLuigi led us to the Lamb Ring which with its 2744 m is perhaps the tallest in the alpine arc, another dimension, a temperature around -2 ° C, wider roads and more intense traffic, but the the charm of lesser, less frequented huts is no less. Time started to go bad and we decided not to walk the Col d’Izoard to reach Briancon, we took for the Col de Vars and the summit started snowing softly, we stopped to eat something and put us ‘rainwear. Along the descent the climate improved and arrived at the bottom of the valley we went back to Italy with the Maddalena Colle (or Col de Larche) to return to our base. We are a good group and we are well together, even the second night we first go to enjoy a good dinner and then talk to us, as always, about motorbikes or motorcycle accessories!

In the morning we have breakfast and we prepare for the return, not before returning to the top, we go first to the Colle d’Esischie and then go to the famous Colle della Fauniera, during the descent we stop in a nice hut for coffee and slice of tart, then descend with a magnificent little road towards Demonte. From there, after a short break we go to Liguria. We try to avoid the highway but the time runs faster than us, arriving near Masone we pick it up and run fast, a stop to dress up rain clothes and greet us again and again, each one home. There was also a strong escapement for the rafters near home. Beautiful vacation, beautiful company and beautiful places to go !!!

bikers: Omar Isoppo, Gian Ruello, Marino Ricciardone, Mirko Ricciardone, Gianluigi DeAndrade e Leandro Bellani.

A great turn in France,

After spending the night at Cervo, at Franco’s house, in the morning we met at the nearby highway service station with Gianni and Gianluigi and from there we went to the French border. Thanks to the accurate knowledge of the area by GianLuigi we have made beautiful roads that brought us first to Sospel, then through the Col du Turini in the amazing Gorges du Daluis and on the Col de Rousset. Night at Digne-le-bains and the next day on magnificent roads we arrived in the lush Vercors where we dined and slept at Hotel Jorjane in Choranche. On the third day, we greeted with Gianluigi and Gianni that they were due to come back; Stayed Franco and I, we went back to Grenoble and further to Albertville, continuing to grind to the Grand Route des Alpes or at least a fair bit of it: Col de l’Iseran, Col du Galibier, breathtaking views and distant horizons, climb and downs, bends and short straight, the dream of every biker.

After spending the night at La Terrasse, a small little town on a hill, not far from Briançon, in a hostel in front of the spectacular Galibier glacier, the morning of the last day in Briançon the light sign warned us of the closure of the Col Izoard caused bike racing, so we modified the itinerary and started the gentle return with the Col de Vars and the Col de La Bonnette. We returned to Italy from Nice across the whole of Liguria. Returning home: “Tired but satisfied”

Bikers: Franco Montinaro, GianLuigi DeAndrade, Gianni Valle and Leandro Bellani

They would have been about 2500 km, I had planned the trip with care, preparing emergency equipment and choosing clothing: blues jeans, high neck white sweater, low boots and brown leather jacket, for the rain I had taken the Kway and ski surplus. I also had a helmet that at that time almost nobody wore, ski glasses and to protect my face a red scarf.

At the American market in Livorno I had bought two military bags and had filled them with all my stuff, including a HB stick, my favorite cigarettes. I crossed the Liguria from east to west with the first stop at Borghetto Santo Spirito. On the evening I stopped at Solliès-Pont, a small town near Toulon, where my uncles Luigina and Bruno lived, where I had spent happy vacation periods. I was staying on Easter Sunday and the next morning, after my uncle had given me his precious Michelin map of France, I went to the desired destination by taking the RN7. 

The day was nice and the temperature pleasant, the rumble of the Silentium made itself felt, the bike was marvelous even if the vibrations were lacking, my thoughts traced the way they did and fantasized about the way to go, at stop to eat baguettes and camembert passed the police and greeted me with a “promenez vous bien!”. Over the last 3/400 kilometers I constantly changed position on the saddle by placing my legs to the left and then to the right, I was tired and I was in a hurry to get there, the more I went north and more I went faster, at the beginning I was traveling at 110 kmh, in the end I made long bets on the 130 kmh.

Perfect trip, it was a pity that before the entry into the city broke the changeback spring, at 20.30 I arrived in Paris in front of the Notre Dame cathedral, 821 km.

I introduced myself to Marcel’s home, at 24 Rue de Tanger, in the 19th arrondissement and spent one of the most beautiful weeks of my life, Irene, his mother treated us lovingly and in the evening always prepared us something good to eat, I found out how good the radishes were with the butter dumped in the salt.

I had bought a small guide / map Taride that became almost useless because after the first moments of surprise Marcel, Eric his brother and a friend accompanied me to the city, in places that only the Parisians knew. We walked on foot and with the Metro, and went home with our hot feet, sometimes we went out in the evenings, one of which we went to a small movie theater where I saw the “Les temps modernes” by Charlie Chaplin,

I was thrilled! I remember so many details of those nice days, I tracked the changeover spring from the Ducati dealer that allowed me to use her gear, so I parked the bike on the sidewalk, I mounted the spring and I did some maintenance. One week had passed fast and I had been really good, but the time available was over, the time came for kisses and hugs, then I took the road back. 

The itinerary coincided with that of the departing until Dijon, then turned east to the Alps, France was quite beautiful, after about 300 km of plains began the mountains and began to rain. A hundred kilometres in the rain and I came to Morez, in the Jura, I went into an inn trembling from the cold I almost could not speak, drank a hot chocolate and asked for a room. After setting the bike on the back, I climbed into my room and rubbed myself; except the hair repairing from the helmet I was soaked wet, I wiped, I put everything on the heated stove and slipped under the blankets asleep, even though they were just 7.30 pm.

The next morning I woke up pimping and ready for new adventures, after a nice breakfast with pain au chocolat and cafè au lait, I splashed oil on the chain that was stretched like the strings of a violin, I turned on the engine and departed,the sun shone and the asphalt with yellow markings, like the car lights, wiped quickly. 

I crossed the Alps through the Mont Blanc tunnel, inaugurated only a few years before and with emotion I passed the frontier, I was in Italy. Along the way the thoughts in my head were making strange decisions, from a few days I would have taken a step that would radically change my life, I thought of Gloria, that today is my wife.

After passing Piedmont, I traced a piece of Liguria and in the afternoon arrived in La Spezia doing the Passo del Bracco, but before going down to town I stopped on the hill of Foce to admire the splendid Golfo dei Poeti, they were about 18, in time to meet friends and tell them about the wonderful journey.

I know Irene is gone and who knows what Marcel and Eric did. I’d love to meet them somewhere!