Chris's Tale - Decision time

 

Chris introduces Aimile to Olivier and Gallopine


North of Paris...

Annie has owned her VW Beetle for 35 years and Olivier has just purchased a very smart maroon and black Charleston 2CV. It's a joy to stay with them, the visit passes very quickly, and it's time to make a decision. Are we going to retrace our route or go for the longer, more interesting adventure of driving all the way back through Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania  and into northern Greece. There had been much wistful speculation regarding the Adriatic coast and for Jacky, unfinished business, as she got turned away from the Albanian border more than fifty years ago. The discussion revolves around two issues. Will Aimile cope and do I want to do that much driving. From the very beginning there was always a "suck it and see", aspect to this trip.  Aimile is a very simple car easy to maintain, but he is almost forty years old and you really don't  know what gremlins are lurking under his bonnet. He out performed our most optimistic expectations throughout Europe, with only one hiccup in Maidstone and the visit to Sparrow Automotive transformed his performance.  He hadn't missed a beat all through Ireland and to Paris. This removed any question marks about Aimile's ability to rise to the occasion. There was only going to be one answer, we had to go for it and drive all the way. We started to plot our route back, tracking farther north and east of our outward route. This would take us through the Swiss Alps to exit into eastern Italy and drop down to Trieste.



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