Adventures with Aimile

   10 a.m. we were outside and ready to make the most of a sunny warm morning. Our hosts wanted photos for their web site and neighbours assisted taking group shots. Two hours later we were entering the built up area around Dubrovnic. What doesn't show on a road map is the terrain. This was all on the side of a mountain, with houses piled on top of each other and narrow medieval roads. To cope with modern traffic an extensive one-way system had developed. I had this naieve idea that we would park the car and saunter to pleasant restaurant and have a leisurely meal before heading on. Not possible. We tried various turnings indicating parking to find them chock solid and had to back out into traffic, that let us know in no uncertain terms we were performing a dangerous maneover and being classic 2CV was no excuse. At this point I made an executive decsion and we gave Dubrovnic a miss.    Saddened, and after about 10 kilometres down the road, we turned ri...

  Makarska, Croatia Refreshed, we took to the helter-skelter switch-back for the following few hours, until the terrain eased and we started coming on to the port towns that Croatia is famous for. We had climbed quite considerably and as we topped the hill, Split was spread out before us as a huge industrial sprawl. The thought of negotiating all that urban traffic was not appealing and since we had no specific destination, we elected to by-pass it and push on. The rugged barren rocky coast-line north of Split gave way to an easier wider road that swung around sheltered harboured villages hanging from the hillsides, mostly only supporting the odd small fishing boat. Late in the afternoon, Jacky picked out Makarska as a likely place to spend the night. A delightful thriving harbour opened up, with a developed waterfront boasting bars and cafes. Still no hotels, Jacky contacted an apartment holder who agreed to take us for one night, but was an hour and a half away in ...

  The Alps behind us was bitter sweet. Aimile had coped superbly, hauling us up and over the mountain passes and shared some of the most breath-taking scenery in the world. The run down the Italian valleys past Bolzano to Trieste was more mundane. We didn't attempt to enter Trieste's  industrial sprawl and skirted round, fumbling our way to engage with the coast road that runs all the way down the Adriatic.  After a couple of missed turns, we were heading for the Croatian border. There was no  discernible  difference between the two countries as we exited Italy and entered Croatia. Even the currency stayed the same, as Croatia had obligingly adopted the Euro on January 1st. What changed was the scenery. The mountains came down to the sea and the road clung to the edge of the cliffs and followed all the contours. That is, all the contours up and down. No gracefully curving Italian sculpted concrete bridges. It was a fun drive to start with, bu...

  Cafe at the top of the world... Google put in an appearance in the morning, but we still couldn't work out, which route to take through the mountains. We skipped breakfast in the hotel and got a coffee and croissant, when we filled up with petrol. The attendant, asked if we should go left or right out of Davos for Italy, sucked his teeth and suggested the "ferry". That was back down the mountain we crawled up the night before. I hate back-tracking, but we had become intrigued by the thought of a 20 kilometre ferry across the Alps. Not an easy job going down the mountain. The brakes soon started to over-heat and get spongy and I had to pull over and let them cool down. On the second occasion I pulled over opposite 'The Ferry ", which turned out to a train for cars, similar to the Channel Tunnel, but wider and ran every half hour. We could skip 2 mountain passes and emerge on the other side. 37 Swiss Francs for a trip of a life-time. 20km and 20 minutes later we ...

  Jacky as navigator had another role of finding accommodation each night. Smart-phones and the internet have taken the stress out of what used to be rifling through directories and a search of a neighbourhood. Accommodation generally is also pin-pointed on Google Maps. What could go wrong? We followed the blue line off the Peage into a town and off a roundabout and into the hotel. Got our bags out of the car and went to reception, which was grungier than we hoped for, only to be told we were in the wrong hotel. The concierge pointed to the other side of the roundabout. Somewhat relieved and a little bemused we drove over. It high-lighted a problem with Google Maps , a truly wonderful free service, but not always 100% accurate. It has other eccentricities, which were going to emerge the following day.  We awoke to a blanket of snow, not a lot, but enough to send us scurrying off to the south before it got worse. We were heading into Switzerland and the Alps. After ...

  Annie lent us her Smart car to explore - some difference! We waited until the Monday morning traffic had died down and set off, skirting Paris towards Charles de Gaulle airport, in the general direction of Belfort on the Swiss border. That whole area of France is relatively flat and uninteresting and we ate up the kilometres on the Peage toll roads. We also ate up the fuel in the little 20 litre tank and had to exit the motorway in search of petrol. We entered an almost surreal modern town of large blocks of apartments with no shops and particularly no petrol stations. Things were starting to get tense as Aimile existed on the last fumes from her tank when a huge Costco emerged behind the apartment blocks. On a vast forecourt sporting some 20 double pumps atop a wind-swept hill, we stopped and breathed a sigh of relief. We were used to automated pumps by now, but this place was a different level. No sign of a human anywhere. I tried my Greek card, the machine spat it out. Th...

  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 bonn...