{"id":19839,"date":"2016-02-22T19:02:48","date_gmt":"2016-02-22T19:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/?p=19839"},"modified":"2019-04-02T12:51:02","modified_gmt":"2019-04-02T11:51:02","slug":"mont-blanc-tunnel-to-the-valle-daosta-bella-italia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/mont-blanc-tunnel-to-the-valle-daosta-bella-italia\/","title":{"rendered":"Mont Blanc Tunnel to the Valle d’Aosta, Bella Italia!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zagan the motorhome’s tucked up safe on a winter sosta in the ski resort of La Thuile. We’re sat in the Valle d’Aosta, deep in Italy’s alpine north-western corner (N45.70831 E6.95314). It cost us \u20ac18.80 a night to say here (including hook-up), which is expensive for almost any aire, anywhere, but we’re not fussed. We’ve been off-grid for four nights, staying for free in Chamonix, so it was time for us to get some electricity into our batteries, and to dispense of a rapidly-filling cassette!<\/p>\n

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Motorhome sosta in La Thuile<\/p><\/div>\n

Recovered(ish) from Mandy and Todd’s magnificent hospitality, we had no more excuses to linger in Chamonix. Apart from a last-minute shop that is, picking up our favourite French goodies from a Carrefour Market before leaving the country for a few more months. I’ve developed an addiction to chicken rillettes – a sort of course roast chicken mash – it’s delicious! We love confit de canard too – duck cooked and stored in its own fat. Slimming World aren’t going to thank anyone for eating this stuff, but it is a taste sensation. The shop came to \u20ac69, which wasn’t a bad effort considering the French farmer’s strike had left some of the shelves half-empty, plus we’ve a box of wine in here somewhere! In among that lot, we picked up a couple of Religiueses Cafe, after a suggestion from Ian on yesterday’s blog. Here they are (this picture is all that is left of them, they were beautiful, stuffed full of a coffee-cream filling):<\/p>\n

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Religiueses Cafe<\/p><\/div>\n

Cupboards full, we programmmed the sat nav for Courmayeur, allowing her to use a toll route for once. Hilariously, considering we’re surrounded by some of the most unforgiving mountains in Europe, the screen showed a dead straight line. Yup, some kind souls have had the foresight to drill a 11km tunnel straight under the Mont Blanc massif, allowing us easy passage to Italy. I wasn’t entirely truthful there, as there are a few switchbacks to lift you high enough to reach the tunnel entrance, but it was far simpler than the alternative 4 or 5 hours of twisting through France, Switzerland and Italy. In the elbow of one of these 180 degree corners stands a memorial to the people killed in a horrific tunnel fire in 1999, when a lorry loaded with flour and margarine went alight, turning the narrow tube into a smoke-filled oven.<\/p>\n

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\nManaging to roll up to the toll booth in the correct lane (phew – go left folks – the PL lane’s for HGVs and buses), our credit card was swiftly lightened by \u20ac57.60 for a one-way ticket. The tunnel itself is single carriageway, with a 70kph speed limit. As we started to roll along, Ju picked up the ticket and noted we had to stay 150m back from the next vehicle, and if they stopped for any reason, we had to stop 100m back from them. Blue lights along the sides of the tunnel indicate the 150m separation, and no-one seemed to be taking the rule lightly. Understandable, given the impossibility of getting emergency services to the right place otherwise. 11km of tunnel would be a bit boring, but the effects of the imagination of that memorial kept us alert and cautious. After a wee while a blazing light sucked up the car ahead, and out we popped into the sun-washed Valle d’Aosta, back into Italy!<\/p>\n