I had better nights to be honest. It was so hot I had to leave the window open for the night but was sleeping just above a wine bar hence the party was going on until 4.00 am.
Next morning I decided to walk to my bike. the 20 minutes journey took me over half an hour as I got lost in the small alleys of Verona.
Once I was back at the hotel with the bike I packed my stuff and mounted all the luggage on the bike then had a good breakfast before heading off to France.
100 km from Verona I stopped for fuel and a good ole’ Italian coffee at Autogrill (btw the latte macchiato a portare via they make there is just awesome). Two blokes approached me while fuelling up the bike and it turned out they are Hungarian truck drivers having a day’s rest as trucks are banned on Sundays. We chatted while sipping our coffees.
Next stop was at lunchtime only. Refuelling both the bike and myself with my favourite latte macchiato and a sandwich. You could tell the weather was excellent for riding as an incredible amount of bikers were present at every petrol station I stopped as well as on the roads.
After that I rode on towards Monaco where I have been riding in pair with another GS rider. After a brief tour of Monaco and the compulsory sticker purchase (and a coffee obviously) I continued North-West towards my destination for that day. I was due to visit an old schoolmate…from 1989! Even though we kept in touch I haven’t seen him in 22 years (at the exception of pictures from FB and the likes). Oh I still remember when we played soldiers in their garden in Algiers and the Nam magazines we used to look at for hours and discuss everything we read about in them.
Anyways it was around 6.00 pm when I arrived to Saint Hilaire d’Ozilhan. I did a quick tour of the place. As I spent time planning my route I reviewed in detail this small town in Google maps so knew my way around even though I have never been there. I stopped in front of the house and called Cédric. No answer. After a couple of unsuccessful calls I headed for the Bar du Midi for a well deserved beer. Having just started to chat with the locals HE showed up and casually greeted me like we had just seen each other the day before. He didn’t change though. Just the same face and the same smile.
