I agree with ya.

I just love hearing these stories, just like SOME, not all, trucker stories from the "old timers". Unless it's so blatantly obvious that their lying, it can be very entertaining. :wink:

But yes Colin, you are right.

 

wot i know what you mean about the food in Italy. I was there for a couple of months and loved the country keep the story coming mate

 

Thats not entirely accurate Colin mate, as the British 8th army defeated Rommel and the Afrika corps at El Alamein in Oct 1942. It was a crucial victory, denying the Germans the Suez Canal and middle eastern oil.
We also defeated the Luftwaffe in 1940
Damn, we,re good for a little country :lol: :lol: :wink:

 

It wasn,t the first time I had seen armed police as I had previously been in the merchant navy and had seen them in the Soviet Union and Poland etc.
I found it more disturbing the first time I saw a British bobby carrying a sub machine gun; But such is the world these days. :sad:

 

Leaving Arzignano was something like waving goodbye to unwelcome elderly relatives at Christmas time; They both smell funny, take too much of your valuable time and leave you short in the pocket.
Any driver who has carried wet salted bull hides can vouch for the stench they give off in hot weather on a long haul, and the stench from a town surrounded by tanneries is something from a Stephen King novel.
So it was to my great relief, that I was now heading for a place near the Adriatic coastline called Fassalto di piave.
No problems there I thought, looking at my map; There is an exit from the motor way just over the river at a town called Noventa di piave, and , a road across the river straight into the zone industrial of Fassalto.
These Italians know the score I thought....
Well, they did.....But, I did,nt.
Remember my trouble with weight limits?. Oh, no here we go again. You just can,t beat local knowledge, or failing that, a bloody damn sight more informative map than I had.
To avoid this weight limit, I was about to tour the Adriatic coastline and drive up some horror story roads in the dark, encountering some laughably eccentric locals.
T.B.C

 

Very entertaining, to say the least......awaiting the next installment!

For the record, wot, we Americans also like roast beef, and I personally LOVE venison......just haven't had squat for luck this season(Indiana's herd management policies leave a LOT to be desired, coupled with a rash of cases of "blue tongue"...)

 

Turning away from Noventa di piave, I set out to find a different way to Fossalta; I headed towards San dona di piave which is the nearest thing to a town in that area, Fossalta being a village and Noventa being a no go. I knew I was heading in the right direction and just hoped I would,nt encounter any more weight restrictions, which I didn,t.
It was getting pretty dark and I wanted to find the factory, park up outside the gates and be first in the following morning.
All was running pretty smoothly until I passed San dona and joined an S.S.P road(tiny little provincial roads)
There was no street lighting whatsoever and the way was bending and winding along like an underfed python. Easing off the accelerator and dropping down a cog, I was on high alert,or so I thought. The night was still and warm, no clouds, no breeze, no light other than my headlights. If it wasn,t for the fact I knew I was in Italy, I could easily have imagined that this place was Hiati, and I was driving around in the dark being followed by unseen eyes, the kind that you,re aware of through the hairs on the back of your neck standing on end. Something was wrong, something ominous was approaching, voodoo drums in the dis....
HOLY SHITE!!!!! Where did she spring from?
I near crapped a ton as an old woman on a bicycle nearly hit the side of the truck; She was on the wrong side of the road, no lights, clad from head to toe in black and she didn,t give a monkey,s...
Boy, how I woke and came back from my dreamy world of voodoo and beautiful young maidens in lace dresses...Stop it Wot! just Stop it! concentrate on driving and not young ladies....
The old woman swayed and rocked her bicycle into the distance, meandering along without a care in the world...
Thats Italy for you, so laid back, so laid back...
I carried on, more alert this time and reached the industrial I wanted.
Time for a cool beer and relax. Tomorrow I was reloading and heading back to good ol Blighty. And I was to show an old Italian guy British driving at it,s best.
T.B.C

 

Seems to be prevalent even with their German counterpart.

 

Very entertaining read. Keep it up. A great adventure so far. I remember driving North from Italy into Switzerland on a vacation and like idiots we had our passports hanging out the window as if by their mere presence we would be whisked on through like gods in a chariot. The Swiss were having none of it and while we thought we had issues with borders and passports they were noticing the lack of a Swiss road tax sticker on the windshield. Got a years pass for a 1/2 day trip and a good lesson in staying cool for just a bit until there is at least one fact to act on. Always pays to know what you are doing.


So let's hear the next stage in the saga.

 

Oh you are so right, Italian food is so diverse, and I was never dissapointed.

But to defend the French as hard as it might be, they do have some good regional food too, you just have to stay away from the fancy places and swill you find on the major highways and get out in the provinces or small villages