resoconto di viaggio - english

From Padua (Padova, Italy) to Clonakilty,

or better from A to Z,

by car

(8.30 a.m., Saturday the 29^th – 10.30p.m., Sunday the 30^th, Dec. 2007)

Across the Universe, a film I’d really like to see, being a Beatles fan, but I lost it, given that in mid-November, when I first came to Ireland, it hadn’t come yet to Italy and in Ireland it had already gone away, so I decided to make up for it with something smaller but still interesting: Across Europe!

Bed, oh how I was longing for one!

Clonakilty, eagerly desired goal, sometimes looking so far away!

Deter me from doing this journey, that’s what a lot people tried to do, saying it was:

too long to be done alone,

useless since I’d better buy a car here, which is better for driving on the left,

too hard for the car because I loaded it too much…

But I DID IT!

Eurotunnel: first time for me, nice experience getting on a train by car! And I really liked that 40-minute sleep!

France, 949kms of France, too much for me, with all due respect to all of you, my French colleagues! Especially when you do that from 7pm to 6am…

God, thank you for protecting me all the way long!

“Helicopter, my car for a helicopter!” That’s what Mattia the III was crying towards the end, now gone almost mad, wishing for a faster means of transport, for something to take him off that damned road…

I, me, myself: that was all the company I enjoyed during the journey and in the end I was getting tired of it…

Joy, the feeling I was overwhelmed with when I turned the engine off, got out of the car, closed the door and entered my apartment, tired but safe and sound!

Kms I drove: 2157

Loaded, to the brim, that was my car: completely full inside, a big package above and a bicycle rack, with just one bike on it, behind.

Miles, not Davis, that would have been nice music, I just mean miles instead of kms: it’s terrible when you read a road sign and start thinking “well I’m almost there” but then you realize that number doesn’t refer to KMS, but to MILES!!!

Nothing at all! That’s the answer to the “Any troubles with your car?” question, which gets us back to letter G…

Ok, ok, a lot of other people did something like this and no one wrote about that as if it was an epic adventure… I know it’s nothing extraordinary, but please do think it was and enjoy this funny piece of writing!

Policeman, somewhere in the UK, a kind one who forgave me for driving on the hard shoulder in order to avoid a queue… I know, I shouldn’t have done that, but time was running out, the ferry was waiting for me, other cars, English cars, were doing that, so I followed them!

Queue, not the error queue, but an awful 4hr car queue for the Frejus tunnel (between Italy and France): what a drag!

Rosslare: IRELAND, at last!

Sleepiness, my worst enemy, a subtle one which attacks you when you’re less expecting it and as soon as you think you’ve overcome it, jumps out again, ready to conquer you… but singing loudly (and out of tune…) is a good weapon: it can’t bear it and therefore it flees!

Time, my nightmare! After that unbelievable queue before the Frejus tunnel, which delayed me beyond expectations, I started fearing I wouldn’t reach Calais in time for the Eurotunnel train, and actually that’s what happened: I arrived late, but luckily in a case like that they allow you to get on the next available train, which was fine for me. But this way I had less time to cross England and get to Pembroke for the ferry, so another race, but this time I won, and arrived there just 13 minutes before the check-in closing time…

Unbearable: all those toll gates along French motorways! In Italy too, motorways are quite expensive, but at least you pay when you exit, not every 50kms, more or less!

Velocity (I know speed is the best word, but S is already complete…): the journey would have taken me definitely less than 38hrs, had I been able to drive a bit faster, but with all that load weighing on my car’s suspension and engine it was more advisable to refrain from going too fast…

Wonderful, the sun rising behind me while I was driving westwards across England: it was really a charming sight, that flaming sky in the mirrors!

X-rated: the thoughts passing through my mind when I got stuck in that queue at Frejus and began realizing I was going to be late for Calais’ train.

Young and reckless: how you need to be to start a journey like that!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz, which stands for sleeping, what I did instead of partying at New Year’s Eve, since I was still tired and I also got a bit of a cold during the journey, since in my car it was quite warm but the night outside wasn’t and I got in an out quite often to check the package above…