Sestriere, Italy - 19 September 2022

Tintin has been suffering a bit the last few days with headaches. Was in bed by about 8.30pm. It could be the altitude? The beer at lunch probably didn’t help. By 3.30am he was up using some of his not so secret stash of plink, plink fizz (solpadeine) to alleviate the pain with mixed results.

It was cold overnight up in the mountain air - we both layered our fleece blankets over the duvets. It was 4° outside this morning, and 8° inside until the heating warmed up.

We had a slow start, but decided a walk in the fresh air might help. Walked for about 90 minutes - just beautiful. The air just feels so clean!

Can anyone identify this plant please? - it’s everywhere on the slopes, looks like heather from a distance - but isn’t!

I was driving today. First stop about 10 minutes away, a free place to service Dave - wanted a fresh start for Italy!

Then another 10 minutes or so into Briançon. Even though we were on 3/4 tank, we topped up with diesel as it was €1.51/ltr. Went shopping at a huge Casino store, mainly to stock up on water, fresh milk, fruit etc - still spent over €100! Temperature was about 30° at lunchtime.

Mr Gabriel - you can relax - I’ve bought another ice cube tray!

We had lunch in the carpark, not very salubrious - but it was about 1.30 by then.

I then had the delights of driving into Italy! It was only about 50 minutes, but lots of hairpin bends - going up hill again! I’ve never used second gear so much. We’re now about the same altitude as last night, about 2,030m. Humidity has been only about 20%, we’re finding ourselves thirsty, dry lips, and dry skin (despite using moisturizer), and with blocked noses - very strange.

We’re now parked at Sestriere, just into Italy! We’re facing the Olympic village from 2006 - looks very sad now!

We went out for a wander. They like their circular buildings here. And wooden sculptures!

The church is rather utilitarian, but lovely doors.

Funnily enough, it’s like being in a foreign country - we’ve been trying to read various signs to see what we can understand. A person asked me what the time was, had to show him my watch!

Welcome to Italy - diesel here is €1.97/ltr!

Such sunny weather, makes everything look so much better. Walked over 16,000 steps today, so at least feel we’ve done something! Once again, Billy no mates, in a huge car park and not a soul around in this ghost town!