Au revoir, France - Ciao, Italia

The threat of rain in the forecast had us on the bikes by 9:30 for our target of Albenga, Italy, 82 km down the road (or up and down and up and down). It didn't take long to reach the border, which was less than a thousand meters from where we were staying in Menton, and our crossing was uneventful, sans passport viewing or stamping--Italy being part of the EU and all. As one Warm Showers host put it, if we wanted a stamp in our passport we'd have to do something illegal. We took a photo instead.

Whereas the day before felt more coastal, like PNW coastal, this day felt honest to goodness Mediterranean warm and humid with cumulus thunderheads hanging offshore, and it was nice to get some speed up for the cooling breeze. 

After a few kilometers we joined a bike/pedestrian path and, since it was Saturday, and "Holy Saturday" at that, people and families of all sorts were out enjoying the day. It was nice to hear the chortle of a new language as we weaved through the crowds. The bike path was quite remarkable as it went on for quite a ways along the coastline, passing through several tunnels which made the experience all the more unique. It turns out that our route along the Ligurian coast coincides with this year's Giro d'Italia. So in addition to having new eyes with which to watch the Tour de France, we now want to see if we can watch some of the racing through Italy. New eyes!

The clouds, though, soon caught us and we ended up taking shelter at the mouth of one of the tunnels where there were several others already waiting for the storm to pass. And most of them less equipped for the rain as we were. Pass it did, though, or lighten, and we soon moved on, riding until the next deluge came, bringing with it the closest and loudest thunderclap either one of us had ever heard. In the parlance of the country, Mama Mia!! We quickly (and luckily)? found shelter under the awning of a storefront, with several others, to wait out the downpour. 

Ten minutes later we moved on with the promise of blue sky ahead and were able to doff our rain gear with the reappearance of the sun.  

We experienced our first Italian coastal campground in Albenga--more a camping-timeshare-squat type of situation... But they accepted us sole tent campers, and we were able to enjoy the beach a couple hundred meters away, children cycling aound, happy card players, and relaxing families,  so it was all okay, 

The rain through the night lifted about the time the Easter Sunday bells began to chime on the hour beginning at 3am, and  the morning clouds and chill never manifested more for Easter Sunday than good breezes to push us and increasing sun as the kilometers clicked anyway along the busy but manageable coastal highway. Not a lot of opportunity to stop and take photos, what with traffic and all, but we did what we could.