One subject we spent a long time debating was how to get to Italy - toll roads or non toll roads. Toll roads carry huge advantages of course - speed being the main one, and also more of a guarantee that they won't be blocked with snow. But as my old Dad says, any fool can spend money, and tolls in Europe range from a couple of Euros to almost twenty Euros a pop, depending where they are, and of course how far you travel.
Time seems to be the only real saving, and given we have lots of that on our hands, we thought we'd save money, as well as see a little more of the countryside.
Today however, we discovered why some people don't see going toll free as a real option. Climbing over the Alps isn't for the faint hearted, and certainly not in the winter months. The Passo Giovo was part of our plotted route between Innsbruck in Austria and Verona in Italy, and quickly, what started as a fast, clear dual carriageway, gave way to a single track, snow covered mountain road - with gates at the bottom telling us the road wasn't blocked by snowfall.
I began to think we'd made a serious error of judgement.
It climbs very slowly - 2nd and 3rd gear for Croissant (as our car-van has affectionately been dubbed after the huge amounts of croissant crumbs left by Twinkle and Rhett in the back) most of the way up - through many hairpin bends, to a height of 6,870 feet above sea level. To add to the scare factor, there are drops over the side that would turn any stomach (on the drivers side of a right hand drive car like ours), flimsy and broken safety rails, and sheet ice, slush and snow covering the road almost all of the way.
But as we reached the top, we really did feel like we were on top of the world, with amazing mountains all around us, and rich folk rushing to their destinations far, far below us.
The trip down the other side was equally hair raising, with slow gears all the way, and the fear of sliding over the edge on the corners. Of course, our super grippy winter tyres saw that we didn't.
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