Aaaarrgghhh! From Kiel to Hamburg everything went as planned. 20 min of waiting in entrance of highway and there it was, the car towards Hamburg.... just like Mischa told me. And then 4 hours of nothing. Every car was just so full of 3 or 4 germans. Are they really that big that they fill car with 3 person?
It was time to be less picky and go with somebody in direction to Bremen, even though it means some extra kms. One nice couple took me to petrol station near Dortmund. I just had the time to write another sign
..and I already found a trucker who was going to right direction... even further - to Karlsruhe.
Yeah, a bit after midnight i arrived to a petrol station here, took a nap
...and try to continue
Okidoki, from Karlsruhe to south i needed to wait 8 hours before finding a ride... it was night, so i guess its quite understandable. Then i got a ride to Lausanne, which means that i was going too much west again, but why to go directly if i have the possibility to go around? Right? Aiaiai, i was so sleepy in the car. My driver was an elderly polish gentleman, speaking french 😆. He was super nice, even though my polish, russian and french are a bit rusty 😂. In swizzerland near Lausanne i got a bit desperate, so i used my old strategy - "Tokyo". Basically it means that i just write some random, illogic but famous destination name on the paper that im holding and showing to people while hitchhiking.... then they pass me with surprised faces and after taking their coffee from caffeteria of petrol station, they come and ask if i really want to go to Tokyo or Rio de Janeiro or whatever.... and then conversation has already started 😆😃.
Finally i got a ride some 40 km further, near Aigle... oh yeah, i remember this zone as i was doing the same route 1, 5 years ago by bicycle.
Next ride took me already to Martigny and from there it was already clear how to continue. Highway ended and road to Alpes started.... direction to San Grand Bernardo pass.
10 minutes of hitching under the rain and an old hippie-like microbus stopped and took me to Torino. The driver was a german who similarly to me has studied in italy in good old days, so we had much to talk about and a lot of good music to listen to.... if you happen to know Paolo Conti and Adriano Celentano, then you know what im talking about.
Oh, bloody me, now i started to make bad decisions. Driver asked me if i want to continues hitching or go to torino. It was 5 pm, so i thought that i will still arrive to genova or savona and go to some climbing gym to get some movement. But it was dark already and i didnt find a petrol station anymore, even though according to the map there should have been one. So i was just in the border of Torino, crossing highways, barriers and fences, walking, trying to stop some car on place where they pay for using highway etc. When i got a ride to next petrol station i made another bad decision - i listened to the trucdriver and went out not in petrol station, but near to one commercial/industrial center where truck stop for loading. It was too big area and too dark to really find something. Next bad decision came with next ride. Drivere was going near Cuneo, but as i know how dead is the zone between Torino and Savona, i prefered not to go that far, but stop in the last gas station which was open 24/7... Moncalieri near torino. Arghhh it was so quite and dead there and after 2,5 hours i understood that if i want to sleep some hours, i need to go back to Torino. Fortunately one of my friends was available and ready to host me, but it was not easy to get away from highway... and as the way was going out from Torino, there were no cars going to Torino 😆😢😂. Only possibility was walkin, which is prohibited of course. After first two steps that i took from gas station to highway i got stopped by police. They were a bit angry to me and wanted to know why i was walking towards the highway 😈😆. But after some explanations their mood changed and they gave me a ride to border of torino again. Huuh, now i was safe, just needed to take some trams and metro to get to Lucas' place.
Why didnt i go to torino in first occasion? I would have gone to climbing gym, have a wine with friends and hang around the city instead of walking and spending my neurons on highway..... Stupidissima. But i still finished the day with good emotions... and shower.
Next day was a bit better but still full of bad decisions. I wanted to to the direct way to Finale, hoping that i arrive before 15 and can climb a bit...
the direct way was really small and with really little traffic. So i needed to hitchike back to another small road which was a bit better, but still not functioning. At 3 pm I ended up in mountains, next to some houses... and not too many cars passing. Now i was lucky actually. There was a office of one wood company.... they invited me inside, made some caffe and found me a ride.... one of their workers was going home the same direction. Now i hoped to get to climbing gym in Savona. Before starting to hitchhike to Savona i tried to call them but nobody answered so i still hit the road to check it out. It was closed and i needed to return in Finale Ligure... because there was at least a cave to sleep in. The cave was already occupied by 4 Germans, but they didnt mind me to join (maybe because they were sleeping). Sweet dreams!
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| View from the cave at night |
