London to Sydney
Steve's Diary !
Days 5 to 8
Day 5 – Gap (France) to Il Ciocco (Italy) 9-6-04; 530km
We only had one stage today, a 23km stage that was recently sealed so extremely gravelly. It was incredibly tight full of hairpin bends. It was also very high with at one point 3000 foot drops off the side. It was very uphill and definitely not Astra country.
After yesterdays' experience I donned my petticoat and high heels (more on that later!) and drove like an old granny. We suffered quite a spongy brake pedal on the last 10km or so serious downhill part and they were smoking profusely and the end of the stage. We had to drive many km's to cool them off. We saw Keith and Mary-Anne Callinan's Monaro stranded in the stage with mechanical failure. This marathon rallying really is enduring.
We had a 500km or so tour into Il Ciocco crossing the border from France to Italy. The scenery was spectacular across the French Alps then down into the mediterranean towns over the Italian border. The trip was very windy, very mountainous both up and down and all in all a very long 500km indeed. When we finally arrived Paul and I were both shagged. But no rest for me as I am navigating tomorrow and must prepare the notes and roadbook.
Day 6 – Il Ciocco (Italy) to Arezzo (Italy) 10-6-04; 500km
Paul was driving today and we started early with two very tight and twisty sealed stages that we did twice each, so four states in total.. Unfortunately for us they were also extremely uphill and full of first gear hairpin corners.
After the two stages we had a long and very picturesque drive through Tuscany to our overnight stop in Arezzo. Not surprisingly it was also a very mountainous drive but thankfully much more open than the endless mountain villages and suburbs we have previously driven through.
Day 7 – Arezzo (Italy) to Ancona (Italy) 11-06-04; 500km
Today I was driving and we begun with a very early run through a 21km gravel stage. The sun was low and we were driving straight into it. The dust was incredible. The car in front of us (Leyland P76) crashed within 500 meters of the start which left us some clear air. But not for long as we caught the next car about 10km into the stage and had to follow in his blinding dust for the remaining 11km. We even had to stop quite a few times just to wait until the dust cleared so we could see.
We then did the same stage again a little later and this time they ran two minute gaps. We caught the P76 at about 8km and he was kind enough to pull over for us. We then motored through in much better conditions taking over a minute off our previous time.
We then toured about 400km across Italy to Ancona to catch an overnight boat to Greece. The temperature was 36 deg today so it was a real relief to get on the boat and sink a few beers at the pool bar. The combination of fatigue, heat and beer enabled us to crash at 8.30pm An early night and 10 hours sleep was very welcome.
Day 8 – Igoumenitsa (Greece) to Thessaloniki (Greece) 12-06-04; 550km
We got off the boat from Ancona early in the morning and got lost getting out of Igoumenitsa. Finally we found our way and the service crew to change our gravel tyres back to tarmac for todays stages.
We had a long, winding and mountainous transport stage (for a change) to our first special stage of the day which was 12km windy and very uphill (for a change). Definitely not Astra country….haven't we heard that before. Then we had a 60km transport to our second stage and guess what…it was 12km windy and very uphill. Never the less Paul did a great job with what he had and we managed half respectable times knocking off our immediate competition and even a couple of Porsches.
After we arrived at our hotel destination in Thessaloniki at around 8pm I located a friendly Greek who knew all the car wreckers in the town. He found me a taxi and I set off to buy a steering arm to replace the welded one we had been limpin with since our accident on day four. I returned an hour later with 2 steering arms (insurance) and 2 front wishbones. Better to be safe than sorry.
