January 12.
Time to leave Avignon and make a decision about where to go and how long to take. I could have just got on my bike and cycled slowly along the coast, taking in Cannes, Monaco, Nice, and so on. This was my original plan, but, not only was it rather cold and damp, I really felt the need to get to a place and settle for a while, which meant getting to Albania ASAP. So it was back on the trains: three (via Marseille and Nice) took me across the border to Italy. The train stopped at Ventimiglia, which was about ten miles from my airbnb in Bordighera. I cycled there along very nice cycle paths. 

The hardest part was getting to the airbnb which was up a steep hill and then many flights of steps, as you can see from the photos (the first five are the steps up to the airbnb). As I arrived, the other person in the airbnb noticed me and gave me a guided tour of the place. Nice common room, kitchen, bedroom and my own well-equipped bathroom. And a bowl of luxury chocolates. I can’t remember the chap’s name, so I’ll call him Pete. He offered me some wine and we had a good natter, even though I’m sure we only understood 50% of what we each said. Another good end to the day.