The traffic is light to begin with, but as we near Paris it starts to build up. We pass under the main runways at Charles De Gaul airport, and before you can say 'Sacre Bleu' we have turned off onto the Peripherique, the famous ring round. The traffic is getting very dense now, though thankfully most of it seems to be going the other way. 12.57 and I can just make out the Eiffel tower in the distance. The city is spread like jam, it goes on for miles. We exit South-East of the city and head for Lyon. At 1.30 we have a pit-stop for fuel and mother nature. By now the sun has come out and it is getting warm. Time to get the shades out. The traffic is lighter again as we go past Fontainebleu and we swap the flat landscape for mile upon mile of forest. The sign for Lyon says 378k, that's 266 miles, and we pass a speed trap. The locals have slowed down so it must be well known. Every so often overhead gantries show traffic information. At the moment all they display is the temperature, 20° c. Life feels very good!

The traffic has thinned out now, in fact it is very quiet and we talk about how congested things are at home. The landscape of forest by Fontaineblue has changed again to flat open country, and everywhere is lush green pasture. We stop again for more fuel. The French services are much smaller than ours, and everything is low key. We pull up at the lead-free pump, 'sans plom' it says. An old French chap looks at us very hard, looks at the car and then looks quite perplexed.

Later………

We carried on and at 4.pm leave the motorway at Macon north and head East towards Geneva, and see the first sign for Milan. We have covered 439 miles in just over 5 hours - that's over 80 mph average. Soon we get slowed down by road works, single file on the opposite carriageway, the first of any consequence. The road now starts to climb, as we are approaching the Alps, and the motorway is only two lanes each side. We are still cracking on a bit, and find a Porsche 911 Turbo trying to catch up. The Porsche drivers' got no 'bottle' on the bends, which are quite acute for motorways, and Monti is laughing away at the antics of the 911, which has Swiss plates on. 'They don't like it up'em' 'he observes! Continental motorways use a toll system of charges and before long we come up to one of the small toll booths which only take change which you throw into a special machine. At the last minute the Porsche catches up, but we are quicker with the Francs and roar of into the distance.

At the next toll we are going a bit too quick, and amid a great deal of dust and tyre noise slide gently through the gate with all four wheels locked solid! Now, this is not really the done thing and all the alarms start ringing, the warning lights flash and a real racket starts. We reverse back a couple of feet, 'ching' goes the cash and we are off again, still with the 911 behind. At the next one we think he will get us, but his luck is all out, he has run out of small change and has to get out of the car to pay by credit card! Some time later he finally catches us and goes past so we give him a cheery wave and in true Porsche style he totally ignores us! Such is life .....