Riviera of Flowers that failed to blossom

8:17am Monday 1st October 2007

The fast road that runs along the Mediterr-anean coast of France and Italy is a remarkable construction. Tunnels bored through the hillside rock alternate with viaducts on tall stilts passing above towns and villages and dried-up riverbeds with the sea on one side and mountains on the other.

When we reached this road on our journey to Alassio, the Italian resort on what the brochure described as the Riviera of Flowers', we knew that the long drive was nearly over. Our hotel and a meal waited for us, and then bed with the prospect of seven nights in our resort.

Shortly before we arrived at this point - legs stiff despite the ample space between the seats, and buttocks weary from hours of travel - one of our drivers had explained the holiday's "optional excursions" to us and asked us which of them we might like to go on in addition to the three included excursions.

They were nice enough sounding trips, but two of them - one to Monaco, Monte Carlo and the medieval village of Eze for £22.50, another to the French resorts of Nice and Menton for £17.50 - involved quite long drives. It was perhaps not the best time to ask people to sign up for them.

When he came round half an hour later for our decisions, we skipped the Monaco and Nice outings (we'd done those before, on an earlier holiday) but decided the shorter trip to Seborga would be a good bet.

Some people on the coach had put their names down for a couple of optional trips and some had even booked for all three. But not enough, as we were to discover.

However, let's rewind the action to 6.20am on the previous day when we boarded our WA Shearings feeder coach at Shipley bus station.

From there we headed down the country for three hours or so to Exhall, a WA Shearings interchange just south of Coventry. Here there were hundreds of people sitting or standing around, drinking tea or eating sandwiches, as they waited to join the touring coaches that would take them to their various holiday destinations. It's a system that seems to work wonderfully.

Eventually our coach was loaded, we boarded, and off we headed for Dover (about three hours away).

We had two drivers but no courier. They were excellent at driving but didn't have much to say as we proceeded smoothly through France. It was a bit like being on a service bus as we headed for our overnight stop at a basic but comfortable transit hotel south of Paris.

By 7.30 the following morning we were on the road again and heading mostly in silence for the Italian Riviera, passing through a series of forest fires along the way.

As we drew near to our destination (and to 8.30pm) the older driver announced that those who had rooms at the front of the hotel wouldn't be able to sleep with our windows open because of the busy main road outside, but not to worry because the rooms had air conditioning. Which they did.

The Hotel Alfieri was... well, OK. The food was fine, the room clean if rather basic. The terrace overlooking the road, though, was noisy and the bar gloomy. It wasn't a place you wanted to linger for long.

Which was unfortunate because on our way back there the following day, from an included excursion to the resort of San Remo, our drivers announced that because not enough people had signed up, all the optional trips were being cancelled.

There was no chance to have a rethink; maybe when we were in a more amenable frame of mind than we had been after two long days of travel. They were all scrapped, and that was that. And there was no information forthcoming about alternatives that might be available from the local tourist office or the station for those who wanted to make their own arrangements.

For some of the people on the tour - two women travelling separately and alone, a pair of elderly couples with limited mobility - this was bad news indeed. They were relying on these trips to fill their days.

The rest of us prepared to mooch around Alassio for three days after the next day's enjoyable (included) trip to Ventimiglia with its vast street market and ancient hilltop church, and the attractive medieval riverside village of Dolceaqua where a labyrinth of steep streets climb up to a ruined castle.

Alassio is, in fact, a pleasant, civilised family resort with its beach lined with franchised plots covered with umbrellas, sunbeds and lots of bars, cafes, restaurants and attractive shops. We strolled it from end to end several times over the three days.

But although we had a relaxing time we couldn't help but contrast the apparent lack of interest our drivers showed in us with our experience the previous year.

Then we'd gone with Shearings to Lake Maggiore. An Italian courier called Joe and/or a woman travel agent called Anna from the resort of Baveno accompanied us on all the tours (none were cancelled), were mines of information, chatted to us a lot and helped to make the holiday a huge success.

Things were different this time.

There was an "atmosphere" on the coach as we travelled home over two more days, stopping overnight at Reims for dinner, bed and breakfast. The coach travellers, feeling they'd been rather let down, were in a collective sulk. Nobody said much to the drivers, and they didn't say much to us.

It was a reminder of the huge importance of a good courier to a coach holiday. They need to get the passengers to bond - with each other and with them - to become part of a gang, of a temporary family. It's not a job you can be half-hearted about. If coach companies are trying to do without them, it's not a good move.

l Mike and Maureen Priestley paid £526 each for a ten days/nine nights WA Shearings holiday to Alassio on the Italian Riviera.

Factfile

Alassio is a town in Liguria, Italy, on the coast of the Gulf of Genoa, in the province of Savona. It is known as the town of sunshine'.

o It is popular as a health resort in winter and a holiday destination in summer, and has many hotels.

The earliest inhabitants of the present Alassio were the Ligurians. According to legend, the name derives from that of Adelasia, daughter of Emperor Otto I.

The main sights include the parish church of St Ambrose, Palazzo Ferrero de Gubernatis Ventimiglia, the Saracen Tower and the muretto, a wall with 550 tiles signed by celebrities.

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