Next Time

Next Blog is Winter 2019 - link here

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And finally

"It's very nice to go travelling but it's oh so nice to come home"

We rated our second attempt at Italy a success. We didn't see everything but we didn't expect to so there's plenty left for another visit. And there will certainly be another visit because we decided we really like Italy, the place, the people, everything. We noticed it was a little more expensive than the UK and the popular places were very crowded so some more thought about the best time of year is needed, plus some more intensive planning if we are going to visit some of the museums and art galleries. Towards the end of the trip the temperatures started to reach uncomfortable levels so that needs to be taken into account too. Jamie became somewhat lethargic, but that may have been more because he needed clipping quite badly. He certainly perked up when it suddenly got colder when we reached the Channel coast.

Campsites, rather than aires, featured a lot more on this trip and we stayed longer at them which gave us plenty of chill-out time, something we should try more of in future trips. We still used aires etc. whilst transiting however - there is no point in paying full prices for just the basics which is all we need.

The advice we received to use the toll roads if travelling any distance was definitely well-founded; the autostradas were generally okay but other main roads were patchy, some good some, well, in need of some TLC! Minor roads in the populated areas tended to be awful although elsewhere were quite reasonable, probably due to less use of course. Italy obviously has no money to maintain the normal roads; the autostradas being self-funding were that much better.

We ate out a lot more too, not frequently but at least once a week whereas we usually only manage once or twice per trip. Was it Italy or are we changing?

There's nothing planned for future trips at the moment; we've given up on shows as we've realised they hold nothing for us. Perhaps one or two of the smaller MotorhomeFun rallies? Or maybe another "themed" tour.

Whatever, watch this space!

Gravelines - Home

Monday morning and the vet was busy but managed to fit in an appointment for later in the day so we just chilled out back on the aire. We later heard that a Brit Funster parked on the Gravelines aire had been targeted for theft of the valuable bikes he had on the back of his van in the early hours of the morning. We didn't hear anything but from later correspondence he may well have been on the "unofficial" aire.

With Jamie sorted we had another night at Gravelines and on Tuesday had a lazy run up to the Auchan hypermarket at Calais, intending to refuel until we saw the price and decided to wait until the UK where it was cheaper - except we later found it wasn't! A quick stroll around the hypermarket for anything we might have needed then on to the Citie Europ motorhome parking to overnight ready for our booked crossing on the Channel Tunnel in the morning. Not unexpectedly there were around 24 others parked there too.

Early start on a dull and dreary Wednesday morning, foregoing breakfast until we had crossed, hoping to get an earlier train. With Jamie cleared we checked in and were given a 30 min earlier reservation and we proceeded through, having the van properly searched by armed soldiers, and eventually onto the train.

Which didn't pull out on time. Then came an announcement that due to a fuel leak in the car section part of the train had to be evacuated while they dealt with it. Not us but of course it delayed our departure for almost an hour. Frustrating to watch our "booked" train depart ahead of us but it's the first time we've been seriously held up so we're not complaining - at least they made regular announcements with progress.

Once off at Folkestone we called in at the Stop 24 services for breakfast then on to Tesco at Ashford where we were shocked to see the price of diesel; we had no inkling that it had increased by so much! With no alternative we topped up and set off on the long slog north.

Being a weekday it was very busy but we were fortunate in not experiencing any delays, pausing at Peterborough for lunch then going straight through, arriving home about 6.45 pm. We just unloaded the essentials for now and finished off the following day before putting Bertie back into storage until we had a few days clear to do some of the small running repairs and give him a thorough clean and polish.

Porlezza – Kaysersburg – Han sur Lesse – Gravelines

Total 633 miles

It's now time to head for home although we've got plenty of it so there's no rush. However we decided to go more or less direct and pickup the route we used on the way out. So once again in hot sunshine we headed off, firstly into Lugano where TomTom decided a tour of the town would be a nice change! Grrrrrrr! However we soon got back onto the right road and headed along the A2 to cross Switzerland. The St Gothard Pass was still closed but we were going to use the tunnel anyway, our Swiss toll papers still being valid so nothing more to pay. It was a pretty direct route through picturesque mountains on a generally clear and sunny day with the odd cloud and shower, routing through Lucerne and lots of tunnels then on to Basel where we crossed the border back into France.

Realising that Kaysersburg was only a little farther on than our target of Colmar, we headed there as the Aires guide mentioned a market on Thursday afternoon/teatime which sounded good. Unfortunately market day had been changed to Wednesday, but it was still nice to stroll around with the usual ice-cream dripping all over us!

Friday was a cross Luxembourg day to get a tankful of cheap fuel. The fuel computer kept assuring us that we had enough diesel but the gauge didn't seem to agree, especially when the warning light came on so we crossed fingers and just made it to a service station where we got 78.7 litres into the 80 litre tank! Lunch then carry on, the sky clouding over a little but still very warm and we resorted to the air-conditioning – just to keep Jamie cool you understand. Our destination for tonight was Han sur Lesse in Belgium and we'd decided to stay 2 nights at this lovely aire, meeting up with a couple of Funster vans on their way home from Germany. Not so impressed however when we found the price had increased from €9 to €12 – must have been a change of season. But it does have all we need, including electricity.

And so we spent a pleasant, if very warm, couple of nights then Sunday saw us back on quiet motorways across Belgium and into France, passing through a couple of very heavy localised rain showers which had the effect of significantly freshening the atmosphere and dropping the temperature. We noted a 12 deg decrease from our lunch stop to Gravelines where a very pleasant sea breeze at 23 deg was welcomed.

Having checked out the vet, our plan now is to take Jamie for his Pet Passport check tomorrow, a further night here to comply with UK regulations then up to Calais on Tuesday, ready for our Channel Tunnel booking on Wednesday morning.

Pineto – Castel San Pietro Terme – Porlezza

Pineto to Castel San Pietro Terme to Porlezza - 423 miles

Sunday and Monday had been designated chill-out days so once we'd got the domestics out of the way that's precisely what we did. Once the “locals” had gone home the site was quiet and peaceful, except of course when Jamie decided other dogs were infiltrating “his” space as were the lizards and occasional squirrel! He got himself locked away in the van a couple of times, but he also got plenty of walks especially on the beach which was almost deserted. Unfortunately it was very stony and also quite steep and when we threw his ball it rolled straight into the sea and disappeared – it shelved quickly and there looked to be a strong undertow, which probably explained the lack of bathers. Monday evening we went to the site pizzeria and enjoyed freshly cooked pizza, but it seems only Terry got what was actually ordered, the others got sort of their orders but not quite what was expected. Never mind it was all enjoyed as a last meal together.

Look carefully, one of Jamie's targets!

Because it was really time to move on. Derek and June had decided to stay over a few days and we had got our route and itinerary roughly planned to give us a couple of days leeway just in case. So Tuesday saw a somewhat tearful departure and we headed for the autostrada. Named the Adriatico, this pretty well follows the coast, by-passing the towns and villages of course and is in much better condition than the ordinary road so it was really a no-brainer. Despite the (reasonable) toll charges we think after taking account of the fuel saved, not to mention the wear and tear on the van suspension, it worked out cheaper overall. We did drop off for a short while to sort out some shopping and lunch.

Farno - the old gate

Approaching Rimini the clouds got very dark and before long we were in a torrential downpour which flooded, and almost stopped, the autostrada. Cars, trucks and motorcycles were pulling onto the hard shoulder to take shelter under the bridges but we managed to carry on, albeit at around 20 mph, until we'd cleared the rain. A little later we left the autostrada and headed cross-country to the small town of Castel San Pietro Terme where there was a free sosta which we found quite easily although it was almost full of parked cars. Unfortunately this is a hazard with free parking but we've found it usually clears around teatime, which was the case here.

After a quiet night we rejoined the autostrada for the next leg which was to take us into Switzerland. The route involved passing the major centres of Bologna and Milan, where there was also a significant meeting of major roads so it was very busy, but Italians don't do traffic jams so it was also a bit hectic. Our short sojourns off these main arteries, for fuel and sustenance, were a bit of a relief but we survived with only one waved fist – well we think it was his fist.........

So into Switzerland, again with a minimum of formality. It had been a little difficult choosing an overnight stop; there are few aires/sostas in Switzerland and ACSI wasn't well represented in our intended area, around Lugano. However there were a couple of places around 17km to the east so we headed there, only to pop back into Italy again – Lugano and it's very attractive lake extends the Swiss border in a narrow peninsular south into Italy.

Lugano

Lake Lugano

The lake from the campsite

Porlezza is a small holiday town on the shore of Lake Lugano with a couple of nice campsites. Our choice was on the lakeside and although a goodly number of pitches were occupied by permanent units it was quite quiet – well until Jamie started his tricks again! Can't really blame him though, he'd been cooped up in the van for 2 days. We booked in for just the one night.

Pompeii – Troia – Pineto

Pompeii to Troia then Pineto - 280 miles

We've had enough sightseeing for now so it's time to start for home, albeit taking a few days chillin' whilst we've got excellent weather. Today we're heading sort of east towards the Adriatic coast, to a small town with a free sosta that had been recommended by a Funster.

First off a visit to the nearby Auchan to restock the fridge then onto the autostrada heading for Salerno. Which went a bit wrong when we tried to avoid a traffic holdup and ended up heading for Sorrento. Now this would have been okay if we were going to the Amalfi Coast but that was definitely not part of our plans so we got TomTom to sort us out. Ah well it was an interesting half an hour!

Troia

A couple of hours run on a decent autostrada, pausing for lunch at a service area, saw us heading towards Foggia in Puglia province, a more rolling than mountainous area. We turned off onto less well used roads (in other words a little indifferent, some good some awful) to go cross-country to Troia where we found the sosta with no problem. Unusually this offered free electricity along with the normal services, however apart from the electric it was all locked up! Not a problem though as we had fully serviced the van before departure. We later discovered the services were only open between 6.00 and 9.00 am!

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Troia is a small walled hilltop town, even though it called itself a “citta”, our Rough Guide giving it half a page, most of which was about one church. It apparently, however, has seven patriot saints although when we explored later we only found five churches. The guide book also mentioned that the locals seemed somewhat indifferent about the origin of their town's name; apparently it means slut! But it was a pleasant enough place and we spent a quiet night. Well until a pair of Austrians on the sosta decided to provide some entertainment. Derek of course had to have a go too!

Alpenhorns in Southern Italy!

View from the sosta

But it was really only a one-night stopover and we wanted somewhere to properly chill for a few days so Saturday we headed to the coast, by-passing Foggia and joining the “Adriatic”, the main road following the coast northwards. We had picked out an area north of Pescara where there were four seaside ACSI campsites so headed out, only to find the access road blocked by a badly parked car, however we found a back way which took us round the town one-way system. But then we missed a turn for the autostrada (again!) so a bit more backtracking – Terry blames TomTom who only warned us of the turn with 35 metres to go but at least put us back on track.

Roundabout art

A short run along the motorway but needing fuel we turned off seeking better prices and found a nice little town with reasonably priced diesel, LPG and a Lidl for our lunchtime baguette. Thinking the non-motorway road may be nicer we stuck to it for a while until Termoli where we stopped for lunch in a huge empty carpark – think it was for the cemetery. We were going to continue off-toll but realised that due to an increasing number of small towns and villages it was going to take considerably longer so reluctantly got back on the autostrada. A good move really as we saved an hour of time for a cost of €7 which was probably less than the cost of fuel.

We had chosen Pineto Holiday Village at, erm, Pineto and after negotiating a few back streets and a railway tunnel we found a very nice looking place right on the beach. However the pitches they offered were not really acceptable, the first right next to the busy railway line, as were the second. The third was inaccessible to us so we said not to worry, we'd move on. There then followed a brief conflab in the office after which the receptionist showed us to a perfect pair of shady pitches right next to the beach and close to the amenities. They did mumble something about a small extra charge but did accept the ACSI cards so we'll see. There was still railway noise but it wasn't as obtrusive – this'll do us for a few days!

Sorrento

Rain again during the night but clearing up quickly as we surfaced. Our plan today was to visit Sorrento, a little way along the Bay of Naples, and rather than take the van and try to find somewhere to stay, we elected to take the local train which only takes half an hour and costs €2.40. So once again settling Jamie, we walked the few hundred yards to the station, bought tickets and boarded the next train which was only 10 mins – they run every half hour. Whilst waiting we were amused by the colourful train that came the other way.

Colourful trains

 A slightly newer train took us to Sorrento where we left the station and ambled into the town. There's no getting away with it, Sorrento is a holiday town and apart from a couple of museums has nothing cultural going for it. We were fully aware of this of course but as it was on our list of places to see somewhere different was most welcome after the past few days. We wandered around, firstly looking for the shop where Bren bought an inlaid wood side table 40 years ago – it's still there but now under new ownership.

Bay of Naples

A walk through the main square, over the gorge that dissects the town and then down to the viewing point overlooking the front. It is quite a steep cliff down to the actual port/seafront area but as there didn't seem anything worth making the effort for we didn't. Spectacular view of the Bay of Naples though, complete with cruise ship whose passengers were thronging the narrow streets lined with small shops of all descriptions. An ice cream in the hot sun before we headed back to the centre of town and then the railway station to return to Pompeii.

Really a couple of hours was enough to see most of what was on offer; we could have lingered longer but it became a choice of whether to have lunch here or back at the van. The fact we had splurged out last night didn't have anything to do with our decision of course.........

So another rattle-trap of a train, the driver of which appeared to be trying to make up time after leaving two minutes late (it is single track in places so coordination is important), and back to a patient Jamie for lunch and an afternoon of relaxing and planning. With less than two weeks to our booked Channel crossing we want to make sure that we don't have to rush at the last minute so it looks like we'll be starting to head north tomorrow.