For a change we had a fairly defined plan this year for our three week summer trip as we had decided to visit central and southern Italy.
Despite concerns about the migrant situation at the Channel Tunnel we booked outbound on the afternoon of Sat 29 August and return at lunchtime on Sat 19 September. Our idea was to head south as quickly as possible by using the Belgium, German and Swiss motorway networks. I had divided the route into roughly 4-5 hours travelling per day and four days and seven counties after leaving home we descended from the St Gottard tunnel and arrived on the shores of Lake Maggiore in the Italian Lake district – beautiful! The sun had been out all the way from home and as soon as we had arrived in France the temperatures had risen into the mid to high 20’s.
We reluctantly left Lake Maggiore the following day and headed south to the Mediterranean at Genova before heading south east down the coast to Tuscany our first “real” destination. We spent four days in Tuscany visiting places like Pisa, San Gimignano (awesome -look it up on the web) and Siena before heading further south to Rome where we spent an afternoon doing the sites – The Colosseum and St Peters Square at the Vatican being two of the highlights.
Portofino
Tuscany Mountains
Pisa
San Gimignano
Siena
The Colossium
The Panthion
We continued our journey yet further south to the Bay of Naples, where my Dad was stationed towards the end of WW2 as the Regional Transport Officer. We then drove as high up the volcano Mount Vesuvius as we were allowed reaching an altitude of 1130 metres before stopping for lunch on the way down in a car park overlooking Naples.
Bay of Naples from Mount Vesuvius
We then moved on to a campsite at Pompeii spending the afternoon and early evening exploring the ruins of the old town which was famously covered by ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD wiping out the entire town and its population.
Heading further south we visited the pretty seaside town of Sorrento before having lunch near Termini on a headland overlooking the sea. Next was to drive the Amalfi coast route to Salerno - we had already driven some awesome “drivers” roads, both along the coast and in the mountains, on this trip but this was the icing on the cake – its the sort of road you drive one way and then want to turn around and drive again in the opposite direction. Stunning, extraordinary, unbelievable – these are just words as really you cannot put into writing the beauty of this challenging winding road with its amazing views. The road follows the contours of the cliff and in some places is cantilevered precariously away from the cliff face. In every area where it is conceivably possible houses have been built into the rock and where there are larger areas available hamlets and villages have been established.
Amalfi Coast Road
We were now two weeks into our three week trip so decided we’d better not go any further south. We, therefore, headed across to the east coast of Italy to start our return trip up the Aegean coastline. Our first destination was the Parko Nationale del Gargano a beautiful area of high ground jutting out into the sea. On the northeastern shore we found a quiet sandy cove and after lunch went snorkeling along a rocky promontory.
Gargano
That night we found a real gem at Ortona - the Ripari de Giobbe campsite – free electric, free wifi, a lovely location, a superb restaurant and only 11 Euros for the night.
Ripari de Giobbe Campsite
We could have stayed at that site for days but had to keep moving northwards. We reluctantly left the coast at Rimini and headed northwest via Bologna and Milan, then northwards to Lake Como.
Before returning into Switzerland we stayed on the shores of Lake Lugano and overnight it started to rain – hard!
Lake Lugano
We had decided to return via the St Bernard pass but due to the bad visibility we went the more direct route and retraced our steps up to the St Gottard tunnel in steady rain. Entering the tunnel it was really nice to switch off the wipers and we were really surprised that we didn’t have to switch them on again as we came out of the 11 mile long tunnel into bright sunshine.
We had a relatively dry night in Germany but another wet one in Belgium, where we had to take Anya for her necessary vet-check.
Our final night was spent just west of Dunkirk and we set off to the Channel Tunnel in overcast conditions. As we arrived back on British soil we were very pleasantly surprised to emerge from the tunnel into bright sunshine, and so it stayed all the way home to Dorset.
In all our time away we only saw five other demountables and in Italy only one - an old Lance on a Ford 350 pick up on the shores of Lake Maggiore.
Generally there was a lot of interest in the camper: At a campsite near Rome the owner said that mine was the first he had ever seen in the flesh and he thought it was very cool. Also near Rome a motor bike passed me very slowly with the rider taking a lot of interest in the rig. Eventually he smiled, gave me the thumbs up, and sped away. At a set of traffic lights near Naples a pedestrian had a good look at the rig and asked if we making on our way to Africa for adventure travel.
In central and southern Italy there were were loads of the little three wheeled Piaggio type pick-ups but very few single or double cab Japanese style pick-up trucks on the roads. In the north there were a lot more but they were still few in number compared with other areas of Europe. This may be why Demountables appear to be relatively thin on the ground in Italy.
A little bit about driving in the major Italian cities like Milan, Genova, Rome and Naples. On the city streets mopeds out-number cars about two to one and they squeeze through impossibly small spaces and weave between the larger traffic often travelling on the wrong side of the road at well above the speed limit. Most of the cars on the streets have dents on at least one panel and I must say I probably received more respect than most with my bull bar and tree sliders. To the uninitiated it looks like mayhem but actually if you stick to the “rules” (which do not conform to any highway code) you should survive unscathed. The main rule is whoever has any part of his vehicle in front of another has right-of way – this goes for vehicles in adjacent lanes that may suddenly cut across you. If you leave even a small gap between your vehicle and the one in front that gap will inevitably fill with mopeds.
There are signs on some routes saying in English “Give way to overtaking traffic”. This is so counter intuitive to us Brits where the onus is on the overtaking vehicle to ensue it is safe to do so - Italians expect the vehicle being overtaken to yield and let them in before any oncoming vehicles hit them.
In Rome I drove across quite a few really busy junctions with no road markings whatsoever. This results in cars pointing in all directions which, somehow, always seem to sort themselves out – you just have to be decisive and try to follow the rule.
One thing that has noticeably changed since I first drove in Italy in 1976 is that the use of the horn is now frowned upon and they are very rarely heard.
It is stressful driving in the major Italian cities and you do end up with your eyes out on stalks as you try to spot and avoid the next potential collision! Strangely, and after any initial reservations, I actually found it a really enjoyable challenge.
Distance travelled: 2830 miles
Average fuel consumption: 25.7 mpg
Highest altitude reached: 1205m
Lowest fuel price: 70.3p per litre in Luxembourg
Highest fuel price: £1.10 per litre in Switzerland
