C
camper-x
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camper-x
Bled is very touristy and the camping is busy. Worth seeing but the lake can be walked round in 75 mins so we did that then shot over to lake Bohinj area. Nice cycling and places by the river you can swim.
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P
petethebeat
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Lov'in the trip, keep all the pics coming, we are doing virtually the same route in August but heading further down to Croatia. Well done!
Aidy P
Don't play that 'What If?' game, you'll never win!
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2 nights in Gardo at a nice site with a pool and a great little 'grill cafe' on site that did amazing pizza, pasta and gnocchi (the latter being the best my daughter has ever tasted apparently!)
It was very hot in the van on the first night as the air was still and as there were a few mosquitoes we couldn't sleep with the door open. I'm going to purchase a tailgate flyout for our next trip. Daughter #2 quite liked being rubbed with a cold flannel until she fell asleep.
The see wasn't great for swimming so we stayed by the pool. A few kit surfers were out when the breeze picked up.
Unfortunately daughter #1 sliced a lump out of her heel by the pool. So I had to administer first aid with several layers of 'fake skin' at the van. A couple of Italians thought we must have been torturing her as they can over to ask we needed a hospital. Couldn't explain 'low pain tolerance' so we just thanked them!! Quite pleased with my first aid so that course I went on wasn't wasted!
A slow 120 mile drive to Venice today avoiding the motorway and with a nice gelato and cake stop.
A couple of nights staying at a hotel http://www.villalbertina.com/ cost circa £110 per night for the four of us. The ferry gave us great views of old Venice that were going to visit later once we've smarted up. That's the great advantage of a Cali vs a traditional motor home in that you can go urban if you have the urge!
It was very hot in the van on the first night as the air was still and as there were a few mosquitoes we couldn't sleep with the door open. I'm going to purchase a tailgate flyout for our next trip. Daughter #2 quite liked being rubbed with a cold flannel until she fell asleep.
The see wasn't great for swimming so we stayed by the pool. A few kit surfers were out when the breeze picked up.
Unfortunately daughter #1 sliced a lump out of her heel by the pool. So I had to administer first aid with several layers of 'fake skin' at the van. A couple of Italians thought we must have been torturing her as they can over to ask we needed a hospital. Couldn't explain 'low pain tolerance' so we just thanked them!! Quite pleased with my first aid so that course I went on wasn't wasted!
A slow 120 mile drive to Venice today avoiding the motorway and with a nice gelato and cake stop.
A couple of nights staying at a hotel http://www.villalbertina.com/ cost circa £110 per night for the four of us. The ferry gave us great views of old Venice that were going to visit later once we've smarted up. That's the great advantage of a Cali vs a traditional motor home in that you can go urban if you have the urge!
Aidy P
Don't play that 'What If?' game, you'll never win!
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We would have liked to have gone further but we're meeting friends in both Milan on Thursday and Chamonix on Friday so we needed to head back west. It will also give us a 'lazy' week driving through France which should be nice for my daughters to have less big driving days.
Aidy P
Don't play that 'What If?' game, you'll never win!
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After a couple of nights in Venice and being completely blown away by the place we hit the road again.
A ferry trip for Nemo cost €28 each way. You then pay for pedestrians by the day(s) too that you intend to use the water ferries to get around.
A gondola ride is a fixed price of €80 for 40 minutes. As it was mine and the girls first time in Venice we splashed out on this experience.
A massive thunderstorm caught most people out but not us folk from Yorkshire who always travel with raincoats!
After the heat in Grado I decided to try and source a Brandrup Fly out. 0/10 for the shop on this forum who still haven't replied to my email from Sunday asking if they could ship one this week to either Milan or Chamonix. 10/10 for https://www.brandrup-autobrenner.com who had one in stock. Whilst it was a big detour via Bolzano it meant that a) we have the Flyout, b) I smashed the VW Cali spotting competition (currently now at 60 after seeing 14 various ones at Auto Brenner), c) we got to see some of the Dolomites and d) daughter #1 got to rest her foot in the van for a day.
We were originally planning on staying near Lake Garda but after phoning 20+ sites we've ended up here http://www.campingvenus.it/it. A stunning site next to Lake Idro. We're staying here for two nights so we can have a day fishing, swimming and kayaking before moving on to Milan.
Daily Cali Satisfaction Rating: 10/10
A ferry trip for Nemo cost €28 each way. You then pay for pedestrians by the day(s) too that you intend to use the water ferries to get around.
A gondola ride is a fixed price of €80 for 40 minutes. As it was mine and the girls first time in Venice we splashed out on this experience.
A massive thunderstorm caught most people out but not us folk from Yorkshire who always travel with raincoats!
After the heat in Grado I decided to try and source a Brandrup Fly out. 0/10 for the shop on this forum who still haven't replied to my email from Sunday asking if they could ship one this week to either Milan or Chamonix. 10/10 for https://www.brandrup-autobrenner.com who had one in stock. Whilst it was a big detour via Bolzano it meant that a) we have the Flyout, b) I smashed the VW Cali spotting competition (currently now at 60 after seeing 14 various ones at Auto Brenner), c) we got to see some of the Dolomites and d) daughter #1 got to rest her foot in the van for a day.
We were originally planning on staying near Lake Garda but after phoning 20+ sites we've ended up here http://www.campingvenus.it/it. A stunning site next to Lake Idro. We're staying here for two nights so we can have a day fishing, swimming and kayaking before moving on to Milan.
Daily Cali Satisfaction Rating: 10/10
Aidy P
Don't play that 'What If?' game, you'll never win!
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Not missing the UK
Aidy P
Don't play that 'What If?' game, you'll never win!
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Stunning site
bvddobb
Top Poster
VIP Member
See you were on the ferry to Lido. There is even a little campsite on Lido di Venezia that you can get on with a campervan: Camping San Nicoló
Near the little airport and the old Jewish cemetery.
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bvddobb
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VIP Member
Love Lake Idro and that campsite! Actually, many years ago, in October, we were there with just a german couple in a van. We went sailing on the (deep and cold!) completely deserted lake in an old dinghy, and we capsized. On trying to erect the dinghy again, the mid sword broke off... We had to swim back to the shore, towing the 'wreck' behind us. We were sooo cold when we came to the shore, that the germans 'saved' us with hot cocoa..
Aidy P
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Thanks. Our youngest got too hot in the van in Grado and Venice was forecast to be hotter so we opted for a room with a/c so we were all fully charged for a full on couple of days in Venice. Now we have a Flyout, hopefully we can keep the van cooler.
.See you were on the ferry to Lido. There is even a little campsite on Lido di Venezia that you can get on with a campervan: Camping San Nicoló
Aidy P
Don't play that 'What If?' game, you'll never win!
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Crikey @bvddobb that sounds hairy!! Glad you survived it and still love the place. It is quite special!!
We went fishing this morning. I'm going to blame 'wrong kit' for our lack of success. Good fly casting for my daughters though!!
calibusje
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Hellow
We're just back from our summerholiday and visited a lot of places (UK, France, Italy), among others ...Venice; we've been there last week; stayed 2 days (€62) at campsite 'Venezia Camping Village' (10 min. busride to Piazzale Roma). A small, neat and quiet campsite with very friendly staff! We were also blown away from this town: it's marvelous! And tourist minded
Have a nice trip!
Greetings
Calibusje
We're just back from our summerholiday and visited a lot of places (UK, France, Italy), among others ...Venice; we've been there last week; stayed 2 days (€62) at campsite 'Venezia Camping Village' (10 min. busride to Piazzale Roma). A small, neat and quiet campsite with very friendly staff! We were also blown away from this town: it's marvelous! And tourist minded
Have a nice trip!
Greetings
Calibusje
Aidy P
Don't play that 'What If?' game, you'll never win!
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The walk to dinner this evening. Lovely scenery and a randomn gryphin made out of recycled soft drink cans.
Aidy P
Don't play that 'What If?' game, you'll never win!
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After Lake Idro we drove to Milan for a night to stay with friends and then onto Chamonix for 3 nights to stay with more friends. Both times not sleeping in the van so the Nemo was parked up.
A few things to note...
The satnav didn't work well in Milan. Despite only being a year old van, it was not up to date with the road network.
Don't attempt to drive in Milan between 8-10am as it's rush hour. There isn't an obvious one at the end of the day.
Mont Blanc tunnel is completely 'hit and miss' with regards to queuing. It took us 45mins to get in the tunnel from Italy. From France the queues were all the way down the mountain.
Parking in Chamonix can be difficult. I avoided various underground car parks that said a 2m maximum height as the van would clearly have struggled to get down, even with nothing on the roof.
There is an excellent free Jazz Festival each year in Chamonix...Cosmo Jazz, whilst there is walk in music both in the town and up the mountains you have to pay for a lift pass for the latter. These are expensive but you can save money if you book a few weeks earlier online.
We enjoyed walking, climbing and mountain biking in Chamonix. Bizarrely a highlight was riding through a forest during a thunderstorm which soaked us to the skin.
We're now back sleeping in the van at a lovely campsite at a Chateux http://www.domaine-eperviere.com/index.php/en/
A few things to note...
The satnav didn't work well in Milan. Despite only being a year old van, it was not up to date with the road network.
Don't attempt to drive in Milan between 8-10am as it's rush hour. There isn't an obvious one at the end of the day.
Mont Blanc tunnel is completely 'hit and miss' with regards to queuing. It took us 45mins to get in the tunnel from Italy. From France the queues were all the way down the mountain.
Parking in Chamonix can be difficult. I avoided various underground car parks that said a 2m maximum height as the van would clearly have struggled to get down, even with nothing on the roof.
There is an excellent free Jazz Festival each year in Chamonix...Cosmo Jazz, whilst there is walk in music both in the town and up the mountains you have to pay for a lift pass for the latter. These are expensive but you can save money if you book a few weeks earlier online.
We enjoyed walking, climbing and mountain biking in Chamonix. Bizarrely a highlight was riding through a forest during a thunderstorm which soaked us to the skin.
We're now back sleeping in the van at a lovely campsite at a Chateux http://www.domaine-eperviere.com/index.php/en/
Aidy P
Don't play that 'What If?' game, you'll never win!
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The stickers are starting to accumulate
Aidy P
Don't play that 'What If?' game, you'll never win!
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Well after 2500 miles over three weeks we're back home in the Yorkshire Dales. I thought I'd leave the latter part of our travels to one post...
The campsite in Burgundy proved very popular with the kids and they enjoyed the safe of place to play games and the swimming pool. Overall the facilities were good and it was nice have both soap and loo roll supplied again after the Italian sites. Pricey though at 50 Euros a night.
We stopped off during the day in Beaune to stock up of mustard. My favourite being the one laced with Pinot Noir. From here were travelled to Radonvilliers at http://www.campinglegarillon.fr/accueil. A nice little site but very very noisy due to the road with HGV's going past from dawn. Also all squat loos which the kids struggled with. We were originally planning on staying a couple of nights but instead drove on to Epernay and paid 30 Euros for an apartment for the night via booking.com as we couldn't find a suitable site.
On the way to Epernay we stopped off in Troyes which has some lovely interesting old architecture and plenty of nice places to eat.
In Epernay we did the Moët et Chandon cellar tour which was very interesting though 24 Euros each. The kids were free though. 38 km of cellars and 000's of bottles of bubbly. The tour included a glass each so Mrs P was quite giggly after quaffing both as we then drove on up to Belgian. P.s. We did buy a bottle of Moët but it was 8 Euros cheaper in a supermarket in Reims than the tour shop
In Belgium we stayed the first night at Panoroma campsite in Kluisbergen. A basic site butrun by a friendly lady. There was a bar on site too but we didn't use it. Showers cost 1 Euro but could easily wash the whole family!! The stay cost only 18 Euros. We parked next to a lovely couple from Bruges in their Cali who gave us advice about places to visit and a recently reopened campsite in Diksmuide http://www.deijzerhoeve.be/nl/home. This cost us only 20 Euros and whilst its still being renovated, the showers were free & hot. There was a bar and also the guy running it was very friendly.
We went to Ypres and visited the Menin Gate and the In Flanders Field museum which is well worth a visit. We followed this with a visit to the Yorkshire Trench and several war cemeteries including Westcott. These were very thought provoking places and even our 7 year old seemed to grasp the magnitude of the Great War.
A quick lunch stop in Gent for the obligatory Mussels and Chips and it was then a dash for ZeeBrugge fo our ferry.
So after 3 weeks was it worth it? Yes! We had the adventure that we set out to do and it has proved to us that we can travel with the four of us in the van.
And what did we learn about travelling in our van...
1. Take less clothes! We could have managed with much less. It's easy to wash things and the further south you go the quicker they dry. Take a decent washing line and pegs.
2. Cooking outside is fun. We were glad we took the extra picnic table and bench though. In fact we never used the stove in the van, just our single burner stove.
3. Take a folding hammock.
4. We didn't need electric hook up.
5. Water was not an issue. We simply took a 10 litre bottle an filled up extra in better sites.
6. VW Sat Nav has issues. Dorris as she became known frequently got confused! Beware!!
7. A flyscreen for the door proved a a great purchase otherwise you simply bake with the doors closed. Mosquito spray and candles are a must.
8. USB fans are useful.
9. Take spare fuses. Several went on the trip.
10. If you have fitted a carpet in the rear, remove it if you are going somewhere hot. We ended up binning ours in Italy as the smell of 'dog' and the warmth were simply too much.
11. Fridge setting 3 is ample. Though I sometimes upped this to 4 when driving to give the beers an extra deep chill.
12. Kids will travel for hours with iPads!!
13. We had 2 x 500ml metal insulated water bottles that we filled up each day from a 1litre Nalgene bottle in the fridge (great fit!). We didn't buy any water bottles on the trip.
14. 500ml coke bottles cut in half with the top inverted into it with a spoonful of jam make fantastic wasp traps!!
15. It is possible to do this type of trip and not book sites if you are flexible about where you'll stay (sometimes up to 80 miles away!) Make sure you start calling sites in the morning though.
16. Keep plenty of change / notes handy for toll roads.
17. Breaking up the trip in a cheap hotel and a proper bed isn't a failure on a big trip its part of the experience and allows everyone the chance to reset. I'd say this is particularly important for families travelling in a California.
18. And here is the biggest tip... Don't over do it. We have had an adventure. We've been to many countries. But the best memories are where we have allowed time to stay in a place for activities and sight seeing. With small children they enjoyed it most when they could meet and play with other children too. We'll be doing this again but will probably pick one country and even a region and focus on that (depending on the weather of course because that is the beauty of our vans, we can look up into the sky and go, "Austria isn't too good, let's go to Italy!" After this trip we've got the confidence now to do more.
I'm now already planning a family ski trip and next summers trip in Nemo. First things first though....He's deserves a thorough clean out, clean and polish!!
Thanks for all the useful advice on this forum guys. At times it really helped!!
Enjoy your summer
The campsite in Burgundy proved very popular with the kids and they enjoyed the safe of place to play games and the swimming pool. Overall the facilities were good and it was nice have both soap and loo roll supplied again after the Italian sites. Pricey though at 50 Euros a night.
We stopped off during the day in Beaune to stock up of mustard. My favourite being the one laced with Pinot Noir. From here were travelled to Radonvilliers at http://www.campinglegarillon.fr/accueil. A nice little site but very very noisy due to the road with HGV's going past from dawn. Also all squat loos which the kids struggled with. We were originally planning on staying a couple of nights but instead drove on to Epernay and paid 30 Euros for an apartment for the night via booking.com as we couldn't find a suitable site.
On the way to Epernay we stopped off in Troyes which has some lovely interesting old architecture and plenty of nice places to eat.
In Epernay we did the Moët et Chandon cellar tour which was very interesting though 24 Euros each. The kids were free though. 38 km of cellars and 000's of bottles of bubbly. The tour included a glass each so Mrs P was quite giggly after quaffing both as we then drove on up to Belgian. P.s. We did buy a bottle of Moët but it was 8 Euros cheaper in a supermarket in Reims than the tour shop
In Belgium we stayed the first night at Panoroma campsite in Kluisbergen. A basic site butrun by a friendly lady. There was a bar on site too but we didn't use it. Showers cost 1 Euro but could easily wash the whole family!! The stay cost only 18 Euros. We parked next to a lovely couple from Bruges in their Cali who gave us advice about places to visit and a recently reopened campsite in Diksmuide http://www.deijzerhoeve.be/nl/home. This cost us only 20 Euros and whilst its still being renovated, the showers were free & hot. There was a bar and also the guy running it was very friendly.
We went to Ypres and visited the Menin Gate and the In Flanders Field museum which is well worth a visit. We followed this with a visit to the Yorkshire Trench and several war cemeteries including Westcott. These were very thought provoking places and even our 7 year old seemed to grasp the magnitude of the Great War.
A quick lunch stop in Gent for the obligatory Mussels and Chips and it was then a dash for ZeeBrugge fo our ferry.
So after 3 weeks was it worth it? Yes! We had the adventure that we set out to do and it has proved to us that we can travel with the four of us in the van.
And what did we learn about travelling in our van...
1. Take less clothes! We could have managed with much less. It's easy to wash things and the further south you go the quicker they dry. Take a decent washing line and pegs.
2. Cooking outside is fun. We were glad we took the extra picnic table and bench though. In fact we never used the stove in the van, just our single burner stove.
3. Take a folding hammock.
4. We didn't need electric hook up.
5. Water was not an issue. We simply took a 10 litre bottle an filled up extra in better sites.
6. VW Sat Nav has issues. Dorris as she became known frequently got confused! Beware!!
7. A flyscreen for the door proved a a great purchase otherwise you simply bake with the doors closed. Mosquito spray and candles are a must.
8. USB fans are useful.
9. Take spare fuses. Several went on the trip.
10. If you have fitted a carpet in the rear, remove it if you are going somewhere hot. We ended up binning ours in Italy as the smell of 'dog' and the warmth were simply too much.
11. Fridge setting 3 is ample. Though I sometimes upped this to 4 when driving to give the beers an extra deep chill.
12. Kids will travel for hours with iPads!!
13. We had 2 x 500ml metal insulated water bottles that we filled up each day from a 1litre Nalgene bottle in the fridge (great fit!). We didn't buy any water bottles on the trip.
14. 500ml coke bottles cut in half with the top inverted into it with a spoonful of jam make fantastic wasp traps!!
15. It is possible to do this type of trip and not book sites if you are flexible about where you'll stay (sometimes up to 80 miles away!) Make sure you start calling sites in the morning though.
16. Keep plenty of change / notes handy for toll roads.
17. Breaking up the trip in a cheap hotel and a proper bed isn't a failure on a big trip its part of the experience and allows everyone the chance to reset. I'd say this is particularly important for families travelling in a California.
18. And here is the biggest tip... Don't over do it. We have had an adventure. We've been to many countries. But the best memories are where we have allowed time to stay in a place for activities and sight seeing. With small children they enjoyed it most when they could meet and play with other children too. We'll be doing this again but will probably pick one country and even a region and focus on that (depending on the weather of course because that is the beauty of our vans, we can look up into the sky and go, "Austria isn't too good, let's go to Italy!" After this trip we've got the confidence now to do more.
I'm now already planning a family ski trip and next summers trip in Nemo. First things first though....He's deserves a thorough clean out, clean and polish!!
Thanks for all the useful advice on this forum guys. At times it really helped!!
Enjoy your summer
P
petethebeat
- Messages
- 17
Read with interest thank you very much! We are off in a few weeks to do a similar tour !
Quick question if I may:
Sat Nav,- what worked best when you programmed it for your destinations, name of area/road/camp site or co-ordinates (I have found that some of the camp sites co-ordinates are incorrect and do not compute!)
Thanks
Pete
Quick question if I may:
Sat Nav,- what worked best when you programmed it for your destinations, name of area/road/camp site or co-ordinates (I have found that some of the camp sites co-ordinates are incorrect and do not compute!)
Thanks
Pete
Aidy P
Don't play that 'What If?' game, you'll never win!
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Hi Pete. We entered Country, then postcode. the street and number. Occasionally there were gaps so we'd also use Google Maps to get a close street and enter this and 'wing it'.
Good luck with your trip!!
vmaxkiddy
Lifetime VIP Member
9. Take spare fuses. Several went on the trip.
Hi Aidy , which fuses were blowing ?
Hi Aidy , which fuses were blowing ?
Aidy P
Don't play that 'What If?' game, you'll never win!
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15amp fuses for roof and kitchen 12v sockets. Possibly caused by USB converter.
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