To Italy and back.

[Straad]

We went to Italy and back from the Highlands of Scotland. I don’t want to bore you with the details but I thought I might share a few thoughts before my aging brain forgets everything.

In no particular order,

• Driving to Portsmouth is a big slog!
• We took the overnight Brittany Ferries Portsmouth-LeHavre. Was basic but gets you going at 0900 the next day so you have the whole of the next day to donder to your next stop.
• Stopped in Honfleur for breakfast. Was lovely (Honfleur that is, the breakfast was ok too!)
• Chartres is gorgeous and the Son et Lumiere is well worth a visit. Stayed at Camping Bords d'Leure in Chartres which was ok and and easy walk into town
• Because we are getting old and soft we mixed up staying in the van and Airbnb which worked well.
• Followed the Loire stopping occasionally to buy wine!
• Stayed off the Autoroutes as much as possible. Nothing wrong with the Autoroutes but I prefer to see the France you don’t get to see from the Autoroute and you avoid the tolls! We didn’t drive for more than 3-4 hours per day. Ah, the joys of being retired!
• Camping de Lengrais at Champagnat-le-Jeune was one of the highlights. Delightful little campsite run by a lovely Dutch couple. Highly recommended.
• Campsites in Europe tend to close at the end of September and we were now into the start of October. Made finding a place more challenging but there were plenty of places still open.
• Weather in early October was perfect for us. 25 degrees and sunny most of the time.
• Stayed a couple of nights at Nimes. Lovely compact town full of Roman history. Absolutely worth a visit. Amphitheatre amazing. Not so keen on the fact that they still do bull fighting there though!
• Could only find a holiday campsite that was still open near Frejus. (Yelloh!). Turns out is was great because there was hardly anyone else there and we had the pool to ourselves.
• On to Albenga where we rented an Airbnb.
• Sadly had to head back a week earlier than planned due to a family illness.
• So a bit of a rush back, stopping in Cernobbio, through Switzerland (don’t forget you have to buy a motorway vignette) to Efrengin-Kirchen in Germany and a Bnb an hour south of Amsterdam.
• Caught the ferry from Ijmuiden to Newcastle which was lucky because the next days sailing was cancelled due to the imminent arrival of Storm Babet. The DFDS ferry is good for us because it's just 5 hours up the road from Newcastle to home.

Lessons?

• Once again we packed far too much stuff (again) but we were potentially dealing with 3 climates.
• It is perfectly possible to make up your route as you go along but choice is limited after September. Park4Night was a great source of campsites.
• The Cali is a great vehicle to travel in. Comfortable and high enough to see around. In 2500 miles we averaged 35mpg.
• Don’t try and drive too far each day. 3-4 hours if you can, allows you to get off the motorway and have time to stop and explore places.
• Driving in Europe is straightforward but it helps to have a copilot reminding you which side of the road you are aiming for at junctions!
• Dutch cyclists rule the road! They have priority over everything. Beware!