Europe by Camper

[syncro up]

Switzerland Part Two

We very much enjoyed our relaxed stay in Lucerne, but alas it's time to move on, so off we go towards Interlaken, but first a stop at Ballenberg.

Ballenberg is an open air Swiss rural museum. It contains many buildings spread over a large part of the hill side from various periods of Swiss history and from different parts of the mountains. A lot of the buildings are working, like the water mill making flour, another farm has a loom in it and there is a narrow long building which turns out to be the rope twisting building. It's great to see this living history but its hard work trudging between them in the heat of the day.

Ballenberg

Ballenberg

It made a suitably loud noise

The site is massive and in a few hours, we've only seen half of it. If you visit, and I recommend you do, definitely wear sensible shoes as its all on the side of the hill. Be consoled by the lovely restaurant and chocolate shop at the East entrance, yum yum.

A chocolate ‘rolling' machine

Rolling…

Our drive from Ballenberg to Interlaken takes us through many tunnels and past several lakes which are the most amazing turquoise green colour. We arrive at Manor Farm Campsite and are confronted by an abundance of British cars. About every third vehicle is British. This is quite frustrating as until now, we have been pretty much the only British vehicle and native English speakers wherever we have been, but now we seem to be in a British oap campsite. Still this does have the advantage that our receptionist speaks perfect English.

Again we choose a camping spot based entirely on the amount of shade it offers, it's still very hot. Thankfully our campsite has lake frontage where you can jump in and cool off. It's a good bit colder than Lake Lucerne but still bearable.

View from the campsite across the lake at dusk

That night there are terrific thunderstorms. There appears to be about three different sets passing through. The lightening illuminates everything, even with your eyes closed! But it's the thunder which is most impressive. It appears to echo down the valley, building intensity as it progresses. By the time it reaches us, its several seconds long and the most terrific bass rumble that reverberates your internal organs.

The route from the campsite into town is a very easy cycle on flat cycle paths, we tour around and check out some sports shops (still in disbelief at the prices) and get some groceries. Its 4 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon and we are confused to see all the shops starting to shut up so early.

On the cycle pack to the campsite we see lots of paragliders throwing themselves off a nearby mountain, then eventually landing in the field beside the path. By the sound of things, there also seems to be a rifle range nearby.

That night is a hot one, its well after midnight before the van cools down enough for us to sleep. Tomorrow could be a grumpy day!

Today we leave Interlaken and head for Tasch which is mountain town adjacent to the car free town of Zermatt. There are no direct roads towards Tasch from Interlaken due to the mountains in the way, but there is a railway tunnel which is used by the car transporter train, so we head for that. On the way there, we stop off at Niesen to take the funicular railway up the mountain.

This funicular is made up of two separate sections. The first from 693m to 1669m, the second is 1669m to 2336m and totals 3.5kilometers of track which is entirely sloped at about 67%. Even the carriage is designed on the slope. This is not the sort of place you want to consider the consequences of a system failure, it's a long way down. Two return tickets costs 102 CHF and takes about half an hour to go one way.

The views from the top are very impressive and give clear views around to the Eiger. At the top there is a very fancy looking restaurant and a kids play area.

The view from the top

The top restaurant

Back at the van, we continue up the valley towards Kandersteg to get the train through the mountain to Goppenstein (the Lotschberg route). Again we are climbing and again were down to second gear in sections.

The train is a strange affair, before you know it you are at the pay booth and handing over 44 CHF. Then into a line up and onto the train, as quick and easy as that. We are told to line up with the trucks and bikes and end up with only one bike in front of us. We drive onto the side of the train which lowers down to form a ramp, then drive the length of the train, about 200metres or so. We are the first vehicle on (as the bike goes in a special enclosed carriage at the front) and sitting right at the front which is the raised bit to get off at the end, we are sitting higher than all the vehicles behind us. I know the clearance signs for the main train were 3.2metres and we are around 2.35metres, so I quickly try to estimate if our platform is a meter or so higher than behind, if so we are going to make quite an impact on the tunnel.

Driving down the length of the train

Sitting at the very front of the train looking back, wondering if we really should be this far forward.

Thankfully we are still within clearance and make it no problem. Well I say no problem, it's a surreal and slightly terrifying experience to be at the wheel of a vehicle which is moving at speed and bouncing on its suspension as the train bumps along, all of which is completely outwith your control. After quarter of an hour or so and it's all over. We are first off the train on the other side and immediately the road starts to race down the valley. We pass several Vdubs going the other way and assume there is a festival or something going on, we investigate and get told its ‘Open Air' but all the roads are shut off and it looks like a very organised ticket only thing, think it might be a music festival or something. We carry on.

Having made it into the valley bottom, we now have to climb up, out of the valley on the other side to get to Tasch. We are again down to second gear for most of this and it's a long long climb. It's been a long day all round on not much sleep and I'm exhausted by the time we reach Tasch. The town is dominated by the train station, we find a campsite next to the station and the river. I park ridiculously too close to an old caravan, much to the annoyance of an old French couple who must have come back to the van late in the evening, and promptly leave early the next morning, my bad! (but it wasn't the door side, just wanted to say that)

Train line up to Zermatt

Rock Church

We've unintentionally parked next to a beautiful little church which is carved from a solid boulder about 15 metres by 20 metres in dimensions. The inside is amazing and laid out with pews and an alter with highly decorate pieces. Such an unusual find in a random location.

Literally a rock

Inside

We bought this postcard, this church was the Fuxsteinkapelle

Thankfully having left the valley behind us, we have also left the heat behind as well. It was easily over 35oC down there, up here it is pleasant and you even need a jumper in the evening, a novelty.

Another nice campsite with a view

The following day we catch the train to Zermatt. The journey is only twenty minutes and involves travelling through a lot of avalanche tunnels. The trains are very modern and both stations are busy.

Zermatt is a Swiss Alpine car free town, but is not the serene utopia I had anticipated. Our first encounter upon arriving at the Zermatt station was a crew of workmen digging up the road outside the building.

Several of the larger hotels seems to employ a coach and horses to transport the VIP's, other than that there are a number of electric golf buggy type vehicles acting as delivery vehicles, and to add insult to injury, there is a full size diesel garbage truck collecting the bins. Perhaps my expectations were high, but the delivery is off to a shaky start.

Zermatt is predictably styled in the Alpine Chalet fashion. Everything is designed to look pleasing; this town only exists on the strength of Alpine tourism. It can therefore become a little sickly sweet in places. Although I would like to see it in winter with snow on the ground on the run up to Christmas.

Zermatt's car free streets

The up market hotels taxi, with baggage cart!

We wander around the streets, listening out for the jangle of bells which means a coach is coming. I get distracted by the shear variety of Swiss army knives available and then by the chocolate shop. We then find the Matterhorn museum, where they have the rope which broke on the first decent of the mountain, killing four climbers, but it's a bit pricey to get in so we don't bother.

On the Gornergrat train with views over the Matterhorn

It's a cog wheel train

From Zermatt, we take the cog wheeled train up to the Gornergrat-bahn. This goes from 1620metres up to the summit of the Gornergrat mountain at 3089metres. The train journey takes about thirty minutes, and almost immediately provides views of the imposing Matterhorn peak. We arrive at the summit around 3.30 and at 4 the shop and restaurant are starting to close. The shop has as impressive range of Swiss Army branded items and I eventually decide to purchase a ‘Rescue' knife. There is also a Chapel at the summit and not to mention the panoramic views offered by this elevation, including the glacier in the next valley. Having soaked up the views, we get the train back down. Have another walk around the Zermatt shops, decide they are extortionately expensive, event by Swiss standards, and head back to the camper.

At the top

The neighbouring glacier

Matterhorn again

The following day, we plan to leave Tasch and the Swiss Alps, complete with our souvenir cow bell from Zermatt. There is some indecision whether to head directly south to our destination of Asti in Italy, or take a detour and visit Chamonix and drive the Mont Blanc Tunnel.

Furthermore…Yet again, we are torn as we set to leave another lovely campsite behind. It would have been nice to spend a quite day just relaxing around camp, but the draw of the open road and the next adventure beacons, so off we trot.

Our first portion of the drive today takes up back down the road and valley we came up the other day. We go downhill faster than we come up! However when we hit the valley bottom, it's as hot, if not hotter than last time. This valley must be a heat trap, even the wind is hot! All along the valley bottom there are fruit orchards and plantations. For being in the Alps, they seem to be able to grow anything, Apricots appear to be a favourite.

We are grateful when we get to leave the valley bottom with the incessant heat, and start the climb up and over two passes listed as steep on the map, on our way to Chamonix. The first section is just that, as soon as were off the highway in the valley the road ramps up and stays at this constant gradient for an age. We've been on the road half an hour now, were in second gear and still have 32km to go, this could be a long shift, we pull over for some lunch. As we finish lunch, two female cyclists slowly crawl into the layby. We chat with them and they are going to Chamonix as well, they tell us the road peaks at 1500metres, we are currently at 860metres, so we both have a long way to do (valley was around 400metres for reference).

We continue the climb, noticeably slower than everyone else, we try to pull over when possible, but on one occasion a car tries to overtake a bunch of cars at the wrong bit and meets a car coming the other way, leaving him no option but to bail out, luckily for him there is a layby at just the right point on the other side of the road. Some sections of the road are clinging to the mountain side, and the views down the mountain are near vertical with little to stop you going over but a small barrier. We reach the top of the first climb, and thankfully the next climb is nothing like as long and imposing. We are now in France

Chamonix, France
We continue down the road to Chamonix, the mountain vista is amazing with some very jaggy looking pinnacles. Unfortunately as we get closer and closer to Chamonix, we come across more and more car parks full of campers and cars, presumably from people off walking in the mountains. Even Chamonix itself resembles a large car park, I'm sure its just the side we saw from the direction we came but we missed the beautiful side of Chamonix. What's not disappointing are the views of the mountain and glaciers. Our campsite is located a few kilometres out of Chamonix and is only a few hundred metres away from the end of a glacier. So much so that there is a stream of glacier water running through the campsite. How do I know its glacier water, well even in the scorching summer sun, the water feels near freezing… to the point that you can't stand in it for more than a few seconds due to the pain!

View of the mountains on the way into Chamonix

View from campsite

Our campsite is in a little village, so we unpack and head out on the bikes to find somewhere to eat, we feel like a treat now that we've left Swiss prices behind.

Next stop Italy and goodbye to the mountains

Switzerland… Summary.
As we entered Switzerland from Austria, I was ready not to like the place, entirely due to the price of living with a small influence of them not using the Euro. But having spent a few weeks here I can say the place is everything you would dream it to be. The Alpine views are beyond parallel and from what we saw, everything is clean and safe. I love the place and would go back in a second. You just need to save a wee bit more before you go, and then take as much stuff with you as you can so minimise expenditure. Its horses for courses, but for us, Lucerne was the cherry on the cake.

 

[ThomD]

Thanks for the write up. I'd never heard of an ossuary.

 

[jgolden]

Thanks for the write up and pictures.
Did you have any trouble traveling with a trailer in the smaller villages?

 

[syncro up]

Thanks for the write up and pictures.
Did you have any trouble traveling with a trailer in the smaller villages?

No not really, its a great wee (thats scottish for small) size, it doenst stick out the side (its not wider than the van) and doesnt cut in on normal turns.
We had to reverse out of a few situation, where for one reason or another, we couldnt go any further, so you have to be totally confortable reversing a trailer. Its a lot more difficult to reverse a small trailer than a large long one, the short wheel base means it turns quick when going back so you have to be two steps ahead.

Other things to consider, our ferrys cost more... obviously, at a guess id say about 25-50% more.

But the pay back with extra space was more than worth it.

 

[syncro up]

Italy Part One
We leave Chamonix, France behind and start the march south through Italy. Exiting France via the Mont Blanc tunnel we can’t help notice the memorials to those who have lost their lives in the tunnel. The tunnel its self is not as impressive as we had expected, we are charged 42E60 for the journey and its only around 9km long, this is small by comparison to some the Swiss and Austrian tunnels we have used.

What is impressive is the number of tunnels we then travel through on the Italian site. For easily the first 45 minutes in Italy, we constantly go through tunnel after tunnel, all around 3km’s in length. Amusing at first, it becomes a little tiresome after a while.

We are heading to the town of Asti. For those who don’t know, Asti is a sparkling white Italian wine. It’s lovely and sweet, not at all bitter or sharp like champagne. It’s also a town in North Italy. As a couple, we very much enjoy the wine, so we thought we should head to the town with the hope of seeing the great vineyards which produce this lovely tipple and possibly sampling a bottle or two. This would be our first stop of in Italy.

And into Italy

On the drive to Asti we used a good length of the Italian motorways which are tolled. This caused some confusion when we got to the first toll booth. We arrived at the toll both after travelling on the motorway for the last hour, we therefore expected to have to pay a toll to continue. The machine was well used and had no intelligible instructions, despite our best attempts to feed it money or cards, nothing worked. We ended up pressing the help button, which didn’t help much as we don’t speak Italian when the man came over the intercom, but a few minutes later an employee did appear at the window and jested that we should be pressing the BIG red button. This is one of the draw backs to driving the T25, when you are at toll booths, you are too high to see the information designed for cars, and too low to see the truck information. But big red button pressed, we got a ticket and were on our way. Assuming that at some future toll booth, we will surrender the ticket and pay a fee. Lesson learned!

Further on we stop at what appears to be a very small service station on the motorway. However inside its actually quite reasonable and has a great selection of toasted sandwiches along with a full coffee bar. The quality of the toasted items was great, much nicer than service food in Britain.

Further down the motorway we leave at an exit and here is the second toll booth machine, all goes well but it’s been 26Euro for a few hours travel which seems quite steep. From here we go through some beautiful countryside, even do some climbing and switch back up over a small hill.

As we get closer to the town of Asti, the vineyard utopia we were expecting is nowhere to be found. Instead we are surrounded by corn fields. Infact during the whole time in and around Asti, we never saw a single grape or winery, and are reduced to buying bottles of Asti from the massive supermarket we found in Asti! The supermarket was quite a find though, and we stock up on everything so glad to be rid of the Swiss mark up. We also by a thermometer to accurately judge these autumn temperatures we are experiencing in the van. The supermarket also has a large display of mosquito repellent stuff. We would come to understand why later on.

Our only source of Asti in Asti!

We find a local campsite, but can’t speak to the owner due to the language barrier, again. However the site is lovely and we park next to the swing park. There is a large outdoor restaurant and wood fired pizza oven at the entry to the site, this seems odd as its deserted. It’s not until nearer 10 at night that people come out to eat and it ends up really busy. Its also around this time that we notice the lights in the van attract all the local insects and mosquito’s, and they love to bite, wish we had bought some insect repellent now.

Camping by the shade

After a quiet night, we are on the move again, heading south towards Rome. After a drive through Asti again, which shows it to be bigger than anticipated but still no vineyards, we join the motorway and here we shall remain for most of the journey. The motorway heads south until it hits Genoa and splits. This brings us right to the ocean where we then follow the coast east and south, passing through many many tunnels along the way.

Before going to Rome, we have to stop in Pisa. By luck more than judgement, we find the campsite of Torre Pendente Camping Village. This is a large-ish site with multilingual receptionists and fabulous facilities, it even has a pool and is only a ten minute walk to the leaning tower.

Uniquely, this is the only campsite we have been to which actually has the pitches sheltering under fabric type roof and boy do we need it. This place is very hot and very dry. The pitches are more dust than grass and it seems to stay hot well into the night.

Camping by shade… then the sun moves

With the Tower literally in eye site, we decide to cycle the five minutes into town to view it tonight.

The tower looks smaller than expected, only six stories or so, but the lean is very obvious. The most striking feature is the beautiful white stone its built from which makes it appear spotlessly clean. It really is a very beautiful structure, and to be standing in front of it is surreal, not least because we’ve driven all the way there.

However, even more surprising is the church which sits in the metaphorical shadow of the tower. This building is grand and opulent in its own right. Made from a similar white stone to the tower, it is covered in detailed carvings and is stunningly beautiful to gaze upon.

Spot the leaning tower

The view from the other end with the Church taking dominance

The detailed carvings are everywhere

It was well worth stopping in to see the tower, despite initially looking shorter, it was impressive to see, and the neighbouring church was the cherry on the cake. Unfortunately, such a tourist attraction draws a lot of tourists, and a lot of souvenir sellers, they seem to be everywhere.

There does not appear to be a lot else to see in Pisa, so we take advantage of this and decide to spend a day around the campsite pool. This appears a lovely area, with a bar and loungers, but curiously, this is the first pool we have ever been in which requires you to wear a bathing cap. There doesn’t seem to be a reason for this, although conveniently, you can buy them for a few Euros from the bar.

Swim Caps

We spend the day playing by the pool, it’s another hot one so on with plenty of sun block. By early afternoon, we hear two fire engines nearby, then there is a smell of smoke and shortly after some glowing embers are being carried across by the wind. We never find out what happened, but are thankful nothing came of it, everything around here is tinder dry it wouldn’t take much for the whole lot to go up.

That evening we cycle to the small supermarket we passed on the way to the tower. We’d not long left the pool and I didn’t have a top on, just my shorts, this is the only time I’ve ever been asked to leave a supermarket. Lol. Oh well.

We use our new thermometer, our high today was 36oC, at 9pm its 29oC and 23oC by 1am. We had installed a fan in the back of the van before we left home, however after having it on pretty much all day yesterday, its decided it’s had enough and isn’t going to work. We end up using out fan heater with the heating turned off just to try and move the air to get some relief from the heat.

We continue on tomorrow to Rome.

Up and checked out we first have to find a cash machine as our campsite didn’t take credit cards so we are cleaned out of cash. Finding a cash machine can be a stressful activity. Then we fill up with fuel, assuming as in Britain, that urban fuel is cheaper than motorway fuel. It appears that doesn’t apply here. But with cash and a tank of fuel, we hit the toll road for a four hour trip to Rome. The toll road is as beautiful, smooth and efficient as we have come to expect, if a bit boring, this combined with a lack of sleep after a hot and sticky night means I’m shattered and we share the driving. Our toll to Rome is 30Euro.

Getting into Rome doesn’t take too long and we have a campsite marked which is nearer the ring road than the centre so the drive is relatively easy. But first impressions of the campsite are good, its quite large with free WIFI and a pool for 3E. It’s very quiet and most of the site is well covered by trees so we have no problem finding a shady spot. This shade would turn out to be a god send, if this site had been like the one in Pisa then I think the trip wouldn’t have gone any further south than here due to the heat. As it turns out, the shade of the trees has a fabulous effect on the temperature and for the first time in days, we get a good sleep. [Campsite is the Seven Hills Village, Rome]

Our campsite runs a shuttle bus to the train station, from where you can get into the city centre. The bus costs 1E per adult and takes 5 minutes. Its then 20 minutes by train. We should have bought the train ticket at the campsite but didn’t, and at the train station, we don’t seem to be able to work the machine… end result, free ride into town. We then get off at the correct station but this certainly isn’t the centre of Rome, so we hope on a bus which takes us through Rome, and past most of the great sites for 1E each. Now in the centre [Termini, the central station] we go for a wonder.

Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore

On the way to the Coliseum we stop for lunch at a Café next to the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore. We have cannelloni which is nice but our waiter is intent on selling us additional items like salads and side dishes. This is the first I have experienced this but he stops eventually. We do buy some ice cream which is superb and continue to the Coliseum.

The Coliseum is not as large as I’d though for some reason, I blame Holywood. We wait in line for ten minutes to buy tickets (11E per adult) and were in.

Coliseum

The Coliseum is a ruin! Apart from a section of the floor which has been reconstructed, its all still original and in impressive condition for its age, but there is very little to show how it functioned. I was particularly interested in the areas which were under the main arena, where the animals and what not were kept and moved with lifts. Apart from a few pictures and description boards there was nothing to highlight this. Perhaps my expectations were influenced by Holywood and modern computer wizardry again, we so often see history brought to life, which allows us to experience what it was like back then, that I had such high expectations when it came to the genuine article. The Coliseum on the other hand is the real thing, its old and well… a ruin.

Inside the Coliseum

Inside the Coliseum

We leave the Coliseum and get on a tour bus, with the intention of seeing the sites the easy way. We don’t have a good day. The bus takes half an hour to arrive, by this point it’s the middle of the afternoon and getting towards 40oC, when it does arrive we sit down stairs hoping to get some relief from the heat, wrong again, there is next to no air flow, and the bus stops so frequently that its like sitting in a greenhouse. On the plus side, the commentary provided by the onboard system is excellent and points out things we would otherwise have missed. But all this cost 21E per adult, it’s the biggest waste of money so far. We could have done the same without the commentary on a public bus for 1E.

Back at the campsite via an air conditioned train and we feel abit more normal. We go to the campsite restaurant for dinner, which again is a large restaurant which must draw people from the nearby areas as there are some very well dressed people in tonight. We have the most amazing pizza, it’s cooked in the wood fired ovens, definitely the best pizza todate.

Overall todays been a good day, but our enjoyment has been hampered by the temperatures.

The next day is a rest day and we just lounge around the pool. This combined with the shade offered by the overhanging trees makes such a difference and we feel a bit more refreshed now. So instead of moving on tomorrow, we will extend our stay in Rome and head back into town to see the sites.

We start our day in Rome at the Vatican Museum, principally to see the roof of the Sistine Chapel. To get in you need to go through a security check and walk through a scanner. The entry is 15E per adult. We didn’t go to the museum to see the artefacts, but what we are met with is an impressive display of Roman sculpture in even more impressive surroundings.

Sculpture inside the Vatican Museum

Sculpture inside the Vatican Museum

The halls which contain the artefacts are very ornate with painted and detailed ceilings. We go through main halls, including the map room, hung with 4x4m tapestry maps, the astronomy room and the tapestry halls. The museum has been a treasure chest of the most beautiful, detailed and historic items I have ever seen in one place, this just shows the power religion had. I am so glad we came back into Rome to see this, its out trumped the Coliseum 10 to 1, but that just my opinion.

The Halls

The Halls

Map of Corsica, we should take a note of this.

At the end of our shortened museum tour (you could spend days in this place, we took the short route), you can exit via the Sistine Chapel. Knowing very little about this prior to arrival, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But it’s a large open room with a tall ceiling, but every single surface is painted in the most detailed brush work, the ceiling is painted and the walls are painted to look like tapestries. We can see the painting of Adam and God with the outstretched arm, and the painting of Adam and Eve with the sacred fruit tree. Its all very impressive, a little crowded and your strictly not allowed to take photographs.

The Obelisk in St Peters Square

St Peters Basilica

After the Sistine Chapel we head around to St Peters Square which is a keyhole shaped piazza, surrounded by a circle of columns with an Egyptian obelisk in the middle. This square is built to be big and impressive, it succeeds on both account. At the top of the square is St Peters Basilica. Inorder to get into the Basilica, you need to go through a security check and a dress code check. Everyone needs to have their shoulders covered and no miniskirts. Several people get turned away, others are putting beach towels around their waist. Thankfully our guide book told us about this so we came prepared.

The dress code

The security check and queues are well worth the effort as St Peters Basilica is out of this world in its splendour and ornate decoration. Every inch of the chapel is covered in detailed sculpture, painting or marble. The scale of the building is vast.

The view down the main barrel of the Basilica

The alter

There is a central barrel ceiling with two others, one off each side. The dome is impressive, although we don’t get to stand under it, the alter under the dome is beautiful. At several points around the Basilica are transparent coffins containing dummy/models of the dead popes, including their ashes.

The transparent coffins

This is a very strange and slightly macabre thing to see. But overall the Basilica is out of this world, and the most opulent and impressive building I have ever been in. This has been worth the trip.

The road to the campsite, this must be an important tree, they built the road around it!

Next we continue South, on to

 

[syncro up]

Italy Part Two
Naples

From Rome, we continued south to Naples and the Sparticus campsite which is immediately adjacent to the Pompeii site.

Random architecture

The four hour journey to Naples is fairly uneventful, the usual mix of pristine toll roads and service stops. On the approach to Naples we see a forest fire on the mountain side and two water bomber planes dropping water on it. The mountain is on our left and on our right we have the ocean where we can watch the planes scooping water to drop on the blaze.

We have heard a few stories about Naples and the likelyhood of petty crime and car break ins. We wouldn’t have to worry as the campsite is just outwith Naples and as it turns out, we wouldn’t be staying long!

We arrive at the campsite and get shown to a space under a tree and next to a hedge. We do notice on the way in that some of the plots have evidence of what looks like someone has put talc powder round all four wheels of the vehicles. A bit like a chalk line around a dead guy on CSI or something. It’s the first time we’ve seen this and don’t really pay it any notice… big mistake!

The next day, we head into the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. The site is a beautifully preserved series of stone houses and street laid on a square grid pattern. Everything seems to be built out of stone and has therefore been preserved. There are street, pavements with kerb stones, some of the streets have stepping stones from one pavement to another and in between these stepping stones, the cart wheels have worn two channels. The main item missing from the dwelling structures are the roofs which would have been wooden.

Some general Pompeii photos

There is little information on the building to tell you what’s what’s. It’s not until lunch time that we find a café in the middle of the city which sells food, refreshments and guide books in various languages. Fully prepared we head out again, this time driven by the map and a desire to see certain buildings. We see the forum and some of the many temples. We make our way across to the Coliseum which is beautifully intact apart from the seats, and in many ways, is just as impressive and slightly more picturesque than the one in Rome due to the slightly rural surroundings and toll avenues of trees.

Coliseum

We then went across to the garden of fugitives which is where 13 death casts are displayed. A death cast is made when a human body was trapped in the volcanic ash, as the ash hardened and the body deteriorated, a void is left. The archaeologists then fill this void with mortar to make a complete plaster cast of the person. Obviously these are life size and depending on the quality, can show everything from the position the individual died in to the emotions on their face. Some show a lot of facial detail and are quite distressing to see as they essentially look like corpses. Even more so when several of the casts are of young children or children with parents.

Death Cast

We spend all day walking around the ruins, it’s a hot day so when we return to the camper, we go for a swim in the campsite pool before dinner.

After dinner, we are putting the items away and notice some ants in the chest cupboard. We explore further and notice that there are lots of ants underneath in the gas cupboard also. We squash as many as we can but there are so many. I go to look around outside and see a line of ants walking up the sink waste pipe and the tank which sits on the ground. I kid you not, the first though having seen the ants was of the ark, these ants were talking up to by two and the line was as long as I could see, there must have been easily a thousand visible with no idea how many were already in the nooks and crannies. I used the waste tank to wash as many of the ants off the exterior of the van as possible, the sheer number is overwhelming. I go back inside to continue the squashing internally.

Later I come back out to look over the outside and there appears to be even more ants than last time and are using the roof gutter as an ant superhighway! What I notice now, is that having cut off their route up the sink waste pipe, there is a single green twig touching the front bumper from the hedge infront of the van, and this is now a purpose built ant bridge and sure enough its thick with ants all going one direction, onto the van. Twig detached, I spend the next hour doing nothing other than walking around the van squashing the ants on the exterior. They are coming out door cracks and walking along the gutters, up the windows and pretty much everywhere.

After I’ve walked around the van once, it’s like I’ve not been their and the ants are thick again. I don’t even have to aim at the ants, they are so thick I can run my hand over the panels and catch ten’s at a time. By this point it’s late and dark, and still every time I walk around the van there are more ants which have appeared. But thankfully the number is getting lower and lower and I feel like we are winning the battle, if not the war. Eventually we go and talk to the campsite attendant who doesn’t seem at all surprised that we are reporting a problem with ants, WHAT! Why didn’t you say something when we arrived!

We move plot but first go to the hose pipe and drench the van and all the door jams and grill with water to wash out any remaining visitors. In our new plot, the attendant comes and puts a white powder around all the wheels, its ant powder, now the penny drops, judging by the number of plots which have this white powder evident, this ant problem is well known. We eventually get to bed around midnight and have a totally crap sleep, expecting to wake up to a van covered in ants again (inside and out… ). Thankfully it wasn’t that bad, there were still several and I go back to squashing for an hour or so, but our mind turns to packing up and leaving this disaster behind us.

We head off south, and as if to make their presence shown, we pick up the map and yup, there’s ants in that as well! We are heading for Villa San Giovani which is the south west tip of the Italian boot and our ferry port to Sicily. The weather is very hot today (40oC) and driving offers little relief. Curiously we only pay a single toll on this 400km drive, and its 3e60!

We seem to have crossed a divide between northern Italy and southern Italy. Immediately the road is constantly winding and surrounded by hills, it’s a combination of green and dried out yellow. We see so many forest fires, or small grass fires by the side of the road. Only once did we ever actually see these being attended to by a small fire truck.

Individual forest fires

We go through lots of road works today. The main road/motorway is being extensively upgraded with vast new tunnels and bridges, in 40km lengths at a time. The bridges are marvellous, very high and spanning between tunnels. We seem to be either in a tunnel or on a bridge! As we continue to drive, ants continue to appear and it’s clear we need some effective treatment for our unwanted guests. We take a detour to what appears to be one of the few big cities in the south on the hope of hitting a supermarket. We go to Vibo Valentia and get a shop which sells ant power and spray, WE GET BOTH!

We have no fixed stopping point for tonight so we look for a campsite around the town, the one on the sat nav is directing us down a single track road which appears to go down to the coast. There are no passing places and meeting traffic would be problematic so we don’t venture down that way. Instead we head back on to the motorway with the intentions of going a bit further south. We expected to be taken back to the motorway the way we came but for some reason, the satnav has a better idea and takes us the scenic route. We travel down tiny village streets where the home owners have their chairs out on the pavement passing the evening. We end up on a road which is just wide enough for the van, with massively tall grass type plant growing either side, it must be over 20ft tall! Just to make this day a little more stressful, the road goes from tar to dirt. This is worrying as theres no space to pass anything on this road and we know were on it for the next four kilometres and we’re not exactly going fast. At one point it looks like the road is going straight to disused farmers buildings. The road is in very poor condition and finally after a steep gravel climb we make it back onto a bound surface. Its clear the farming in this area is very poor and tourism is limited.

Finally back on the motorway, its 1930hrs and surprisingly dark. What we can see very clearly at night are all the forest fires burning on the hill side, some are quite close and other further away but you can see the height the flames are getting to, very beautiful to watch in a menacing kind of way.

The road is deserted, we only see four cars travelling the same direction as ourselves in half an hour. This wasn’t the plan, we hadn’t wished to drive after dark, especially on deserted southern Italian roads, we decide to call it a day and as luck would have it, there’s a cracking hotel just off the motorway. It’s called the Grand Stella Maris and is a very typical Euro four or five star hotel but it seems so out of place in this poor part of the country. It’s a 100e for the B & B which is worth it for an ant free night. Before we leave the van for the night, we give all the cupboards and areas a good spray with the ant spray and leave the van shut up for the night.

This is our first night sleeping outwith the van for 40 days, it’s a novelty to be able to spread out in a big bed and have facilities on tap.

Our chemical attack last night seems to have works, there are one or two dead ants on the counter, and we don’t see another alive one, thank god for that, I have imagined a swarming nest of them under the bed or something.

Having driven so far yesterday, we are only half an hour away from the ferry port. We arrive at the port and get instantly confused as we don’t realise there are two companies doing the crossing to Sicily. We manage to buy a ticket from one company (not entirely sure if he understood we had a trailer or not) and then manage to line up for the other companies ferry! This does little more than delay us an hour as we have to wait for the ferry to board and leave before we can go back through the access and line up for the correct ferry.

Our ferry for the short crossing to Sicily

The crossing only takes half an hour, and due to some toilet problems we are one of the last people down to the car deck and the van is pretty close to the front. We get to the van just as the car infront pulls away, phew!

Now for the Sicily part of the adventure, which will hopefully be ant free.

 

[syncro up]

Italy Part Three
Sicily

Now for the first time on the trip, we have left mainland Europe and we’re back on an island. Sicily is very similar to Italy in that’s its dry, hot and the visibility is poor (perhaps because of all the forest fires). The only discernable difference is that at one point, the central reserve is full of short palm trees.

Hill side view while driving.

Today is hot, ever more than yesterday, even the wind it hot, easily around 45oC.

We head to a campsite recommended to us as a chilled out quite beach site. It turns out to be very basic and the beach is steep and pebbly. When we arrive at the campsite [Camping “Lo Scoglio” – Castel Di Tusa] we pitch up in the shade slightly back from the beach and leave the trailer while we go in search of a cash machine and supermarket. Both of which are 8km away in a beautiful little town which seems to sell a lot of exceptionally large pottery plant/tree pots.

Dinner on the beach

For dinner, and in an attempt to keep cool, we take the Cobb down to the beach to cook away from the van. Its well after dark by the time we’re finished, its nice on the beach as there is a breeze, back at the van it’s another story. We’re all still up at midnight, its 30oC inside the van and unbearable. Even when it’s been hot before, the temperature has dropped just enough at night to allow a sleep, but not now, nobody is getting any quality sleep and we are all feeling the effects of the last few days exertions.

Nice pebble beach

The following day we have a discussion and decide this can’t continue. We either need to find a hotel with air-con or try and head north to Sardinia in the hope it’s a bit cooler. The ferry from Sicily to Sardinia only runs once a week, luckily for us it runs tonight. So today we pack up and head to Traperio to catch the ferry, unsure if there is room for us, but its worth a shot.

Its hot hot hot.

This may seem like a defeatist attitude, but when you’ve been on the road for so long, there comes a snapping point, the high temperatures and a lack of sleep was our trigger. Sicily appears to be a beautiful place to explore, we just happened to arrive during a heat wave, and with the ferry running once a week, an early departure would afford us more time later in the trip.

The drive to Traperio is another long motorway drive with lots and lots of tunnels and high level bridges. The section of Palermo we see from the motorway looks interesting but the area looks quite poor. The temperatures so far have been around the 35oC mark, but past Palermo it gets hotter again, were are up to 40oC and even the wind is warm/hot.

Typical Italian roads, straight out a tunnel onto a viaduct then back into a tunnel the other side.

We arrive at Trapani about 4pm but can’t find the ticket office. Eventually, after driving around the port twice we come back to what we think is the ticket and have to wait until 9pm for it to open (the ferry is at 11.59pm). We rest up and get some dinner on, we’re not the only ones waiting.

Waiting at the ticket office

Not our but a nice shot

Not our but a nice shot

Finally the office does eventually open at 9pm. We are third in line but it takes such a long time for each person to get served. In our spare time, we have translated and drafted a few words to help the person understand what we are trying to buy a ticket for. This made a big difference and the only thing we had forgotten was to have the vans registration documents with us. thankful we were only third in line to buy the tickets as with the speed they process each ticket, we are doubtful they will finish the line before the ferry leaves!

Tickets finally in hand, and a vague idea of where to go to get the ferry, we headed across the road for a take away pizza before going to find the ship. This is the first and only time I have every had a rectangular pizza from a pizzeria. It was about 18” by 9” and lovely. We now head around the ferry.

Our one and only rectangular pizza of the trip

Having lined up in a very random and haphazard way next to the ferry we think is ours (there’s two), we do eventually get on board the ship for 23.30 and go up to get our cabin key from reception. Our cabin turns out to be a four bunk one, and as our little one is too little to pay, we only have two names on our ticket and four beds, so wonder if we should expect anyone else coming in to occupy the other two beds… Thankfully this didn’t happen and we soon fall asleep to the cooling effects of aircon and the gentle vibration from the engine.

 

[hrt4me]

nice trip report

 

[Christian P.]

thanks for posting this. Traveling in a Syncro is always a bit of an adventure - regardless of offroad or not...

Personally I am in a stage right now where I appreciate traveling through Europe as much as Africa, even if there is no winch involved.

 

[sharonz]

yeah, I like them!! post more and thanks!!

 

[syncro up]

A bit of delay but I've got the remaining sections ready to go.
:wings:

 

[syncro up]

Italy Part Four
Sardinia

First view of Sardinia

The next morning, we arrive at the Cagliari port, Sardinia, and make our way to the Bronze Age site at Barlumnin – “Su Nuraxi”, which is basically a 1500BC settlement built of large basalt boulders. On the way to the site, we detour to a Lidl's and stock up on the usual. From the Lidl's, we head on in the direction indicated on the sat nav, only to realise it's the wrong address, and one hour later we end up driving right past the Lidls again, very frustrating.

Can anyone identify this cactus fruit, they have been everywhere in southern Italy.

The roads in Sardinia are of good quality, but there are no motorways on the island, so getting anywhere takes some time. Unlike the mainland, they also don't have the big tunnels and bridges either, so all the roads follow the contours of the land. This gives fabulous twisting, winding roads which climb and descend quickly. However, because there are no big roads, all the roads go right through all the towns and villages. These towns have very small narrow streets, no sidewalks and little signage. I don't know where all the heavy trucks go as we felt quite large in these narrow streets.

Rush hour traffic

We eventually arrive at Su Nuraxi. To get into the site, you need to go as part of an organised tour, our guide didn't speak any English, but gave us an English script which described what we were seeing in each area.

The boulder circles on the outer edges of the main building are 1-3 metres tall. One contained a block for grinding, others all contained large pedestal bowls in the centre which were used to hold water, or possibly worship.

Around the stones

The main attraction is the 10-12 metre high cone shaped, stone build building. To get inside, you need to go up several flights of stairs on the exterior, then down some very narrow and steep original internal stairs. Inside, it's a series of circular stone rooms with a minimum of 5 metres internal height. These are impressive when considering the era in which they were built.

Onward from Su Nuraxi, and we are struggling to find a campsite, we find a nice looking one about 90 minutes away, but due to the roads, it takes nearer 2 hours to get their. We finally arrive around 730pm at Bella Sardinia Camping Village, it's a large forest park with restaurant, pool and beach frontage. After some driving through the trees (as theres not obvious road or parking slots), we park up, then move because of the ants. When we do find a nice spot, we also put down ant powder around the wheels.

Camping in the pine trees

The temperatures in Sardinia have been a welcome few degrees cooler than the main land, but even here, at 1am, the temperature outside is 21oC and 27oC inside the van.

We spend some time around camp just relaxing, catching up with the washing and enjoying the facilities. Later on we come back to the van and get a telling off for having a washing line up between the pine trees, despite the fact there are several other lines up at other vans, all within eye sight. Washing put away, we go across to the main building and bar for the kids disco.

Main building

The next day, we go to a nearby village to get some supplies before going back to camp to hang out by the pool, where we get a second telling off for parking out bicycles in the wrong place. Interestingly, the jumped up bar tender who delivered the telling off is also the same chancer who tried (unsuccessfully) to short change us the night before.

That night we have a great pizza in the restaurant. But it's time to move on, we've been here a few days, and while the site and surroundings are perfect for a longer stay, the run-ins we've had with the staff imparts the feeling you are constantly being watched and policed. This has ruined what could have been a fantastic site and we leave feeling bitter about the whole thing.

On the road again, we head north to the ferry port of Santa Teresa di Gallura, which is where we will catch the ferry tomorrow to Corsica. This drive involves more beautiful roads and for a while, we follow the coast around the north of the island.

If Jeremy Clarkson or any of the that Topgear mob want to find the best motoring roads then they should really come to Sardinia, they are built for roof down, motoring. They are even good to drive in a two ton camper.

By the time we get to the port, we are too late to cross tonight when we don't know where we are going on the other side, so instead we spent the night and will cross tomorrow.

Walking around town, we find a store which sells awning poles and fly netting, we have been looking for these all the way around the trip to make a fly screen from, for the sliding door. We also find a bank and pharmacy in the town which is welcome after the small towns we have been used to in Sardinia.
Today, the GPS logged more than 100hrs of driving time on this trip. And at 5939 kilometres so far, we are averaging ~60kph (~37mph).

Our ferry coming in

This is the harbour water between the pier and the ferry, water is still beautifully clean and full of small fish.

At the ferry port the following day and this is a lot more comfortable, there is only one dock and the ticket office is right there and open when we arrive. Our passage costs 129E.
We are parked right at the front of the ferry, and interesting the front doors are half open when we drive on from the back. The crossing is fairly choppy so we are glad it's only an hour.

Parked at the front hoping they close the doors before they leave.

 

[syncro up]

France Part One
Corsica

The journey from Sardinia to Corsica is only an hour which we are grateful of as it's a little choppy. The final passage into Bonifacio harbour is beautiful. The harbour is a few hundred metres up a passage way through the yellow rock, towering on the cliffs are old look and ancient defence posts.

Cliff top defences and sea cave

Castle overlooks the harbour

There are many campsite in and around Bonifacio so we choose one within easy walking distance of town. Its fairly busy but theres enough space for everyone although the toilets are a challenge, they only have the squat over a hole in the ground type ones... I think I'll wait.

A grouping of VW's, the T4 parked infront of me left before I took this photo

After a dinner in the van we head into two for a wander around the harbour. This place is definitely a millionaire's playground if the contents of the harbour are anything to go by. Its full of large yachts and boats including two truly massive sea going gin palaces, the biggest is called the Sycara5 [a Google search shows this yacht is available for hire at $765,000 per week].

The Sycara5 dwarfing the other craft

We arrived in Bonifacio at the right time, tonight there is a free concert and firework display up at the castle which overlooks the harbour. We pass the time in town and watching the fish in the harbour which has beautiful clear water. The fireworks are well worth the wait and last for three quarters of an hour. Bed time after this.

Fireworks display on night of arrival

The next day we book a boat trip around the coast to look at some of the many caves and coastal features. The view from the little boat as you pass through the natural entrance to the harbour is beautiful and well recommended. At one point on the trip the boat goes straight into a cave, turns and comes back out. The waters are crystal clear here; the algae and sea shells on the bottom give a stunning effect when the sun hits them to show a spectrum of greens and blues. The boat trip was well worth it.

Idyllic coast line

Beautiful clear waters with vivid colours

Back at the harbour we collect the van and head off to Cargese, to a campsite chosen purely for the reviews its clean toilets have received. The drive is beautiful and we are back on the twisty mountain roads, we top out at 650m above sea level. The drive takes us through forests and gives great views of the ocean. It takes an hour longer to arrive at our destination than the sat nav thought it should, due to the slow winding nature of the roads.

Winding narrow roads and the locals

Sun getting low in the sky

Going from sea views to mountain vistas

We are staying at the Torraccia Camping. It seems to be in the middle of nowhere but certainly has excellent facilities and a very well kept pool. We spent the next two days just lazing around the pool, playing with the water guns, tidying the van, updating the facebook blog and generally enjoying some chill out time in the sun (consistently around 30oC, perfect).

Prime location next to the pool

After 8 weeks on the road, we finally fashion a screen door to keep the bugs out during the day

After Cargese, we head north to Calvi in search of some of the famous Corsica beach. We follow the coast road (there is not many roads to choose from) through an areas called Les Calanques de Piana which is full of red granite pinnacles.

Start of the pinnacles

These are impressive to look at and this area is a major tourist attraction. Despite the fact that we are on the main road around the island, it goes right through this area which makes the road even narrower and very winding with several single lane section which makes negotiating oncoming traffic a nightmare. At one point the whole system comes to a halt as a bus tries to make its way along the road, we wait for it to pass us with only inches to spare and are glad our van is relatively small. This saga takes about ten minutes, the bus still has miles of this to go, its going to be a long trip for them and the massive queue of cars behind him.

There is a vertical gap down the centre of the rock formation, right down the middle of the picture, the road goes through this “slit”!

We continue the drive up to Calvi where we stop for supplies before continuing on to U Paradisu Campsite which can only be reached by boat or 4x4. By the time we get the dirt road we have been driving for most of the day. Within the first 200m of the dirt road we meet 6 vehicles coming the other way, negotiating these vehicles is difficult with the trailer as the track is only a lane and a bit wide. After much discussion involving the lateness in the day, 13 kilometres of dirt road to travel which is rough and therefore slow, to a campsite which we didn't know if it was any good or available, we decide to turn around and back to Calvi for a more traditional camping experience.

Dirt road to U Paradisu travelled at “rush hour”

We eventually get back to Calvi four hours after we were there earlier in the day, and camp at Pinede Campsite which is very hand for the beach. The campsite is lovely and we spend plenty time chilling out on the beach and swimming in the sea.

Calvi Beach a stones throw from the campsite. Ubiquitous castle/defences overlooking the harbour

Down time also means washing time

One of our neighbours

After a few days just chillin' its time to catch the ferry from Calvi to Nice. Despite being up at 8 for an 11am ferry, we are still running late when we leave and its at that time that the one main road in town decides to grid lock. After some time we eventually travel the 1km from the campsite to the ferry port and set about buying more ferry tickets in a language we don't speak, this is always entertaining as we are never sure if they have understood that we have a trailer with us or not. Cost for the passage is 360E.

Ferry final arrives

The ferry is massive and arrives only 15 minutes before its due to leave, we are loaded with the cars which means we have 2.5 metres headroom for our 2.35m camper. I wonder if the loader guys have a really good understanding of height or just get lucky, and then what happens it goes wrong?

Smooth passage, this is the sister ferry going the other way with mainland Europe in the background

 

[syncro up]

France Part One
Nice

The crossing takes a few hours and is very smooth with little in the way of waves, the ship also has a soft play area so that helps keep Abby occupied. We get off the ferry at 3.30pm and descend into the chaos of Nice traffic. This is a shocking experience having come from the idyllic surrounding of Corsica where traffic really doesn't exist. We make our way through Nice with no real destination, after a few aborted attempts at finding a campsite in Nice and the crazy traffic, we cut out losses and hit the road west to find a basic campsite out of town for a stay over until we head on to Cannes. The site was basic and a bit unkept, the pool had alot of floating debris and declared that the men cant wear board shorts, they must wear speedo? Very odd. The only good thing about stooping here was meeting up with a French couple touring in a camperised Land Cruiser. A beautiful and well made set up from Innovation Campers but very small for any more than two people.

LandCruiser camper converted from new by http://www.innovation-campers.de/

France part two
Cannes and Monte Carlo
The plan was head to Cannes, from where we will get the train back to Nice and Monte Carlo, on the way we will call at the supermarket and then on to Grasse which is a town renowned for producing perfume. We made it to the supermarket where we had a disagreement from a local who didn't appreciate we needed a double parking space for the trailer, then the supermarket didn't have any fresh milk. Then its on to the toll road, the toll roads in France are different, here you stop every 10 miles or so and have to pay a toll, this really disrupts progress. We pay 10E for under an hours driving. When we do arrive in Grasse, its a very polished and ‘pretty' large town but they seem to hate anything bigger than a car, we drive around the centre and cant find any car parking space which doesn't have a height restriction. So instead we get a lovely detour round this picturesque hill side town then head for Cannes. At Cannes we manage to drive past the campsite several times before realising its behind a large hedge. When we pull in the office is shut and the gates all require a key code, so we head to a large soft play we found on the way in and spend some time there. We eventually get into the campsite around 5, we are all shattered, today took an inordinate amount of energy to achieve very little. We are all in bed for 8.30 and out like a light, its notably hotter again being back on the main land, the temperature in the van overnight stayed around 28oC. Overnight we have a thunder storm and heavy rain. The first rain we've seen since Austria, that's about 30 days.

Cannes campsite during off season

The next day we cycle the few miles to the town centre and wonder around. Cannes is very glamorous with another marina full of million pound yachts, there is high end designer shops and then the usual tourist tat. Overall I love it.

Indications of the importance of the film festival

Cannes Marina

Town square

That night we have BBQ chicken on the Cobb, all washed and we are in bed for 10pm and thankfully its only 22oC. This is the first reasonable night temperature we have had for long enough and we even pull out the duvet, bliss!

The next day we travel by train to Monte Carlo, the bus to the train station is only 1E and we get on a double deck train which stops at every station but the journey is picturesque along the coast line. The centre of Monte Carlo is compact and very clean. Again there is a large marina. After a while Abby falls asleep in the buggy so we take a rest and order some cocktails down by the marina.

Monte Carlo, small but beautifully formed

Back to Cannes we head out for dinner and have a seafish platter and do some shopping. I've loved spending time in Cannes, its a very chilled out place and somewhere you can just relax and enjoy the surroundings.

Hmm, seafood platter

Cannes by night

 

[syncro up]

France part three
Millau
Its time to leave Cannes and head inland to Millau. There is only one reason that we wanted to go to Millau and that the viaduct, in fact its one of the factors which pushed us to undertake this trip. I’m a bridge engineer by profession and seeing the viaduct has been on the bucket list for some time. So off we go for the 5,5hr drive from Cannes to Millau. Not surprisingly, this is our most expensive day of tolls so far at 34E. On route we get fuel and a supermarket, then a stop at Montpeillier. These stops help break up the journey and we get into Millau at 7pm after a break at a view point to take some snaps of the bridge on the way in.

The bridge at dusk

We stop at a four star site in town on the edge of the river, it’s a lovely clean, extensive site and largely empty (it’s now late September) with a river running down one side and a cycle path on the other side. We take advantage of this and cycle into Millau for a look around. The original plan was simply to drive through Millau but what a find, the village is a beautiful little place. We go for lunch in the centre which has a fountain and is adorned with flowers. The centre is full of back alleys which are only 6ft wide with old four storey buildings towering over you, its very atmospheric. These streets form a labyrinth to explore, some of residential properties and others containing businesses.

Town centre

Typical back streets

We could have spent longer in Millau, at this time of year it has a lovely chilled out feeling and you can spend time just relaxing while the world passes you by. However after two nights here its time to push on to another new country. The plan is to move on to Andorra but with a 7hr drive and a late start we wont make it in one day and plan an intermediate stop. On the way out of Millau we detour just so we can drive over the bridge. It costs 9E60 to cross the bridge, after this we route to Albi then on to Toulouse to pick up the motorway.

The approach to the viaduct

And the drive across... as magnificent as we had hoped.

We stop off in Foix for the night, this is just a pit stop and we don’t even bother unpacking the back of the van, instead we all sleep up in the roof. Normally I get the roof to myself, it’s a bit more crowded with three but it makes for a quick turnaround in the morning.