Preparation

For a change, we did not make any last minute changes to the van.  The only things we needed to do were to replace the rear-view camera on the box (the first eBay one leaked) and to modify the thermal curtains we made.   

We decided not to do too much planning for this trip as well, so we simply bought BoardAtlas 2009 and the Italian Guida Camper from Vicarious Books.  So for us, we’d even have to make up the route as we went – and for that we just had a rough recommended guide from Russell (on Motorhome facts) which seemed a good place to start!   After being stung for expensive food items in Spain we have also brought half of Tesco with us as well which should help reduce our shopping bill  

Apart from that the van was cleaned, checked, and loaded to the brim and we set off for adventures unknown!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO SUMMARY AND REVIEW

Review of Italy and Switzerland trip

25 February – 14 April 2009 (48 days)
Trip distance: 3689 miles (excluding Home to/from Dover)
Average: 34-35 mpg
Trip cost: €1636 (c. £1500) – €34 or £30 per day

Summary

This tour of mainly Italy and a little Switzerland has been our best so far being a very interesting trip taking in countries we knew little about, over routes that we knew nothing about, and having to learn along the way. We had loads of tips off the Internet forums which helped no end with essentials, routes, and places to see which made things a little easier for us.

Switzerland is lovely, great landscape and very interesting views and sights along the way. Apart from Geneva where you are NOT permitted to wild camp, you can (apparently) camp anywhere overnight (15hrs max) as long as you comply with any local parking restrictions. This meant we were able to find some absurd locations such as in the Alps! All good fun though. There are many “motorhome services” – but not many marked overnight stops so just make your own. You do need to research which passes are open (or at least read the signs!) as we did end up a road with no exit to Italy. Knowing where we were going and looking at a map would have helped…. We did buy a Swiss Vignette (24€ ish) for access to their motorway network, but the route we used down to Italy was really motorway free so not really needed. The way back however was almost all motorway and a lot easier (though we were never checked if we had the Vignette or not).

In truth, we didn’t really do Switzerland justice as we stayed in Italy longer than expected and the way back was pretty much a dash through. We will return and give Switzerland a good going over one day.

The real north-westerly part of Italy where we entered was too stressful, chaotic, and dense for our tastes but Tuscany down to Rome was much better. Wild camping seems to be frowned upon though there are many official overnight spots and we never had any issues where we did wild camp. We did find many of the documented stopovers (in Boardatlas 2009 and Guida Camper) to be wrong at times – the locations either had “no overnight parking” signs; were pay & display and not “free” as per the guides; or facilities such as water weren’t actually there. That said, some were great and some random POIs from my database which weren’t in any guides worked fine.

Some parts of Italy were SUBPERB and absolutely worth seeing. Stunning places, stunning scenery, and just a great environment to tour. There were a few places that felt lower than 3rd world, and in places the lack of maintenance and investment showed. We did find Italy became visibly poorer and messier near Napels and below, and apart from some amazing sites (Pompeii, Paestum, Matera, Alberobello) the south doesn’t really give you much to like. Interestingly, our database of sites/aires has a visible line from Rome on the west across to the east, with loads of stops above the line, and not many below it. This line does seem to tally with the areas we didn’t like. As mentioned in the diary, in hindsight we’d still visit the sites in the south as they are spectacular, but just route between them as fast as possible rather than try and linger and stumble on nice areas.

Generally we try to avoid toll roads as the free roads are normally not much longer for time or distance (especially if you are just pootling along) and a lot more picturesque. Italy is different – the toll roads can, for example, be 1hr for a 80km route; whereas the free route is 2.5hrs and 120km! And though more interesting, the roads can be especially challenging. We asked to route both ways and then make a judgement call. When on the motorways the tolls seem to work out at maybe 5c-15c per km – so 50-80km may be 5€. Sometimes you get a ticket and pay on exit, and on others (e.g. Pompeii going South) you pay a fixed price as you enter and stay on as long as you like.

LPG is widely available – a lot more stations than my GPS database.

We don’t need to say much more on L’Aquila apart from we’re gutted for the city that was so kind to us. We glad we went and saw it as it was before it was devastated. Hope they recover well.

Overall though this trip was great – a few blips near the start and half way through but the rest of Italy more than made up for it. We saw everything we imagined, we did everything we wanted, and we ate out till we’re Pizza’d out. We would wholeheartedly recommend a tour of Italy – but would say out of peak season (probably April/May/early June) would be the best time.

How did the Van do?

As ever, the van did really well. When keeping to slower routes (50mph) it managed an average of 36mpg which is mightily impressive considering we weigh almost the maximum 2.8 tonnes. Normal average mpg is 33-34 ish. When driving in the Italian towns, the van actually felt very nimble and agile and to be honest we drove it like a car. Anything much bigger would have caused us issues on a fair few occasions!

We pushed the van much more on this trip than previous, wild-camping for up to 14 days at a time without facilities – and it coped perfectly. The shower and bathroom was in frequent use (unlike most vans). We never ran out of water, gas or power – the Gaslow and extra batteries worked flawlessly.

Obviously, we topped the fresh water and emptied whenever we found somewhere free and easy, but apart from that we had our freedom!

Even over the very bumpy roads (imagine a main road worst than unpaved UK roads), nothing broke, no rattles developed, no cupboard doors fell open and everything stayed in place. We know our van has solid (oak frame) furniture with thick wood elsewhere – but we were still surprised to the extent of the shaking it received and remained unscathed. Not sure how many cheaper-made vans would fair in the same conditions.

Considering how many nights we’ve been away in it of recent, and how many miles it has done – the van will receive a good clean, a bit of TLC, and we will ensure the brakes have something left in them!

CLICK HERE FOR WEEK 1

For the first time we left home in the dry with only the slight hint of rain – hopefully this is a sign of things to come. Getting to Dover was the usual bore, but at Dover we got pulled in for a “random” security search. Now I was worried – what if they found my secret reserve stash of Tesco Value Chocolate Digestives!? We had to drive into a small warehouse where one of the staff came and said hello, and pretty much that was it. Clearly we don’t look as rough as we do when we come home, and after just poking her head in the door we were sent on our way.

Whilst waiting for the ferry we found a free Aire in Belgium around 2.5 hours away which seemed to fit in nicely. We pitched there for the night and decided to cycle into Brussels – around 15 mile round trip. We’ve been to Brussels before and weren’t overly keen, and even on this trip we saw some new impressive sites (Atomium – a massive structure representing the iron molecule; and Parc du Cinquantenaire where we visited the car museum) but the city didn’t warm to us. Very German in places; Dutch in others; and a bit of French thrown in; but overall didn’t really woo us. A few Belgium beers and another night in the free Aire was decided upon before continuing South towards Strasburg.

With programmed we set off through Belgium and Luxemburg, and only when we were expecting to arrive in Strasburg did we realise we were actually heading to Metz. User error unfortunately but as it was almost lunchtime we thought we would stop in Metz and see if fate routed us here! The camping spot was a small free area next to the river and a short walk in to town. Though only half full when we arrived, it filled up quickly and then enough vans to double fill it arrived over the next couple of hours! These overflowed into a normal car park without issue.

Metz was much bigger than we expected, with a large cathedral and other buildings in orangey stone but in a similar vein to Bath. The old centre is well worth a visit with some interesting and niche shops. We madly opted to go running and we found some paths along the river, into a basin and around a marina and canal with a lovely skyline of Metz old buildings along the way reminding us a little of Dresden. After a good hot shower and big meal we settled down to some more “24” and a beer!

We decided to head straight to Switzerland in the morning – even though it was quite a hike. As usual we avoided toll roads which meant deviated from the route suggested as our route avoided Swiss motorways and their “tax” for it. The route we took was rather interesting with some mountainous bits with deep snow either side of the road – though it has to be said the roads were perfectly clear throughout. We stopped in a small town (Saignelégier) for lunch and though the snow was deep the weather was very warm indeed – a bit of a paradox as the snow didn’t seem to melt! This route is okay in our van but we’d not recommend it for large vans as some of the roads were quite tight with rocky overhangs.

Switzerland (we thought) isn’t very camper-van friendly and has very few free camping spots so we knew we’d have to use some campsites along the way. We were equipped with ACSI discount and also some camping cheques which we bought cheap from someone on the Internet. Our first site was just outside Bern where we opted to stay a couple of days to allow us to explore and visit the city of Bern just a short bike ride away.

Bern is a very pleasant city – pretty in places and worth a visit. Our first thoughts were “blimey its a bit of a mess” due to the amount of rubbish, confetti, smell of wee, and beer bottles laying around. Then, annoyingly, we found out the previous night it had one of its biggest festivals (freeing the Bear) which would have been marvellous to have seen. Had we known. Bugger. The famous clock-tower which draws a crowd every hour for a clockwork performance was a bit of a let down. Clever for an old clock perhaps, but we left thinking “is that it?”. The rest of the old town with vaulted coverings to the shops were rather nice and we can imagine it to be bustling in the summer months.

The following days turned out to be a bit of a disaster. We had planned going for a long run in Bern, but the weather was pretty grim so we decided against it and instead pop down to Lake Geneva. So we planned a scenic route down – well – we say that, but it wasn’t as after about 10 miles the fog came in and we saw pretty much nothing. On arriving at the lake we saw very little and thought it would be nice to stay there and give it a chance in the morning. Unfortunately everywhere had “no camping” and “no overnight parking” signs. There was a formal site nearby, so we went there but the place was like a mud bath. So we gave up and planned a route out…

This turned out to be a mistake too – and lesson learned by making changes to the provided advice of Russell! We drove down past the Rhone and camped in a lovely site there for the night, and decided to go for a long run. After 5 reasonable miles we had enough so turned round to go back only to face a hellish headwind all the way back which almost killed us. On returning to the van I had to fix the demister air vent as it wasn’t working. The ford workshop manual I had with me didn’t give many clues, so by the time I worked it out and fixed it I broke off a retaining clip. Gaffa tape worked wonders and will last till we return. We also heard from our neighbour that some teenage scroats kicked one of our fence panels in at home. Little s*****s.

 In the morning we then headed via a lovely scenic route through Saillon and explored their mounted castle, and along through to Sion where we had lunch. A lovely old town centre with a castle and really old buildings. After Sion we continued the scenic route up into the Alps, with snow getting deeper, till we got to Munster. We spoke to a lovely lady in the tourist information who explained they’d just had recent snow and the roads were closed due to several meters of snow! Damn! This is pretty much the only way we can get back on track into Italy! The kind lady gave us an alternative route over the mountains back the way we came – so we decided to wild camp in the snow (and REALLY test the van and our winterisation modifications away from hookup!) and make our way in the morning.
 

CLICK HERE TO GO TO WEEK 2

Our night wild camping in the Alps was fine! It was actually quite warm and the van and gas heating held up well. A good hot curry and hot chocolate also helped. It snowed a little overnight, but the run down the mountain was okay. Turning up towards the Simplon Pass the snow started to come down – and towards the top the conditions weren’t that great. In places we were doing walking pace speeds with the ABS on constantly if the brakes were touched. Quite a challenging drive but safe in the knowledge we had snow-chains if we got stuck, and if we got really stuck we had loads of food, water and gas! All turned out well and we entered Italy – immediately noticing how crap the roads had become and how the driving standards got to below Spanish standards rather quickly – tailgating and overtaking on white lines seems normal. We liked Switzerland and look forward to covering more of the country on the way back home.

On the motorway a white car flashed us, and came past waving, pulled in front with hazards. Having read too many stories on the internet about such actions ending in robbery we just smiled, waved back and overtook him refusing to stop. We knew nothing was majorly wrong and the rear view camera showed the bikes & box were still attached! After a while he gave up and drove off so we pulled over to check and noticed our waste pipe was dangling off and has actually worn through the pipe and tap so now it leaks. Oops. Sorry Mr Italian! And thanks to Mr Gaffa Tape for a quick fix. In Italy Mel wanted to see the lakes, so we headed down to Lake Maggiore and camped in a free aire in Verbania. The weather was cloudy and heavy rain so opted just to chill and await the sun (or at least a dry spell!) before venturing out. The rain didn’t end so we just had a reading and movie day. Overnight the rain continued and the following day was just as bad.

In the morning we ventured into the town which was nothing special, and the lake did promise some excellent views once the cloud lifted. We returned soaked to the skin and freezing – so a good hot shower was in order. As the rain seems set in we have aborted our trip to Lake Como – saving that for the return leg and continued South towards the sun (!)

Driving conditions were horrendous not helped by the dire Italian driving standard. No indicators – especially on roundabouts; people pull out onto roundabouts regardless if you are there or not (Italy have both give-way to entry and give-way to cars on) – but give-way to neither. Speed limits are more “speed minimums”, “no overtaking” means “just do it quicker” – and zebra crossings are for parking on – never to give way to pedestrians! Most roads are heavily pot-holed and in the rain you can’t see road markings. Good job we fixed the demister!!

We arrived at a possible overnight camping spot in Voghera and went out to explore the town. The centre was nice enough, very pleasant and a good few shops for some essential supplies. The provided overnight camping area was little more than a lorry park so at after our tour we decided to spend the early evening heading south to Genova.

Our spate of bad luck continued – apart from hitting snow again on the way down, we entered Genova seeking a wild camping space – but little did we know this is a major and dense city with little parking and thousands of cars around. Absolutely horrendous – we got stuck for 90 mins + trying to get out with scenes reminiscent of Doctor Who where people had been stuck in a traffic jam for years! Somehow we got out unscathed (Mel was feeling sorry for !) – continuing east to a few “known” locations for somewhere to stop. Again, we didn’t have much luck – the coast road is up a mountain and its difficult to see much – and though we passed a group of vans there wasn’t anywhere to turn round. Getting tired and grumpy we set to guide us to the harbour car park at Rapallo as these are usually a good bet – and true enough a gorgeous view and location – and we tucked in stealthily in a corner for a good tea and earned beer….

In the morning we admired our surroundings and admired the town of Rapallo. It looked really bustling and quite authentic. The marina too was worth a walk around before escaping lest we got a parking ticket!

Continuing east along the coast we got to Lavagna where we parked up and went for a 6 mile run to Sestri Levante. The beach was pretty grim to be honest, but on arriving in Sestri Levante the town and surroundings were actually very impressive. We enjoyed a run around the town streets (with some bemused looks) before heading back and relocating to La Spezia where we would top up tanks and spend the night. The provided facilities were green enough but based just outside a port so fairly noisy – not really recommended. A 3 mile walk was needed to get into La Spezia. The town and marina are pretty nice to walk around but the walk there was a little of an eyesore!

We spent the evening planning the next week and actually looking at the map and the list of recommendations kindly given to us by Internet Buddies on MHF. With the sun beating down (quite a change!) we took a superb scenic route to Lucca – a lovely old walled town with superb squares and buildings. Well worth a detour – but if just visiting don’t park in the official aire. From Lucca we headed to Pisa with a plan to stay the night, but as we had time we went to Pisa Marina and found it was as flat as a pancake meaning an ideal running route for the morning! The place was heaving and due to numerous “no campervan parking” signs we opted to pay and stay in the Marina where there were 50+ other motorhomes – all Italian! The gorgeous sunshine (22’ according to the pharmacy sign!) must be bringing them out of the woodwork.

In the morning, in more sunshine, we went for a 16 mile run along the coast road to Livorno and back. Bit of a killer! After a nice shower, the marina aire was full to capacity with 90% of people with a full BBQ setup with tables and chairs with the Italian “mamas” stressing over the food! We escaped and headed to Pisa for a tourist visit to the town. With aching legs we didn’t fancy a walk up the impressive tower so settled for a picnic on the grass in front of it. Aside from tourist tat the town had a busy market and many superb buildings behind the scenes. Very impressive – and well worth a visit. Knackered, we had a nap and camped in a quiet free place and gave our legs a deserved rest.

From Pisa we headed towards San Gimignano which is a historic town with numerous towers and churches – a superb place to visit. In the central plaza they have an award winning ice-cream parlour where we expected extortionate prices – but in fact found realistic prices and absolutely superb ice cream! Fully recommended! After a tour we headed down the hill to Certaldo where there was a free serviced aire. Stopping here for the night we explored the ancient old town on top of a hill – really impressive (if quiet) and worth the walk. A well earned Pizza was called for in the local town with a good bottle of Chianti. We felt completely satisfied till the guy on next table ordered something and his plate was overflowing with a meat dish I’d failed to spot! Damn.

The next day we planned a longish drive through the good, quiet and sometimes beautiful Tuscany countryside down to Lake Bolsena where we wild camped right on the lake just outside Capodimonte. This town provided a few essentials and another old town and small castle to wander round – but more importantly a lovely view in the sun just to veg for an afternoon.

Thus ending our second week on this tour! We have to say when we entered Italy first of all we were fairly disappointed – but as we’ve gone south it has indeed become a beautiful and relaxing place to tour. The girls are especially sexy – loads of fit bottoms and slim girls – but as a word of warning – not many older women share the same looks….! Buyer beware! Mel had her share of eye-candy from all the lycra clad cyclists that are around here – literally 100’s of them!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO WEEK 3

After a nice first evening at Garda we opted to stay a second night and just enjoy the view over the lake. In typical fashion we started the week with an early morning 10 mile run which felt tougher than it ought and spent the rest of the day just relaxing and planning some future projects. We did venture back into town for a rather large meal and too much wine but as this is our last week then why not! The next day started with glorious sunshine so we chose to move to Lake Como which we missed on our way down due to bad weather.

We set a route to Como centre and one of our random GPS points from the Internet, and though this led to a car park there was a little spot hidden away which was right on the lake. A bit dubious but we saw nothing that said otherwise so opted to stay there for the day. After a little walk we had a lovely picnic on our picnic blanket next to the lake reading. Glorious! The views around Como are stunning. For overnight we saw a number of other vans and decided to join them as our spot was a little too dubious, as we had another long run planned for the morning we deemed it wiser to be somewhere a little more legitimate.

After a lovely night we had another 10 mile run as far round the lake as we could safely do, then spent the afternoon browsing the large market and chilling reading. Opting for another day at Como we had our last Italian beers before making plans to head to Switzerland the following morning. Our end in Italy has been superb and the sort of Italy we imagined before we came.

The exit to Switzerland was hugely impressive and much more picturesque than our entry. Some great engineering feats of tunnel building; some beautiful views of snow-capped Alps, waterfalls, snow; and ancient and traditional houses clinging to the cliffs. We ventured into Lucerne which is picture-postcard beautiful. Lovely old buildings, stunning lake, and mountainous background landscape.

Since re-entering Switzerland the driving standards returned to normal, and it was tough learning to obey the speed limits and actually give way to pedestrians at zebra crossings! Even more surprising to see cars stop to allow us to cross the road! Such an amazing and distinct difference in the space of a few miles.

We moved from Lucerne to a campsite that sounded nice on the edge of another lake nearby. In fairness it was nice, but reminded us why we’ve been avoiding campsites and have been enjoying out of season camping. As it was Easter weekend, the place is sprawling with noisy and annoying ankle-biters. We made swift plans to leave first thing in the morning and find somewhere wild – and in the meantime play Nivana at a loud enough volume to drown out the shrieks.

After a surprisingly good nights sleep, we rose early and did our chores brimming the tanks of the van enough to last us till we got back, and headed to Basel. Basel sounded interesting as it is the city where France, Switzerland and Germany all meet. Most of the outskirts appeared very industrial and Slough like – even to the extent of a few of the same companies! The old town is rather pleasant but despite our wishes of Swiss Easter Egg shops having massive sales on – not one was open so we missed out on all Easter Eggs. As the town really was quiet and closed we decided to head up to Strasburg.

Strasburg is on the border of France/Germany and upon entry from Germany it appears there is a war still going on. Not sure if we’ve missed the news, but the old customs building was burnt to the ground and a 100m on or so a hotel was gutted with fire as was a building opposite. The damage all looked fresh so not sure what was going on. Not a great start, but carrying on we parked up and walked into the city centre along the river and old docks. It appears as if the dock area has been regenerated recently as it was all modern and clean. Heading into the old town though Strasburg felt out of place – it felt Swiss rather than French or German – we’ll need to Google to work out why. Some really lovely buildings and a huge surprising and unique gothic cathedral like none we’ve seen before. We found lots of plazas and the place was quite buzzing.

One problem with travelling we’ve found is that as soon as you start thinking about home and what you need to do, then your mind and heart isn’t with the holiday. Sadly that day had come as we knew we had loads of things at home waiting for us, and we decided to use the empty roads to make headway towards home. Strasburg however is on our “to return to” list as the city looks like it has a huge amount to offer.

Setting off again we headed to Metz where we stayed on our way down which seems an age away! Arriving late the 8 campervan places in their free aire were all taken, and about another 20 vans were just parked nearby. We joined them and ventured back into Metz old town which still is lovely and had a lovely meal in a fish reaurant. Which is bizarre as Metz is probably the furthest point from the sea we’ve been in 2 months!!

The following morning we headed to a small aire in Belgium in Veurne. Timing a fuel stop correctly we arrived in Luxemburg with empty tanks and filled up with Diesel at 0.82€ a litre – bargain! Why didn’t we ever stop there before!?

Veurne is a perfect pre-Calais stop around 50 mins away. A small quiet town with a nice town square with numerous bars and restaurants for the last swills of Belgium beer. There appeared to be around 10 vans overnighting there so its not a new secret find.

From there, to Calais, to home, and the end of a very memorable and enjoyable trip.

Index for this trip

• Preparation
• Summary and Review
• Week 1 – Home to Munster, Switzerland
• Week 2 – Muster to Lake Bolensa
• Week 3 – Lake Bolensa to Sperlonga
• Week 4 – Sperlonga to L’Aquila
• Week 5 – L’Aquila to Florence
• Week 6 – Florence to Lake Garda
• Week 7 – Lake Garda to Home

Photos here