Author Archives: t5ontour

4 seasons in two days

Almost a week after we left the UK and we have finally arrived yesterday in Italy. After leaving the campsite near Troyes we went south to Annecy and had a 2 night stop at a site on the banks of the lake there.

Two brolley rain at Lac Annecy!

Great location but not great weather – rained fairly solidly for most of  the time including a massive thunder and lightening storm overnight.
Did manage to cycle into Annecy though and had a wander round – very touristy but some great cake and chocolate shops.

Then across into Switzerland via the mountains (we’re avoiding toll roads now to get a better feel of the places we are passing through). Saw lots of places which we recognised as ski resorts – Megeve, Chamonix, etc., then stayed for one night in a place called Brig in Switzerland. They speak German there so an opportunity to get out our German dictionary and have a practice – we’re now fluent in booking into campsites in about 4 different languages (although ‘fluent’ might be overstating it!).  Still raining…

Next morning we set off over the Simplon Pass to get into Italy and encountered our next weather condition – it was snowing!

Simplon Pass Summer 2012 !

I was worried we’d end up stranded halfway up, but then we were overtaken by an Italian in a Nissan Micra and decided perhaps I was overly anxious.

Anyway we are now pitched up by Lake Como, about 10 metres from the lake itself and have had a relaxing day today, walking into Lecco, visiting a supermarket to stock up on supplies (appears to be a fantastic choice of everything), and then lounging around this afternoon by the van, as, finally, the sun has come out and it’s about 28 degrees.

Why do all the cakes look so good?

Lake Como

Our early morning view from the van

Now planning our next stop – looks like it may be Verona to visit the balcony and hopefully sample some of the local wines. Fingers crossed the sun will continue to shine….

Olivier to the rescue!

Well, our trip has finally started – we left Dover on Bank Holiday Monday and arrived an hour and a half later in Calais to commence  our first leg down through France.

Leaving Dover

We planned to stop at around Troyes (halfway down-ish on the right) but hadn’t booked any campsite – partly because that is our new laissez-faire, go with the flow attitude, and partly because it’s the end of the holidays and all the campsites will be empty……. or not, as the case may be.  We arrived in Mesnil St Pere to find it heaving with people all enjoying the late summer heatwave of 28 degrees and lounging on the lakeside beach and staying in the lakeside campsite. Luckily they had 3 spaces left so we chose one of those and enjoyed our first night with a BBQ and a bottle of champagne.

Today we decided to go for a bike ride,  having seen on the map a cycle path all the way to Troyes.

Wondering why I’ve agreed to a 80km return trip….

When we asked at reception how to get to the path she told us that it involved riding on the main N16 road which was very dangerous and the only other way was to go a round about route which meant it was 40km each way.  So we set off for a local ride instead, yet somehow kept going and still ended up riding all the way to Troyes! We were glad we did as it’s a beautiful town with loads of ancient timbered houses leaning in all directions.

Troyes centre ville

After lunch and some wandering around we set off back on our 40km return trip, only for Paul to have a puncture shortly afterwards. He mended this, but because it was on the inner side of the tube it stated to leak after a few minutes. Anyway, long story short, after several puncture repair patches and some duct tape the puncture was fixed but the valve on the tube came loose and wouldn’t hold the air. And we didn’t have the right spanner to get the wheel off the bike to replace it.

The 20 remaining km of our return trip looked like it was going to be a very long walk, so we left the cycleway and started to walk along the (very dangerous) main road. Which is where the lovely Olivier came in, as he stopped his car to offer us a lift, and then refused to drop us at the next village to catch the bus but insisted on driving us all the way back to the campsite.  He asked why we hadn’t just thumbed a lift and said that he always stops if he sees someone. I think he also liked the chance to practice his English as he had lived in in the UK in Ledbury for a few months when his wife worked there.

If he hadn’t rescued us I think we’d still be walking back now, so thank you Olivier!

The Big 50

Just back from a fabulous weekend ‘glamping’ on the North Norfolk coast. Stayed in Thornham in a safari tent with running water, power shower and flushing loo – this is what camping was meant to be like!

The occasion was Paul’s 50th birthday, celebrated with friends, campfires,
and lots of wine and food, including Vida’s famous carrot cake.

Spent time on the beach flying kites, going to the pub, and just generally lazing around in the 30 degree heat – a perfect weekend.

How many miles?

We’ve known for some time that we wanted to do our first big trip down to Italy. Paul has been there years ago but I never have, and based on the fact that everyone you meet says ‘oh yes, it’s fabulous and you must go to x, y and z’ we felt this was a definite destination.

But how far is it and how long will it take? Armed with our shiny new European road atlas and Google Maps we plotted a route that took us down through France, across to Venice via Switzerland, and then around the whole coast of Italy and back up (including a detour to Sicily).

How far? – 4717 miles and 99 hours and 9 minutes of driving – wow!

We have 8 weeks so some decisions will need to be made as to where we go, as we want to see Italy properly and don’t want to spend all our time driving – suggestions please via the ‘contact us’ page…….

Not long now!

So, not long to go now before we’re off on our trip – less than 3 weeks and counting! Paul has only 6 days left at work and then we have his 50th birthday celebrations – off to North Norfolk with a few close friends for some glamping – must remember to make the most of the luxury facilities before we start the real thing.

Loads of things still to sort out – seems to be a lot of planning, and I must remember we’re not going forever – only about 8 weeks for our first trip. France and Italy here we come!