Italy – summer 2007

We got going, after a standy-up breakfast of croissants and tea, at around 8.30. Julia was there to wave us off, which was nice.

The journey west and north through Italy was fine, and through Switzerland was a nice journey than when we came down – the weather was much better, and the scenery was beautiful. The St. Gottard tunnel was slow on its approach, and we spent about half an hour crawling up the hill, as they were using the traffic lights to restrict the amount of traffic entering the tunnel. Inside, it was hot and smelly, and we were glad to come out the other side, although the weather had changed, and it was now raining a little.

At a lunch stop between Lucerne and Basle, we checked campsites and distances, and decided to head for Colmar, just south of Strasbourg.

We got to the camping municipale in Turckheim (E 7deg 16’ 17” N48deg 5’ 5”) at about 4.30pm, having covered something like 330 miles for the day. It doesn’t sound much, but the delays at St. Gottard and the slow progress of the Pollensa up the inclines reduced our mileage.

After a short rest, we walked into the town (just a couple of hundred metres away), and looked at the interesting styles of the buildings in Alsace – a sort of mixture between French traditional and German alpine. Since the town seemed to be a tourist place, there were a few trinket shops, and they seemed to have a lot of pottery and cookware, decorated in a style very similar to traditional canalboat ware.

We were on our way just after 8am, and heading for Laon for an overnight stop. The morning weather was gruesome – maybe interesting, in a drizzly, dreary way. We were happy to be travelling.

Nothing much happened. We drove, we bought some diesel, and we drove some more. Lunch was at a service area, and we were getting pretty close to Laon by mid-afternoon. It was then that we made one of our usual “why not?” decisions, and we started aiming for Calais. It was only about another 200km or so, and the weather had improved, so we carried on.

After a brief stopoff to top up with wine and beer, we arrived at the checkin queue at around 7pm. The main holdup was passport control, and we craled forward for half an hour.

Arriving at the SeaFrance checkin desk, we had our fingers crossed. Our original, booked crossing was for Monday aftetnoon, 3.30pm. We were arriving a bit early. We have usually been able to change bookings, sometimes for free, sometimes not, but the port was extremely busy.

We were out of luck. The checkin lady said we’d need to exit the area, and go back to the ticket office, and buy another crossing, and they may be able to refund what we had already paid. A kind man showed us which was to go, and we parked outside the office. This was not good news.

Annie went in to negotiate. “How much should I go up to if we have to pay?” she asked. I didn’t know. I had in mind that a very short-notice booking could cost over a hundred pounds, maybe more. “It’s up to you,” I said, not very helpfully. “How desperate are you to get back?”

Off she went, and returned a minute or two later. She climbed into the van.

“Let’s go.”

“Did you change it?”

“Yes. We’re on the 9 o’clock ferry. And she’s not charged us. Let’s go, before she changes her mind.”

So off we went, back through passport control, and through checkin without any trouble, and we caught the 9 o’clock ferry. Good old SeaFrance!

On arrival in Dover, we headed for Marine Parade for the night. There was some ghastly fair going on at the far end, with a lovely selection of instant food items available, and drunken, abusive lager louts, posturing and threatening each other. The boys weren’t much better. There were a number of police officers around, and we felt quite safe at the other end of the road.

We split a bottle of wine (far more in my favour), and had a reasonable sleep.

Annie was keen to get back home, so we left Marine Parade before 8am, and we had a quiet drive home, arriving just after 9am.

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Best things about the trip:
· Ed and Julia (friends) already on site at Garda
· An Italian broom
· Discovering Lake Garda by boat
· A washing line
· Annie’s new bucket
· The opera at Torre del Lago Puccini
· Ed helping Annie discover pirlot
· Memory foam mattress
· Camping Gaz compact barbecue
· Annie’s €5 teapot

Worst things about the trip:
· Yet another flat tyre
· The St. Gotthard tunnel
· Switzerland being “full”
· Soweto-by-Sea (a.k.a. the Tuscan seaside resorts)
·

Thoughts on stuff for next year
Quiz book
Nail polish and remover
Small and medium scissors
Tinned fruit
Meusli x 3
Washing powder
4x pillows
Netty-type washing bags
Safari room and groundsheet
No TV and satellite stuff
2x camping gaz canisters 4 bbq
No bikes and clobber
2x Darjeeling tea
Safari room?
Proper mozzie repellant
Electric kettle
Solitaire on I-book
Annie’s laptop and power supply
fan
2x wicky (sp?) towelling dressing gowns
New bloody motorhome