Woo hoo! After six months on the road in the UK, we boarded the 07.20 Eurotunnel service to Calais and set our wheels down on foreign soil for the first time in a year. The crossing was very easy and although we had all the paperwork we could have been asked for (COVID certificates and French Passenger Locator Forms), the … Read more
Category: Italy
Bob’s big birthday road trip 2018
20th April
Usual departure routine with Bob leaving home at lunchtime, June leaving work at 5pm and meeting up again at Ashford International railway station. A quick trip down the motorway soon saw us at Eurotunnel for our crossing to Calais. Luckily this time we had already decided to go no further than Citie Europe as the trains were all … Read more
A bit of Italy in October
With basic flights from Gatwick to Malpensa at around £50 return this was always going to be a good trip away with friends….
Having finally sorted out the hire car (and you think you’ve done everything from here….but that’s another story), we drove along the beautiful Como lake side roads directly to the B&B Miralago Bellagio . I guess this … Read more
Why I won’t be using @holidayautos again
We just returned from a long weekend in Bellagio Italy. It was a beautiful location and we had a great time but I have returned to the UK with a bit of bad taste and it was nothing to do with the Italian food… it was a result of a hire car excess …. 2800 Euro excess!
Before we left … Read more
Italy…. for a few days…
The next planned trip is off to Italy. Staying in Bellagio we will be exploring, drinking and eating with great friends….
One of the plans, if the weather is clear enough, is to drive the Stelvio Pass. This has been made famous by Top Gear as one of their preferred routes
The planning for this trip started a while ago…. … Read more
Homeward bound
Overnight, as normal, we had a little rain but by the morning this had stopped and our journey home started. There is no doubt in June or my minds we will be returning. In fact when the time is right for us to live this lifestyle permanently, about 2020, we will be bouncing from mountain range to mountain range. We … Read more
20 miles later
I write this from a beautiful Aire at almost 2200 metres and with stunning views all around. But first can I have a little rant? There are two categories of motorists I detest; apart from killers of course, they are drivers who do not thank you for lettng them through and those that drive on the hard shoulder of a … Read more
Valle Verzasca
Heavy storms overnight made the packing away of the girls tent a little damp to say the least. Still we were on the road by 10.00 and off to the supermarket so carefully plotted on TomTom. Well had it not been a Swiss holiday we would have shall we say…. Note to self, check holidays of the countries you are … Read more
So much sun
Today the sun god has come out….the skies are as blue as blue can be and not a cloud to be seen. The site was really quite quiet during the night helped by the barriers being closed to cars at 10.00 pm. We did see a security guard patrolling during the evening but how much of that continued after dark … Read more
Just a small storm then…
During the night we were woken by a huge thunderstorm. It was the loudest I had ever heard and I guess that some of that would have been echoing around the mountains….
The day was a bit of a wash out in that it rained for most of it but we still managed a wander into town for a #Clewleystopsforcoffee … Read more
How much?
The site has 360 pitches and typically of European sites the pitches are very close… Having said that we had a site big enough for the van and the girls tent. The cost came as a bit of a surprise having spent €10-16 for Sostas here and there… It was €199 for 2 nights….but that did include electricity (although that … Read more
And to the lakes….
Left Venice by 9.00 and having failed to find a supermarket (seemingly non-existent in Italy!) we headed off to the lakes.
We arrived at the Sosta in Cannobio on the north west shore of Lake Maggiore to the customary clap of thunder and associated downpour (and again we arrived mid-afternoon so spaces available. By early evening it was full). … Read more
What a difference a day makes
A cloudy start as we made our way to the office 25 yards from the campsite entrance to grab 4 tickets for a return boat trip to Venice. At €13 each…. Not bad for a 20 minute trip each way but be sure to get to the jetty ahead of time – we took the 10am out and 16.30 back, … Read more
And we continued to laugh…as it rained again..
Leaving the Florence Sosta which for Motorhomers among you has a black and grey water dump and fresh water tap, we made to the campsite of Fusina in Venice. As we neared Venice the rain started…. well to be honest it poured and poured. Fusina, on the mainland, is really well located with a pedestrian ferry to the central Venice. … Read more
Florence by day
A simple walk into town took us straight to the Ponte Vecchio. First things first #Clewleystopsforcoffee and then onto Piazza del Duomo. The first stone of the Cathedral, as we see it today, was laid in 1296 and the building was complete 170 years later. The exterior work is stunning and not matched inside, which is quite plain when compared … Read more
On to Pisa and Florence
As we left Pisa it was pouring down….. hey it was Italian rain …who cares…. As we drove into Pisa we picked up a sign indicating Motorhome parking….. we followed these excellent tourist information signs….. until they stopped in with no parking to be seen. But we have sussed the Italians out now and managed to find a road side … Read more
Balsamic vinegar with Ice Cream..
Having left our campsite and via Carrefour we decided to head down the “scenic” coast road and not the motorway. Unfortunately you can’t see too much of the beach as for about 50km it is hidden by one long strip of hotels and beach bars all with their regimented rows of loungers. To reach Pisa we had to turn inland … Read more
Escaping the rain
Having taken the decision that the weather was too changeable in Chamonix (3rd time lucky maybe for the view from the Aguille de Midi?), we headed off to Italy after a short incursion into Switzerland. With the cost of the Mont Blanc tunnel being around €150 for a vehicle of over 3m and because Bob likes a challenging drive and … Read more