Venice

The weather forecast was wall to wall sunshine for 2 days, so we were to be able to see Venice at its best. We bought 2 day bus and vaporetto passes and headed in at 8.30 Monday. Venice has been described by a million people so I wont copy them all here. There is no place like it on earth and even though it was hot and full of tourists, it was still magical. We went back again today but getting around was harder than yesterday as the vaporetto and bus staff went on a 24 hour strike! We have sore feet and pink noses, so I think Venice was a success!!

We're cooking mushroom risotto tonight and have a bottle of prosecco chilling in the fridge to go with it. I am going to miss prosecco when we move on into Slovenia in 2 days. Tomorow we chill and maybe swim, then clean and pack van ready for the off on Thursday morning.

More Italian Lakes - Lake Garda

I am getting so late posting that I am forgetting what we’ve done! After 4 nights in Cannobio we set off for Lago D’Iseo, between Como and Garda. We found a lovely campsite right on the lake and got a pitch right by the lakeside. Iseo is a much smaller lake than Maggiore, but for us was nicer, with a lovely backdrop of mountains. The town of Iseo, a few minutes walk from the campsite was quite lively, although it is still early in the season. We found a restaurant for dinner and had the special fish from the lake barbeque for 2. Whilst we ate we noticed that the pizzas going by looked lovely – and were enormous! So we returned to the same restaurant the next night to try them!

We stayed at Iseo for 3 nights but had a couple of heavy storms, so had to play awning shuffle, including late at night, to save it being ripped off the side of the van. Despite the weather, we got chance to relax here in long sunny spells.

Next stop was Lago Garda. We decided to take a detour there and go up and over the mountains. When almost there we saw a sign indicating the Crocedomini mountain pass was closed but we were supposed to be turning down before that so we continued on. Unfortunately the turning we wanted was just after the barrier, so we had to turn back after winding our way up there. The view was pretty all the way up though, despite poor weather. As we turned round at the top, a group of motorcyclists were coming the other way and were avoiding the barrier by going across a grass verge to the side of it on the edge of the road. I watched in horror as one of them disappeared over the edge!! I was relieved to see him reappear on foot a few minutes later looking a bit shocked, as his friends all dismounted and went to work out how to retrieve his bike. Hope it worked out okay.

Anyway, after coming all the way back to where we started, we took an alternative route to Garda. We arrived in torrential rain and found a campsite in Limone Sur Garda, at the northern end. We were quite late arriving and it was raining. We went out for a walk and wondered where the village/town was. We couldn’t walk too far because of the rain – we were only overnighting so drying clothes etc would have been a nightmare. We had a beer in a bar and thought it good that we were just overnighting but the next morning we found out what we had missed! Limone is a real treat. Packed with tourists but very pretty. We drove out of the town, parked up and took the coastal footpath back. Most people approached Limone from the other side or by car/coach, so this footpath was deserted, making it all the nicer. Limone gets it’s name from its history of lemon growing and all over the place are huge stilts, constructed years ago to top with wooden frames to protect the lemons from the elements. I am glad we found it as it made a very enjoyable morning.

We then headed for Venice over the mountains. We stopped in Asiago, famous for its cheesemaking, but everything was shut and we only found one shop that was open that sold local cheese! The drive was spectacular and I was amazed at how many people live in the remoteness of the mountains in this part of Italy. It was quite cool up there, so we stopped and I made soup to warm me up! We intended to camp somewhere near Bassa Del Grappa but we couldn’t find a campsite. As it was the old mans birthday the next day, we brought it forward and took a night in the Hotel Asolo, a beautiful converted farmhouse and had a lovely supper at their local trattatoria.

We spoilt ourselves with the hotel breakfast and then departed to spend the morning at the beautiful hilltop village of Asolo. We walked up to the fort at the top and then meandered through the old cobbled streets. After some refreshments, we headed off for Venice, where we were to be staying for 4 nights. We found the campsite only by a miracle! It’s the closest one to Venice itself but the compromise is that it’s in a commercial zone, the entrance inbetween two car dealerships! Once inside however, the site backs onto fields and has the best facilities we have seen so far (although with lot of fridges on wheels!). We cooked supper and settled in for the night.

Off to Italy - Lakes Maggiore and Iseo

Well, the Switzerland leg of our tour is over. We did very much our usual there, which is always lovely in itself. My brother and his wife joined us for 5 days and hopefully they enjoyed the sunshine and mountain air (and their ‘boys’ enjoyed the overdose of pizza and freezer food whilst they were away!). We took them to Montreux , Evoline and Sion, enjoying lake, valley and mountains in warm sunshine (with some snow!). The road to the bottom of the dam at Dixence was closed almost until we left but it opened just in time for us to have a look at the lake. The cable car to the  top of the dam is closed until mid June, so we had to hike the steep climb to the top. It was really weird to be confronted with the gigantic concrete wall, to hike up the steep slopes to the top and then to find the enormous lake behind the wall almost empty. There was a lot of snow at the top, in fact we had a few snowy nights whilst there, although the snow only stayed for any time above the tree line. A great time was had in Southern Switzerland, as always, but it was time to close up the chalet and move on.

The level I usually see the lake at is the top of the grey (which is where I am standing for this photograph!).

I can't recall what night this was but it was a really cool moonshot from the chalet.

We were treated to a rainbow on our last day, which was much brighter than in this photo (or I am a cr*p photographer!).















We aimed to get up early and move on but one coffee on the balcony turned into another and we didn’t get away until 11.30am! We eventually went over the Simplon pass at lunchtime. We’ve done this pass before but only in torrential rain and/or fog, so in sunshine it was glorious and the views lovely. We turned off over the other side at Domodossola towards Locarno but turned off to take the mountain road to Cannobio via Finero. The hairpin bends were a little scary, especially when suicidal Italians decided to overtake on blind corners - but that’s what you have to get used to in Italy! We stopped for a picnic in Finero, alongside a local old man who had decided to take a break in his journey and admire the view.

The views down the gorges were lovely despite slow progress along often single lane roads with no passing places.  Eventually we arrived at Cannobio on Lake Maggiore and found a campsite. Camping Riviera is right on the lake shore and has lovely pitches, with beautiful shrubs and trees everywhere. We chose a spot not right on the lake because of the midges, but two rows back. We planned to stay here 4 days so we unpacked and set up Valerie for the duration and went out for a bike ride to explore.

We dined at a pizzeria on the lakeshore and after a carafe of wine, tentatively made our way back. The following morning we awoke to birdsong all around us and a view of the lake from Valerie’s roof bed. We eventually got going and went out on the bikes to explore  Cannobio, a pretty, typically Italian village, with narrow streets and beautiful terraces and villas. We bought a bread baton and then had a glass of what I would call sherry with olives on the lakeshore before returning to Valerie for lunch. A snooze on the beach after lunch was followed by a walk into town to the supermarket to find some beer and decaff coffee. This evening we ‘cooked in’ and had a little wine (hic!) and went to bed early, as we wanted to be up early for the local market in Cannobio, which starts at 8am on Sundays. The heavens opened at 2am and, although not really heavy rain, the pitter patter on the roof made for interrupted sleep.

The Sunday market filled the entire lakeside road and pedestrian area and felt like it was never ending. I have never seen so many handbags and shoes in my life.  A dedicated food market was a spectacle with salami and other cured meat hanging everywhere and colourful displays of vegetables, olives, sun dried tomatoes, dried/candied fruit, cakes etc. We bought some fresh giant ravioli stuffed with ricotta and lemon for supper and some pistachio amaretti biscuits - and nearly fell over at the cost!! Back to Valerie for coffee with the amaretti biscuits and then we cycled for a couple of hours. Lunch was followed by lakeside rain dodging. Our lemon pasta was lovely with a salad and fresh bread but felt a bit like a desert! The wine felt like a bargain! A bottle of Barbera D’Asti and a bottle of Pino Grigio for 5 Euros! If only it was like that at home – although it’s probably better it’s not!

We had enjoyed Connobio. It’s a pretty place with a lovely rustic centre with steep streets that lead down to a beautiful promenade along the lake, lined with restaurants and bars. We took a boat ride on our last full day to Maccagno. Not a place I would return to – I’d go to the next town up the coast, but the boat ride enabled you to admire Cannobio from out on the lake. Connobio was also nice because we weren’t surrounded by fridges on wheels (white motorhomes). Whilst at the campsite we saw at least 7 vans either VW T3/T4/T5, a lovely old Citroen camper that could be as old as I am, a group of 3 camping motorcyclists and another with a Harley Davison with the longest front forks I have ever seen!

Les Bains De Saillon

Today was wall to wall sunshine so we went to Les Bains De Saillon, a thermal spa not far from Sion. What a great day we had! 4 pools, 3 thermal, 2 of which had bubble loungers. We also used the Sauna, Bio Spa and the steam rooms. Wall to wall sunshine until 4pm and 26 degrees so we had a lovely day.

The view!

The European road trip has begun

I am a bit late posting this as we left home last Saturday and it's now Thursday!

We left Saturday and stopped en route at Northampton to pick up a tailgate bike rack from VW. Very pricey but looks really cool on Valerie, takes the 2 bikes and, as its designed to take 4, we can get the chairs and wheel chocks strapped on there to get them off the floorspace inside.

We then headed for Dover and stopped overnight at our usual campsite. Ferry crossing to Dunkerque at 8am Sunday morning and we were on the road in France by a little after 11am (+ 1hour). We decided to take a different route to Switzerland than our norm and booked Dunkerque so we could travel south via Belgium and Luxembourg. We overnighted at a campsite just outside Luxembourg on the top of a hill amongst woodland, where we enjoyed the evening sunshine and a lay in the following morning. The weather was beautiful when we left home and continued all the way to the Swiss border, where we had a little rain and threatening skies for the remainder of the journey.

We had cloud with some drizzly rain for the first day in Switzerland but we were unpacking and relaxing so didn't mind. We have been rewarded with wall to wall sunshine ever since, although during the first morning we had to wait for the cloud that started below us to make its way up the mountain but the scene was picture perfect first thing.

We went food shopping first thing in Sion and then came back up to enjoy the mountains in the sunshine. We went up to see the nice lady at Les Collons for a beer in the evening before returning to cook supper. In the last couple of days I have made 2 of the 3 curtains for Valerie, so we don't continue to risk exposing ourselves! Ours is the only camper I have seen with fully lined linen union curtains!! Bringing a sewing machine on holiday is a bit weird I know, but it's the only time I have any time to do anything!

Today (Thursday) we went walking at Thyon 2000. The snow was still quite deep in places so we stayed at the tree line and got some exercise. There was not a cloud in the sky, with the colbalt blue interrupted only by the occasional airline vapour trail.

Tomorrow is forecast as very sunny, so we are going to try the thermal baths at Les Bains De Saillon for a bit of R&R.