Postscript

Oops, before we fully unpacked, I took the van to the weighbridge. We need to cut down on the number of knives & forks and other stuff before the next adventure.

Fun facts from the trip:

35 days and 4.5 hours away from home
3,500 kill-o-miles
Average mpg 30.1 = 529 Lt of diesel/gasola
Toll roads - don't ask

Dates	Site	Costs	Notes
12-13 Sept	DFDS ferrying Newcastle to Amsterdam	£280	Incl. great buffet, good crossing but last off the boat
13-16 Sept	Kompas Camping, Westende, Belgium	€19 incl tax p.n.	*** Difficult to find but good tram access to Oostende. Pitch small, elec only
16-19 Sept	Camping Prumtal Oberweis Close to Bitburg and Luxemburg	€19 p.n. + €2 for Wifi	***** Best shower block we have come across. Very friendly, good bar/restaurant, pool. Grass pitch very worn.
19-20 Sept	Azur Camping Ellwagen West   of   Stuttgart, close to autobahn	€17 + €2 for Wifi	*** Municipal site. Good for an overnighter. Grass pitch with elec.
20-23 Sept	Camping Natterer See Innsbruck	€24.50 incl tax + €5 for 3 nights wifi	**** Good size pitch but I paid €2 extra for delux. Elec, water & drainage. TV point an extra €3.
23-29 Sept	Europa Camping Cavallino Treporti Nr Venice	€22 incl tax & Wifi	***** Small pitch but just 50m from the private beech. Elec, water & waste. Wifi just about good enough to watch TV on. Good shops, restaurants etc., waterpark. Mosquitos a plenty but it is on the coast. Showers/toilets only adequate.  Would stay again.
29 Sept – 3 Oct	Campsite Baia Verde Manerba del Garda	€19 free wifi	**** Good location on Garda. Decent pitch with elec, water and drainage. Nice pool, decent small shop and bar/restaurant. Wifi free but weak.
3-5 Oct	Camping International Le Fonti Agliano Nr Asti	€17 free wifi	*** Decent pitch with elec. Water 10 m but drainage … “tip it on the car park opposite”. Café/shop closed but bread in the morning. Site manager is a laugh. Free wifi but crap.
5-7 Oct	Camping Delle Rose Isolabona Italian Riviera	€15 free wifi	** Nice bread in the morning but otherwise not a lot going for it.
7-11 Oct	Cros de Mouton Cavalaire Cote d’Azur Nr St Tropez	€18	***** Best pitch of the tour, elec, water & drainage. Good pool, shop closed bar/restaurant not used. Showers OK. Good location for French Riviera however it is an expensive area.
11-12 Oct	Campsite VivaCamp La Grappe Fleurie Beaujolais region	€17 – free wifi	**** Good pitch with elec & water but drainage was the grid. Everything closed except fresh bread in the morning.  Would like to stay here again and explore the vineyards and villages.
12=13 Oct	Camping du Vivier aux Carpes Seraucourt-le-Grand Near Saint-Quentin	€17 – free wifi	*** Good for an overnighter
13 Oct	P&O Ferry Calais - Dover	£198	Would have been £95 if booked 24 hours earlier
13-14 Oct	Camping & Caravan Club site Canterbury	£13	Typical CCC site, would use again, maybe 2 nights to visit Canterbury. Grass pitch. ***** for the showers/toilets.
14-16 Oct	Camping & Caravan Club site Hale	£12	Typical CCC site, grass pitch.

Sunday 16 October - Home time

Oh no, it bloody rained last night so packing up has taken longer as we try to avoid getting mud in the tattyvan or car. Home by 3:30pm, good to sit in my spot in front of the fir with a mug of tea and see the g-kids again, and of course Bella.

Saturday 15 October - Show Time

18 miles on the M5 and M42 across to the NEC for 6 hours of caravan and motorhome viewing. I guess we just wanted to confirm our current tattyvan still is best for our needs or should we consider a motorhome. Result - the only caravan we would both consider changing to is one of the Hymers. Motorhomes are generally too small for us unless we went for a 'big as a bus' model for £150K.

Friday 14 October - Dudley

Yeah, who can't say Dudley without putting on a brummy accent?

So its 200 miles around London and up the M40/42 to Hale (nr Dudley) for 2 nights at another CCC site (£24 for 2 nights) so we can spend Saturday at the NEC annual caravan show.

Fish & Chip supper - mmmmmm good.

Again, no hard-standing pitches as its show time.

Thursday 13 October - Au Revoir

Yes, time to leave France and catch the ferry back to England. Its about 140 kill-o-miles from the site and again all trollway. On route we telephoned the Camping & Caravan Club (CCC) bookings to get the best deal for a ferry to find out they had all gone up about £100 from the night before - note to self, always book at least 24 hours before sailing. Anyway, got the 1:30pm P&O for £195 which gets us into Dover at 2:15pm BST. Excellent lunch on the ferry, they really do good food on these ferries at reasonable prices.

I always smile when we arrive at Dover thinking about the scene in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves when Robin (Kevin Costner) and friend (Morgan Freeman) arrive in Dover and Robin says "tonight we supper at my fathers table in York" as they set of walking. Love the way Americans write history.

Tonight's pitch is a CCC at Canterbury for £13. They only had grass however so good job its dry.

Wednesday 12 October - Bo-Ja-Lay

Another 300+ kom leg today to North of Reimes (aka 500 sheets). All Trollway so the plastic is taking a hit. However a nice drive in the sunshine.

As mentioned yesterday, this site was recommended by the guy pitched next to us last night. Turns out to be a good recommendation:
Camping du Vivier aux Carpes
Seraucourt-le-Grand
Near Saint-Quentin



E17 again for a good size serviced pitch with free good wifi. A good site just a few kom from the trollway and about 140 kom from Calais.

Quick trip into Gauchy to the hypermarket to load up with vino (cardboard boxes to keep the weight down). Pop'n'ping for tea - knackered.

Tuesday 11 October - Brenda has a hissy fit

A little sad today to be leaving Cavaliere but the weather has definitely turned the corner into autumn and rain is forecast for most of the week, not that we don't like autumn and we don't mind a little rain but this was planned as a sunshine trip.

Brenda, iPad and Window Phone nav systems all say go East towards St Tropez rather than west along the coast towards Toulon and Marseilles, which seems the shortest route but who am I to argue, so its East. Brenda then picks up traffic information and re-routes us away from the main road, ok if it saves time, she then re-routes again and then again and suddenly we are on a narrow road then onto a single track lane. Luckily we didn't meet anything that couldn't move over to let us through but Brenda's dynamic routing is quickly turned off however we still have a 15 kill o mile route up and down mountains, zagging and zigging around tight bends before hitting the troll road. Not a good start to a 330 kom leg.

Anyway, we reached the stopover site north of Lyon about 6pm:
Campsite VivaCamp La Grappe Fleurie

Which is in the centre of the Beaujolais region



A very warm welcome from the receptionist who tells me that the local wine shop will happily provide 4 or 5 wine tasters if we would like. The site also has 2 wine tasting nights in season.

Anyway, excellent fully serviced pitch with free good wifi for E17. Chatting to our neighbour, he recommends the next site for tomorrow.

(just checked Via Michelin and that gives a shorter route via

Monday 10 October - time to turnaround

Its looking like the weather is about to dip, although it's been 22c today, clouds are rolling in and the forecast says it's going to drop to 18c tomorrow- brrrrr.  So it's time to point Brenda the satnav towards the north and start the trip home.

It was 2,300 kill o miles to get here, about 300 has been days out. Brenda says it's 1,132 to Calthwaite if we pay the trolls.

About this site;
Cros de Mouton
Cavalaire
Côte d'Azur
Nice holiday town with loads of cafes and bars around the harbour, small shops in the centre and free parking opposite the beach.
Pitch Perfect with leckie, water and drainage for €18 pn incl tax. The wifi has been €10 for 3 days and good enough for catch up tv.

Most things on the site closed except for the pool and bar in the evenings.  Everything clean and in good condition.  Good view from the pitch to the sea 

apart from the crane which reception say they can't move, even for Cheryl. The higher pitches have a better panoramic.

Would definitely stay again.

So tomorrow it's up at the crack of 9am and then off to Lyon which should be about 300 kom's and includes going over the longest bridge of its type.🙈

Sunday 9 October - Lazy day

Lazy day on the pitch catching up on Emails, blog etc. Mrs C catching a few rays.

Afternoon down on the beach and then back to the site for a swim in the lovely open air pool. Forecast not looking good, we may see some rain, oh eck.

Saturday 8 October - St Tropez

Back east 10 kom to St Tropez for a look around this famous village/town. Place is chock a block, took an hour to get parked as everyone else seems to think its a good time to visit. Lots a narrow alleys to explore

and a busy waterfront harbour with super yachts (no doubt bought by robbing the pension funds).

Thought it was funny that every 2nd car on the road was a Porche, found the St T Porche rally.

Friday 7 October - o la la

Site stuff:
Camping Delle Rose
Isolabona
€15 pn

Pitch a bit tight although as there was hardly anyone on the site it was no problem. Morning panini's were great, wifi rubbishy.

Back down the hill and west along the coast to France paying the Italian and French trolls along the way for about 100 kill o miles to just 10 miles west of St Tropez at a place called Cavalaire. 4* site and fab pitch overlooking the Med although shop, restaurant etc. now closed as its end of season.

Great wifi so doing a lot of tv catch up (sad).

Thursday 6 October - Monte-Carlo

Yeah, we made it. Quick trip down the coast road to MC. French border had a lot of military and police activity which we guess is to stop illegal immigrants getting into France but it's not 100% as we saw a quiet a few immigrants walking along the roadside.

Parked up at level -7 in a shopping arcade and then walked round the F1 course, the wrong way,

to Casino Square

where we got mugged by a waiter in Cafe Paris for a couple of tiny tiny coffees. It was good watching the people watching the people go by:

Wednesday 5 October - The Med

Site details before we move on -
Camping International Le Fonti
Agliano

€17 pn, free wifi but more ifi than wifi
Excellent fresh brown baguettes for breakfast
Would stop again for 1 or 2 nights.

Right, 50 kill o miles up and down the mountains until we reached the Med and then turned right along the Autostraza for 100 kom to our next site. Fantastic scenery all the way however along the side of the med it's tunnel, sea view, viaduct, tunnel ... repeat.

Next site is at a village called Isoalbona which is about 5 kom inland from the sea and 15 kom east of the French border.

Nice welcome but the site is almost empty.

Feet up and enjoying the sun. Ifi wifi, not good enough to blog on.

Tuesday 4 October - Asti

Drive into Asti to check out the locals, no roadside ladies offering a BOGOF so it cultural today.

Typical Italian town scene: statue, bell tower and dozens of scooters.

So, Asti, famous for its Spumante fizz however the red is non too shabby. Lovely small town, full of narrow cobbled lanes, cafes and curiosity shops. The old centre is a triangle where they have an annual horse race around. No Lidl so had to make do with Gulivers.

Monday 3 October - onwards to Asti

Time to move South, shortish hop of about 100 kill o miles to a village close (5m) to Asti. Ladies on the road offering recreational activities every 5km, better that a little chef ?

The site is Km's from anywhere, Brenda the satnav got us to the village but it was a very helpful young man who stopped and offered to escort us the final km to the site.

Site manager is a real character from Sicily, doing his very best to make us welcome. Good terraced pitch facing the afternoon sun.

Sunday 2 October - V for Verona

Nice 30 kill o miles drive around to th'other side of the lake and then people watching in the centre of Verona.

Called at Sirimione on the way back but it was like Bowness on a bank holiday and couldn't get parked.

Saturday 1 October - Hedgehogs

Well we say rabbits on 1 March, why not Hedgehogs today.

urgent shopping to get a rhino spray ! and auntie hisstoome for this hay fever. Bit better but still sore eyes and bunged up nose.

Set off to visit Bardolino on the opposite side of the lake as its the annual 5 day wine festival. Got there but all the car parks are full. Anyway, instead we had a nice drive round the lake, views are magnificent, no photo will do them justice. Germany is probably closed this weekend as they are all here.

Stopped for a nice lunch snack at Malcesine which overlooks that bit of road tunneling they used in a James Bond car chase about 6 years ago.

Back at the site and time to walk the 300m to the shore for a gelatino

The wet marks on the road are where a giant prehistoric lake monster call Nessio dragged itself from the water. Too late with the camera ti catch the moment.

Friday 30 September - Lake Garda

Excellent site again, details when we leave.

Pitched overlooking the outdoor pool and 20m from Showers. Had a quick swim last night to cool off, 30c in the tattyvan, 24c in the shade. Water felt a bit cold but I guess because it was so hot out.

Drive to Desenzano (5 KOM) looking for a phone ti TV cable as site has reasonable free WiFi to watch catchup TV. Not to be found so watching on iPad. However, 200+ TV channels to flick through. Stop at Lidl to stock up on stuff.

Did you know there is no Aldi in Italy, don't panic. They are recruiting staff currently so will no doubt be open next year.
Afternoon of sunbathing for Mrs C and lazing for me.
Hay fever kicked in big time in the evening, don't understand why.

Thursday 29 September - South to Garda

Usual up at the crack of 9am and off by 10 :30.

Site:
Europa Camping, Cavallino Treporti
€17 pn but with Wifi and taxes =€132 for 6 nights
Pitch was fully serviced incl TV although only news channels in English.
toilets and showers good
good shop, cafe, restaurant on site although plenty within walking distance.
private beach, water park.
for the price, excellent. Only negatives, smallish pitch, too much tree cover for time of year.
dogs are only allowed in one quarter so noisy if near by.
Would stay again.

so, easy drive down the Autostraza to Lake Garda and arrival at Baia Verde camping. €15 for the trolls, but worth it for a quick and easy drive.

Wednesday 28 September

Day of rest