Naples or bust

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Well I've never had so much to do to get ready for a road trip. Normally an hour or so and the motor home is ready. Not today but hey made it to the tunnel but we had a 90min delay. As soon as our departure was on the board we went and was out on an earlier train so only 30 mins delay. We have stopped at our first campsite just South of Arras. Lovely remote and quiet but quite a few staying. No TVs signal again ( I don't have much luck with the TV onboard ) early rise tomorrow and try and get over halfway.



Sunday

Left at 8 and drove through pouring rain. We booked a campsite just south of Turin. We made it there by 8pm after driving 10.5 hrs and 650 miles. It is not until you drive through the Alps that you realise that most of France you are driving uphill. The toll roads through the Alps are horrendous price but hey what's the alternative. A much needed drinks and pizza at the local restaurant made up for the hard drive down.



Monday

We decided to back off the speed and take the back roads. Not a good idea! Italian roads are crap to say the least. The speed limits are low because they are so rough, so we opted for the toll roads to Pisa. Well worth the stop as it's very impressive. Left there to find a campsite by a lake. Beautiful! Oh a word about Italian drivers..... They are bloody nuts!!! There are no rights of way on roundabouts which makes things interesting when busy. Driving through one of the tunnels we had a top gear moment as a Porsche, Ferraris and Lamborghini's opened up the throttles, awesome !!

Tuesday

Fabulous campsite overlooking a lake. After leaving we got less than 2 miles down the road and there was an almighty bang. Our windscreen took a direct hit off a bolder.... Ok maybe a stone. Left a nice circular crack in our windscreen. Had an interesting trip up to Moun Versuvius coming face to face with mad/possessed Italian coach drivers. Had a stroll up to the crator, by hell my legs felt it. Met a loverly American couple Dave and Ashleigh. On the way down got talking to a mad Welshman. He say well its like a big hole in the ground, back in wakes we have them, they are called open cast mining. Made I laugh. Made it to Pompeii by late afternoon and in a campsite opposite the entrance. It's 10pm and still 23 degrees.

Wednesday

Walked the ruins of Pompeii.what an amazing place, the amount of work undertaken by men with horse and carts to uncover it all and yet there is loads not uncovered. Well it seems every day comes with something else that is not working or has just broke. Today it is the new full gas bottle. The round part of the valve that you connect into is like... Not round, tried forcing it bput nope not happening. We are going to try and survive on one bottle, bugger! No BBQs..... Had a bit of rain today but hey at least it's hot rain.

Thursday

Left Sparticus campsite and said goodbye to Aaron and his girlfriend and we are now in Pozzuoli. We are camped in an extinct volcano except in 83 & 84 there was activity. There is a smell of eggy farts in the air and steam coming out of the hillside!!!!!!! Lovely quiet place tho. Walked into town, I now know why the Italians are slim, everywhere is up and down hills! nowhere is flat. Visited another amphitheatre today not on the scale of Pompeii but really interesting. we stopped for lunch, lobster lingui and prawn rigatoni. I find it amusing when the waiters look down their noses at us because we dress like holidaymakers but when they get my food order wrong they try and blame " lost in translation " but I have google translate. Sat back now in eggy fart campsite supping an ice cold beer. Off to Naples tomorrow. Ciao !!

Friday

A day in Naples, the home of the pizza and they at everywhere.visited the archeology museum. It was quite interesting firstly the mosaics made up of tiny pieces from Pompeii then the section of Roman porn. We walked a few streets then did the city tour, a time to relax. The architecture in the town is just amazing. Glance into building entrances and alley ways and their is more just decaying. Evening meal with government approved NapoIi pizza, sea bream for tracey was just lush.

Oh wow so sorry I have lost a few days due to patchy wifi so a quick catchup

Saturday

Travelled up to Rome nothing exciting except getting lost on the Auto strada as our sat nav went into meltdown. Oh and did i mention the graveyard that now adornes my bonnet.

Sunday

visited Rome. Got the hang of the Metto system. Queued for half an hour for collesium tickets then another half hour to get in. Bloody well worth it tho. This place is awesome. Lunch was from a side street carrfour supermarket. Was a hell of a lot cheaper than the cafe. The afternoon was looking round PaLatino hill the pantheon, the original Rome village. Originally Rome was built on one hill, it now covers seven. Walked from there to some famous temple ( although I never heard of it) but pretty ok then onto the Trevi fountain. All this in 30 deg heat.

Monday

Saw us queuing for the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican. Just a heads up, if the ticket touts say it's gonna be 2hrs it's actually less than one. This place is pretty awesome. The wealth is just out of this world, acquired legitimately or not it's pretty awesome. Onto St Peters bit. Wow! What a place, the artwork, the architecture......just wow.

Tuesday

A trip back into Rome except our shuttle bus was not running, so in by train. We went to some famous museum with works by some mush called Raffiel but it was fully booked. We walked miles to the island in the River. Took a boat upstream to St Angels castle. This was quite a highlight with fantastic views.

Wednesday

We are now on our journey back to UK. We were told about a trip round 5 villages on the coast near Genoa but because the trains are on strike tomorrow that's put paid to that. Its 9pm and have witnessed a beautiful sunset and although we are in Northern Italy we have temperatures of 28 degrees. Tracey just asked to shut up the van due to bugs getting it. BUG!!! It was the biggest firkin wasp type monster I have ever seen.

Thursday

Sorry peeps for not posting photos but 1. They are too large and 2. They want to charge me loads for the downloads I will post on Facebook later. We decided, well I decided to go round south of France past Monaco to Marseille. Beautiful scenery and a damn site cheaper than going through the tunnels of the Alps. Did you know one of the tunnels costs 57euro that's like 45 quid. Anyway we are near Peynier village. We dropped into the local supermarket, by hell it was cheap. 24 bottles Kronemberg like 8euro or 7 quid. Wine 2.5 euro and no its not for stripping paint. What's with the wasp looking monsters in the south? They are bloody huge and scary. Just had fillet steak, it was lush probably cos we are eating alfresco. Gonna turn in now before the man eating bugs gets us........

Friday

Northwards we go up to a campsite in chagny, not really sure why it's busy little town but maybe because it's in the middle of wine making region. Next time we make this trip we will stay off the peage toll roads as the scenery is beautiful. We passed a fortress built on and into a hill. Had picture taken next to a huge metal coque and posted pictures on Facebook and awaited comments.

I think this would be a good time to talk about driving standards. The Italian car drivers are just nuts! They don't know what the white lines on roads are for and can make for some interesting driving. The lorry drivers as you overtake them they pull slightly onto the hard shoulder to give you a bit more room. In Italy the drivers don't tend to wear seat belts and if they start drifting lanes they are either talking, texting on phones or reading a book. I make no exaggeration about this, we saw it over and over again. They also tend to stick to the middle and outside lanes as the slip roads are so short it can make for bum twitching driving/braking. Also the scooter riders around town again texting or they have the phone stuffed up the side of their helmets so they can ride and talk. The French driving is different again, they tend to stay in the right hand lane but their slip roads are longer. The roads themselves are in better condition but are a bloody nightmare when wet. They also have an Opposite camber so the car does not lean into corners. The effect of this is that they lane drift. When passing for some reason they start to drift towards you as you start to pass.

Any way great meal in Chagny last night pity I had a reccuring health issue due to certain yeasts. Twas funny as our waitress, ( the one with the French porn sounding accent) explaining the menu and one dish was pork tripe meat??? She meant pork sausages, thank god for google translate.

Saturday

It rained overnight so we thought what the hell let's visit Breze. Now we came across this medievil village as a stop over when going skiing. Stunning old town and has an art school dedicated to the Monet paintings. We will be returning as there are caves now open to the public hiding an underground lake and as the weather was today they have to be careful of rain filling up the caves. A beautiful river runs though the town, it's just idyllic.

Made our way towards Arras where we had our first nights stop. Sloped off into a hypermarket and stocked up on wine and beer, well it's shame not too. We managed to stuff umpteen litres of wine into all the cupboards and when you have limited space on a motor home this is not easy. Also filled up on the cheapest Deisel I've come across at just under 90pence per litre. Now sat here bloated after Tracey produced a gourmet meal of Italian sausages, potatoes in onions and veg......washed down with cheap French wine....just lush!!!

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