Rasbro's Ramblings March 2014

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After three lovely months visiting family and friends back in Oz we returned to the Northern hemisphere to find it still a little cold and damp at the end of February. However our spirits were revived after we traded in Hamish, our motorhome for the past two and a half years, on a younger, prettier, more comfortable motorhome whom we have christened Izzy. It only took one day of looking, in fact it was the only van we wanted as it comes with two full double beds, one at the back and one that drops down from the ceiling when required, and both are extremely comfortable. Our new home on wheels also has a larger lounge, L-shaped kitchen (with oven) and a much bigger bathroom – luxury!

Whilst waiting for our new home to be prepped to our requirements we travelled around England catching up with the usual suspects amongst family and friends. We even managed a few beautiful days in the Peak district and the Dales for some walking and Geocaching. Whilst visiting with Janice and David in the Thetford Forest we bagged our 500^th cache with a little help from Janice who is a pretty good sniffer-out of caches.

We crossed to France on Tuesday 25 March with Izzy fully loaded and raring to go. The sun shone hazily as we traversed the countryside and the weather gradually warmed up as we headed South East towards the Alps. We were on a mission to get into Italy as soon as we could so after 3 days of steady driving we crossed via the Frejus Tunnel from Modane in France to Bardonecchio in Italy. Unfortunately our information about a couple of Italian “sostas” where we hoped to spend the night proved to be wrong so we did a long, squiggly tour of the Asti region before finally coming to rest in the town of Acqui Terme alongside about 20 other motorhomes.



The next day we explored the town and did a little shopping before heading down the cheap Italian autostrada to Camping Vesima near Genova. It is crammed in between the coast, a railway line, a road and high above is an autostrada but amazingly we got some sleep albeit with earplugs in. Sunday dawned mild and sunny as we caught the bus/train into Genova. We were lucky to visit on a weekend when many of the old palazzos were open to visit for free so we enjoyed mooching around five of them, some with English speaking guides from the student volunteers. The whole town was buzzing as locals and visitors alike enjoyed the open days and the waterfront was teeming with families out for their passagiata. Lunch was taken at a nice little osteria where the food and service were excellent and for a reasonable price.

All in all a pretty good start to Europe 2014. More next month.

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