Blogs from Orta San Giulio, Piedmont, Italy, Europe

We woke up in our little B&B in Premosello Chiovenda, a small village in the Ossola Valley between Lago di Mergozzo and Domodossola, with sunshine and a blue sky. Fantastic. This is why we came to Italy over the weekend - to escape the rain at home in the northern Alps in Switzerland. We had a shower, packed our few belongings and left. We still had not really an idea what to do today - well, do not get us wrong. There are many, many things to do in this region with great hiking, mountains and the Lago Maggiore close by. But we really enjoyed the Sacro Monte (Holy Mountain) we visited the day before in Domodossola. And we did not bring our hiking gear. What better way to discuss this with a breakfast in a ... read more

Despite our return journey from Italy into France, through Switzerland, passing uneventfully (if you exclude the stunning scenery of the Simplon pass), the same could not be said for the remainder of our journey. We arrived in France, as planned for our overnight stop, ahead of the trip to the port for a 6pm sailing the following day. You will have seen from the entry above that our planned Aire stop was less than satisfactory. However, this was clearly an omen for the remainder of the trip, which we had calculated as being c4.5 hours. We agreed to set off at 9am the following morning and take a leisurely drive to the port, and to eat in Dieppe sea front on our arrival. We awoke at c8am (later than usual) and set off at c9.30am. On ... read more

What are the 'must have' store cupboard ingredients that no van should be without? We stopped for one night at an Aire in France, en route back to the port, which was 'star' rated for its village amenities. These included restaurants duly signposted... However, the one restaurant included on the map had clearly closed down some years ago, leaving a kebab house and a Carrefour mini market... Nice... Not! Our challenge therefore, on arriving back at the van after a fruitless trawl of the village, was to make something from our left overs / store cupboard, which we did. Paella. On opening the cupboard we were confronted with, amongst other ingredients, saffron, truffles and anchovies - not all of which were needed for the Paella, but which did make us smile. We were sure to be ... read more

As aspiring OATs ourselves (I am dropping the G for grey as, at 45, I am proud of my full head of brown hair), I have been interested to hear, from Nick, about the GOATs he has got talking to on our travels - Nick being more sociable than me, although I have become acquainted with a few of them. At what point in life one should become an OAT is a frequent topic of conversation - as is to what extent one should retain a base in the UK versus release equity to fund travels. We are still searching for the right answer. We are aged 45 and 55 respectively and have both worked all of our lives, and are continuing to do so to date. We have a nice home in the UK in ... read more

The test... Would the van hold our gear? Having bought and taken delivery of the van, we were still yet to determine, for sure, that our Honda VFR 800 would actually fit in the garage... An expensive mistake if not! The dimensions suggested it would... We drove the van home and attached the ramp with some degree of nervousness. This proved to be unfounded - although we found that we had to remove the top box frame. Now for the acid test. Would the top box (containing helmets) and panniers (essential for food shopping when away), alongside our leathers fit into the internal cupboard I had earmarked for them (the largest of the 'wardrobes' under the bed and accessed via both a lifting lid and large door). The answer was yes! Result! So here we have ... read more