Porlezza – Kaysersburg – Han sur Lesse – Gravelines

Total 633 miles

It's now time to head for home although we've got plenty of it so there's no rush. However we decided to go more or less direct and pickup the route we used on the way out. So once again in hot sunshine we headed off, firstly into Lugano where TomTom decided a tour of the town would be a nice change! Grrrrrrr! However we soon got back onto the right road and headed along the A2 to cross Switzerland. The St Gothard Pass was still closed but we were going to use the tunnel anyway, our Swiss toll papers still being valid so nothing more to pay. It was a pretty direct route through picturesque mountains on a generally clear and sunny day with the odd cloud and shower, routing through Lucerne and lots of tunnels then on to Basel where we crossed the border back into France.

Realising that Kaysersburg was only a little farther on than our target of Colmar, we headed there as the Aires guide mentioned a market on Thursday afternoon/teatime which sounded good. Unfortunately market day had been changed to Wednesday, but it was still nice to stroll around with the usual ice-cream dripping all over us!

Friday was a cross Luxembourg day to get a tankful of cheap fuel. The fuel computer kept assuring us that we had enough diesel but the gauge didn't seem to agree, especially when the warning light came on so we crossed fingers and just made it to a service station where we got 78.7 litres into the 80 litre tank! Lunch then carry on, the sky clouding over a little but still very warm and we resorted to the air-conditioning – just to keep Jamie cool you understand. Our destination for tonight was Han sur Lesse in Belgium and we'd decided to stay 2 nights at this lovely aire, meeting up with a couple of Funster vans on their way home from Germany. Not so impressed however when we found the price had increased from €9 to €12 – must have been a change of season. But it does have all we need, including electricity.

And so we spent a pleasant, if very warm, couple of nights then Sunday saw us back on quiet motorways across Belgium and into France, passing through a couple of very heavy localised rain showers which had the effect of significantly freshening the atmosphere and dropping the temperature. We noted a 12 deg decrease from our lunch stop to Gravelines where a very pleasant sea breeze at 23 deg was welcomed.

Having checked out the vet, our plan now is to take Jamie for his Pet Passport check tomorrow, a further night here to comply with UK regulations then up to Calais on Tuesday, ready for our Channel Tunnel booking on Wednesday morning.

Pineto – Castel San Pietro Terme – Porlezza

Pineto to Castel San Pietro Terme to Porlezza - 423 miles

Sunday and Monday had been designated chill-out days so once we'd got the domestics out of the way that's precisely what we did. Once the “locals” had gone home the site was quiet and peaceful, except of course when Jamie decided other dogs were infiltrating “his” space as were the lizards and occasional squirrel! He got himself locked away in the van a couple of times, but he also got plenty of walks especially on the beach which was almost deserted. Unfortunately it was very stony and also quite steep and when we threw his ball it rolled straight into the sea and disappeared – it shelved quickly and there looked to be a strong undertow, which probably explained the lack of bathers. Monday evening we went to the site pizzeria and enjoyed freshly cooked pizza, but it seems only Terry got what was actually ordered, the others got sort of their orders but not quite what was expected. Never mind it was all enjoyed as a last meal together.

Look carefully, one of Jamie's targets!

Because it was really time to move on. Derek and June had decided to stay over a few days and we had got our route and itinerary roughly planned to give us a couple of days leeway just in case. So Tuesday saw a somewhat tearful departure and we headed for the autostrada. Named the Adriatico, this pretty well follows the coast, by-passing the towns and villages of course and is in much better condition than the ordinary road so it was really a no-brainer. Despite the (reasonable) toll charges we think after taking account of the fuel saved, not to mention the wear and tear on the van suspension, it worked out cheaper overall. We did drop off for a short while to sort out some shopping and lunch.

Farno - the old gate

Approaching Rimini the clouds got very dark and before long we were in a torrential downpour which flooded, and almost stopped, the autostrada. Cars, trucks and motorcycles were pulling onto the hard shoulder to take shelter under the bridges but we managed to carry on, albeit at around 20 mph, until we'd cleared the rain. A little later we left the autostrada and headed cross-country to the small town of Castel San Pietro Terme where there was a free sosta which we found quite easily although it was almost full of parked cars. Unfortunately this is a hazard with free parking but we've found it usually clears around teatime, which was the case here.

After a quiet night we rejoined the autostrada for the next leg which was to take us into Switzerland. The route involved passing the major centres of Bologna and Milan, where there was also a significant meeting of major roads so it was very busy, but Italians don't do traffic jams so it was also a bit hectic. Our short sojourns off these main arteries, for fuel and sustenance, were a bit of a relief but we survived with only one waved fist – well we think it was his fist.........

So into Switzerland, again with a minimum of formality. It had been a little difficult choosing an overnight stop; there are few aires/sostas in Switzerland and ACSI wasn't well represented in our intended area, around Lugano. However there were a couple of places around 17km to the east so we headed there, only to pop back into Italy again – Lugano and it's very attractive lake extends the Swiss border in a narrow peninsular south into Italy.

Lugano

Lake Lugano

The lake from the campsite

Porlezza is a small holiday town on the shore of Lake Lugano with a couple of nice campsites. Our choice was on the lakeside and although a goodly number of pitches were occupied by permanent units it was quite quiet – well until Jamie started his tricks again! Can't really blame him though, he'd been cooped up in the van for 2 days. We booked in for just the one night.

Pompeii – Troia – Pineto

Pompeii to Troia then Pineto - 280 miles

We've had enough sightseeing for now so it's time to start for home, albeit taking a few days chillin' whilst we've got excellent weather. Today we're heading sort of east towards the Adriatic coast, to a small town with a free sosta that had been recommended by a Funster.

First off a visit to the nearby Auchan to restock the fridge then onto the autostrada heading for Salerno. Which went a bit wrong when we tried to avoid a traffic holdup and ended up heading for Sorrento. Now this would have been okay if we were going to the Amalfi Coast but that was definitely not part of our plans so we got TomTom to sort us out. Ah well it was an interesting half an hour!

Troia

A couple of hours run on a decent autostrada, pausing for lunch at a service area, saw us heading towards Foggia in Puglia province, a more rolling than mountainous area. We turned off onto less well used roads (in other words a little indifferent, some good some awful) to go cross-country to Troia where we found the sosta with no problem. Unusually this offered free electricity along with the normal services, however apart from the electric it was all locked up! Not a problem though as we had fully serviced the van before departure. We later discovered the services were only open between 6.00 and 9.00 am!

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Five

Troia is a small walled hilltop town, even though it called itself a “citta”, our Rough Guide giving it half a page, most of which was about one church. It apparently, however, has seven patriot saints although when we explored later we only found five churches. The guide book also mentioned that the locals seemed somewhat indifferent about the origin of their town's name; apparently it means slut! But it was a pleasant enough place and we spent a quiet night. Well until a pair of Austrians on the sosta decided to provide some entertainment. Derek of course had to have a go too!

Alpenhorns in Southern Italy!

View from the sosta

But it was really only a one-night stopover and we wanted somewhere to properly chill for a few days so Saturday we headed to the coast, by-passing Foggia and joining the “Adriatic”, the main road following the coast northwards. We had picked out an area north of Pescara where there were four seaside ACSI campsites so headed out, only to find the access road blocked by a badly parked car, however we found a back way which took us round the town one-way system. But then we missed a turn for the autostrada (again!) so a bit more backtracking – Terry blames TomTom who only warned us of the turn with 35 metres to go but at least put us back on track.

Roundabout art

A short run along the motorway but needing fuel we turned off seeking better prices and found a nice little town with reasonably priced diesel, LPG and a Lidl for our lunchtime baguette. Thinking the non-motorway road may be nicer we stuck to it for a while until Termoli where we stopped for lunch in a huge empty carpark – think it was for the cemetery. We were going to continue off-toll but realised that due to an increasing number of small towns and villages it was going to take considerably longer so reluctantly got back on the autostrada. A good move really as we saved an hour of time for a cost of €7 which was probably less than the cost of fuel.

We had chosen Pineto Holiday Village at, erm, Pineto and after negotiating a few back streets and a railway tunnel we found a very nice looking place right on the beach. However the pitches they offered were not really acceptable, the first right next to the busy railway line, as were the second. The third was inaccessible to us so we said not to worry, we'd move on. There then followed a brief conflab in the office after which the receptionist showed us to a perfect pair of shady pitches right next to the beach and close to the amenities. They did mumble something about a small extra charge but did accept the ACSI cards so we'll see. There was still railway noise but it wasn't as obtrusive – this'll do us for a few days!

Sorrento

Rain again during the night but clearing up quickly as we surfaced. Our plan today was to visit Sorrento, a little way along the Bay of Naples, and rather than take the van and try to find somewhere to stay, we elected to take the local train which only takes half an hour and costs €2.40. So once again settling Jamie, we walked the few hundred yards to the station, bought tickets and boarded the next train which was only 10 mins – they run every half hour. Whilst waiting we were amused by the colourful train that came the other way.

Colourful trains

 A slightly newer train took us to Sorrento where we left the station and ambled into the town. There's no getting away with it, Sorrento is a holiday town and apart from a couple of museums has nothing cultural going for it. We were fully aware of this of course but as it was on our list of places to see somewhere different was most welcome after the past few days. We wandered around, firstly looking for the shop where Bren bought an inlaid wood side table 40 years ago – it's still there but now under new ownership.

Bay of Naples

A walk through the main square, over the gorge that dissects the town and then down to the viewing point overlooking the front. It is quite a steep cliff down to the actual port/seafront area but as there didn't seem anything worth making the effort for we didn't. Spectacular view of the Bay of Naples though, complete with cruise ship whose passengers were thronging the narrow streets lined with small shops of all descriptions. An ice cream in the hot sun before we headed back to the centre of town and then the railway station to return to Pompeii.

Really a couple of hours was enough to see most of what was on offer; we could have lingered longer but it became a choice of whether to have lunch here or back at the van. The fact we had splurged out last night didn't have anything to do with our decision of course.........

So another rattle-trap of a train, the driver of which appeared to be trying to make up time after leaving two minutes late (it is single track in places so coordination is important), and back to a patient Jamie for lunch and an afternoon of relaxing and planning. With less than two weeks to our booked Channel crossing we want to make sure that we don't have to rush at the last minute so it looks like we'll be starting to head north tomorrow.

Pompeii

Although we had rain overnight the morning was clear, sunny and warm. With breakfast out of the way we settled Jamie in the van and walked the short distance to the nearest entrance to the Pompeii ruins. This turned out not to be the main entrance which meant the queues were not long although it was obviously meant for guided tours, being close to where the coaches parked – tour guides got priority at the ticket office!

Having purchased a map at the campsite yesterday we set off, only to find we had misread the map and weren't anywhere near where we thought we were! No worries, we eventually got it sorted and made up our own route, wandering slowly along the lanes marvelling at how well preserved these ancient buildings were compared to other Roman sites we have visited.

Just to enlighten readers, Mount Vesuvius, just a mile or two to the north of the city, erupted suddenly in October AD79 after more than 800 years of inactivity with such violence that the dust and smoke obliterated the sky for three days and buried the city up to roof level in hot ash. Few of the 15,000 residents escaped; others sought refuge in cellars and were destined to die. The whole place came to a stop and was left that way for over 1600 years. Only the large public buildings were plundered, those which stood out above the ash, and the city fell into a deep sleep until the spring of 1748, when the first attempts at exploration were made. Since then there has been an almost constant programme of discovery, protection and preservation, however there is still so much to do that it may never be fully completed.

Today, of course, most of the buildings have been left as they were excavated but several have had some restoration work done. Old records have obviously survived because all the streets have been named, and city blocks numbered as they would have been originally. Quite a bit of internal decoration survived, some of which is on public view, and several of the more important buildings have been concentrated on to provide points of interest. Even the “roads” have been left as original, complete with the grooves made by cart wheels and even kerbstones and drainage channels.

To be fair, much of it is very much the same as everywhere else and once you've seen one ancient street you've seen most of them although it is fairly obvious which were “the better parts of town”. Some of the larger constructions, such as the amphitheatre, remain much as they were when the disaster struck and are interesting enough but the crowds, including long straggles of “crocodiles” of every nation with their attendant flag-waving guide, detract from the overall impression. But if there were no visitors, there would be no funds to carry out the restoration and renovation so there has to be a balance – however even the guidebooks comment on how popular a tourist destination Pompeii has become.

Eventually, of course, as lunchtime passed and the sun still shining bright and hot, we started to get a little “Pompeii'd out” so headed for an exit, through the obligatory gift shop of course, and across the road back to the van. We're very happy we made the effort.

Once again a collage of some of the better photographs.

And now for some sad ones

A quiet afternoon and as today is our 10^th Wedding Anniversary, we've planned to go to the adjacent restaurant with Derek and June this evening.