Part 2 , Touring Europe In A Motorhome Wild Camping

By Author: Gordon Murray
Total Articles: 6
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European Tour part two of two

Mileage 224

Friday 31/10/08
Headed further south today. Route: Vasto - Bari - Taranto - Wild camping on the beach at Montegiordano Marina, a small fishing village, enjoyed the run down, very quiet roads, countryside full of oranges, mandarins, grapes & olives all the way down coast road. Taranto is a huge industrial town with massive port and oil refineries, other than that it was all small villages we passed through, weather is great. Another bottle of grape juice with tea tonight all part of our 5 a day!! We have one night out a week at a good restaurant, usually Friday - no restaurants at this little village! It was like something out of the Bertoli Advert, you could see the locals looking and thinking "There are strangers in town"
Weather 27°C
Mileage 245

Saturday 1/11/08
Route Montegiordano - Sybaris then crossed to west coast Cosenza - Lamezia Terme - Villa S Giovanni - Ferry to Messina Sicily. This was a brilliant run through the mountains, awesome scenery and some scary mountainous roads. Headed south and parked at Camper Park at Giardini ...
... Naxos just below Mount Etna which is smoking in the background!Took scooter for a look round and had tea at one of the beach restaurants. Got lost in the dark on the scooter on the way back - all one way streets!
Weather 29°C
Mileage 284

Sunday 2/11/08
After turning the van upside down looking for the safe place Gordon put his wallet! Spent the rest of the day at beach and scooting round town. Great. Got lost again in the one way system!
Weather 27°C
Mileage 0 Scooter 6

Monday 3/11/08
Left lovely site at Naxos and drove up Mount Etna, road was never designed for camper van, thank goodness Gordon is a good driver. Mount Etna is lunar like in landscape, ash blowing on the road and smell of smoke all the time. Drove as far as we could 2000m above sea level, the cable car up to the crater was closed due to the wind, very cold up here, ski jacket back on. Found a better road back down and headed further south to free camper spot at fishing village called Brucoli just north of Augusta. Brucoli looked lovely from a distance but Sicily has a major rubbish & litter problem. It looked better in the dark, had a bbq for tea and watched local fishermen out on small boats.
Weather 25°C - Naxos 14°C- Mount Etna - Rain & Wind
Mileage 70

Tuesday 4/11/08
Left, not to be visited again Brucoli. And headed North towards Palermo. Lovely countryside through the mountains and again on the coast road heading east. Wild camping at beachfront Capo d'Orlando. Gordon trying his hand at fishing at the moment. BBQ for tea again tonight, weather glorious, not as humid as down south. Sicily is very poor looking, not what we thought it would be. Buildings are very tatty and every village we go through the bins are overflowing and rubbish is everywhere. Early night tonight as Gordon was up most of last night trying to kill mosquito that was biting him!

Weather 33°C
Mileage 169

Wednesday 5/11/08
Back to Messina and eventually found correct ferry to get back to Italy. Not sorry to be leaving Sicily, other than weather, Naxos & Mount Etna it was a pretty filthy place with crazy drivers. Travelled north and wild camped on the beach just outside Pizzo. BBQ for tea and then spent the next 4 hours in van with our very own firework display. Thunder and frightening lightening storm, the street lights all went out and a fire started on the hill behind us, pretty scary night.

Weather 25°C
Mileage 163

Thursday 6/11/08
Would have spent another day on the beach, but the storm didn't clear and raining, headed further north. Route Pizzo - Cosenza -Salerno and then made a BIG mistake, came of main road and decided to head for Amalfi coast and somewhere to camp for night. After an hour of driving on the worst roads and drivers ever, headed back inland and eventually parked at deli car park on busy road at Vico Equense. It was only good luck that we got of the coast road without damage to the van.

Weather 18°C Rain
Mileage 257

Friday 7/11/08
Early wake up this morning, traffic started at 5am !Travelled into Pompei and travelled back out fast, roads not suitable for camper, had one look at Naples from a distance and decided not for us. Got on to Motorway and arrived in Rome 12 noon. Parked at secure camper stop 3 miles from centre. Washed camper, (he had pressure washer & it was badly needing done) then headed on tram to centre, amazing place, walked around the Colosseum and town hall. Had tea in restaurant, tram back to site. The main terminal in town for trains, busses, trams & underground is a scary place. The man at the camper stop warned us to be very careful for pick pockets etc.

Weather 18°C Sunny
Mileage165

Saturday 8/11/08
Tram back to Rome centre and spent the day sightseeing, Inside Colloseum, Vatican etc. walked for miles.
Weather 18°C Torrential rain showers & sunshine
Mileage 0

Sunday 9/11/08
Travelled from Rome to Pisa. quiet road on Sunday, nice scenery. Parked for night at Marina Di Pisa, o lovely spot next to the water, had carry out Pizza for tea.
Weather 20°C showers
Mileage 257

Monday 10/11/08
Drove into Pisa centre and eventually got parked 100m from leaning tower ! really spectacular to see. Headed north and had change of route plan, heading for the Swiss Alps. Parked North of Novara in lay by at the side of Lago Maggiore small village called Solcio, this is a lovely area of Italy all along the loch side.
Weather 22°C
Mileage 236

Tuesday 11/11/08
Early start. Solcio - Swiss Border - Tasch - Zermatt. Arrived 11am. Parked at Tasch and got train into Zermatt as no cars allowed. The Matterhorn was awesome to see, took the cable cars up to 2939m, fantastic views and freezing cold. Enjoyed a hot coffee at bottom, and wander round Zermatt which is very quaint. This has been my favourite place so far.
Weather -6°C
Mileage 106

Wednesday 12/11/08
Wakened to snow showers and low cloud, couldn't even see bottom of matterhorn, we were lucky yesterday to have had great weather. Weather didn't improve all day, so didn't see Monte Blanc or other mountains as we drove to Argentier then onto Chamonix, parked in car park in Chamonix tonight. Had delicious French onion soup & cheese fondue for lunch today.
Weather 5°C snow, rain, fog
Mileage 98

Thursday 13/11/08
Weather still not cleared, and cable car up the Midi closed for annual maintenance. Headed south, drove through the Mont Blanc Tunnel 12km, pretty cool, (cool price to 44€) and came out other side to glorious sunshine in Italy. Drove through San Remo, Monte Carlo, Monaco, ended up in dark at Nice airport VIP Terminal !!!! (nothing wrong with my navigating) Parked in services outside Cannes. We were both sorry to leave the Alps as the scenery is stunning.
Mileage 300
Weather 0°C
Gordon is a traveller / Writer having travelled all over Europe in the Last 25 years in a Motorhome from
www.scottishtourer.co.uk