# France/ italy trip



## wattapain (Oct 10, 2006)

Well, finally got round to posting this. 
Been home for 3 weeks nw but, what with 1 thing & another (?) haven't quite got round 2 it!! 
Ok, set off om 25th April - arrived early at Dover ( just in case :roll: ) got on the earlier ferry then away we went!!
First night , stayed at a nice little riverside site at Charleville - camping du Bocq - nice quiet site , lots of watersports - good foe fishermen - watched Chelsea v Liverpool in bar - drank Belgian beer from local ( 1/2 mile up road) brewery!!
Moved on next day to Riquewihr, nice little Alsace town, good site, walking distance to town on wine route.
Took 'wally trolley' tour round vineyard - interesting if touristy - nice restaurants/wine!!
Stayed 2 nights then on to Italy ( via Switzerland) 
Travel thru switzerland not good - Sat 28th April - BH weekend - traffic horrendous - 2 hrs from Luzern to Gothard !! only 1 tunnel open - as bad as M 25 (on a good day!!)
Stopped at camping Orchideo on lago di maggiore - nice site, great facilities but wifi not available even though advertised.
Very busy though ( BH Weekernd - aaaargh!!) 
Lovely setting, right on lake - walking distance of a few nice restaurants.
Stayed 3 nights. Met a group of 3 Serbian ladies who were having probs with their gas - brought them in to our van to heat their dinner through!! 
Good samaritans or what!!

Mon 30th - moved on to Iseo - then the weather changed!!
Up till then, there had apparently been a drought in italy - well that all changed - we then had 6 days of p***ing rain & quite cold - we even had a discount off one campsite as they were so embarrassed about it.
After 2 days of being inside the van at iseo , we decided to head south in search of sun - went to Livorno - stayed at camping Mareblu - nice site
but rain persists -thunder & lightning!! one van had to be towed out of mud by a tractor!!

Next day drove north west - heading for Genova - stayed at a camper stop Oasi Park - at Diano Marina - liked this - apart from absolutely cr*p showers - use your own -I did !!
Walking distance to nice seaside town, good shopping, restaurants, Limoncello - 2L @ 11€60!!! 
Weather beginning to change - stayed 3 nights.
Next we headed for S France - stayed at Le Castellas - between Set & Agde 4* supposedly - don't know that the loos desrved that category!
nice beach though within walking distance - stayed a couple of days then moved on to Camping Le mas de la plage at Agde - nice site - amazing loos - posted pics ( no loo rolls though -as ever in France) 
By hten we only had 3 nights left and as we went north it started raining again so we did a couple of stopovers and came home a day early.


Overall, a good trip, but spoiled by the weather - don't expect rain in Italy!
will def go back though but prob through France - south cote D'azur rather than Switzerland.


Loved italy - want to go further down next time - can't wait.

Hope I've not bored you all too much,
Terri & Brian


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## DandM (Nov 7, 2006)

I love reading holiday reports like this, thanks for posting it, shame about the weather tho

Dennis


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Italy*

Hello

I love tales about Italy....but when it rains, it rains. Also, I was battered a few times with really bad hail. A fellow Dutch camper gave me some cushion stuff to cover my roof vents with to prevent them getting damaged.

Russell


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## Frantone (Sep 6, 2006)

*Trip report*

Enjoyed reading this Terri & Brian, thanks............bit worried about the weather though! Could you let us know your itinerary for the rest of the year so we can be elsewhere!!!!!!!!!!

Tony & Frances

xxx


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## wattapain (Oct 10, 2006)

Hi, thanks for your replies/comments- i'd like to post a couple of pics but can't seem to work out how to :roll: 
Sorry to be dim.
Terri


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