# France and Italy in 16 days



## chickann (Sep 17, 2010)

Our 1st time abroad in Morris, thank you 1st to everyone on the site who helped me prepare myself for what lied ahead. I will admit this was the 1st holiday ever that i was not looking forward to and really did not want to go the nearer our departure date got.
I had worked myself up so much fearing being gassed, getting broken into, shot or kidnaped, lost, not finding somewhere to park, running out of food and water and out of all that, all that happened was we ran out of money (there was just so much food and alcohol in Super U that i kept stocking up on). 

My daughters found it highly amusing and said that i must be the only person that takes a french stick to france and packets of pasta to Italy (better safe than sorry i told them).

We drove from Essex to Folkstone half hour later we were in Calais arriving at 1.00am we drove for about an hour and found a quiet road, pulled over and settled down for the night. unfortunately it was not quiet and i though we were going to tip over when the lorries started to thunder past so i shouted (and smacked him in the face) to hubby, are you awake, which he was (the noise must have woke him up too).
so in our pj's we set off again and found a little village and got to sleep about 4.00am. woke up feeling like crap and though i want to go home, so glad we didn't as it was a lovely sunny day and off we drove. we had a map and a sat nav, we didn't plan to stay anywhere in particular but just headed down to Italy, by chance we found municipals, not sure what we had to do, but used my very limited French, found a pitch and your done, left our pitch filled up with water, drove past a pitch where someone had driven off and left their table and chairs folded up neatly on the floor (mum we have the same set as that don't we) oops.

Note to self not to place stuff under the motorhome. found plenty of campsites on route and lots of Super U's. we used a couple of autoroutes but most of the time i looked on my map and made hubby turn off whenever i found a lake or river.
Took advise off this site and headed for Chamonix, found a campsite at the bottom on Mont Blanc, absolutely glorious, did the cable car to the top and went inside the glacier, then through the tunnel and 3 hours later was sitting on Lake Orta drinking my bargain's from Super U and eating my pizza that i bought in France, much to the amusement of the kids (was only planning on staying a couple of night but that turned into 5 as the location was fab).

There are no words to describe Italy but every time i think of it i get butterfly's in my tummy (could be wind though). Onto Lake Maggiore, more commercialised but still nice.
would love to have gone on a boat to Switzerland but got out voted and Milan it was.

Got a train to Milan as my daughter really really wanted to go there, walked from the station to the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel II. shopping centre, where she decided to throw up 5 times, 1st time splashing the legs of passing shoppers, (one lady must have been blind and walked straight through it in flip flops), then luckily finding bins to push her head into and just when we though it was all over she did it in the most upmarket shopping centre ever, apart from that the Duomo di Milano is wonderful.

Time to return home, had to stop and take in Mont Blanc one last time. we did use a lot of the autoroutes (as we stayed in Italy a bit too long) but still found time to stop off and have a walk round some lovely villages and tried our hand at wild camping again, which we really enjoyed and glad to say did not get gassed.
would recommended anyone doing this for the 1st time, to ask away for any advise on this site and not to ponder on what could go wrong, we did have mishaps only minor ones (daughter had a wee and did not open the flap for the toilet, hubby emptied the cassette later in the day and was moaning for some reason), we stopped a couple of times took in our surrounding and though we better move on then finding somewhere other motorhomes were parked.

to sum up we swam in rivers, fished, climbed a mountain, went inside a glazier, swam in the lakes, ate some fantastic food, saw fantastic sites, met people of all nationalities but best of all was the time we got to spend as a family.


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## Bern2544 (Sep 15, 2012)

Hi,

Sounds like you had a great time.........


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## ThursdaysChild (Aug 2, 2008)

That's the kind of story we love to hear !


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## Qnapper (Jul 26, 2012)

Great reading more like this would be nice.


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## Nora+Neil (May 1, 2005)

Thank's for this report, so down to earth.


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## aultymer (Jun 20, 2006)

Great story. Thanks for sharing with us.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Glad you had a great time. Lake Orta and Maggiore are really special.

Its a pity you get stressed about being gassed though as its a complete urban myth!

Where you off next then?


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## chickann (Sep 17, 2010)

barryd said:


> Glad you had a great time. Lake Orta and Maggiore are really special.
> 
> Its a pity you get stressed about being gassed though as its a complete urban myth!
> 
> Where you off next then?


Unfortunately we have made the choice to sell him, only because for how much he cost us a month we only really are able to use him for 2 weeks abroad a year and my idea was weekends away in the country , just jump in him for the weekend and off we go but i just think this country makes it so hard for us. after going abroad and finding it so easy and relaxing and the ease of their roads and just turning up at a campsite has made us realize that something smaller is needed. We only used him for sleeping in we never used the rear lounge, shower, or the dining table as we sat under the awning and most days were spent swimming in the lakes. he is perfect for booking onto campsites in this country as our weather is unpredictable you tend to stay inside it more, but i just want to park anywhere and with the size of him can be quite frustrating. so we are looking for a LWB van conversion with just the basics or are looking at building our own. we have only had him 2 years and were so lucky with getting one without damp or leaks, he is perfect but just too big for what we want to do. I have the bug now and really enjoy the freedom of it, am getting upset now thinking about selling him. might just sneak a weekend away before we put him up for sale though.


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## DJMotorhomer (Apr 15, 2010)

Great story

We have rented our home and are currently pitched at New England Bay C C site as we have a little tour of Dumfries and Galloway before heading down to Cumbria / Lancashire / Yorkshire / Derbyshire then meeting up with our daughter who will be visiting from NZ.

November 11 is our sailing day from Portsmouth to Bilbao and then our Euro Tour begins for hopefully a full 12 months   

DJM & Jan


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Thanks for sharing your story with us, Alan.


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## vicdicdoc (May 14, 2005)

Italy is good . . Italian roads are crap & full of nasty potholes,you notice the difference as soon as you go over the France/Italy border.


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

You weren`t gassed or robbed.  

You must have done something wrong.

Glad you enjoyed it.

Dave p


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## pomme1 (May 19, 2005)

I agree with Vic, I love Italy, but some of the roads are truly appalling.
Currently, the motorway between Rimini and Bologna is being widened and 'improved'. Approaching the roadworks, all traffic is funneled into a single lane which would be fine were it not for several unavoidable six inch deep potholes. I hit one with such force that I lost the balance weights from one wheel.

As you leave the funnel, you are directed onto a completed section of the motorway, four lanes wide and with a billiard table surface - perfect; or at least it would have been had they bothered to reinstate the white lines. Just imagine it, four lanes of motorway plus hard shoulder, no road markings and Italian drivers! I now know how it felt to participate in the chariot chase in Ben Hur!


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## zappy61 (May 1, 2005)

Love it, just love it, that is a great story thanks for sharing it with us. I am so envious as I have difficulty getting my OH over the water, I think its called hodophobia :lol: 

Graham


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## chickann (Sep 17, 2010)

thanks everyone, glad you enjoyed my story, lots more to add but so much happened in 16 days, never told hubby but made him drive off our route to Italy so often just so i could see more or we would have stayed on autoroutes all the way. just hope he never looks at our sat nav to see where we actually went :lol:


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

chickann said:


> thanks everyone, glad you enjoyed my story, lots more to add but so much happened in 16 days, never told hubby but made him drive off our route to Italy so often just so i could see more or we would have stayed on autoroutes all the way. just hope he never looks at our sat nav to see where we actually went :lol:


On our first Euro trip we ping pong balled around Europe in no logical direction whatsoever. 

All part of the fun.


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