Lazy Lake Garda and the North.

30^th April

As the weather wasn’t great still we decided to go inland and come back to the coast when the sun comes out. We had to go over the mountains on stunning empty winding roads and stopped for lunch in a layby overlooking the beautiful view. We also stopped so Pete could have a dip in a freezing cold stream in a very pretty green forest. When we came down the other side of the mountain the roads got much bigger and the scenery much uglier. Again getting tired of driving we satnaved a campsite (the nearest one was 30km away) and headed for that. Were in Italy so obviously it was some four star hoo haa but we set up anyway. Really fun evening playing ping pong, drinking a lot of red wine and getting told off by our neighbours for being too loud. Also our corkscrew broke in our wine so I asked the lady at the bar to help get it out and the bottle ended up exploding and covering her in red wine. Oops.

1^st May

Decided we would do one more day of driving and get to Lake Garda so we could chill out for a few days. We were pretty much run out of food so had our eyes peeled for a supermarket but every town we went through was a ghost town. We didn’t know if they were all closed for lunch, or Thursday was there closed day or what! Looked in the guide book and realised that the 1^st of May was a holiday so EVERYTHING is shut. Had lunch in a park with a lake for fishing and as we didn’t have much food Pete made sundried tomato, olive and wild thyme soda bread which was lovely. Easy drive to lake and once we’d come through the horrendous tourist area and past the ‘Gardaland’ and ‘Movieland’ theme parks it was very very pretty. Again the only campsites we saw were 3 or 4 stars so we didn’t even bother looking. The parking also seemed very strict (probably so you don’t free camp!) so we couldn’t just pull in anywhere. Pete and WEX were both getting tired and finally we found a 1 star campsite! Not one other camper on it. Sadly not the side of the road with the lake, but only a 2 minute walk down to the shore, and a gorgeous view of the mountains the other side. Also the big mountain is behind us that is still covered in snow. Pete got his hammock out for the first time and is loving it. At sunset we went out to the jetty just at the bottom of our road and it was all misty and absolutely beautiful.

2^nd May

Had a very lazy morning and then decided to explore along the shore (north) so got out our micro scooters and followed the foot path along. Saw snakes basking in the sunshine and found some wild rocket growing along the side of the road and took some to have for lunch. We went into a small shop which had huge tanks of wine for 1.40 per litre! The lady in the shop was obviously minding it for her son and it took her about twenty minutes to work out how to fasten the top of the bottle. We’re not in a rush though so it didn’t matter! We scooted back along to our campsite and got some cheese and meat from the supermarket and had lunch out on the jetty. We watched and fed the ducks and spent the afternoon reading and relaxing. Fantastic. With a sudden burst of energy we decided to explore up. Our road seemed to go that way so up we went and ended up finding these old mule tracks through the olive groves with great views down to the lake. Managed to wind back down to the shore along the tracks; passing a field of horses and a very very cute baby donkey. More relaxing back at camp and a big thunderstorm in the night.

3^rd May

The storm must have cleared the clouds and today there was blue skies and sunshine and sunbathing and reading. Perfect. Had a cycle along to the tourist information to find out about and ATM and free wifi; turned out the bar on our doorstep has free wifi so we went there, had a beer and checked emails. Both the helpx people had replied (one we couldn’t do because it was for a month at least) so we phone one lady. She was very posh sounding and didn’t have time right now but could we call her in the morning. Didn’t sound great but Italy is too expensive so we need to do helpx or leave! After the bar we got a cheaper beer from the shop and sat on the beach. Pete wanted to jump in the lake, which is freeeezing by the way; straight from the snow on the mountains, but he was too scared. I had to show him how it was done and we both ended up jumping from the end of the jetty. Another long evening in the campsite eating, drinking and playing cards. We also tried our solar powered shower, which worked a treat. Thanks Dave!

4^th May

Today we had a plan. We wanted to visit Verona and then instead of looking around for a campsite for ages and getting grumpy we were going to head to a free camp car park that we had seen on a blog. Drove the hour or so to Verona and after finding ourselves driving through the centre of town through loads of tourists found a parking space, pay and display, for a couple of hours. Took our micro scooters and a picnic with us and found that in the main square with the old Roman amphitheatre there was a market. We looked longingly at the amazing risottos and pizzas and did end of splashing out of some lovely cheese to go with our picnic. Had lunch on the steps of the town hall (we think) right next to the amphitheatre watching weddings and tourists with their bags of designer shopping. Scooted the streets of Verona, had a look in at Juliet’s balcony (as in Romeo and Juliet) and tried to write our names on the love wall but only had a biro. Also we got told off for writing outside the box even though every millimetre of outside the box was already covered in writing. Anyway it was a beautiful day and Verona was very pretty. Headed towards this car park then, it was a nice drive actually through pretty towns and back streets. The only problem was that it was Saturday and apparently everything is shut on Saturday (when are they open!?) and our petrol light was on. None of the petrol stations would accept visa and we only had 5 euros cash on us. The satnav had taken us the scenic route and although very nice we were in the middle of nowhere. Out of desperation we used the five euros to get a little bit of petrol (the petrol light stayed on though) and thankfully made it to this car park. Instantly we didn’t like the look of it and to make it worse a few minutes after we’d parked the police drove up to our van looked at our number plate for a while and then drove off. We assume just giving us a little warning not to stay here. We were in a town so we stocked up on cash and petrol and decided to keep on driving. Not heading anywhere in particular we stumbled across an actual camper car park in a small town called Brisighella. It had water and several other campers on it. The Italians obviously come out in their campers on a Saturday night. It was supposed to be ten euros but we didn’t see anyone else pay and as it was Sunday tomorrow, and no one works on Sundays in Italy, we didn’t pay. Got out our chairs and cooked dinner. Although it was a car park it was actually quite pretty with a park next to it and we felt safe with the other campers around. Drank lots of wine. Bed.

Forgot to say that we rang the helpx lady and she only wanted us if we could get references and be there immediately. We still didn’t like the sound of her but we said we’d think about it. Didn’t reply all day then ended up saying we couldn’t come for a few days. Anyway long story short we obviously annoyed her because she didn’t reply to our texts in the end. Oh well.

5^th May

Got away with camping for free and headed out to find a toilet. Had a cappuccino in a nice little café and used the facilities! We stopped again a few minutes later when we came across a little market and wandered through there a while. Turning out to be a lovely morning. Found somewhere to park on the side of the road and look our lunch down to a river. Not glorious sunshine unfortunately but very nice all the same. The drive was through more beautiful mountains (we had to go over the Apennine Mountains to get to Florence) but we found that the road was shut off. As we are in Italy there were no clear diversion signs so we had to work it out for ourselves. Without going back to where we came from there was only one other road off, so we went up there. Came to a fork in the road and the first one we followed led to a farm (after a lot of steep, winding roads). Back we went and tried the other fork. This went on for much longer and WEX was getting very hot going up the hills and the brakes were stinking going down. We saw several cars going the same way so assumed it must be the diversion and followed them; you wouldn’t be here otherwise unless there was a party or something. There was a party or something in a hotel at the end of the road. There was a track that carried on but it was becoming very un-road like and WEX was very tired. Back we went again. Pete found some wild Marjoram at the side of the road which we stocked up on. The rain settled in. Eventually we got on to the right road and drove through the pissing rain to a town called Marradi. Found another camper car park- this one was actually free- and set up camp playing cards and drinking wine in the van in the rain. Did actually manage to cook dinner (the gas was outside mum don’t worry). There was only one other camper in the site and we felt okay about it. In the night though a car came and parked and the people sat inside it with no lights on. It seemed very strange. They were probably just hanging out but our minds got carried away and we ended up driving to the road to sleep somewhere more public. 

The Rainy Riviera.

27^th April

Set off for another long drive to the coast. Once we were out of Provence the land became very flat and all the towns industrial, not very inspiring. Came down into Marseille which was an absolute nightmare of roads and spaghetti junctions. Tried to do a u-turn on the coastal road and Pete stalled four times trying to do it! Very stressful. Ended up paying to use a tunnel that seemed to take us right under and out of the city- well worth the 3 euros. More driving along the coast, unable to find any campsites that were open. Found a lay-by in a small town on the way to St Tropez with another camper pulled in. We assumed that he was staying the night so thought it would be okay to stay too. There was a little path down to a rocky bit of beach so we had a wander down there and breathed in the sea air. It was also slightly sunny! Yay! We ate a disgusting dinner of tinned sausages with salad and ketchup and settled down to watch a movie. After the film we noticed that the other camper had gone. We decided that it was too isolated to be here on our own so we drove on and slept in a parking space on the side of the road that had houses and street lights. It was fun to think that no one knew we were there.

28^th April

Got up and straight into the driving seat. Drove along the Riviera in on and off rain, stopping for toilets and breakfast in the van at what would be a beautiful view point if it wasn’t so wet outside. Cannes was very pretty- we didn’t spot any celebs- as was the rest of the coast. We were a bit nervous about coming into Nice after the Marseille experience but it had an amazing road that led right over the top of it and we could see down from the rooftops into the streets. Stopped at a lovely viewpoint over Nice for lunch (unfortunately it started to rain again) and further along gawped at all the very expensive cars in Monaco. We hadn’t found anywhere to stop so we carried straight on into Italy. Found a weird car park for campers to stop in in San Remo. It was still raining so we stayed there even though it wasn’t very picturesque and watched another movie. There was a big thunder storm in the night.

29^th April

The car park for campers had a sign saying it was 10 euros (we wondered what for as there were no toilets or water or anything.) Anyway there wasn’t anyone there to pay so we drove away without paying. Pete was getting very tired of driving the wiggly roads so we decided to try and escape the rain faster by using the motorway. Got our monies worth by stopping at the service stations to have lunch and use the toilets! Bypassed Genova on the motorway too and came off just after. Back on the coastal roads but the Italian Riviera was starting and it was very pretty. After getting lost and angry in a town called Rapallo we satnaved a campsite in the town and ended up staying there. We realised that Italian camping is not exactly what we like; they apparently need swimming pools and shops and blah blah blah and to pay a lot of money. Although we payed a lot more than we wanted we did have free wifi so were able to put up our blog and apply to two Helpx people in farms further south in Italy. Went for a stroll into the town, which was actually very pretty and had a beer and free tapas in a local bar sitting next to a big group of rowdy Italians. Lovely evening.

Provence - shorts and t-shirts!

20^th April

Wake up to more light snow and don’t have any coffee or breakfast, just climb straight into the front and start driving. Find our way on the correct road again and seem to be driving even higher. The weather sets in. Visibility down to about 20 metres and the snow is so thick on the ground it’s hard to make out the edge of the road. Even the French are driving slowly! We creep down the mountain and it begins to clear; looking behind us we can see we’ve just come out of a huge cloud. We come out the other side into Provence where the weather is better (still not hot hot hot) and Pete is very excited about all the wild thyme and rosemary everywhere! We pass a few campsites but as it is still early we decide to drive on see what we can find. It is about 2 o’clock in the afternoon and we want to set up and have a long evening somewhere. After driving back and forth along winding roads searching for campsites only to find that they are either closed (we are out of season) or all singing all dancing 4 stars way out of our price range. We are beginning to get tired of driving. We think about going to Granny’s house but I lost my phone somewhere along to way and can’t call her to warn her. More driving, it’s coming up to 6 o’clock now, and we’re at the end of our tether. We end up giving in and heading to a big 18 euro campsite. On the way we see another sign for a campsite next door, but it looks just like a house at the moment (probably closed until season starts) but we drive in anyway. I give my biggest smile and ask ‘Camping?’ to the lady that greets us and she is kind enough to let us stay one night for free as long as we don’t need water or toilets! Perfect! We are very happy and crack open our box of red instantly! Have a lovely dinner in the setting sun and even find wild rocket growing right outside our van. Couldn’t have worked out better.

Pete says do one Jon Woodfine for saying there are cheap municipal campsites in every town!

21st – 24^th April

Arrive at Granny’s early to find that mum is on the phone freaking out because I lost my phone. A lady has called from a tourist office somewhere we haven’t even been and said she will send my phone to Granny’s house- isn’t that nice!

We have four days of eating lots of cheese, drinking wine that was grown in the vineyards we can see whilst we're drinking it and soaking up the 23 degree sunshine! All the food we eat is amazing- and there was so much of it we nearly burst. We visit the Fountaine de Vaucluse, a stunning town set on the side of a hill called Gordes and Senanque Abbey with Granny and Francis. We have a lovely morning at the Vaison market where we pick up some olives and sundried tomatoes and go up and down the food area tasting the free testers of chorizo and cheese. Granny also takes us to visit Avignon briefly and we see where the Pope lived for 100 years and visit a fort with the most amazing smelling gardens we’ve ever seen. One afternoon me and Pete drive to the Dentelle mountains and go for a great walk right up and over; really fun, proper ramble over the rocks (I remember doing this when I was little with Mum, Dad and Charley!) On the last night we go out for a lovely meal with fois gras to start and I had pigeon and Pete had dorade for main. Anyway, we were completely spoilt and don’t want to leave Granny’s, or Provence as we have fallen in love with it!

River at Grannys. ^

Fountaine de Vaucluse. ^

Gordes. ^

Senanque Abby. ^

Vaison market. ^

Climbing the Dentelles. ^

Avignon and gardens. ^

25^th April

Start getting ready to go and drive into Sablet to get some bread and other provisions. My phone hasn’t arrived yet and Granny is determined to find the postman to find out where it is. We drive around chasing yellow vans and eventually we find the post lady for the area. She is not the one who delivers to Granny’s but she says she has seen the package and it will arrive today! Have another ridiculous lunch before leaving, say goodbye and set off towards the Pont du Gard (with phone). The drive is short but again we are confronted with expensive 4 star campsites. Have a stressful couple of hours driving and driving. We spend a good half an hour driving around the narrowest walled streets following signs that are there and then not followed up at the next junction. (We have actually found that the French are very good at starting to point you in a direction and then leaving you in the lurch!) We give up and settle at a very nice, but pricey, campsite just outside of Uzes. The weather is quite overcast but warm and we have a lovely evening eating, drinking and playing cards.

26^th April

Have a relaxed morning with fried egg breakfast and enjoy the hot showers. We have put out the awning (as we saw rain was expected) and Pete manages to secure it so we can roll it out from the van when necessary. We set off towards the Pont du Gard (a Roman aqueduct over the river Gard which I again remember from holidays in the past when I have canoed underneath it and it was free to look at. Unfortunately today is not the weather for canoeing.) As expected see that you have to pay a large amount to park up and get a ticket to see and walk over it. All routes or views are shielded unless you pay. Obviously we are not going to pay 18 euros to do this so we find a free car park in Remoulins, the town next to the Pont du Gard, where there is a market just shutting down. Walk the 2 kilometres to the entrance of the tourist office where a little man runs over saying ‘it is not free’. We tell him we just want to walk into the hills and he lets us up a path that leads up the hill and into the forest. It starts going away from river but we see a small track going up off the main path that appears to be going in the right direction. Rambling along the path we come around a corner and there it is! The Pont du Gard in all its glory! We keep going and find another part of the Roman ruin, where the aqueduct must have continued, in the forest. Down another track we suddenly find we are at one end of the top level of the aqueduct. There are other people here too and we follow a sign to a ‘panorama’ and get an incredible view from the other side. We wonder if the other people have also got here for free but after following another track we end up underneath it and able to walk onto it for free! There are no ticket people and we walk over it without paying 18 euros! Walk back to the van and have cheese and bread lunch in the car park. When trying to leave we realise the entrance we came through is locked (must have only been open for the market) and the other entrance has a barrier of 1 and a half metres. We are stuck. Very very luckily there is a rubbish van just leaving at exactly the same time who let us out. Don’t know what we would have done if not! Stop in a supermarket and for a wander around Uzes on the way back to campsite. Uzes is a really old medieval town which is beautiful with old churches and lovely squares. (Forgot to mention all the amazing plain trees everywhere in France which they train to grow into overhead canopies of green to provide shade in summer. Usually in squares in the towns and along the roads.)  We can’t afford to get a drink anywhere though so we head back to camp and have dinner, drinks and chill out.