There was an uneventful drive down to Dover in good weather and Greyrocks was accepted on the earlier (1400) sailing with DFDS to Dunkerque, where we stayed - as part of the policy of minor upgrading to reflect age - at the Campanile and not the Premiere Classe! (Significantly better rooms, but an over-priced and rather mean breakfast!) Across the road at Poivre Rouge the grilled magret de canard was at half-price, so a good welcome back to France!
The journey down to our summer home in Crete had been planned with military precision and next day it would be a gloriously warm and easy 200 miles exactly to the campsite at Chalons en Champagne where we were assigned a very spacious and well equipped mobile home for its first ever letting. After the plumber had finished we ate our sandwiches (intended for en route) on the veranda and planned tourist visits and cycle rides. We need not have bothered - there were to be none! The rest of the day was fine, and we found a huge supermarket with cafeteria and Wi-Fi, but cycling back we felt some spots of rain, and that is how it carried on! For the remainder of the time there we dodged heavy thunderstorms. We could see that the town would be a good place for cycling - especially on the river banks - but all we managed to do was go over to "wet mode" of taking long late brasserie lunches and lurking in the mobile home in the evening with the BBC i-player!
On the first good-weather day Greyrocks left - declaring that it would be a good stop on a subsequent trip and mumbling about "swings and roundabouts"! The next stop would be an overnight in Mulhouse. Ideally we would have planned to go further but that would mean Switzerland and Swiss hotel prices, so it was a relaxed drive which included going through the longest road tunnel entirely within France - Ste Marie aux Mines. We stayed at the Campanile and enjoyed a meal in the sunshine - (the last French one for a long time!)
And so to the big adventure of first ever driving in Switzerland. We left early as we had been warned of queues at the Gothard Tunnel and were soon handing over an extortionate amount of euros for a Swiss vignette (and getting back Swiss francs as change!) - particularly extortionate if one has no intention of returning by that route. Ah well!
The traffic was fairly heavy but the autoroute had good signage and - of course - stunning scenery! The queue for the tunnel was about 40 minutes (late morning on a May Saturday) which was tolerable, the drive through was calm and then we emerged to see German and Italian rather than French and many, many lakes! Lovely! There was a small hold up entering Italy, and then the horrors of the autostrada past Milan, but we made it almost seamlessly to Lake Garda and the lovely Campeggio Bruno.
Moniga is one of the smaller resorts beside the lake and most accommodation is in large campsites. Ours, however was smaller, very friendly and much older. We had an old mobile home, but it was very comfortable and we had a huge veranda with a lake view, and most of the time it was very peaceful. That's the good news. Unfortunately Greyrocks must have lost its marbles in the planning stage! It certainly had not looked at enough maps with contours! There was an attractive promenade with several good restaurants and the potential for short bike rides, but to go anywhere else - including the supermarket - involved a ghastly curvaceous and very steep climb. Bob did it twice:- Ruth once ("Never again") and the village at the top was very pretty. We spent much of a very sunny Sunday afternoon up there with a couple of glasses of Prosecco to fuel our first attempts at urgent banking on the new Hudl (as Bruno had no WiFi!) We ate very well in Moniga:- on two occasions al fresco and on the Monday distinctly not as the storm that had brewed all day happened with great drama and the best Greyrocks could do was run to the nearest pizzeria from where one could watch families of ducks from the shelter of a crowded covered terrace.
Thence a straightforward autostrada run to Riccione south of Rimini. The sun was back and there was not too much traffic. We made good progress, but witnessed - on the other carriageway - the devastation caused minutes earlier by an appalling collision of two trucks. There was stationary traffic for at least 20 kilometres. So relieved was Greyrocks that we decided to kill time by doing the last coastal bit on local roads. We had been here before (2010) but had forgotten that Rimini is complicated, the railway bridges are low, and there is the Rubicon to be crossed. Hence we arrived at our hotel having clocked up rather more miles than expected and with some recriminations! Still, it was a useful efficient place for an overnight, even if the WiFi was down and it was at the extreme end of a very straggling resort. Yvette had been parked up for a rest but had to be brought out again for an emergency e-mail-seeking trip into the centre. After much frustration in very hot weather we found a pleasant bar with WiFi and Prosecco, followed by a restaurant for a good early supper and a supermarket for last supplies of Italian plonk.
Next stop Ancona and a pleasant surprise! Our reader will recall that Greyrocks was less than impressed with the current ships and sailing times of ANEK Venice-Patras and v.v. so we have returned to the Ancona route, and this is now operated in association with Superfast, and what an improvement! A modern spacious vessel, reasonably priced and functioning WiFi, calm cafeteria, comfortable cabin.... Bliss! We relaxed for the 19 hour crossing to Igoumenitsa and more pastures new!
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The main Place in Chalons -rather clever and a record of famous folk associated! |
On the first good-weather day Greyrocks left - declaring that it would be a good stop on a subsequent trip and mumbling about "swings and roundabouts"! The next stop would be an overnight in Mulhouse. Ideally we would have planned to go further but that would mean Switzerland and Swiss hotel prices, so it was a relaxed drive which included going through the longest road tunnel entirely within France - Ste Marie aux Mines. We stayed at the Campanile and enjoyed a meal in the sunshine - (the last French one for a long time!)
 |
| Chocolate box or what? |
The traffic was fairly heavy but the autoroute had good signage and - of course - stunning scenery! The queue for the tunnel was about 40 minutes (late morning on a May Saturday) which was tolerable, the drive through was calm and then we emerged to see German and Italian rather than French and many, many lakes! Lovely! There was a small hold up entering Italy, and then the horrors of the autostrada past Milan, but we made it almost seamlessly to Lake Garda and the lovely Campeggio Bruno.
Moniga is one of the smaller resorts beside the lake and most accommodation is in large campsites. Ours, however was smaller, very friendly and much older. We had an old mobile home, but it was very comfortable and we had a huge veranda with a lake view, and most of the time it was very peaceful. That's the good news. Unfortunately Greyrocks must have lost its marbles in the planning stage! It certainly had not looked at enough maps with contours! There was an attractive promenade with several good restaurants and the potential for short bike rides, but to go anywhere else - including the supermarket - involved a ghastly curvaceous and very steep climb. Bob did it twice:- Ruth once ("Never again") and the village at the top was very pretty. We spent much of a very sunny Sunday afternoon up there with a couple of glasses of Prosecco to fuel our first attempts at urgent banking on the new Hudl (as Bruno had no WiFi!) We ate very well in Moniga:- on two occasions al fresco and on the Monday distinctly not as the storm that had brewed all day happened with great drama and the best Greyrocks could do was run to the nearest pizzeria from where one could watch families of ducks from the shelter of a crowded covered terrace.Thence a straightforward autostrada run to Riccione south of Rimini. The sun was back and there was not too much traffic. We made good progress, but witnessed - on the other carriageway - the devastation caused minutes earlier by an appalling collision of two trucks. There was stationary traffic for at least 20 kilometres. So relieved was Greyrocks that we decided to kill time by doing the last coastal bit on local roads. We had been here before (2010) but had forgotten that Rimini is complicated, the railway bridges are low, and there is the Rubicon to be crossed. Hence we arrived at our hotel having clocked up rather more miles than expected and with some recriminations! Still, it was a useful efficient place for an overnight, even if the WiFi was down and it was at the extreme end of a very straggling resort. Yvette had been parked up for a rest but had to be brought out again for an emergency e-mail-seeking trip into the centre. After much frustration in very hot weather we found a pleasant bar with WiFi and Prosecco, followed by a restaurant for a good early supper and a supermarket for last supplies of Italian plonk.
Next stop Ancona and a pleasant surprise! Our reader will recall that Greyrocks was less than impressed with the current ships and sailing times of ANEK Venice-Patras and v.v. so we have returned to the Ancona route, and this is now operated in association with Superfast, and what an improvement! A modern spacious vessel, reasonably priced and functioning WiFi, calm cafeteria, comfortable cabin.... Bliss! We relaxed for the 19 hour crossing to Igoumenitsa and more pastures new!
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