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Day 17: Casola to Des Grangettes

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17 days in and it’s time to say goodbye to Mick and Yvonne (and my new adopted kitten), and head for Les Grangettes on the shores of Lake Geneva.

Once I’d left Casola, the motorways were pretty uneventful, the only entertainment being trying to work out how the Italians could charge so much for tolls and get away with it.

I stopped for lunch once I’d got to the mountainous bits of Italy, and sat on a bench in the shade (above). The views were absolutely stunning and it’s just a shame I didn’t stop to do some pictures. With 300+ miles to do today, plus a late start due to the campsite owner having a lie in until 9AM, I didn’t do much in the way of stopping.

Arriving at Les Grangettes at 5PM, I checked in and went to my reserved pitch. It’s only a few yards from the shores of Lake Geneva which you can see in the background. Couldn’t get the site WiFi running as the office had closed by the time I’d set the van up, but I’ve found my old Vodafone dongle which is how I’m doing this update 🙂

Tomorrow, I’ll take a ride into Montreux a few km up the road, where the Jazz Festival should be in full swing.

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Day 15: Casola in Lunigiana

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It’s been a nice easy day today, no travelling and just a small number of odd jobs to do. We went down the hill to the local campsite and pulled a couple of bits and pieces out of the van that were still coated with brake fluid.

The remainder of the day was spent watching the Formula 1 practice and qualifiers – we could not get over how bad the weather was in England.

In the evening Mick and Yvonne had a barbeque and invited their friend James over. We’re going over to his place in the morning to look over a Piaggio Ape that he’s bought and turn him over for a free breakfast 🙂

That’s it, lazy days, no travelling for a couple of days and no rush to do anything. The pace of life in Casola is very laid back so it suits me at the moment. I think all the driving has caught up with me!

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Day 14: Venice to Casola in Lunigiana

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Day 14, the final day of leg 2, brings a trip from the East coast of Northern Italy to the West. My destination is the small commune of Casola in Lunigiana where my friends Mick and Yvonne live.  I’ll be staying in their house for three nights, and quite looking forward to catching up with them as they are mostly based in Italy these days.

The trip involves a morning on the Italian motorways which are all toll based. I’ve got a feeling the toll charges are coming to nearly as much as the cost of the petrol which makes this an expensive country to get around in.

At least I had a good run with no jams and it wasn’t long before I was in Aulla, the nearest town to the commune of Casola in Lunigiana. A trip to Lidl to top up with beers and bottles of mineral water was followed by the last 15 miles or so to the village.

Parking round here is scarce to put it mildly. When this mountainside village was built in the 1300’s, there probably wasn’t too much of a need for car parking.

Luckily there is a small campsite behind the walled village and a deal has been struck to leave the Bambi parked there on an electric hookup for €7 per night so everyone’s happy.

After a good afternoon of chit chat, mostly me and Mick putting the world to rights, we headed up the hill to the only restaurant in the village for a nice Italian meal and vino. We sat outside until quite late, indeed all the staff had long gone home by the time we left.