Our Italian Transit. 2015 🇮🇹

Travelled: from Grand Saint Bernard Pass to Ancona in Italy

Visited: Cesenatico and Falconara Maritime

Stayed: Cesenatico aire (free) and Falconara Maritime (free) N43.659985, E13.326124

We start the long drive down from Grand Saint Bernard Pass.  The scenery was again the challenge.  You want to stop and take it in but the road is narrow and the Hymer a handful.  Pam is constantly reminding me of an oncoming car or overtaking motorcycle.  Anyway we are in Italy, not for the first time, but the first time in our camper car.

By the time we reach the valley floor at Aosta it has become hot and humid again.  Something else has changed the polite French and Swiss drivers are gone and the Italians are making a mad charge.  We join the Autostrada making our way south east.  There seems to be little about the drive to Milan to recommend.  The sun is high and it’s sweltering.  The AC is obviously struggling so we unhook the curtains behind the cab and suddenly it comfortable again.

Our original plan was to make Piacenza, but it too hot to stop.  Cars and vans are clustered in the shade under the overpass bridges along the Autostrada.  We just fuel up and keep trucking on.  Our new plan is cut across to the coast near Ravenna.  Common sense tells you it always cooler near the coast.  Wrong !  We arrived at Rimini, just south of Ravenna to find the campsites all full except one that wanted €48 for the night.  It’s to be expected as it’s still in season, but we weren’t prepared to pay that much to be jammed in with 500 screaming kids running around, just so we could run our air-conditioner.

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As we drove out we noticed a cluster of motorhomes in a car park and thought that will do.  Just opened a beer when a Police car pulls up and sounds his horn.  After several minutes of furious arguments between the Police and a number of the Italians in the other motorhomes, our neighbour tells me we cannot stay.  So that’s a first, being moved on !

Anyway as luck has it, we start chatting to an Italian family.  He tells us about an aire a few kilometres up the road and says follow us…and we do.

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Next morning we do the services and head south on the coast road looking for a laundromat without success for an hour.  With the morning traffic and every second car actively trying to cause an accident, we turn for the Autostrada and make a run for Ancona.  We do a lap down to the port and find a laundromat and supermarket nearby.  Find a parking spot, we walk into the laundromat and meet a group of young people from Melbourne and Perth.  We have a good old chin wag while the machines do the washing.  Clean cloths on board and cupboard restocked we head of for a swim and a camping spot.

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We settle on part of a long beach stretching north from Falconara Maritime about 10 kilometres north of Ancona.

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It’s hot again but there is a little breeze, next morning we do a long walk along the beach and settle in for laying on the beach until we depart for the 4.30 ferry to Igoumenitsa.

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Michael and Pam

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