Having arrived in France (again), and realizing the rain followed us there, we found a nearby hotel, where we celebrated the return to the land of wine and fromage with a Michelin-starred meal and champagne (when in France…)

The experience was lovely, the hangover the next day was not. Armed with our prowess of finding quaint, close to nature campsites, we set off yet again.

Bingo! At the Lac de Sioulet. Another day, another gorgeous part of the world, where time seemed to have stopped, where the days are meant for hiking, paddling and losing fins…

On our way to the Dordogne we stumbled upon another winner – Lac de Vassiviere This turned out to be one of our favourite places in the world (sans hot water). In France, campings in the very much definition of ’wild’ are called ‘Aire Naturelle’ and the local information centres have a list of all of them – totally recommended.

Dordogne valley has many an attraction and following advice found in Rough Guides, we chose to visit the Gardens du Marquesac. Stunning gardens and a castle on a hill with some spectacular views and pretty magical spots.

Our friends’ wedding was fast approaching and we headed to Excideuil, where we rented a room above the Kitsch Kafe, as a base for the festivities. We stayed there for nearly a week hanging out with friends, celebrating the union of our friends, having a ball and totally relaxing in this rural, tiny, yet very cute little town.

After giving Murphy a well-deserved scrub and hoover in a nearby town Perigreux in an industrial size carwash (oh the joys of van ownership), it was time to continue on our voyage, via a fleeting visit to an impressive chateau rented by some of our friends in the Dordogne. We have nearly reached the Atlantic coast!

We haven’t planned to visit Switzerland on our travels but our travels took us so close to it (Lake Annecy), we asked ourselves – why not?!

Crossing the Swiss border included a mere wave to the border guards (and scrambling back stage, hiding the cat). Our drive took us along Lake Geneva which is most impressive – like an inland sea. Too bad we couldn’t see any decent beaches as we’d jump right in.

We started the Swiss part of our trip by visiting Hermance – a lovely, typically Swiss village just outside Geneva (which was descoped btw, as advised by a few Swiss folk we talked to). Hermance was beautiful, yet quite sleepy and with a few hours of daylight left we decided to press on.

Surrounded by countryside straight out of a Milka advert, we found a place to stay for the night outside Montreux, which just hosted the Jazz festival. Waking up at the feet of the mountains never gets boring. It was quite a fresh morning and we both enjoyed a nice cup of coffee with a gorgeous view of the Swiss Alps as a backdrop.

What happened next could only be described as heavens opening; we got trapped in torrential rain in the Bristol hotel on the promenade (could be worse) and demanded breakfast. It looked like the rain wasn’t going anywhere that day so our drive around Lake Geneva (unplanned but pretty cool) continued.

Following We popped into Lausanne’s Fondation de l’Hermitage for an exhibition that contained a few gems of modern art, including Basquiat, Louise Borgeouis, Kit Haring, etc. Very impressive location for a gallery and great exhibition of a private (aka rare) collection. If you’re nearby – it offers a well curated intro to the 20^th Century Modern Art. More info on the exhibition and the foundation here: http://www.fondation-hermitage.ch/actualite/

Completely wet but with a head full of art it was time for us to decide what’s next?

Sorry, Switzerland, but the rain wasn’t what we ordered – it felt like an escape from this biblical rainfall and return to France was on the cards.

 

After trawling through the Italian Riviera, looking (unsuccessfuly) for a parking spot, we were faced with a decision: continue on the gorgeous, but heaving with people French Riviera or head somewhere more tranquil, and in some shape or form towards Dordogne, where our friends, KP and Sheena, were getting married. The choice was obvious.

The drive to Gorges du Verdon was long and very windy. The area is vast and we entered it fairly late in the day, not having done much research on where to stay. We also kept stopping at viewpoints and to walk down to the gorges to admire their astounding beauty. The sunset was upon us (and a spectacular one at that!) and we decided to press on towards a lake. For us, it’s always better staying somewhere near the water when there might be a possibility to jump on our many boards or use our many many kites. 🙂

With a little scouting and navigation effort, we landed at a perfect camping a la ferme (those are campings in France on a farm), where the owner showed us a shady spot in the forest, 10m from the lake. The Lac de St Croix is artificial, quite long and very blue – similar colour to the Alpine lakes. We stayed a couple of days to drink in the scenery, do a fair bit of hiking and paddling.

On the leaving day, the farmer had a good ol chinwag with Rupert (whose French skills have carried us a long way in the favour of the old MacDonald), gave us some of his local produce which included delicious yellow courgettes. They turned out to taste exactly like green ones but with a more flowery, lemony taste (tasted very nicely grilled).

Next stop – Annecy and the famous lake. We spent a day walking around this gorgeous Alpine town, having crepes and drinking grand crème (black coffee with a dash of cream). Lots of people meant it wasn’t as tranquil as the postcards would suggest. However, this pitstop meant we were getting close to Switzerland…which wasn’t in our original plan but…

It was the first time for both of us visiting Italy and here are the 10 things we learnt about the country:

1. Italians love talking. God knows what about but it sure does sound exciting. This includes radio and tv channels – there’s essentially a lot of chat everywhere.
2. You can’t get food between 2-7pm. You’re left to forage berries and grass.
3. The same applies to breakfast that’s not coffee and cake.
4. Everything shuts for the hottest part of the day. I mean everything. Including people.
5. Despite the popular opinion food isn’t groundbreaking everywhere, a bit of disappointment really. In fact in some tourist spots it’s diabolical (we’re looking at you, Verona)
6. Every corner it’s so picturesque you turn could it into a photo postcard.
7. Italians are obsessed with shoes. Everyone is constantly checking out window displays of shoe shops and gasps in awe when they encounter a new model.
8. The national unisex drink is aperol spritz
9. Coffee are ice cream are distinct food groups and seem to account for about 50% of daily calories consumed
10. Bread. Comes with every meal and you pay 5 Euros for the privilege.

Having had some time to think through the next leg in more detail (up to now planning had been a rather ‘fly-by-wire’ type affair) we headed into Tuscany. Previous camping experiences had given us a few founding principles on how to find our ideal stopover:

1. Not a main campsite i.e. no flags at reception
2. Farm camping more soulful
3. The more remote and windier the access route the better

With this in mind we headed towards the tiny hilltop village of Grondola.

Remotest and windiest road driven so far – check! No flags – check!! Unable to find a sign (let alone flags) we managed to ground the van (note – first driving incident so far!!) in a driveway. Fortunately the owner turned out to be the camping owners brother and his English wife, and with a quick phone call and the aid of a sturdy wooden plank we were ungrounded and following our host Angela (also English) to their site on the other side of the village.

Getting grounded turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Campeggio Angela Musetti was empty and with glorious views across the valley below we decided to stay put for a few days. Plenty of hiking (one slight misdirection saw us off the trail and clambering across waterfalls – beautiful), reading, fitness and general chilling out followed. It’s said that Tuscany is all about the villages and this one didn’t disappoint. A fruitless search for the Cinque Terra ferry in La Spezia (boats cancelled due to rough seas…in the Med, really?!) we had a slightly underwhelming lunch and stroll before retreating to our campeggio in the hills.

Check out these guys who we found in nearby Pontremoli:

A 4-night layover had us totally recouped and a little sad we headed for the seaside town of Levanto hoping for some beach time and possibly surf. Once again we underestimated the popularity of the Italian Riviera in high season choosing instead to drive through and admire the town from the cliff tops either side. The extremely windy and at times heart-stopping drive west from here treated us to breathtaking views of the Mediterranean coastline

Arriving in Genoa at rush hour, we headed initially for the ‘revamped and buzzy’ (ref. Rough Guides) Porto Antica that was in actually decidedly touristy and quiet. The old town was a unique experience for us both – not somewhere you would want to get lost after dark, but the narrow cobbled streets shaded by tall buildings either side have a medieval/other worldly charm about them.

Varazze, another candidate for med surfing, was seething with Milanese who have their second homes here and we paused only to refuel ourselves.

Pontremoli was the most picturesque of the villages we encountered on this long drive. With superyachts and boats aplenty moored in the bay, this is very much the domain of the super rich but also teeming with tourists puts this on the list to visit off-season.

Bidding farewell to Italy stopped for lunch at Chateau  in Eze with splendid views

Dipping down for a brief driveby into Monaco we bid farewell to the Med and headed inland for our first stopover in France.

Brescia was a much needed breath of fresh air for us. What a gorgeous, livable city! We started the day with a run around the castle and after an incredible continental breakfast (thank you, eggs), furnished with guidebooks, maps and other tips from the most helpful hotel receptionists, we boarded the local metro and set off to discover Brescia on foot. It’s fairly manageable when you’re used to walking up and down a lot of inclines and stairs. We had a lovely afternoon walking around little streets, popping into churches and courtyards and looking at the Roman ruins. We fell in love with the city and its people (who let us peep into an old building that was a fully fledged working Town Hall!).

If we had to live in Italy – Brescia would be our hometown. Alas, it was time to leave for another destination – hello Milano.

In Milano, we managed to find a lovely air bnb bang on in the centre of the shopping district – think Bond Street in London for the price of…a night at a campsite. This cute little apartment was nestled inbetween D&G and Dior at the top floor with a miniscule terrace and all mod cons. Having moved in and already feeling pretty Milanese, we went out to taste the city. We went to the Obika opposite Duomo for aperitivo and had pizza at the Luno’s nearby. Looking for the IT place in Milano we stumbled across a very cool place called Spoon and then the heat drove us to have some sushi nearby.

We needed a good night sleep after that. A full day on Sunday awaited…As per recommendation (thank you, Nicole!), we headed off first thing to book tickets for Da Vinci’s Last Supper then walked Milan…a great, very cosmopolitan city but, hey, London’s better 😉