We stayed the winter in Benidorm and just before we departed, we bought a little static caravan and awning on the Raco site. The idea being that we will winter here in moderate comfort, washing machine, cooker, flushing loo and use the van to visit other places in Spain as and when the fancy takes us. We'll see how that goes, but I digress. We left Spain in March and had 6 weeks at home in Orkney before setting off on our trip to Italy and Germany.
In retrospect, publishing as many photos on our Facebook page as we could when internet allowed, was an ok decision. We managed to put a lot of stuff up and comment along the way. But there's nothing like a blog for saying it how it was, so a few reminders are warranted.
Italy. I cannot put into words how we both fell in love with this country. The food, the people, the places are all gonna be ingrained in our minds and hearts forever we hope. It's not cheap by no means, although eating out is very good value and we did this as often as we could. We didn't have a bad meal anywhere in Italy and ate piles of pasta and full nets of fish. We mixed with local people at almost every campsite we visited and were treated to noise and laughter and families doing what Italian families do best. Enjoying life. They have a passion for it, from the smallest child to the oldest member of the family and it's something I delighted in watching and being a part of whenever it happened. The small towns were a joy and the cities marvels to the senses. The history, the architecture, the buzz and the vibe of people congregating together was a wonderful experience. And of course the weather. Not a drop of rain, wall to wall sun, although for the period from arriving in Rome back to Florence, the temperatures got to us as did the humidity. But, six weeks of absolute joy for the pair of us.
Switzerland. Nice tunnels.
No seriously, I'm sure the Swiss are fine people and they have Alps and cheese and stuff, but I got the overriding impression that we were not really wanted there. Not us personally, but tourists in general. There is a certain looking down the nose from their 2015 Lamborghini attitude going on and frankly, I don't think we will be back.
Germany Rhineland. Overall we enjoyed the experience, the scenery is fantastic and the people are friendly enough. But after Italy it all felt a bit flat, which is a terrible way of viewing things but after the Lord Mayors Show really. We met up with some friends who started their road trip the same time as us and they are still doing it. We've all changed for the better I feel and life on the road has done us good mentally and physically.
This is our route, first down to Spain, then round the Med into Italy, up through the middle into Switzerland and Germany, then back home.
So how did we do in the van. Well, we drove 5,726 miles for a start. That's the longest trip we've done at one time in the van. It performed wonderfully and apart from a couple of fridge defrosts, no problems were encountered. We averaged 28 m.p.g. at a speed of 41 m.p.h. which was slightly better fuel economy than previous trips. Our total driving time was 125 hours and 35 minutes, which, over 82 days isn't a large amount of road time really.
This has been our favourite European road trip and will probably be the last big one. Next, it's back down to Spain for the winter again. Gotta love that Beni Bounce.
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