The day started bright and early for us today. After breakfast in the van, I got on with blogging about our visit to Venice, so that I could post it up before we left our campsite, Camping Venezia.
A great campsite by the way, with top facilities, and easy, great access to visit Venice. Highly recommend this site, for those who want to visit Venice.
We were all done on site by 11.30 am. We set off, calling at a nearby Lidl to pick up some provisions for the next day or two. Then it was southwards towards Florence.
We stopped in a little village for a sandwich and a cup of tea from the only shop and the only thing open.
We took the non-motorway route to start with, until we realised that we were not making very good progress. Then after Ferrera, we found a McDonalds, to use their wifi and loos. By doing this we are able to find the next campsite on our journey.
The aim was to get towards Florence (Firenze if you are Italian). The site was selected. We phoned ahead. They had just opened for the season! Wow! We were in luck!
Getting there proved to be a little bit tricky, however.
The first thing was to get on to the toll road motorway.
The next things was to get off at the correct junction. This was easier said than done. A bit of a fork in the motorway, with a slight lack of concentration, and - BOTHER. We had missed the right road. “Never mind”, I kindly said to my navigator, “there’s nothing we can do now except find the next junction, and backtrack.”
At the next junction, 20 minutes later, we pulled off, and paid our dues for the use of the motorway. Rather than take the motorway, we opted for the scenic route to our campsite, which was now about 20 mins back up the smaller roads, but up into the hills.
The campsite “The Oaks” was nestled in the hills halfway between Bologna, and Florence.
The scenic route was proper scenic! We wound round hairpin bends, up gradients only found in mountain areas, and narrow bridges too narrow for two vehicles. Awesome!
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| Near Valle, Italy |
But something had gone horribly wrong.
I began to wonder why we were making a descent so soon.
I soon found out why!
My navigator had made a slight error, and we ended up at the exact place where we had left the motorway, just a few minutes earlier.
“Never mind”, I chirped. “Anyone could have made that mistake”, as I quickly grasped hold of the situation.
Two phones using Google maps, a Tom Tom sat nav, and a brand new map of Italy, and we still managed to get it wrong. (Notice that I said “we”).
Cheerily, we tried again. Not long afterwards we were at the campsite.
What a contrast from the night before!
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| Our neighbour! |
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| The washblock |
Chalk and Cheese, I think one might say.
This site was definitely ‘a work in progress’!
Rough pitches littered with chunks of rock, not a blade of grass anywhere, and quite difficult to find a pitch that was anywhere near level.
By now, we were both exhausted and we abandoned hope of finding anything better in this remote part of Italy.
The lady of the campsite was most hospitable, and helpful. They have had the site for 3 years and are trying to make it work. We guessed that they have bought a legacy of problems and are trying to turn it round.
Everything worked well. It was just that it didn’t match up to the standard of any site that we’ve stayed on before. Except perhaps one. There was one we stayed on in USA that beggared belief! But that is just a memory now.
We had a good supper, and a good night’s sleep. Hot showers in the morning, and on the road to Florence as soon as we possibly could!
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