Well, we wanted adventure and we are having one. They say you must take the rough with the smooth and on Friday that’s what we had - literally. We arrived in Pompeii, the black mass of Vesuvius hiding her head in the clouds above us. To get here in time to meet up with Sally, Paul and co (family from Oregon, US) we have had two long days driving on what must be some of the worst roads in Europe. I must point out, as I tell this tale, that in budgeting for this trip, we planned, with the help of AA routing, the fastest non-toll route.
So, on Thursday we left the cool heights of our camp in the topmost corner of Italy where it touches Austria and Switzerland. We slowly descended 1500 metres from the Alpine spectacle trying to remain civil with each other as we missed turns. Satnav wasn’t cooperating. She seemed determined to get us onto the toll roads and she got a tongue lashing from each of us on different occasions. Eventually, after wearing 10 hours of driving we got to a lovely old walled town called Sansepolcro and parked up for the night.
An early start on Friday morning had us moving along our route without too many hiccups and then we came upon a diversion. From there things went downhill very quickly….. or rather, they went uphill rather steeply and narrowly and windingly for miles and miles. We were lost. The scenery was amazing, though there was nowhere to stop and appreciate it, the roads being so narrow and treacherous. At one point we had to go into a hill top fortress town that literally hung on a cliff edge.
You know what they say about all roads lead to Rome? Well, so it appears. Whether we were in a deep rocky gorge or on top of a forested mountain on tiny single track lanes we kept seeing road signs for Roma. So, for lack of any other way out of our predicament (Satnav had resigned) we followed them and eventually found our way to a main autostrade and accepted that Ms Satnav was probably right all along about toll roads.
A bridge too far
After another long day’s driving we got to Naples and ‘modern’ Pompeii.That’s where the real nightmare started. Directions to our campsite took us through a crummy area with alley ways to navigate rather than roads. More and more convinced that we were heading into inescapable territory and with cars and mopeds determinedly squeezing past us and beeping manically, I saw a sign for the campsite, but the entry appeared impassable. We overshot it anyway and then found ourselves at a bridge that looked too low for us to get under. We could do nothing else but pull up and the Friday night home-going Italian traffic continued to squeeze and beep around us. I was taking my life in my hands getting out of the van to see if there was any chance of getting through and as I did so a ‘nice young man’ stopped, oblivious to creating a further obstacle for his fellow commuters, and offered to help. Gareth was by this time under the bridge with his measuring tape and with centimetres to spare we were able to get under the bridge, turn around and follow the nice young man who said he could take us where we were trying to go.
Back in the bumpy rat run we lost him, saw the campsite entry road again just as a car was coming out. The driver indicated that we couldn’t go that way and signed that we should turn around! Later we could see that what he was actually telling us was that there was another way in from the other side. Heading back to the main street (I use the word ‘main’ kindly), the nice young man caught up with us, collected another seemingly lost smart Pilote motorhome and took us all back down the rat run….. and UP the IMPASSABLE alley way!!! We seemed to have no choice but to go with it, wincing as we watched the beautiful, brand new Pilote inch, manoeuvre, scrape and grind through the ruts and past overhanging branches. We suffered in a resigned silence as Hymer did the same.
We did get to the campsite. The owner explained that we’d come the wrong way! Ha! Like we needed to be told! The owner’s wife was most welcoming, though, and explained that the town was badly damaged during the last Vesuvius eruption in 1937(?) and nobody has bothered repairing anything since. Can’t blame them, I suppose, but it doesn’t do much for tourism, unless you’re a masochistic tourist!
We don’t know what happened to Pilote. They had been brought to our site by Nice Young Man and it turned out not to be their site. They looked grey and sick as they drove off.
Campeggio Giuliana
Anyway, we had a pitch, we could see Vesuvius, the ground on which the dogs could run freely for a bit was volcanic ash, we were given a refreshing welcoming drink by our hostess and we settled. Sleep was again difficult, though, as the Italians themselves, people and dogs, don’t appear to need sleep. There was a firework display somewhere at midnight, mopeds squealed around the stony streets, and dogs serenaded each other through the hot night.
In the morning (Saturday) the owner greeted us with the most delicious sweet coffee. I’m not a coffee drinker but I am now sold on whatever concoction it is that we were served, and it certainly revived me and restored my bonhomie.
Ancient Pompeii
Gareth had learned that we could park for free all day at the large supermarket Auchan, Pompeii instead of paying extortionate parking prices at the antiquity itself. Having felt such enormous admiration for his ability to get us through the previous day’s labyrinth, I now worried about how his hip would cope with the 20 minute walk plus walking around Pompeii itself. But we got there, bought our entry tickets, made contact with Sally and co and went in.
The place is huge! Evidently it was a powerful, very civilised and affluent place to live. It is amazing both in terms of its antiquity as well as the scale of the disaster it suffered. The scale of the excavation is mind boggling too. Listening in to some of the tours we picked up a lot of the story (French and English guide books had sold out) and had it not been so hot and us both, plus dogs, feeling the strain, I would have loved to see more. The villas, with their tiled floors and some of the wall decorations still in tact, views out over the Bay of Naples and the mountains around, must have been sumptuous…..until being buried in red hot ash, of course.
The Sorrento Peninsular
A shop in the monstrous Auchan, and then we were headed for our campsite. After our experience in Pompeii we were a bit nervous about what we might encounter. It’s an area of steep-sided mountains and the Bay of Naples is spectacular. My great-grandfather was a seaman, one they call a Cape Horner. Apparently, he claimed that Swansea Bay is more beautiful than Naples, so I wasn’t expecting much. Now, I know he was probably saying it to please my great-grandmother and to show how pleased he was to be coming home from his time at sea.
We didn’t believe Satnav when she got us to our destination. Cursing and carrying on up the hill we started to worry about ending up on the Amalfi Coast road, which is no-go for motorhomes Given what we’ve already seen of the road system we couldn’t imagine how much crazier it could be. I have to say that I have enormous relief and gratitude for how Gareth had got us around without sustaining any serious damage, either to us, the Hymer……..or the crazy people, like the girl on the moped who leaned out towards us as they squeezed past us and narrowly missed having her head chopped off by our wing mirror.
Anyway, We turned around and it turned out that Satnav had been right this time. When we saw the entry way, though, we said “That’s it! Let’s just go home!” With the very kind reassurance and help from the farmer who owns the site (Oasi Verde agricampeggio) we found ourselves in a justifiably named oasis, on a terrace in the middle of a large fruit orchard. We have it all to ourselves at the moment. No one is telling us that the dogs have to be tied up, so they are enjoying themselves sniffing about or lazing in the shade, and I am writing this under the shade of our awning listening to the birds. Last night we sat out and there were fire flies. Today I can finally sunbathe a bit and we don’t have to move Hymer for a couple of days at least.
I don’t know what to make of Italy yet.
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