16 February 2025 – Through the Alps to Italia

Miles driven today = 165

Total Miles to date = 865

Lisa reckoned she could hear dogs howling during the night but I must have been dead to the World because the first thing I heard was the Church bells summoning the faithful at 7am.  Just as well that I got a decent night’s kip really because once again I spent a lot more time behind the wheel today than I had originally intended.

Getting ourselves straight back onto the A43 we initially followed the course of the Isere river eastwards upstream.  Thankfully traffic was considerably lighter than it was yesterday and we could sit back and enjoy the spectacle of the Alps as they loomed out of the mist.

The road then veered south to follow the much narrower Arc Valley with the steep mountain faces now much closer on either side.

We stopped at the last service station on the French side at St Martin de la Porte to stretch our legs and admire the scenery.

A lot more attractive than Watford Gap.

Admiring the laundry facilities even though we are a few days away from needing them ourselves just yet.

Queueing for tunnels seems to have been a bit of a recurring theme the last couple of days.

Having gone through border control we made it to the toll booths where we were relieved of €72 for the privilege of passing through the 13km Frejus Tunnel.  Speed is limited to 70kph and you have to stay 150 metres behind the vehicle in front so the toll barriers only release vehicles at intervals of several seconds apart.

Out the other side we quickly found ourselves on the bumpy Italian roads we got to know so well last year with countless roadworks and bone crunching expansion joints.  We stopped briefly for lunch in a service station full of truckers of all nationalities who were waiting out their Sunday exclusion from the road network.

Our intention had been to stop in Turin for 2 nights in a paid parking area which has good transport links to the city centre.  But as soon as we stopped we both had an uneasy feeling about the place.  The area wasn't secure and although there were plenty of motorhomes, most appeared to have been there for a while and very few appeared to be tourers.  It would have probably been OK just for an overnighter but we had serious reservations about leaving the van unattended while we explored the City.  So we paid up €3 and made our escape.  There is another sosta a little further out from the city but they charge upwards of €35 a night so we decided to sack off Turin altogether and keep on rolling.

Next port of call along the motorway was Asti, of fizzy wine fame.  There is a nice big parking area there which had positive reviews on Park4Night but when we got there the funfair was in town and taking up the area usually reserved for motorhomes.  So we moved on again to another parking area near the police station, only to find that all of the travellers’ vehicles attached to the funfair were parked up there, alongside lots more lorries, many of whom would no doubt be firing up their engines at midnight.

So having struck out 3 times we headed for the country and we find ourselves parked up all on our own in one of 5 free motorhome parking spaces a little way from the hilltop village of Vinchio.  I thought I would be done with driving for today a little after lunchtime but it was gone 4pm by the time I finally got to switch the engine off.

We are very much in vineyard country here and there is a small winery just across the road from us.  They appear to be very firmly closed on a Sunday so I have no idea what delights they have on offer I’m afraid.

So with tomorrow’s planned non-driving day now firmly in the bin we have a bit of a free hit as to where we want to explore next.  Parma and Modena are both en-route as we head towards Ancona for our Thursday ferry.  Both look interesting and both have well reviewed sostas withing striking distance of their respective town centres.  We’ll see how the fancy takes us in the morning.

17 February 2025 - Eastward, Ever Eastward