1st Overseas Trip In Motorhome (1 Viewer)

[StickyWicket]

Although this was our first overseas tour with the motorhome we had previously toured Germany with the Caravan Club on an organised escorted break. We got our motorhome, a Bessacarr 454 7m Fiat based 4 berth, this time last year. We gave the caravan a go for a couple of years but never really enjoyed the towing but liked the lifestyle. So it was myself and wife Janet, our push bikes on the back with a dashcam supplied by jaws and a Garmin satnav from Halfords as per the Aldi offer when they were doing a price match. So for those that are interested this is our trip detail – hope it’s not too boring!

We set off from Ashford in Kent with a full tank of fuel armed with our rough plan of where we were going but nothing booked apart from the ferry. I had planned our trip by mainly looking at other funsters experience and routes. We wanted to have some flexibility as to where our journey took us but as our daughter was flying out to spend a week with us had to be near Verona airport on the 17th and 24th May. We intended to try and use ACSI sites where possible but as we had no previous experience of ACSI did not know what to expect. Janet had been stocking up on food so that we didn’t have to rely on doing any shopping for a few days if need be.

Monday 4th May (Mamer/Luxembourg ACSI Page 237 Site 540) (258 miles from Calais)

Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th May (Bad Bellingen/Bamlach ACSI Page 312 Site 747)(238 Miles)

Thursday 7th & Friday 8th May (Lazy Rancho, Interlaken – Not ACSI but ACSI sites nearby)(107 Miles)

Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th May (Camping International Lucerne)(48 Miles)

Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th May. (Solcio, Lake Maggiore Page 559 Site 2687)(191 Miles)

Wednesday 13th & Thursday 14th May (Covello, Lake Iseo Page 566 Site 2708)(104 Miles)

Friday 15th & Saturday 16th May Capuccini, Peschiera Del Garda (Not ACSI)(43 Miles)

Sunday 17th, Monday 18th, Tuesday 19th & Wednesday 20th (Serenissima, Venice Page 588 Site 2774)(99 Miles via Verona Airport to pick daughter up)

Thursday 21st, Friday 22nd & Saturday 23rd (Butterfly, Lake Garda Page 581 Site 2774)(94 Miles)

Sunday 24th (Camping International Ponte Tresa, Lake Lugano Page 567 Site 2710) (162 Miles Via Verona Airport to drop daughter off))

Monday 25th Tunisee Camping, Freiburg (Page 315 Site 758) (217 Miles)

Tuesday 26th, Wednesday 27th & Thursday 28th (NOT ACSI) Schenk – Wehlen, Bernkastel-Kues, Mosel. (172 Miles)

Friday 29th (La Bien Assise, Guines Page 42 Site 1180)

Saturday 30th To Calais and back home


What have we learn’t

1. Every site is very different in terms of toilet, washing, showering facilities, signage
   
   
2. Paying more for a site doesn’t necessary make it better.
   
   
3. There are quite a lot of toll roads in Italy. Quite cheap but they add up.
   
   
4. Just because you are further south it doesn’t always mean the weather is any better
   
   
5. Nearly every site will have something that you don’t like. E.g. Church bells, Railway line, poor facilities, road noise, kids club etc.
   
   
6. Some of the Stellplatz are well worth a look especially along the Mosel.
   
   
7. The ACSI rate is nearly always added to by tourist taxes etc.
   
   
8. That all of the above is worth putting up with as the trip was great!
   

Vital Statistics(approx.)


Miles covered 2168

Fuel used 303 Litres

Camping costs £550

Toll Costs 56.50 Euros (all in Italy)

Vignette SF40

Ferry Crossing £117

Appraisal.

Garmin Camper Satnav – really good for getting to the sites. A really useful feature that previous satnav didn’t have was lane control. Easy to glance at 7” screen. Worth every penny.

Dashcam (Thanks Jaws) – worked well and I downloaded every few days so I have a complete mile by mile visual journey of route covered. How boring! - Just the sort of thing you need to show someone if you want to get rid of them……..

 

[scousebird]

Sounds like a great trip.