Naples, Umbia then Home

23rd June, 2000

Eventually, we began to get closer to Salerno and the traffic became heavier.  They were working on widening the motorway and we had several sets of roadworks with slow traffic.  We had decided to try Camping Spartacus at Pompeii, as recommended by Alan and Gwynneth, and had quite good instructions to find it.    Unfortunately, the adjacent motorway exit is not accessible from the south and we had to come off south of Pompeii.  Here we should have doubled back onto a road parallel to the slip road, but the whole junction was in gridlock and we thought we had used up our allocation of goodwill getting out of the sliproad and did not dare try to cross the traffic immediately to the road we needed, but instead went through the centre of new Pompeii.

For the first time on this trip, we touched mirrors with aggressive drivers coming towards us - repeatedly.  At 7:30 pm we arrived at the camp at Spartacus and found a pitch.   It was still very hot and there was not much shade.  We had come to the end of the worst day's drive of the trip so far.   This was on account of anxiety over whether the car would over-heat on the steep climbs and start again after refuelling.  In our mood we decided that we would probably not stop and did not put up our awning.  We dined in the camp pizzeria, watched the bats wheeling around and retired.  Once again, we had noisy trains and were well savaged by mosquitoes.  At times like this, it is hard not to think of just getting home quickly. 

24th June, 2000

Damned trains again, and a siren at 6 o'clock, meant that we were up earlier than we had wanted.  We thought we would just do Herculaneum and get off north.  The heat really was becoming a problem.  We decided to drive to the excavation site at Herculaneum and compounded our error by not using the motorway.  It took almost an hour to cover the 20 miles and at 11 o'clock, when we arrived, it was already uncomfortably hot and we could find no shade to park the car in.  The official car park seemed to be the police station, so we felt fairly relaxed as far as security was concerned.

The excavations are just across the road and are truly stunning.  Though only a fraction of the size of Pompeii, many of the buildings survived almost intact, with roof timbers and even staircases still visible, though largely charred.  The site was full of English tourists and we chatted to a couple from Leamington Spa, who were on a tour taking in Venice and Sorrento. 

Above left is the view looking down on the excavations from the entrance road.    It is surprising how far below the present town the old one is.    Above centre is a typical wall painting and we were quite stunned by how vivid they were.  This was the first time  we had seen whole walls of paintings and we were struck by how universal the style was.   Nearly all of the wall paintings conformed to a style of thin architectural structures of columns and beams.   As the mosaics and other occasional paintings were quite lifelike, the general wall paintings were deliberately abstract rather than demonstrating the limitations of the artist.    Above right is one of the main roads sloping up from the port.

In the picture above left Kate is taking in some of the remarkable charred roof beams that extended to the exterior of the house.   In the centre above is one of the many wonderful mosaic floors and, to the right, one of the fewer paintings which depicts mythical scenes with realism.   Below left is a house with the remains of an ornate carved wooden screen.   Below centre is a part of the ladies' baths with its scallop shell semi-circular alcove and window.   Though most of the glass has gone, one can still see the remains in the frame.   To the right is a room where the ladies would have undressed and placed their clothes in the shelves above the seats.  

Far left is a merchant's house with its gallery charred but still intact and left is a wall richly decorated, presumably for religious purposes.  Our spirits were much raised by our visit and we returned to camp deciding to stay on a bit and complete our aborted tour of Naples and its museum of some years back.

We found we had British registered neighbours, who turned out in fact to be New Zealanders - John and Kushla.  John had left England with his parents when he was seven and had two passports.  Kushla was from a farming family with predictable views about the Common Market.  We had lunch and, while the Kiwis went off to look at Pompeii, we put up the awning and had a lazy afternoon.  After dinner we had drinks with the Kiwis.   They had bought the C reg VW Camper in England and had been down the Adriatic coast as far as Dubrovnik.  They were only stopping one night before going off to Rome and then back to the UK.

25th June, 2000

We were up again with the first passing train and, after breakfast, caught the train to Naples which we had last done from Sorrento.  This time, however, we forgot to get off at the Central Station and had an extra walk en route for the Museum of Archaeology.   Naples is a truly amazing place and the picture, right, speaks volumes about the attitude of the Neapolitans to life and its risks, and the near absence of any policing.   Could you imagine taking your five-year-old round Trafalgar Square on a mini trike?

The Museum was an experience not to be missed but, having half exhausted ourselves walking to it in the increasingly hot sunshine, we could only manage three hours perusing its many galleries.  This was just about enough and we saw some of the astonishing finds from Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well as pieces and collections that came from Rome.   Below left is the imposing statue of Caesar in the entrance hall and in the centre a remarkable dark-coloured sculpture.   Below right, is a picture in mosaic of the battle of Alexander against Darius, taken from the House of the Fawn at Pompeii.

On the upper floor there is a large hall, shown below left, on the floor of which is a line onto which the midday sun shines through a small hole in the top right of the end wall.   The line, shown below centre, had signs of the Zodiac and curious measurements along its length, which we subsequently found were tenths of the old Roman 'pasuum' - yet another example of pre-metric measures still in evidence.  In one of the side chambers there is an exhibition of findings and photographs from ancient Greek Paestum, to the south, where we had been advised to visit by Alan and Gwynneth from Selinunte.   To be honest, we had probably seen enough Greek and had decided to give it a miss for this time.   The Museum exhibition, however, did tell us that it is indeed an impressive sight to see.   One small model, shown below right, surprised us.   Supposedly a burial chamber, as it contained human bones, it is remarkable because it has a perfect, albeit tiny, Roman arch and yet is on a Greek site that was supposedly abandoned and untouched by the Romans.

We left the Museum and looked back at its pink façade, far left, in which you can see, top left above the clock, the hole through which the sun shines onto the upper floor.  We had intended to lunch in Naples, but found nowhere to tempt us as we walked back to the station down the old streets, stopping by the Duomo, which appeared to be closed.

We were quite shocked by some aspects of Naples.  Dogs roam apparently ownerless, but in the heat they are docile and no real trouble.  It may have been unfortunate to be there on the day before the refuse collection, but everywhere seemed piled high with rubbish.  Driving or, to be more exact, scooter riding seemed more lawless than Sicily.  Three up without helmets was common.

We caught the Sorrento train, but when it started going through stations we wondered if it would stop at Pompeii, but it did.  Not being regular train users, we find the uncertainties just as stressful as Naples traffic.  On the way into Naples, we had worried because our tickets seemed to say something about 'validation', but we had not seen any stamping machines.

We decided to have a couple of oranges we had bought the previous day in lieu of lunch.  They turned out to have tiny maggots in them, almost indistinguishable from the oranges' juice sacks - until they jumped!  We were not sure how many we might have eaten before we found them and lost our appetite until dinner.  We decided that Paestum would wait for another trip and that we would head off north to Umbria.  After dinner, we packed what we could and planned for an early start.  In doing so we had another scary moment.  We like to think that we are very safety conscious, particularly where the gas is concerned, but after connecting and disconnecting camping gaz cylinders for many years it is easy to think that the cylinder valve is infallible.   It is not.  The regulator, when screwed on, depresses a steel ball away from a plastic seat to release the gas.  When removing the regulator, the ball is pressed back against its seat by a strong spring - unless a bit of muck has fallen into the works.

Thus it came as a big surprise, on removing the regulator from our table-top cooker, that gas hissed out of the cylinder.  If this was not bad enough, less than a meter away we had an insect-repellent candle alight.  The regulator was hurriedly refitted, but not before the place reeked of gas.  With the light extinguished, the cylinder was moved well away and another attempt was made, but it still leaked and it was only sealed by depressing the ball further to clear out whatever was causing it to leak.   It was then securely capped.  This was a serious object lesson.

26th June, 2000

We tried to leave early, but it was almost 11 am and very hot before we started.   A while back we had begun to have problems with the electrics on the caravan and the battery seemed not to be charging.  David decided to disconnect the charge line under the front bunk so as to lighten the electrical demand on the car.  When we were all coupled up, we checked the fridge and it was not working on the car's electrical circuit.   This was another of those cases where everything was thought of first before the simple expedient of checking the fuse at the front of the car, which was indeed blown.   Now all was made clear.  We have no idea why it was blown, but it had an unexpected effect that other caravan users might like to think about.  To ensure that the caravan does not flatten the car battery, we have a relay in the boot which only connects the fridge and charges the caravan battery when the engine is running.  The relay is driven from an output of the alternator and will operate regardless of whether the fuse feeding its contacts, and thus the fridge and caravan battery, is intact.    Thus, for some considerable time, (we think we had had this problem for a couple of weeks) when we towed, the engine run line simply connected the caravan battery to the fridge.  It is not all that easy to prevent this from happening and if, as we had done, one simply checks the fridge light and does not check the battery charge indicator, one might not realise that the fuse is blown.  An extra relay could prevent the main relay from operating if the fuse is already blown, but would not prevent it from remaining operated when the fuse actually blows.  A reverse current relay might be needed to completely solve the problem.  The fuse was replaced and we left.

We had thought we might detour to look at Cassino, where there had been serious fighting in WWII, but in the event we had a good sight of it from the motorway, shown left, and the guide book suggests this is the best one really gets as most of the monastery is not open to the public.  We were soon passing Rome where we found much heavier traffic but, as the roads were quite good, we made good time.

As we entered Umbria we stopped at an information office where we picked up leaflets and were pleasantly surprised to find free Internet access.  It is intended for tourists to look at www.umbria2000.it but we cheated and checked our Hotmail.  Our car maker had replied to our e-mail and wanted more information.   Unfortunately, the free service was painfully slow and we gave up.

The journey north to Umbria had been easier than the drive up to Naples and we arrived mid-afternoon.    On the way, we consulted the guide book and decided a site near Assisi was favourite, in part because it lay closer to our intended route onwards.  We were not disappointed.  Camping Internazionale Assisi is one of the best sites we have seen, has immaculate facilities and - thank Heavens - no trains.   A blackbird, right, was sunbathing on the edge of our pitch.  Here we thought we would stay a while and set up the awning, shown below left.

A British car came in and went to a tent not far away.  Richard and Karen had been as far as Naples and were on their way back to the UK.  The next day we noticed another British couple, John and Andrea, who were also on their way back but going via Budapest for a wedding.  During the day two more British couples arrived, making five in all, which was more than we had seen since El Raco.

27th June, 2000

In our welcome pack we had a map showing the supermarket in S. Maria degli Angeli, and we set off to find it.  We stopped by the Reception to ask where the nearest Internet access was, only to find it right there, so we dealt with our e-mail before leaving.  Finding the supermarket was not as easy as the simplified map suggested and we upset some motorists by being on the wrong side of the road at one point.  With the shopping done, we collected some photos we had left to be developed and returned for lunch.

Next on the list was Assisi and we went, late afternoon, hoping it might be cooler.  It was not and one of the first things we did was to get ourselves icecreams.  We were most impressed with the double-decker Basilica in Assisi.  There are signs all over the place prohibiting cameras and videos but, as usual, the Italians were ignoring them.  In the Crypt one Italian lady even persuaded a praying Nun to take her picture posing against the tomb of St. Francis, while a Monk looked on.  David took a few surreptitious shots with the video and, for his trouble, got ticked off by a security man, even though technically we were outside the Basilica.

The problem with cameras is that most have automatic flash which is a bit antisocial.  With videos it is less justifiable and fewer places ban them.   What we are now looking for is a more subtle camera which is less obvious.

We had a brief wander along the Via S. Francesco before making our way back to the car park and camp.  David had an unsuccessful attempt to resurrect the car CD player, and it played for only a short while before its spindle motor seized again.  We shall have only tapes and local FM stations to while away the time from now on.    After dinner we had a go at writing up our journal, but only succeeded in crashing the machine and losing a considerable amount of typing.  The computer has been throwing a few 'wobblies' of late.  The external mouse disconnects itself logically and the computer goes into a deep sleep when power saving is enabled.  We turned in, somewhat cheezed off. 

28th June, 2000

We tried to get up as early as possible, as we feel that only in the early morning is it cool enough for touring.  However, by the time we found the parking in Piazza Partigiani it was 11 o'clock and very hot.  This is the parking of choice in Perugia because it is underground (therefore out of the sun) and is connected by escalators to the Rocca Paolina in the town centre.  Perugia is another hill town, with a main street that is reasonably flat and everything else is up and down hill.  They have the cleaners in and many of the buildings are scaffolded and wrapped so that the most famous picture of the Palazzo dei Priori, parts of which is shown below left and centre, is unavailable to tourists. 

29th June, 2000

This was to be our grand tour of Umbria and we first headed north, across beautiful rolling country shown in the shots below.

We were heading for the the medieval town of Gubbio, well known for its festival of the Ceri.  We parked in an open but 'custodi' car park and wandered into the old town.  We stopped at a small information office, who told us where we could access the internet on Corso Garibaldi.  There was a surprising amount of mail and we spent longer than we meant to.  The last e-mail we read was a shock.  One of our neighbours of twenty years had passed away a few days previously.

Slightly subdued, we continued our exploration, finding the Roman gate to the town and, close to it, the cable car station that runs up a steep hill to the Basilica of Saint Ubaldo, where the large wooden 'ceri', shown below centre, are kept.  These are raced through the streets of the town below and back up to the Basilica, carried on the shoulders of dedicated teams.   We took the cable car, which is unlike any we have been in.  Up to three people stand on red spots a few metres apart and jump into a moving cage, which is steadied by an operator and locked when the last passenger is on board.  It looked hairy, but was easy and we had a fantastic - almost silent - open air ride to the top of the hill at near treetop height, giving us spectacular views of the town below and its ancient Roman theatre, shown below left, which is said to be one of the biggest around.

Like so much we have seen, the builders were in at the Basilica, but we nevertheless found it interesting to look around.   Somewhat ghoulish is the preserved body of some cleric which is kept in a glass case and is shown above right.    Another visiting couple seemed very interested in this relic and to our surprise offered us the loan of their field glasses to take a closer look!   As the cable car was soon to stop for lunch, we returned swiftly.   Below left we show the people in front waiting to jump into their cage, in the centre a view looking down on Gubbio and, on the right, cable mechanism.

We walked down Via XX Settembre towards the Ducal Palace.  Here we could see examples of the fabled 'Porte della Morte' which some say were doors that were bricked up after coffins were taken out of the houses.   We frequently see bricked up doors and windows in buildings, both ancient and modern, and tend to think that there are much more mundane explanations for them.

We decided not to tour the Ducal Palace but made our way down to Piazza Grande, stopping by the Bargello Fountain, shown far left.  We took pictures of the Palace of the Consuls, left, and returned to our car, which was, of course, as hot as an oven.

We set off looking for shade, which we found on a minor road, and had our lunch.   The guide book gave us no reason to call in at Folgino and we carried on south towards Spoleto.  Soon, on our left, we could see the impressive hill town of Trevi (below left), but resisted the temptation to detour.  A little further on we stopped to look at the Tempio di Clitunno (shown below centre and right), which is a remarkable early Christian Church built from second-hand Roman materials, which gives it the look of a classical temple with columns.   

Barely a kilometre further, we stopped again to admire the Fonti del Clitunno,shown below left, which are natural springs once enjoyed by both Caligula and Claudius.

Spoleto was our main target in the south and we parked just inside Ponte Garibaldi on Via dell' Anfiteatro.  This was a bit of a mistake as Spoleto is another hill town and we had only driven up a fraction of it.  We had an exhausting walk to the Piazza della Liberta overlooking the Roman theatre, shown above centre, where we found the Tourist Office.  From the Piazza we walked through a maze of medieval streets to the 'Rocca', the castle high above the town.  Shown above right is the main tourist attraction of Spoleto - the huge medieval bridge, Ponte delle Torri, behind the castle and we went to admire this rather than visit the castle.  The Duomo, below left, was on our route back to the car and we had a brief look round before descending the incredibly steep staircase which led almost directly to where we parked.    As we left Spoleto we looked  back at the castle shown below right.

Our last objective were the Cascata d. Marmore, close to Terni.   The guide book suggests that these are the biggest waterfalls in Europe, but we think that the tallest is still Gavarnie.  The Marmore, shown left, however, have been nobbled by the electricity board, who use the water for hydroelectric power and they only work now and again.  True to form, there was only a trickle when we arrived.  We headed for home, skirting Terni, which we learned was the birthplace of St. Valentine, as well as an armaments manufacturing centre.

We returned quite late and planned to eat in the camp restaurant.  First we had a drink with Sylvia and John, who were to leave the next day, and finished off our melon from some days ago.  We changed and went to the restaurant, which was absolutely crowded.  After waiting half an hour for our order to be taken, we gave up and cooked a late meal ourselves.

30th June, 2000

It had rained quite heavily during the night, but was still warm when we rose.    Our supplies had run down, so the first task of the day was to visit the supermarket in Santa Maria degli Angeli.  We took a film in first and, as it was promised back in half an hour, we thought we would while away the time by looking at the Basilica di S. Maria Angeli, shown right.  This is a most imposing Church built between 14th and 15th centuries and seemed to be attracting a lot of tourists and had young stewards in smocks keen to reinforce the ban on photography and videos.

Our guide book is a little dismissive of the building, but seems to have missed the point that this is the real shrine of Saint Francis.  Under its dome is the Porziuncola, which was the Chapel of the original Franciscan Monastery, and nearby is a Chapel said to be on the site of the hovel in which he died in 1226, only in his 40's.  While he had been born of wealthy parents and baptised in Assisi, some 4 miles up the road, it would seem that Santa Maria degli Angeli was where he founded his order.

After lunch, we thought we should go to look at the Lake Trasimeno to the west.   The heat had taken us by surprise and tired us.   Finding a shady spot near the lake a little way before Passignano, we had a short nap.  The lake is a popular recreation area and is said to be clean, but we did not relish the idea of swimming in it with the locals.  We stopped in Passignano for bread and bacon (which we had forgotten in the morning) and, more importantly, ice creams to try to cool us down and wake us up.

A little way along the northern shore is Tuoro.   Close to it is the scene of the first major defeat of the Romans under Flaminius by Hannibal in 217 BC.   The exact spot is not known but the pictures to the left show the general area.

We found a spot close to the historic battlefield, where tourist information indicated that the appalling Roman defeat was a military blunder.  Flaminius had not bothered to send scouts out and did not realise how close the Carthaginians were.    He marched into an area in which his retreat could easily be cut off with only muddy marshes and the lake as an escape route.

We were by now the only Brits in camp and settled for a quiet night.  However, our superb, quiet camp had a surprise for us.  At weekends they party half the night and we were awakened at two in the morning by someone turning up the amplifiers.  With the warm weather, we had to sleep with the windows open and there was no way to keep the noise out.

1st July, 2000

A lazy day had been planned but we thought we at least ought to see the other end of Assisi and we drove up as high as we could get and parked in the underground carpark at Piazza Matteotti, which is close to the Roman Amphitheatre.  There was a market going on in the Piazza itself, but we saw nothing to interest us.  We were dismayed to find that the route to the centre was steeply downhill, which of course we would have to struggle back up to the car, though barely 11 o'clock in the morning, we already felt very hot.

Having had an earthquake not so long ago, we perhaps should not have been surprised that so much of the town was hidden by scaffolding.  We stopped in the Piazza San Rufino with its Duomo of the same name.  The Duomo still has the Baptismal Font where St. Francis and St. Claire were baptised.   The Duomo incorporates some Roman remains, which can be seen from the inside.

We walked on to the Piazza del Comune, which is on the site of the old Roman Forum, and still has the facade of the Temple of Minerva which we show to the right.

Returning to the car, we passed by Santa Maria delle Rose.   A French tour guide was explaining to his charges what this is about, but we were not able to understand.    Nearby what looked like an old Church was being used to promote small carved pieces of wood which appeared to have some connection with Santa Maria delle Rose.   As we left Assisi we could not resist the picture above right of one of its many charming streets.  

The camp site has a computer which, depending upon the mood of the receptionist, can be used by the inmates.  Today it was available and we checked our e-mail to learn that Ron and Ana in Lisbon have been introduced to EU car crime, having had their car burgled in broad daylight.

It turned out that we were in a good TV reception area and were able to watch a disappointing qualifying session for the French GP and listened to fragmentary reporting from Radio 5.  Our boy DC had all sorts of problems and only managed second.    Some time during the afternoon an English couple, Tony and Sue, arrived from San Marino.  We said hello and invited them for drinks later on.  It turned out that they were on their way to a Caravan Club rally somewhere near Rome.  We had another disturbed night with the revellers.

2nd July, 2000

We planned to do little except watch the French Grand Prix and catch up a little on our journal.  The race started with MS leaning hard on our boy DC and demoting him to third.  As per usual, a procession followed that was only enlivened when, in what is a sadly too rare spectacle these days, DC gained the lead by outbraking first one and then the other Ferrari at the Adelaide hairpin.  This makes a welcome change from the more usual business of gaining places by strategic pit stops.  We are deeply nostalgic for the 'good old days' when one might see 'live' several overtaking manoeuvres in every Grand Prix.  At least on Raiuno, the commercials are remarkably short and they seem to interrupt them if there is anything spectacular happening.  It is unfortunate that Raiuno is scrambled on the satellite or in the UK it would be a better back-up to ITV during live coverage than RTL2.

Tony and Sue were not F1 junkies - Tony was into judo, though it may be a year or two since he was in his prime.  We had drinks with them in the evening and, after dinner, pulled the awning down for as early a departure as possible.   By now we had decided to return home as quick as possible to see our daughter before she left for a trip to the US.   Truth be told, it was far too hot and getting hotter.  By half nine each morning it was too hot to do anything and we were hearing reports of even worse heat in Greece.

3rd July, 2000

Even on a Sunday night, loud music went on into the small hours and, after not enough sleep, we were up and on the road by 9:30, which is probably our best so far.   We were soon on the expressway heading up towards Ancona through the undulating Umbrian countryside.  We crossed a corner of Tuscany before we reached Emilia-Romagna and turned north-west towards Bologna and Modena.  The roads were fairly good and we were making good time in the high temperatures.  We turned north after Modena, crossed the River Po and began our ascent towards the Alps.  We were soon having to turn off the climate control again to keep control of our engine temperature.  As we entered Trentino Alto Adige we were relieved to see rain bearing clouds in the distance.  The temperature, however, only fell by a couple of degrees at first.

We had expected to have to make one more stop in Italy but, with a strong tail wind we were making such good time, that we decided to go for it and try to cross to Innsbruck in the evening, when hopefully it would be cooler.   The road to the Brenner Pass follows a river valley with quite a gentle ascent.  The scenery, shown in the pictures below, soon became Tyrollean, with small hamlets and individual houses clinging to the sides of the steep valleys with lush green grazing land and pine forests.  Though very beautiful, after a while we became quite used to it and felt we could see little more were we to break our journey. 

The final ascent to Brenner was steeper, but a downpour dropped the temperature to nearer 20º and we were not in any danger of over-heating.  With all our motoring problems we had been more than a little anxious of crossing the Alps and were pleasantly surprised with the ease of the ascent.  At the Austrian border we tried to change money, but a power cut had taken away their computers and they were sitting on their hands.  We used up as much as we could of the credit in our Italian mobile, before moving on.  To our surprise, we got a call from our Italian friend Isabella as we entered the tunnel under the Brenner and were amazed to have good signal all the way through and some way down the other side. 

As we descended a wheel trim fell off the caravan and chased us for a while, before parking itself neatly against the barrier.  We decided against stopping.   David had spent a considerable amount of time repairing the left-hand side one at Pompeii and had put it in the front locker rather than risk losing it.  Now we had lost the other one!  These are plastic and retained by two of the four wheel-nuts.  They had always rattled and the design is such that failure is inevitable.

The descent if anything is considerably steeper on the Austrian side, with numerous escape roads.  We were surprised how slowly the HGV's descended the hill.   The drag of the caravan is such that its terminal velocity is only about 50 mph in third gear and we scarcely used our brakes.  At the last services on the Italian side we bought our Vignette which one needs to cross Austria - a further example of Euro-hypocracy.  The Swiss have had them for some time, but the Austrians are supposed to be on the same side as us and, to cross 30 miles into Germany, it is a bit of a cheek.  At a check point further down, we were charged even more, without any understandable explanation. 

We had picked a campsite at Natters, just south of Innsbruck and, with only one 'turn-around', found it by 7:30 in the evening.  The guidebook says it has a difficult access and they do not exaggerate.  In the reception we signed their petition to the council to improve the access.  Once in, we were very pleased both with its location and its excellent facilities, though we have a bit of a hike to take advantage of them.  We had an excellent meal in their restaurant, shown left, and turned in.

4th July, 2000

Above the dashboard in the car, shown right, we have a black scarf which people sometimes asked about.   Far right you can see why. It's there to prevent the reflections on the windscreen in bright sunlight.    We wonder why car makers are not more careful.

It rained a little during the night, but did not wake us.   After breakfast we set off on a sentimental journey to Seefeld, where Kate had been as a teenager on a school trip.   Apart from old times, we were keen to see if it really was impossible to take the caravan the short distance to Garmisch in Germany rather than the huge detour round Munich.  We soon had our answer, as we passed road signs prohibiting trailers.   Even without the caravan it was a very steep climb, almost 1 in 6 in places and, whether allowed or not, we would not want to risk further trouble.     We toured Seefeld and went a little way towards Garmisch, and stopped for lunch.   We returned to Seefeld and had a coffee and Apfelstrudel near to where Kate had first indulged herself with its dubious delight.

In Seefeld Kate soon found her old Pension, shown right, which had changed considerably but still carried the same name.  We walked along the lake side and found an Internet cafe where we dealt with our emails.  It began to rain and continued on and off for the rest of the day.

Near Seefeld is the quaint but modern castle shown above right which is an amusement centre of some sort.

In poor weather we next visited Innsbruck and photographed the gold-roofed Maximillian's, below left.  The town is pretty, if a bit touristy and, when it started raining again, we decided to do our shopping in the dry.  The weather decided for us that one day was enough and we would head north in the morning.  We returned to Natters (which is near Mutters), cooked dinner and phoned Isabella to say that we planned to be near Frankfurt the following evening.

5th July, 2000

We had gone from unbearably hot and dry to miserble wet and not too warm in just one day.   On our way south almost a year ago we were undaunted by the weather and still full of anticipation.   Now we were on our way home and, as always seems to be the case, we get to a stage where we just want to get it over and done with.    The weather added a sense of urgency.    We left  Natters at  09:30 and drove to Gross Gerau near Frankfurt, enduring many roadworks on the way.    We dined that evening with Colin and Isabella who, as usual, put on a splendid meal.

6th July, 2000

While we had had difficulty finding our way into the petrol station, another Brit with a caravan came over to us who was having enormous difficulty finding his way out!   We were not very helpful and we too found the only practical way to get back on our route was to travel in the opposite direction, which was well sign-posted, and find the first convenient place to do a U-turn.

When we next stopped, we found much of the crockery from the top lockers on the floor and smashed.    After almost 20,000 miles of Europe's worst roads, our worst crockery damage was at a snail's pace in a supermarket car park.

We arrived at the Channel Tunnel early evening and, despite being heavily laden, could not resist loading even more weight in the form of wine.   We checked the prices and it was vastly cheaper to spend the night in the car park and catch the last of the cheap over-night shuttles.   We found a few people with the same idea, including another British couple with a caravan.   They were a bit nervous of spending the night on an unprotected car park and were relieved to see us. 

Last updated:  18/03/01