Whither Dither: The Sequel

Hi WTG, Just saying thanks for the report back as it’s gone a day with no response!!

We are currently by Lake Garda on a site that, unlike the rest of the trip, wasn’t planned.

We, that’s the Royal we, like to have our trips planned out and one discovery this trip has been that travelling shorter distances, so more stops, isn’t as simple as it appeared when faced with temperatures of 34-38°C which leave you feeling wrecked just setting up the van.

Of course, any good plan should be adaptable and after almost staying on at Lago Trasimeno longer than planned, we arrived at Peschiera to be turned away from our first choice but, luckily, the back up site had pitches.

It may have been during your original post discussions that I said that the “day or two and move on” was not for us and this trip has certainly confirmed that is the case.

So the “wither dither” for us will continue to be before we leave!

As I have said elsewhere, we never plan except booking the channel crossing. We have just completed a 6 week trip ending up at Lake Trasimeno in Umbria, a trip mirroring Alanandjean's - pure coincidence!.  It was always our intention to go to that area and probably that site but the exact dates were flexible.  On departure day the mover decided it would play up!  's...it' I said we are off and will cope somehow.  We stayed a couple of days in Luxembourg and another couple of days near Trento on the way down; in Luxembourg the mover decided it would work!  On the way back we spent a week baking by Lake Garda (Camping Cisano)

It was much busier than normal with sites almost full.  For people planning to go to Italy via Landeck and the Reichenpassse, you have to use the Landeck tunnel, you can use the tunnel without a vignette looking out for the 'Umleitung' signs (they are quite small and easy to miss) as you approach Landeck.  Enter Landeck at your peril and just ignore your satnav for this part of your journey! The A9 autobahn was closed between Stutgart and Ulm making a 3 hour diversion and for the first time ever we had trouble finding an overnight stop eventually finding one at 8pm..  For many years we have travelled Mid May to late June and this was the busiest it has ever been, mainly German and Dutch with very few British outfits.  I assume people were taking advantage of the freedom post Covid.

Nevertheless, we will continue our no planning holidays enjoying the flexibility it gives.

Thanks for the report. For newcomers to foreign touring it is always a case of 'shall I book ahead' and it isn't always necessary.

We're meeting with a friend near Carcasonne in September on a short 3 week trip. We too will book the ferry (or the tunnel if she has her way) and won't book a single site. Can't wait!

We had a simple rule of thumb for crowd avoidance in France and Italy - Never go to a campsite by a lake.

We've just returned from 16 days on the municipal at Montorie sur le Loire. Lovely wooded riverside site, almost empty for the full time we were there - apart from a couple of statics (with very friendly local occupants) there were never more than 2 or 3 motorhomes and 3 or 4 tents. No other caravans arrived while we were there.

The town is delightful - a 10 minute stroll from the site across a footbridge. Well supplied with boulangeries, butchers, small restaurants (€15 for a 4 course lunch including very generous cheeseboard, wine & coffee) as well as markets 2 days a week and a couple of supermarkets. The area is interesting and we had a great relaxing holiday - the first time in France since 2019.

Having said it was a lovely site I suspect the facilities would be severely stretched if it was anywhere near full (100+ pitches).

"But this morning I feel drawn to Brittany. "

we spent 5 days in the Brittany area on our way back from Spain a couple of weeks ago, we do this regularly, really like the area, The Bayeux Tapestry, is a must see, and in Bayeux as with a lot of French towns/Cities there is a little train that provides a guided tour, great if your legs are now a little on the old side, Ohmaha beach in particular in one of my favourties, much prefer swimming in the Atlantic than the Med, site we were on was not full but it was very rustic and very rural so not great if you were a MH owner with no other means of transport.

As mentioned by others, very few Brits around, i think the Germans are now the dominant nation with their MH's, down in Spain it was particularly noticeable

We did a short stint in Brittany and enjoyed it on the way upto Roscoff. More Dutch than any other country very few Germans and a few brits.

Hope to get up around there again next year, we are going near Carcassonne in September to meet up with friends and will have a short break near Cordes sue Ciel before we meet up with them.

We had a plan for the first part which we more or less stuck to, although it was totally flexible as we booked nothing other than the ferry. However, as the weather behaved itself (a bit too much at times with temperatures in the high 30’s) we ended up in the Provence to see sister and B in L  more or less on schedule😂 Since then it has been very much a case of where shall we go next. So far in 35 days we have used 18 sites / Aires. Currently we are on a lovely little municipal in Domfront (€11.50 a night and 16 amp electric) on route to Bayeux, before heading for our boat at St Malo. One thing we have noticed over our visit in 2019 is the number of French Motorhomes, particularly on the Aires. They were certainly in the majority, followed by the Dutch, Belgians, Germans and then us.