Trip to EU 4

Trip to EU 4

Ornans (France) and ( Ispra, Lake Maggiorie, Italy)

Tuesday was the day we decided to go to the restaurant in a little village of Port Lisney
about 20 km south of Besancon. This restaurant was used by Raymond Blanc to cook
local food for his guests in his DVD’s, The Very Hungry Frenchman. The whole meal was
beautifully cooked and presented, a real treat.
So back to base and started packing up for the move on, on Wednesday. It had been raining
quite a lot over the last few days and the pitch we were on was waterlogged so we decided to
try and move he caravan off the pitch to try and save time the following morning. Thank
goodness for motor movers. I had to use my levelling blocks to run the jockey wheel across
the grass or it would have just dug a rut and buried itself in the mud. After getting the van off
the pitch we put it on a parking area for the night and were able to plug in the electric from a
nearby power point.

Up early next morning and off by 8:30am, we had a fair journey ahead of us so we needed to
give ourselves as much time as possible. Our destination, Ispra on Lake Maggiorie Italy.
Sat Nav programmed for the destination and away, little did we know what was to come on
the journey. Looking at the route all seemed ok. Our route took us through Switzerland and
what I thought was Iselle-Brig tunnel, then down to Lake Maggiorie.
The journey started with quite a long haul up the gorge from Ornans and the higher we got the
colder it became until we were in snow, oh! oh!, hopefully it wouldn't get any worse than the
couple
of inches that had fallen, and the roads were clear. The views on the way up were stunning.
After crossing the border into Switzerland and collecting our vinette sticker €40, we continued
on passing the signs for the Grand St Bernard tunnel and Milano, and having put our trust in
good old TomTom, it was not to be. Like so many stories you hear about Sat Nav’s taking you
down a blind alley, you guessed it. We were taken to a train transporter at a place called Brig-
Glis, oh no! we don't need that expense so we turned around and follow the signs for Milano.
Of we went but unbeknown to us we had set off to climb mountain after mountain on our way
over to Italy. We were heading up to the Simplon Pass!!! For those of you who have never
been that route with a caravan in tow. DONT DO IT! We climbed and we climbed, and then we
climbed some more. The views were spectacular but we didn't have a clue when we were
going to reach the top and the temperature had dropped to -2.5 degrees. I was beginning
to worry about the car overheating and Jan was anxious about the height and crossing a
bridge over a gorge so high up and the wind sock blowing at 90 degrees. Approaching
the top it was cold outside and the place was still covered in snow so we were glad we had got
the climb out of the way. Then to add to my worries, Jan said now all we have to do is get the
descent out of the way. As we were climbing we noticed trucks going very slow on descent
and wondered why. The signs by the road side soon warned us of brakes catching fire.
So that was the next worry all the way down trying to keep the brakes cool.
Finally, we were at the other side and our trauma was as good a over. Can I just say, the car
did a great job, hope that doesn't prove fateful. Volkswagon did a great job in conning me
with the emissions scandal when I got my first Tiguan. But they do make good cars none the
less. My present one has the new EURO 6 engine and complies with the law on emissions.
So on to Lake Maggiorie and Ispra.
Hope this hasn't bored you to bits but looking back it was an experience not to forget and a
lesson learnt the hard way and never to be repeated! Jan added the last bit.
Happy travels
Bill