2013 Five Countries Tour

Summary We had never toured Provence before or Italy and I had read much about the Italian Lakes but had never been anywhere near them in any of our travels. So for 2013 I worked out a rough schedule for a circular trip through France, Italy, Austria, Germany and Luxembourg taking in these two areas. I did do some research as to places of interest where we might visit but the only other preparation we did was to buy a Channel Tunnel ticket using Tescos vouchers, Red Penant travel insurance from the Caravan Club and an ACSI discount card. Armed with these, some maps and a sat nav we set off on the 24th April deciding where we would stop as we went along.

The return journey from Coquelles totaled exactly 2,300 miles and used 507 litres of fuel at an average price of 1.36 Euros per litre. This gave an average consumption of 20.6 miles per gallon. We used 10 campsites and 9 aires/stellplatz at an average cost of 15.60 Euros per night. The trip was notable for the poor weather encountered for much of the time. While pleasant enough, I was not overly impressed with coastal Provence or Italy and Lake Garda and won't be rushing back anytime soon.

Our favourite place of the trip - Difficult to call but I liked Besigheim and Camping Gritt.
Best value night stop - Neef Stellplatz
Best value campsite - Camping Naterer See with the ACSI discount
Worst moment – Driving a large vehicle around Camping La Rocca
Best saving – Use of the aires/stellplatz.

Contents
If you do not wish to read all of our blog, which you can find >here< and only have an interest in a particular area you can go direct to individual sections by clicking on the appropriate days below:

Days 1 to 17 - outward through France to Provence and Italy

Days 18 to 25 - Italy and Lake Garda

Days 26 to 29 - To Austria and Camping Naterer See

Days 30 to 37 - north through Germany

Days 37 to 45 - Luxembourg and homeward through Belgium to Gravelines France