Day 14 - Rome Campsite via Pisa

21/06/2016

This morning I left the campsite in Portofino and headed for Rome which was a good 200 mile journey with a stop off in Pisa to see the leaning tower. After hot and sweaty 85 miles I entered the town of Pisa and found a parking spot straight away. I don't mess around trying to find a closer one as the van with no power steering can be a right pain to park or turn around.

Van squeezed into a parking spot in a street in Pisa

The benefit to parking so far away means you get to take a scenic walk through the towns, albeit a very brisk walk as I only put 1 euro in the meter. 1 euro, 1 hour.. surely that should easily be enough time to go and find the tower and walk through some random streets there and back. 

Large river cutting through Pisa

After about a 20 minute walk I could finally see the tower, it was actually quite impressive and stood at quite an angle. Hundreds of people were stood around trying to catch the classic pose of holding the tower and I walked through them - probably in the pictures to get a closer look. Armed guards stood at the bottom and you could go in and walk up the top but I didn't really fancy standing in the queue. I wandered around for a while until I had to head back before I got a parking fine. It was enough of a quick wiz around Pisa and I still had a fair journey to the campsite in Rome. 

Leaning tower of Pisa

When I arrived in Rome I didn't bother doing much as it was already 5pm. Instead I decided to head to the pool to relax and then set up the slackline as the spot had two perfect trees. This took some figuring out as the trees were so chunky, but the spare tow rope came to the rescue and helped me set it up. 

Managed to set up the slackline, perfect spot next to the van

Day 13 - Portofino and Camogli, Italy

20/06/2016

I set off on the 13 mile round trip to Portofino, I was a bit concerned after the cycle yesterday into Rapallo which was only about 2 miles. After a while I kind of got used to the roads and eventually made it to Portofino, the first thing I saw was a gigantic sailing yacht. The coastal roads on the ride there were amazing and definitely worth the ride.

Huge yacht appearing through the trees as I got closer to Portofino

Once I arrived I quickly locked the bike to walk around and exited to use the slr. I immediately pulled it out and switched it on and read 'No SD Card'. I'd bloody left it in the van. The slr went back and I pulled out the GoPro and as soon as it turned on it switched off again.. the battery was flat. I threw it all back in the bag and took some snaps with my phone. I spoke to a couple form Norfolk who talked about their profession and strongly advised after I get my university results I become a Charted Financial Advisor which is certainly something for me to consider. 

View of Portofino from the hill that lead to a lighthouse

Whilst taking pictures of the harbour, a guy named Emmanuel approached me asking to a take some pictures for him and in turn he took some of me. We got chatting from there and turned out he was from Hong Kong, studying in Paris and was travelling in Italy. We wandered up the hills and up to the lighthouse where we discovered a bar with an amazing view. We had to sit down and get a drink, the bar was purched on the side of a hill and I could not stop staring at the view. Emmanuel told me about his love for karaoke and sang along to some of the tunes the chatty barman was playing. 

Emmanuel on the left, with the view from the bar behind us!

Emmanuel was kind enough to pay for the drinks and we decided to head into the next town Camogli, his host had suggested he visit. It was once again a beautiful little town with a harbour and we explored the back streets and climbed a lot of stairs. We found a spot under some shade to cover from the sun, it was almost unbearable. I don't know how I didn't burn as I left the sun lotion back in the van. 

Beautiful town of Camogli, Italy

It would have been ideal if I had a couple extra days in that part of Italy so I could have explored Cinque Terre. However a last minute decision to head to Rome tomorrow meant that I couldn't spare any more time in this part of Italy. 

Day 12 - Monaco & Rapallo, Italy

19/06/2016

Last night was the first night sleeping in the hammock up top, it was actually quite comfy and I had a good sleep considering the noise from the road. In the night my back felt really cold which might be down to it being so exposed with only a thin bit of material covering it. Today was time to move onto Italy, which made me feel bit gutted to be leaving France after such a great time. I hit the road and headed via Monaco which was my first stop.

I was becoming very stressed trying to navigate through the narrow streets of Monaco and the fears of driving round in circles because all the spaces were taken were starting to get to me. I spotted this row of empty parking and immediately pulled the van in and got ready to go for a wander. After buying the ticket and leaving it in the windscreen I walked down the hill to find there was no way to walk into Monaco this way. In the heat and the fact I only had enough change was starting to annoy me, to my relief after walking back up the hill past the van I spotted a huge set of stairs which took me down to the Main Street. 

The view of Monaco from the halfway point on the stairs. After walking round for nearly an hour I had managed to walk all around the port and some of the back streets and grab an ice cream to de-stress. I headed back for the van to continue to the next campsite near Portofino, Italy. 

I drove for over 2 hours towards Italy and past Genoa. I pulled off the AutoRoute and spotted a sign for the campsite it it wasn't clear which exit it was off the roundabout. I saw one which looked like a truck yard, hoping it wasn't that one I took the next one which turned out even worse. As I cruised past the truck yard I saw the campsite sign then in front of me the toll booths. I was so angry, I had to pay to go onto the toll road to drive 13 miles to come back to this horrible looking site. Music was the main thing that helped take my mind off it, and monitoring the temperature gague to make sure the van doesn't blow up. 

As I pulled in it wasn't as bad as I first thought. It was next to a truck yard but it was actually quite nice when I pulled in. It even has a restaurant and swimming pool (very small but a pool is a pool, until I read I need a bloody swimming cap). I decided to cycle into the town Rapallo which was only 2 miles down the road. It was my first cycle in a busy ish foreign town and it was very weird, I quickly learnt that if you hesitate anywhere someone will pull out on you. I wandered around Rapallo for an hour or so relaxing after a stressful day. 

Day 11 - Nice, South of France

18/06/2016

Another day of sunshine! The sun was beaming through the crap old curtains in the van but it was an awesome way to wake up. Cautious that I was leaving the campsite I had to be packed up by noon so I was straight onto the beach and into the sea for a couple hours. After a late breakfast it was sadly time to pack up and work out where I'm heading to next. I found a couple canperstops in Nice so I decided that would be the next checkpoint.

Trucking along the coastal roads, I decided to drive through Saint Raphael and Cannes but that was a bad decision. Saint Raphael was okay to navigate but the satnav kept trying to direct me back on the AutoRoute but Cannes was much worse. Normally I try my best not to get stressed but things were getting out of hand. There was an event on and people everywhere walking out into the road, police cars blocking turn offs and the satnav was doing my head in once again. I was finally nearly back out of Cannes when a woman started washing my windscreen, I saw her approaching and tried to stop her. I imagine she used the language barrier to ignore what I was saying and gesturing and carried on anyway. I grabbed some change out my pocket in hope she would walk away to another car and if I'm honest, the windscreen was a lot cleaner!

Pictured above was the first camperstop I came across but something didn't quite feel right, it may have been that it was right next to a busy roundabout and the slipway for the AutoRoute. It was so loud! I decided to move on to the other camperstop I found just a few miles down the road which turned out to be better although still a bit noisy.

Day 10 - Saint Maxime, France

17/06/2016

I had a good feeling today, the weather was supposed to be hot according to yesterday's weather forecast and it was absolutely bang on. I spent the first few hours of the day frying in the sun and swimming but I got a bit bored after a while. I was chatting to a guy who happened to be from Stourbridge and said he was planning to cycle into Saint Maxime, I took his idea and cycled off into Saint Maxime. After nearly landing on my arse messing about wheelieing I decided to keep both wheels firmly on the ground.

Saint Maxime was similar to St Tropez being a port full of yachts however there seemed less in the town itself. The beaches I passed were amazing, I had to fight the temptation to go and jump in the sea. 

Once back at the van I decided to head for the beach to soak up the rest of the sunshine and go for a swim. I headed to the campsite shop after to pick up some supplies ready for dinner. I recognised 'poulet' just about from doing French at school so chicken stir fry it is! I hope..

Day 9 - Port de Saint Tropez

16/06/2016

The weather wasn't too bad this morning, but it was still very dull and showers were supposed to be on their way. I started packing a bag ready to cycle to Saint Tropez until a campsite member of staff approached me handing a cut out of paper, my first thought was information about a show?! No. Heavy rain and storms were due and to act accordingly. I stopped what I was doing and quickly scrambled to pack away the awning to leave me one less thing to worry about. Once that was away I hit the cycle paths, the initial plan was to cycle to Port Grimaud and catch a ferry but I decided that was the lazy option. I cycled past Port Grimaud and into St Tropez. After all it was only 4.5 miles on the flat each way.

As I entered St Tropez I was excited to look around as I had been here previously on a family holiday.  The first thing that hit me were the huge yachts towering over the buildings in the marina. They were absolutely massive. 

The weather was still pretty dull but I didn't care after not doing much yesterday. I ended up walking around in loops past all of the designer shops.

As I walked to the end of the marina I walked under an archway which revealed these buildings right on the sea front! They must get battered by the sea in the storms. 

After a good day walking around St Tropez I hit the cycle paths back to the van to relax and crack open a beer or two. I decided to try find a spot I could set up the slackline but there was absolutely nowhere. The only potential was a plastic volleyball net which would've come straight down knowing my luck!

Day 8 - Port Grimaud, St Tropez

15/06/2016

Once again I woke up in the night to the rain pounding off the vans roof and this continued through the whole day. I spent the day catching up on reading, researching and updating the blog. I decided to check the vans fluid levels after being put to the test on the French AutoRoutes although they were more than fine back in England. To my horror the oil level was dangerously low so that sent me off on a journey to find more oil as the pot I had with me wasn't enough.

Once the vans fluids were all sorted I even decided to give the van a good clean and re-organise inside. I decided to treat myself and went to the campsite restaurant for mussels and an ice cold pint. Praying for some sun tomorrow, although the weather forecast doesn't look so good!