UK, France, Italy. A mad scramble to leave, but finally we’re off! We managed to escape in between the two rounds of heavy snowfall and had a clear run through Europe. When we say ‘clear run’, do remember that with a top speed of 60 mph, it feels more like a ‘clear amble’. Getting to Africa could take some time.
By chance we stayed the night in Epernay, which is the champagne capital of France. All the major champagne labels have their tasting houses on Avenue de Champagnge. A glass or two didn’t go amiss after the stresses of packing! And a fantastic meal in Asti in Italy where we had a restaurant to ourselves that evening. When we asked for the wine list, the owner simply pointed to the bottle laden shelves around the room and chose us a beautiful wine for our meal.
The stops in Europe did make us realise how travelling in this vehicle means you have to think about where to stay in a different way. Secure parking (no height restriction!), not to many small streets to navigate, won’t give your room away if it takes twice as long to get there as GoogleMaps suggests as we’re so slow….
Getting to the ferry in Genova was a challenge, with roads curving around the port on multiple levels. Desperately needed GoogleMaps in 3D!
Waiting to board the ferry, we thought our vehicle was pretty loaded until we saw what the other cars had! Not sure why that TV was there or what happened to it…
We managed to get a cabin for the ferry crossing from Genova to Tunis. Just wish the heating had been turned on. Freezing cold everywhere on the ship. Everyone walking around in coats, hats, scarves. Ever entrepreneurial, Ven managed to rig up our own heating system using the hairdryer and his BlackBerry earphones.
