Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2018 09:39:20 -0700
Reply-To: Mark Drillock <modrillock@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Mark Drillock <modrillock@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: summer trip report, Europe 2017, part 2
In-Reply-To: <577ba44b-6335-3b56-d041-24ea9a19afeb@gmail.com>
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I never finished my report so here is part 2.
After touring Croatia and Slovenia I dropped the last nephew at the
airport in Milan Italy. Every time I have been near sprawling Milan it
has reminded me of the Los Angeles basin in the summer, dreary with smog
and heat and this time was no exception. I had a few extra days before I
needed to be in Barcelona so I decided to escape into the cooler alps a
ways west of Milan, along the Italian/French border. I was hoping to
finally see a major mountain stage of the Tour De France bike race in
this area later in my trip and this gave me a chance to look at the
route and hopefully find a place to camp when I was there for the race.
I camped a night near some small lakes on the Italy side, then crossed
the Alps into France near the winter ski town of Briancon and the Col du
Galibier which would be the last major climb of the race stage I wanted
to be part of. I stopped at a few campgrounds near there and inquired
about advance booking a camp spot for a couple days when the race would
be passing through. For all the nearby camps it was already too late for
that so feeling disappointed I headed on down the road to leave the
area. Before too long I spotted a sign for another camp and decided to
turn off to give it one last shot. The place didn't look like much but
was a ways from the road and had nice views of the surrounding peaks.
They had room for my desired dates so I booked a spot. They did not want
any advance payment and I left happy but wondering how solid my booking
would turn out to be when I came back in about 10 days.
After two relaxing and cool days in the alps it was time to beeline
south for hotter Spain to meet my friend at the Barcelona airport. A
couple days later I pulled into a fancy campground by the beach, several
miles north of that city. For this busy vacation season I had booked at
this deluxe camp while still at home because I wanted to be certain of a
good first few nights with my friend, as he would need to get over any
jet lag and get settled into the Westy home we would be sharing for some
weeks. The terraced sea view campground had a large popular pool and
decent restaurant with a bar so we could just hang if we wished. After
setting up in my spot I caught a nearby commuter train along miles of
crowed beaches into the city proper and transferred to the airport
metro, just in time to meet my friend's flight. This old college friend
is actually the person who introduced me to VW van camping, back in 1974
when we packed our girlfriends into his 62 VW Bus and headed for Baja on
a school break. At the time I was a daily motorcyclist with a Moto Guzzi
and he had the VW hippie van for his daily. A couple years later he was
the bigger Guzzi enthusiast while I became the bigger VW van fan, and
that is true to this day.
We spent a couple days touring Barcelona and enjoying the camp
amenities, then packed up the Westy and headed north along the coast
back toward France. The weather was fabulous so we chose to stick to the
slow coastal road to soak up as much as we could. That section is at one
end of the Pyrenees mountains so the shore is rocky with pretty little
coves and some small sandy beaches with a few scattered villages here
and there. It was too nice to rush through so we adjusted our plans to
make the most of it. At one campground we rented snorkeling gear and
swam in the sea, trying not to think of the future too much. I got
online and canceled some of the bookings I had made so we could follow
our hearts for a few days instead. Since it was July there were plenty
of people around but it was still great and far more peaceful than the
crowded Barcelona beaches had been. Those have some nice natural scenery
too, mostly of the human variety, wink wink.
Finally it was time to make tracks, heading up through Nice and the
French Riviera before a turn into the Alps for my dream of a TDF
mountain stage. First we tried to get off the superhighway for a swing
through Monaco and maybe a meal in crazy Monte Carlo but the closer we
got the slower the traffic became. After inching along for a while I had
enough and we turned back away from the coast without my friend getting
to see much of those places. He said he didn't care and preferred to get
into the calmer mountains anyway. It turned into a long day of driving
and some frustrations, with the Garmin having outdated station info as
we looked for gas before heading too deep into the hills. One recurring
issue in my Europe travels is that many gas stations have no humans
attending them and if you don't have a card that works in their pumps
then no gas for you. American cards are not fully compatible with all
the European systems, no matter what anyone at the card company says.
This is sometimes true in ticket machines for trains and buses as well.
At times we have resorted to giving European strangers the cash to buy
us what we need on their cards. People are more helpful about this than
you might think.
After finally gassing up we pressed on to the Alps campground I had
booked for the bike race arriving late in the day. A group of climbers
near us partied into the night but it was pretty peaceful overall. Our
site was small but level and nice, here is a photo link and that is me.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1760083.jpg
The Westy stayed put for a couple nights as we hiked and used our
folding bikes to explore a little and get groceries in a nearby town.
Part 3 yet to come.
Mark
On 7/6/2017 12:54 AM, Mark Drillock wrote:
> Picked up our 87 Westy again after a year in storage in Amsterdam, all
> went smoothly this time. Connected the batteries, turned the key
> on/off several times to prime and flush the fuel lines, and she fired
> right up. I drove her on to the elevator and down she went to ground
> level and out the gate of the storage business. Stopped at a gas
> station for fresh gas and air in the tires. Opened the lid to have a
> look, tightened a weeping fuel line clamp. That was 5 weeks ago.
> Netherlands, Germany, Czech, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, and
> now Slovenia. All good so far, haven't opened the engine lid since.
>
> The camping has been great, as expected.
> ....................
> Starting Phase II of my trip this week. I had a couple nephews with me
> but they are done and heading home while I carry on. An old friend is
> joining me soon and then into the high country for a while.
>
> Mark
>
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