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We decided to haul ass to near Reims so we could squeeze in a two nighter at a nice campsite, rather than lots of travel and then one night stopovers, so a long day driving but rewarded at the end with a massive but quiet campsite in the grounds of a chateau, with pool, sunshine, restaurant and Boulangerie. A perfect end to an incredible journey.

We’ve managed to visit 8 countries (a couple of them twice), covered 3500 miles, been up a mountain, driven a supercar (and the super van of course). Squeezed in city breaks, sea, sand, pools, mostly sun, a bit of thunder, loads of cycling and plenty of hiking. We’ve met people from countless places & learned so much about Europe and Europeans. We’ve had a go at speaking a few different languages and received a warm welcome pretty much everywhere, despite the Brexit embarrassment that must make people think us Brits are complete muppets.

As we speed up the motorway, through France on our way to the ferry (slightly late departure after the last night big one with our Dutch friends), we’ve captured our final thoughts, so here’s our quick quiz:

Favourite country

T – Croatia & Italy.

S – Italy

O – France

N – Italy

Favourite campsite

T – camping la Futa (Tuscany)

S – Belvedere (Croatia)

N – camping glacé de la met (chamonix)

O – camping Masai Mara (Austria)

Favourite day trip

T – Porsche museum

S – Venice

N – Venice/mont Blanc

O – the ferry

Favourite thing to do when travelling

T – watch a film

S – drive mostly

N – paint rocks

O – watch fire engines

Least favourite thing

T – dog poo island (worst campsite)

S – Tom’s bike being run over

N – insect bites & cash only places.

O – the big cable car

We have made it back to England, it’s sunny but cold. Back to our real lives, it’s been awesome, we’ll try to do something like this again without a doubt. It’s hard work but well worth it.

We had thought we might make it to Switzerland and get fairly high up a mountain but it wasn’t a clear plan (other than the only vignette pre-purchased was for the country we wouldn’t definitely pass through).

So as we headed to Turin we thought an obvious destination would be the Mont Blanc tunnel and drop into Chamonix. So did the MB trail a couple of years ago & really liked the place so we all fancied a look around.

As we’d managed (finally!) an early start we would get to Chamonix for about 10 and be fairly sure we’d get into the campsite we fancied which wasn’t far from the centre and would mean we could get set up & explore and decide how long we wanted to stay.

So glad we did. The place is incredible, so much to do and so much to see.

That’s the view from our pitch, the local transport is great, they clearly want to keep traffic out of the centre as much as possible so trains, buses & cycle trails made it very easy to park up and not worry about taking the van anywhere.

First trip into town that afternoon was on the bus, which took about 5 minutes but saved a bit of a walk. You just can’t stop looking up and staring at the mountains all around, it was baking hot but you can see snow?

After a couple of hours mooching around the shops and enjoying the cafes we headed back for any early night. Early start the next morning to get up Mont Blanc on the cable car. Slightly papping it when you watch them going & see the angle and the speed but it’s got to be done.

This has got to be the most memorable day of the entire trip. We headed off early, wrapped up ready for 0degrees up the mountain. I forgot the bag with gloves, so they are socks on tom’s arms in case you were wondering.

The cable car is exhilarating, terrifying, fabulous all in one. Just as you think you’re getting used to hanging from a thread hundreds of feet in the air you go through a junction point and there’s a steep drop so you feel a massive judder & you’re falling out of the sky. But just look at the view!

There’s a halfway point where you change cars to go up to the next stage and then after a slightly less terrifying ride you’re on top of the world.

It was a perfect day to see for miles & surprisingly hot as the sun flared down on us.

Simon then announces that he thinks it’s a good idea to do the extra little cable car that takes you on a round trip to see the peak of Mont Blanc and links up with the cable car that comes up from the Italian side. The border between the 2 countries runs through the summit so they can both claim ownership apparently.

If we thought the big cable car was a bit scary then this was something else. A tiny gondola made for 4 with every movement making it sway. Thankfully it was a completely still day, not sure I’d have coped with a breeze!

Again well worth it.

The station at the end of this line was the link to Italy with a perfect view of the summit, 4809 metres. Wow.

We had a bit of a walk down the mountaineers exit, the safety feature there is a fence that says once you climb over here you’re on your own so don’t do it unless you really know what you’re doing. It was still a metal walkway so we risked it and climbed over, but did decide we’d gone far enough when we reached the ladder down to the glacier.

Finally we headed back for the descent thrill ride, so glad we’d started early, they suggest about 2.5hrs for the experience, we managed about 5 hours up there (getting our moneys worth!) It was really busy by the time we were leaving. I think I preferred the busy cable car where you were tightly packed in!

An awesome day.

It gets dark pretty early under the mountains so we enjoyed a couple of movie nights all tucked up in the van and it’s pretty chilly at night but that’s been a welcome change after hot nights elsewhere. The big sleeping bags are out acclimatising is to the trip back home.

We decided Chamonix has so much to offer, even without skiing that we’d hang out here as long as we could, so next day was a cycle ride into town.

We stumbled across the end of the UTMB 106 mile trail run, so great atmosphere in town.

Si & Tom had a bit of a drama when a car suddenly decided to reverse up the narrow street they were in, Tom quickly dumped his bike and leapt out of the way but the car just didn’t see him and went over the bike. Tom was pretty shaken up and Si managed to keep his cool with the guy who eventually stopped and was horrified to see a kids bike under the wheel of his car. Amazingly the bike is fine and Tom got back on pretty quick, but a good lesson in cyclist beware, it’s the idiot drivers in a bad mood because they’ve gone the wrong way that cause the problems!

Our final day in Chamonix was a train in the other direction and a hike to a waterfall with a cafe. Brilliant fun.

Final night and a stunning thunder storm, so dramatic when the lightening is behind a mountain that towers over you.

Quickly packing stuff away so it didn’t get soaked made departure a bit easier the next day.

Our last couple of nights beckon, Chamonix has certainly topped all our other adventures. Loved it.

Monaco was too strong a draw to resist so off we trotted to the Cote D’Azur. A fabulous journey with stunning views at every turn. We got to the point where we stopped oohing and aahing eventually.

We arrived at the campsite early afternoon and had a welcome rest, though the site was pretty basic. The earliest you could move vehicles was 8.30 so we got ourselves as prepared as we could aiming to be ready to start our engines bang on 8.30 and get in to Monaco, find somewhere to park and enjoy the day.

Our Monaco day was not one of our best, I wouldn’t have been surprised to find out it was Friday 13th equivalent in France. A litre of milk spilt over all the piled up bedding, ready to be packed away, meant an hours delay as we made use of the campsites washing machine. When the wash cycle finally finished, unloading the washer revealed a phone wrapped up in the bedding. Oops, it looked pretty terminal as brown goo seeped out of the smashed screen. It’s insured so not the end of the world but pretty inconvenient (if you’re reading this and I haven’t replied to any messages, that should explain it). I am wondering a couple of days later if I’ve had a more relaxing time and engaged more with everyone despite not being able to do the usual area research pre-visit, perhaps a broken phone earlier in the holiday wouldn’t have been so terrible!

We managed to have a lovely rest of the day despite it easily being our clumsiest, if any of us could drop something or trip over something we did. Far from the beautiful people of Monaco, we were the Clampitts from out of town.

A pleasant lunch by the harbour in Fortveille, the next, presumably slightly cheaper, place to moor your many million dollar yacht from the main Monaco bay and then a walk around town.

We’d toyed with the idea of hiring scooters and doing the F1 circuit but with the day we were having decided that was a terrible idea, Ollie didn’t fancy it anyway because scooters are too noisy 🙄. So we walked most of the circuit and discovered we’d covered a fair bit of it whilst looking for a parking space.

I hadn’t realised that the circuit stays on the road all year, so that’s us getting in to pole position about to cross the start line!

Super cars spotted; multiple Ferrari’s, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Porsche’s, Maserati’s. However as with most french towns there were just as many beaten up old Twingo’s.

Overall a fab day in a fabulous place, I’m not sure we’d do more than a day, probably would break the bank at Kilby towers anyway but the palace is gorgeous, there’s pictures of Grace Kelly and memorials for her which is very poignant and the tunnels under the city are quite an experience with a full road network including roundabouts to navigate.

We headed off to Turin the next morning, the lack of ability to research in advance was telling here. We weren’t really that enthralled with the city but we probably weren’t seeing the best it had to offer.

The best bit for the boys was the lego store that was so quiet you could play with the Lego. Not something they are used to. It’s not one that’s made it to the list to re-visit, I think we may have been heading to a nicer part of town when we accidentally entered the ZTL zone (fine waiting when we get home no doubt) but we’d had enough by then.

The lack of phone also meant the plan to meet at the van in my mind & meet at the park in Si’s mind when the boys wanted to do different things led to a worrying hour with Tom and I waiting at the Van deciding they’d got lost and being on the verge of breaking in to the Van to start driving round searching the city for them before they popped up wondering why we were so pleased to see them. Normal service resumed within about 4 minutes with the boys fighting!

We’d booked a site about 30 minutes outside Turin, one of our favourite stop overs with the friendliest people welcoming us and recommending restaurants we could drive to or offering to organise a takeaway pizza, which we gladly accepted! The end of our spate of misadventures.

I have been determined all holiday to be ready to leave somewhere early in the morning, ideally 8.00, we haven’t got close to it yet but this was finally the day. The promise of Chamonix and a campsite we were really looking forward to getting to that doesn’t take bookings was the motivation we needed. We did it, 8.10 departure with only 2 hours drive to the next destination, part of it through the Mont Blanc tunnel. Finally we were going to arrive somewhere with a whole day to get set up and find our way around.

Another beautiful city on the list and another public transport adventure. Blogs are so useful for finding out tips on getting around and places to park. So thank you to the blog that suggested the massive coop car park next to the Nenni Torregalli tram station north of Florence. 45 minute drive from our hillside retreat and then 15 minutes on the tram. This time it all worked perfectly, phew. The tram system in Florence is much easier to use than anywhere else we’ve been, ticket machines at every stop instead of the random ‘you c

an only but tickets from a newsagent or tobacconist??’. You pay €1.50 for 90 minutes and validate the ticket when you start your journey. Simple.

We arrived at the central station, which was central for a change and headed straight for the Duomo. Wow. You see pictures of these places & think they are amazing and then you see them for real and are completely blown away. The Brunelleschi done sits on top of the cathedral, which seems to be made of marble. It has an unreal quality, you think you’re looking at a pop up book made of paper, it’s bizarre.

The piazza is crammed with awesome buildings, and crammed with people queuing to get in to the awesome buildings, we’re not great at queuing so we just enjoyed the exterior 😉

Next on the list was the Leonardo de Vinci museum, it featured in every article of things to do in Florence so off we trotted. Si & I we’re a bit sceptical, it looked like a tiny shop & the entrance to the museum was at the back behind a black curtain. I had visions of a couple of pictures on the wall and a five minute experience for our €30 but we shouldn’t be so cynical. It is fairly small for a museum but it’s packed with interactive models of many of Da Vinci’s inventions, so great for kids. They get hold of the replicas of the machinery and can really see & feel how it all works. Brilliant for budding engineers.

As a result of their interest being sparked in this fascinating man they wanted to find out more about his painting, sculptures and human anatomy studies. Fascinating stuff.

On to our next mission, a photo of the boys with Michelangelo’s David. The gallery where the original lives was closed but the replica in Piazza della Signoria is always open so we headed there.

Another glorious piazza, Neptune fountain and more fabulous buildings and a peek of the duomo tip, perfect. Another one on the list to visit for a weekend sometime.

And the David pic requested by Baba ‘my 3 favourite boys’ sorry Mike you’ve been replaced by an Italian fella with his bits out (Ollie couldn’t get over all the willies!)

We spent a bit more time wandering and eating ice cream, Ollie counting scooters on the way. There were 73 on this road!

And this is a doorbell!

We then headed back to the van on the tram. Another beautiful city and an interesting view of real Florence life crammed in with the commuters.

Our last night at our lovely campsite as we planned our next trip to Pisa.

This was intended as a bit of a smash & grab. Go to Pisa, take the famous picture and then head off towards Genoa and decide on the last leg.

Pisa wasn’t having any of that nonsense, so much more to see than just a wonky tower. It’s stunning.

We parked just outside the city walls and walked in. Not far in the searing heat before we spotted the tower.

It is great fun just watching all the people with their funny poses. Of course we had a go.

You don’t often see in the pictures of Pisa the cool buildings surrounding it, they would be worth a stop on their own. Here’s a few non leaning buildings.

We didn’t venture further in to town though there was plenty more to see. The combination of blazing sun and a couple of days sightseeing meant we’d all had enough and just wanted to get to our next stop and chill.

A campsite on a marina this time, brilliant yacht spotting just outside an Italian seaside resort. The first time we’ve experienced people being rude, receptionist was grouchy and the restaurant on site couldn’t have made it clearer that they would really prefer us and our noisy kids to eat elsewhere. I’m not sure how much of my complaint they understood but I got it off my chest anyway 🤣

Big decision tonight – Turin & up to Switzerland or across to Monaco.

Tom decided it with a great idea about hiring scooters and doing the Grand Prix circuit. No idea if we’ll be able to do it but hey let’s give it a go. Monaco here we come (we’re doing Turin as well…)

One thing about travelling like this is getting your bearings in other countries, I wouldn’t have had a clue where Florence was in relation to Rome before now but looking at a map and figuring out how long it might take to get to places has really helped my European geographical knowledge.

We now know that Maranello is not far off the route between Venice & Florence.

How could we pass that by. We did the Porsche museum in Germany so let’s do the Ferrari museum in Italy.

Well we didn’t quite go in because next door to the museum is a Ferrari driving experience shop. So of course jumping in a Portofino and whizzing round the local roads for 10 minutes is a much better way to experience Ferrari than walking round a museum!

They loved it, Ollie didn’t fancy it because it’s too loud, in the video you can just see him hiding behind the building with his hands over his ears,

Toms verdict: Really fast, loud, if you compare it to a normal car the difference is spectacular. You really got pushed back in the seat. I might get a Ferrari or maybe a Porsche.

After the excitement of that drive it was back to the old van for our next stop, Camping la Futa, incredible Tuscan hills and beautiful villages, the journey has just got better and better. I now think Tuscany is my favourite region.

The campsite was perfect. Off the beaten track, terraced so every pitch has a view. A lovely pool, fab play park, little bar & pizzeria. All run by one family, loved the notice politely requesting that you ask any questions before 6 as they’ll be busy running the pizzeria from then and won’t be able to be as helpful as they can during the day.

We had planned 3 nights so we could get settled, have a day relaxing then a day in Florence. It was Si’s turn to not be well so our Florence day was postponed whilst he slept for about 36 hours with a raging temperature and chills so we left him in the van with a hot weather bottle & paracetamol and had another day by the pool (we did check on him regularly and he was fine by the evening).

So next stop Florence or Firenze as we should call it.