Greece & the Adriatic coast 2019 part 1 – Brighton to Lake Como

by Tim Aldiss · Published 18th July 2019 · Updated 18th September 2019

*Read the first instalment or click straight to the video here.

I set off optimistically early on a Friday afternoon in late June. 3 hours is usually a silly amount of extra time to do a journey that has been done in half the time even in my 30 year old campervan. This time however Kent council were against me and had decided to run several sets of roadworks concurrently on the M20 leading me to follow suggested diversions on the sat nav.

I rolled up onto the all-too-familiar Dover docks half an hour before my ferry departure time. I still managed to cook the pasta I had decided to make to save myself a few quid on the crossing. With 4 weeks away I had to count every penny.

It was a pleasant evening sailing on P&O, my usual ferry choice. Unusual cloud formations made it look like I had nuked Britain as I left… maybe not such a bad idea! The mushroom cloud of Brexit was to hang over me the whole trip.

Once docked in France I had a half hour drive to a free park up which I achieved around midnight. I slept like a log but leapt up excitedly when I was disturbed by a group of French school kids directly in front of the van even in this very rural location I’d found myself in.

I headed first north towards Lille and then east towards Luxembourg where I filled up with the cheapest diesel in northern Europe – current at 1 euro 7 cents (less than a pound a litre). The on to Strasbourg eventually pulling in to the campsite where my German LT buddy Andreas was waiting to greet me. We hopped on a tram and had dinner in the scenic old town.

After a good sleep we set off south through Alsace keeping in contact via CB as we drove. Switzerland approached and then we started our climb up towards the start of the Gottard tunnel. With very minor delay we were on into it’s bi-directional 10 mile length.

On the other side Andreas developed a problem with his van – an oil pressure light had lit and a buzzer permanently sounded. We drove on slowly stopping to as the VOLT group and consult the German LT wiki. We decided to continue slowly to Como where we eventually negotiated 2 spots looking right out onto the lake where we would spend a somewhat disturbed night, but one which was oh-so-worth it for the fantastic view.