Hippie van, surfer bus, Vee-dub; call it what you will, the Volkswagen Campervan is an iconic symbol of what camping should, and can be and my family are lucky enough to own one! Sally, our ‘78 Devon Sundowner, turned thirty in 2008 and we thought, what better way to celebrate than with a road trip! The plan was to start off with a ferry crossing to the Netherlands, drive through Western Europe, and finish up in Venice, driving back to Holland by a slightly different route. The adventure began on a typically chilly summer’s evening on the Hull to Rotterdam ferry.
Our first night was spent in Cologne at a campsite on the Rhine. Home to a cathedral, a world-famous carnival and mainland Europe’s largest comedy festival, Cologne is one of the most cultured cities in Europe. The city itself has a superb and extensive network of cycle paths, and a cycle along the river to town is a popular attraction. One of the first things we came to was an interesting concert hall, the Philharmonie, which is situated underground, between the cathedral and the river. Apparently, the acoustics are fantastic, but there is a major flaw in the design, in that every time someone walks over the roof, it can be heard in the hall below, so guards have to be employed during concerts just to make sure no one is tempted. Unavoidable in Cologne is Kölsch- for the uninitiated, that’s Cologne’s home brew (and also the name of the local dialect, giving rise to the idea that Kölsch is the only language you can drink!) but it’s also worth checking out some of the bars in the student quarter which offer fantastically kitsch, Del Boy-style cocktails, complete with glacé cherries, umbrellas and streamers.
One of the spontaneous elements of going on a road trip is you’re unable to book every stop in advance. This does add to the feeling of excitement and adventure and, fortunately, there are a lot of very good campsites in mainland Europe. We had, however, booked a couple of nights at a campsite in Salzburg, our first Austrian stop. The site was beautifully situated, overlooking the city and the Alps behind it. We only had one day in Salzburg, so it was going to be some task deciding just what to do in a city packed with natural and architectural beauty, history, culture…and of course beer! A fantastic deal offered by the Salzburg tourist board is the Salzburg Card, which you pay for in advance and which gets you into just about any attraction in the city and onto all public transport.
A short stay in Austria was followed by countless mountain passes and breathtaking scenic drives through the Alps and Dolomites. One of the passes through the Alps is the Grossglockner, one of the best roads in Europe to drive on. You have to pay a small fee, but boy are the views worth it! At such an altitude, we were able to stand quite comfortably in the warm summer sun in shorts, T-shirt and flip-flops, and at the same time have a snowball fight! Our last night in Austria was spent in Tristach, nestled in the middle of the Dolomites. The lake, Tristachersee, was a beautiful natural swimming pool in which you could look up and see trees, mountains and sheer rock faces. It’s the strangest thing driving over the border from Austria to Italy. The towns are named twice- once in German and once in Italian. The houses are like typical Alpine villas- but slightly more dilapidated! Unfortunately the quality of the roads continued to get worse the further East we went…
Arriving in Fusina, in Venice, it became clear why we had wanted to come to this part of the world for so long. We pitched camp right on the edge of the Venetian Lagoon- an expanse of stunningly blue water separating the islands of Venice, with their packed-in buildings and countless church spires, from the mainland. After visiting Venice, I am now certain that the “tourist” areas, such as St. Mark’s Square, are exceedingly unpleasant in comparison with the parts of the city where there are far fewer tourists. It is only in these places that one can experience the real beauty that is historic Venice. I fell in love with its pure, untouched rows of quirky buildings, shutters keeping out the sun, and dusty wooden bridges crossing jade-coloured water. Not a postcard or gondola in sight! The streets there are cleaner, the restaurants surprisingly affordable, and there are no street stalls selling silly straw hats or cheap T-shirts.
The return journey from Italy, through the Italian lakes, Switzerland (where we experienced the coldest night of the trip, up in the mountains), Liechtenstein (which took all of half an hour to traverse the length off) and Germany (where we slept in a car park, barbecued in complete darkness and literally had to “batten down the hatches” in a freak storm) was eventful to say the least! Sally was having trouble starting, those of you who will have seen Little Miss Sunshine will you know exactly how difficult it is to push-start a campervan. Every time we wanted to set off, we’d all have to get out and push, praying that the engine would kick in. Now, I’m not sure whether inanimate objects can become homesick, but suffice to say, as soon as the ferry arrived in Hull, Sally’s engine started without any problems whatsoever, and went on to pass her MOT that year with flying colours.
Rebekah Horrigan
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