2018-03-22 Northern Italy and Southern France Vif to San Germane Chisone

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Vif to San Germane Chisone crossing the Alps

Northern Italy and Southern France by Hymer Motorhome

Vif, France to San Germane Chisone, Italy crossing the Alps

Crystal clear views all around us giving fantastic mountain vistas, -5°C outside. Xavier and the family have already left for work but given us a key so we can use the house. After breakfast we took a few photos and then set off to climb through the Alps and into Italy, an exciting day in prospect. We stopped off at a filling station to top up our LPG (gas) tanks but I could not get the pump to work, despite several attempts. Gill suggested the price was high although I’m not sure how that affected the pump.

There are few stopping places on the ascent through the Alps, we eventually found a small parking area where we stopped and enjoyed 17°C outside, had lunch and pressed on. Conditions were very variable, in general the road surfaces were clear of snow and ice with snow banks at the side where snow blowers had been used to clear the heavy snowfalls. Careful driving was very important on the narrow roads. We stopped and filled up with LPG, adding 12L to our tanks. That means we have used about 3L per day; our normal consumption is around 1L each day for cooking and water heating. When the Hymer’s central heating is on that pushes up our gas consumption, especially when there is a cold night.

We arrived in the small town of San Germane Chisone around 1730, finding the aire at a sports centre near the town centre. We called in the office to pay the €8 overnight charge then made our way onto the site. A really good aire. We were most likely the first motorhome on the aire that season because the water was not turned on, so I walked back to the office where nobody spoke any language except Italian, however, we got the message through with Spanish, French and hand gestures, an interesting experience. The staff were really helpful, not long after a man arrived and switched on the electricity so we could hook up to the power. We are told that another man will come tomorrow to turn on the water. That did happen.

Our Hymer motorhome trip to Northern Italy and Southern France

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Summary of motorhome journey Calais to Reims, Northern France