A voyage but not by sea
Planning a long road trip and passage planning for a sea voyage have things in common. You choose your start and finish points. You look at alternative routes. You plan where you will rest and when you will eat. You take notice of the weather conditions. You choose a date that is convenient and doesn’t have any superstitious connotations.
We needed to get from Burnham to Aegina. The most obvious way is to fly to Athens then get the ferry from Piraeus to the island. This time though we had a lot of baggage and after much consideration we realised that it would involve too many suitcases to be convenient on a flight, so we would probably need to drive there.
Much poring over maps ensued. What was the optimum route? Through the Balkans? Over 30 hours of solid driving, 2000 miles or so. Advantages: all road so we have the option to stop and look at places we may not otherwise visit. Disadvantages: 30+ hours driving, the latter part through countries we’ve only ever seen on the news in connection with bad things.
Other option: drive to Italy and catch a ferry to the Greek mainland. Advantages: only about 20 hours drive through Europe, about 2,000 km (not miles, so almost half the distance) then another 4-5 hours when we reach Greece, so quicker and more importantly, a known quantity. Disadvantages: we’ve travelled on the ferry lines serving this route and the ships were dirty, scruffy and expensive, particularly for a cabin for an overnight crossing. I’m too much of a snowflake to sleep on couchettes or the floor these days so was there another possibility?
Research showed that the shortest crossing, from Brindisi, was ‘only’ 10 hours and could be done in the daytime. This was the option we chose.
So, our passage plan: Leave Dover on the 11.15 crossing to Calais on Tuesday, drive 4 hours to a hotel in Troyes, then next day head south for 6 hours to northern Italy, two further days driving through Italy then catch the ferry from Brindisi on Saturday. I suppose I could have driven a couple of hours more every day and reached Brindisi on Thursday but that would mean we crossed the Adriatic on Friday 13th and I didn’t want to do that (superstition!). Plus, even six hours of motorway driving is a lot and it’s very important to be alert and focused on the fast and busy continental roads. Plus, we wanted to be able to stop and look around on the way.
As to hotels, such a long distance has many possible routes and the best one can vary from day to day. We booked our first night’s hotel (Troyes Est, south east of Paris) and our last night (Igoumenitsa, near the port), so that we could just drive off the ferry and rest. I knew where our journey would begin and end, but the intervening stops would be decided along the way.
Great plan, yeah? And you know what? It worked!
First day: 10th September 2024 Burnham to Troyes Est
Woke early, checked the likely traffic along our route, relatively clear so left the house at the civilised time of around 7.45am. Catching a really early ferry is all very well but if I don’t have enough sleep I get very tired and that’s not how I like to be.
By 10.00am were at the Marks and Spencer in Dover buying nice things for lunch on the ferry.
Check in was quick despite a random cursory search by Customs. A couple of hours later we were in Calais.
The port itself is surrounded by barbed wire fences to prevent illegal migration. As we drove away I overtook a car transport lorry. A young, skinny, bedraggled young man was clinging onto one of the vehicles at the back, the alarm shrieking. How dangerous was that? Whatever was he thinking? The lorry wasn’t even heading towards the UK. It’s horrible that people can be so desperate they put their lives at risk.
Thankfully the rest of the drive was uneventful, just a brief stop for an espresso to perk me up after a couple of hours.
By 7.00pm we were in Troyes. The hotel, an Ibis Budget, was basic but adequate. We had a wander round the shopping complex nearby. There was a fantastic shop called Culture, like Hobbycraft but bigger and not boring. Books, musical instruments, all sorts of things.
We checked out a couple of restaurants but they were overpriced burger bars. Made do with a Burger King which was actually pretty good. Vive la cuisine française!!
Second day: 11th September 2024 Troyes to northern Italy
We’d decided against a hotel breakfast and grabbed a bite to eat at a nearby Leclerc supermarket, but sadly no coffee, then drove an hour or so to a service station where I could power up. I felt the caffeine reviving me with every sip. Then we were off again.
Google maps showed us three routes to Italy. Normally the Mont Blanc Tunnel provides a fourth but it’s closed for repairs at the moment. Two routes passed through Switzerland, a more southerly route went straight from France to Italy via Lyon. Google Maps showed this as being the fastest route plus if we chose this one we wouldn’t need to buy a motorway vignette for Switzerland. This costs 44 euros and is valid for a year, but the year runs January-January so we actually will only get a few months’ worth of potential usage. We decided that we would take the route avoiding Switzerland.
The motorway was busy and it was raining. Lots of spray, very poor visibility.
I followed the satnav and the road signs. After a while Igor pointed out that we were on the road to Lausanne. The satnav must have rerouted. Never mind, we were off the motorway and on a slower countryside route. Lots of trees and greenery, much more relaxing than avoiding lorries pulling out at random without indicating.
We stopped not far from the Swiss border to buy our vignette. No formalities, just pay and they give you a sticker. This will cover us for our return journey so comparable in price to the cost of French toll roads.
The border crossing was quick. A van in front of us was searched but we were just waved through. Must look respectable.
It was still rainy but despite this the scenery was stunning, green, lush hills and mountains. We headed towards Montreux on Lake Geneva. Why? Have you ever listened to the lyrics of ‘Smoke on the Water’ by Deep Purple? Igor wanted to see the casino that burnt down there, inspiring the song.
We parked in the casino's underground car park and walked to the lake on which it stands.
The casino itself has a huge poster commemorating the founder of the Montreux Jazz festival on the wall facing the lake. In front of it is a bust of the sound engineer, David Richards. This resonated with me, so often the techie guys who make it all work are overlooked. I’ll have to suggest to my brother that he makes busts of Fil and Darren. He can have a 10 foot high poster of himself as the founder of the Mill Hill Music Festival, the guys can double as bollards in the car park.
There is a path around the lake with flower beds, beautiful even in the rain. Everywhere is clean and tidy, not a scrap of litter.
A hummingbird hawk moth was feeding from a salvia bush. I’ve never seen one in action before. When they are still they are as big as my hand, a thick body and pinkish wings. In flight you can’t even see the wings, they move so rapidly. It’s just like a small finger with antennae and a big proboscis hovering above and skipping from bloom to bloom, I was fascinated, it really did look like a graceful hummingbird not a big ungainly moth.
After this lovely break it was back to the road for today's final couple of hours driving. The route was picturesque, like driving through a series of postcards.
The Swiss/Italian border was as straightforward as the French/Swiss and once through the border there was a toll to pay, then a series of tunnels to take us under and through the mountains. It was just as pretty on the Italian side of the border and the weather seemed to have improved.
By now we were thinking about where to stay tonight. We pulled into a service area, possibly the grimmest one I’ve ever seen, all grey concrete, in the shade, damp, utilitarian.
We checked hotels. Igor wanted to drive to Aosta, about another hour or so. I wanted to get somewhere quicker than that and found a reasonable hotel sited literally by the main road, Locanda La Clusaz.
We drove through a very beautiful small town, all chalets and flowers, then down the road a short distance to our destination. It stood alone, no other buildings nearby, just the road, slopes and a green mountain in the distance. We were shown to our room, no room number just a sign outside saying ‘Bouquet’. The walls had flowered wallpaper, the ceiling was stencilled with flowers and so was the headboard. The window looked across the valley. Apart from the occasional passing car it was very quiet. I checked the bathroom – the shower cubicle had a built in sauna! Gosh, we did get a bargain.
The hotel's isolated position on the main road meant there was nowhere for us to go for a walk or any other choice of restaurant but the in house option. I checked the menu, it sounded like good solid rib sticking food. When we were shown to our table we realised we’d maybe misjudged.
The wine menu was forty pages long. The waiting staff brought (free) home made bread and local sausages for us to try. The main course was small but perfect. We were given tiny delicious bits of desserts.
It was wonderful. A bit of a change from Burger King.
Day 3: 12th September 2024 Northern Italy to Misano Adriatico
We didn’t have breakfast in the morning, just a coffee from the Nespresso machine on the landing by our room.
Before setting off driving we had a little walk through the hotel gardens, tiny but so pretty.
It was a beautiful, crisp, sunny autumnal morning. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, there was a nip of chill in the air, perfect. We set off, admiring the stunning scenery.
Our usual routine followed, a stop at a service station for fuel and a bite to eat after a couple of hours. By now the weather had deteriorated, heavy rain and spray on the road again.
We stopped in Modena for lunch, parking in an underground car park in the centre. They had a display of ancient urns that were discovered when the building was excavated.
In the central square an outdoor stage was being built for the town’s Festival of Philosophy.
We went to a café, a big place with a brick vaulted ceiling, and ordered what looked like a sandwich. When the waitress brought it to us the pastry had puffed up to an impressive balloon of a cushion, the filling was Parma ham. What a great surprise, the holiday dream of eating novel stuff in a place very different to home.
We took the opportunity to book our hotel for the night, in a small town just south of Rimini called Misano Adriatico. There was a lot of traffic along the route, maybe it was rush hour. When we arrived at the Hotel Villa Rosa the place had a definite off season vibe. All the parasols along the sea front were tied closed against the wind and rain. The sky was dull.
A group of pensioners were gathered outside the hotel, grey haired with sticks and walking frames in evidence. A wheelchair was in the lobby looking as if it always stood there. I told myself that old people have a nose for the best bargains. I think they may have been there on an all inclusive deal.
Like the guests, the room wasn’t in it’s first flush of youth but it was perfectly OK, if basic. We could see our car from the window but were told we couldn’t park there so had to move it a couple of streets away.
Once it was in a legal spot we found one of the few open restaurants. They had a display of cooked food which they heated in a microwave. It wasn’t bad and it was pretty cheap. I was still hungry after my lasagne (Igor had a salmon dish) so ordered some salsiccia with roasted vegetables as a ‘dessert’, very nice. We had change from 40 euros, not bad considering we had a couple of big bottles of beer with it.
Full of a sense of wellbeing we headed back to the hotel, stopping at a corner shop to buy a bottle of water. Like many similar places they had a display of alcoholic drinks, but the bottles weren’t like any I’ve seen before. The wine on the top shelf had pictures of Hitler, Nazi insignias and similar. The lower shelf was penis shaped flagons of liqueur. Didn’t buy any of them.
Day 4: Friday 13th September 2024 Misano Adriatico to Brindisi
Today we had breakfast in the hotel but first we went for a run. The weather was overcast and gloomy, the crashing grey waves a testament to the strong wind overnight which was still blowing. It was good to stretch my legs after so much time in the car.
It was windy and rainy but who cares - especially as my running app mistakenly told me I'd run 5k at an all time personal best pace (I actually only ran 3k lol).
The hotel provided a decent selection of food, especially if you like sweet things, though the coffee wasn’t very strong. Maybe they were protecting their older guests’ hearts. We hit the road at around 10am.
We headed to a garage for fuel but the road was being excavated so had to make a detour. Once fuelled up, we drove for a couple of hours, stopped for coffee, then set off again. I wanted to visit Foggia, a place my Dad had mentioned a lot from his time in the RAAF. We arrived around 2pm. Not a distinguished place at all, no atmosphere.
The parking machine wasn’t working properly so we were only able to stay for 40 minutes using a couple of 20 Euro cent coins I found in my handbag.
We walked to the centre of town. There was a church with the doors closed. Opposite was an Americana/rock and roll themed café so we went in and ordered some food.
What was served wasn’t what I expected, I thought I’d ordered bruschetta but they gave us a platter of roast and marinated aubergines, courgettes and carrot with some bread to mop the juices up. Might not have been bruschetta but it was delicious.
Once we’d eaten we only had 8 minutes of parking left so ran back to the car, arriving with time to spare. We got back on the motorway but it seemed like the speed limit was only 50 km/hour for most of the way. You wouldn’t think so to see how fast everyone was driving.
It turns out that Foggia was heavily bombed by the Allies, even after the Italians ceded to them, because there were so many German troops around. Just as well I didn’t mention my Dad was a bomber pilot. Over 20,000 civilians were killed. Terrible.
We reached the Ibis Styles in Brindisi around 6.30 pm, then went out to look for some dinner. We walked for half an hour without seeing anywhere we could sit and eat and in the end bought pizza from a pizzeria very close to the hotel, plus a couple of beers from the supermarket next door. Bliss, it was perfect, and not far to stagger home.
I really like Italy.
Day 5: 14th September 2025 Brindisi to Igoumenitsa
Given that our previous experience of the food on Italian ferries was of sky high prices and rock bottom quality, we headed to a supermarket after breakfast to get provisions for the journey. Next step was to fill the car with petrol and get to the ferry port for 11am. Once there we checked in and after a short wait were ushered onto the ferry.
Most of the traffic was freight, lines and lines of lorries.
We briefly explored the ship and found a booth in the restaurant where we could sit. There was a big window so we could watch the sights as we travelled. The restaurant soon filled with truckers. The food looked a lot better than I remembered.
We were a little late setting off but finally the ferry started moving out of the harbour. The sea was lively but we didn’t feel it. Time passed. The Italian coast was to our right and soon the Albanian coast came into view on our left. The Italian coast receded and the Albanian coast grew.
We dozed, snacked, read, wandered about the ship. As night fell a young woman sang to a backing track in the bar area. The lights of the coast to our left got brighter.
Around 10.30 we were told to return to our cars. We then waited and waited and waited on the hot and humid vehicle deck while the freight traffic on the decks below disembarked.
Unlike the roro ferries serving the UK, where you drive on at one end and drive off at the other, there was only one exit on this boat. I had to reverse down a long, narrow ramp from the deck where I was parked until I could turn at the bottom. The only positive thing to say about this is that it was easier than when I did the same thing in my camper van. It took us nearly 2 hours to leave the ship. Luckily the hotel was very near.
When we got to our room there was this aspirational quote stencilled on the wall above the bed:
Yep, if you didn’t wake up you’d probably be dead so they’ve got a point.
Day 5: 15th September 2024 Igoumenitsa to Aegina
The final day of our journey. I was very excited to see Val and Tim and Charlie and almost as excited to be near the end of the drive.
After a couple of hours on the road we detoured to a tiny island called Aitoliko, which is connected to the mainland by a short bridge at either side.
The water was blue, picturesque boats bobbed, we had a coffee and carried on. The weather had definitely improved since crossing the Adriatic, it was now warm and sunny.
Local roads out of Aitoliko eventually led to a toll booth heading towards the Rio-Antirrio Bridge across to Patras. We sailed under here in June. The signs to the tolls revealed it also has another name, Charilaos Trikoupis.
The Greeks have an annoying system for paying tolls. In France you take a ticket when you enter the toll route, then when you leave it you put the ticket in a machine and it tells you how much to pay. The Greek roads seem to have toll booths at every entrance to the road, so you are constantly stopping to pay three euros or so to carry on. The time it takes to queue for the booths brings your overall speed down considerably which, to my mind, makes no sense at all if you’re paying for the privilege of being on a fast route.
As we neared the bridge we toyed with the idea of taking the ferry instead of it. The plus points were that the ferry was cheaper and we haven’t done it before. The minus was that the ferry only goes every half hour and is a lot slower. As we were keen to reach Aegina as early as we could we opted for the bridge. The toll was about 14 euros. It’s a lovely bridge with spectacular views. I had no problem keeping to the speed limit so I could have a good look around.
We’d checked the timings of ferries to Aegina and it looked as if we might manage to catch the 4.15pm crossing. If we missed it we’d have to wait until after 5pm for the next one so I put my foot down. We arrived at the port with time to spare, only to be told the ferry was delayed due to bad weather.
Never mind, we hadn’t had lunch yet so bought ourselves spinach pies from a patisserie opposite the bus stop for the airport bus. Oh, it was so good, maybe because I hadn’t eaten since breakfast.
Eventually the ferry arrived and we crossed the short distance to Aegina. It was pretty choppy, the saloon lounge was at the level of the waves and it was quite exciting watching them.
As we were ploughing through the waves we saw a strange looking ship. It was the sail powered cruise ship we'd seen in the south of France! She gets around! As we watched she unfurled her four sails, what a sight!
We reached Aegina where a huge crowd was waiting at the dockside – not for us, it was all the tourists heading back to Athens after the weekend.
From here it’s a short drive to Val and Tim’s, where she’d prepared a wonderful spread for dinner.
All our planning has led us here. Despite five days on the road we still feel human, there was minimal stress, you can’t ask much more than that, can you?
It's just so great to be here.
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