Sunday 5th May 2019
Today we packed up and left Camping Roma Capitol to travel further south to Camping Sant’Antonio in Vico Equense. This will be our base to visit some sites in the Naples area. The campsite is a €20 a night Camping Card site. It has mixed reviews but is just across the road from the Marina Di Equa, a picturesque little port with numerous bars & restaurants, including a 2 star Michelin one.
We thought we could be comfortable in such a place 🙂
Towing Kilometres – Today: 269 Cumulative: 30,918
The drive today seemed, on paper, to be a straightforward haul of 270km on mostly Autostrada but neither of us was looking forward to it. Driving in Italy is a nightmare especially in towns. Stop signs, give way signs, keep right signs, traffic lights, all seem to be there purely to decorate the town. No notice whatsoever is given to any of them. This has caused us, more than once, to have to action 3.6 tonne emergency stops with caravan in tow, and on one occasion a swerve to avoid a car that jumped the give way line, and promptly stopped dead in front of us.
The journey progressed well until we had to leave the Autostrada. Google maps guided us into town and the road surface was almost as bad as the driving standards. The road we required was closed and we seemed to be doing loops around town on smaller and rougher roads while trying to find the way out. The roads were rammed and weather deteriorating. Our nerves were in tatters and stress levels rising. Then, with Google Maps guided assistance, a monumental brain fart by the driver caused us a major problem;
The self inflicted problem was then compounded by maybe 50 cars stuck behind us all showing the well known Italian driver patience. Horns blowing, arms waving, the lot. I have to admit for a moment I had no idea what to do next 🙂
As luck would have it, a steep slip road lay to the left of the caravan and so we unhitched it and the motor mover managed to drive the van up the slope with a little push from us. Kim then reversed the car up said slope to allow the car drivers to go about their business 🙂
Now what? 🙂 We waited for a lapse in the traffic, Kim turned the car and drove back to the first junction. I motored and turned the van back the way we had came and bedlam erupted again with yet more cars and scooters. No-one thought to assist as Kim & I walked the caravan, (faster then the motor mover), back to the hitch. I was extremely stressed by now.
At this point a couple of policemen appeared on the scene! I considered calmly holding out my arms for the handcuffs to go on, but there was no need!
Despite them speaking about as much English as we do Italian, (not much call for “due birre per favore” in this situation), they couldn’t have been more pleasant or helpful. They quickly instructed cars to reverse out of our way, then gave us a police escort back the way we had come 🙂 It was only at this point we could both laugh at what had gone on for the last 45 minutes or so 🙂
Back on the ‘main’ road we came up behind a German registered coach who we hopefully surmised could only be heading for Sorrento, the direction we needed, so we tagged along until he led us back to the correct road.
An hour later than expected we arrived at Camping Sant’Antonio. To get to the site involves a descent down a windy, hairpin bended, road and then a sharp turn through an archway. It was with much relief that we turned off the engine.
We were met by the owner who showed us where to set up. The pitches are not marked as such and he positions you depending on the size of your equipment, eh,em, and satellite TV access as the site is strewn with citrus trees and has the town towering high above.
The site is a little ramshackle, the facilities are a little dated but very clean, and there are a couple of eyesore campers, but it FEELS good to be here. The owner and his family couldn’t be more friendly or helpful, nothing appears to be too much trouble.
The jewel in the crown for me is the Marina Di Equa over the road 🙂
