A few people have asked us
for a map of the route we took and some (hopefully useful!) basic facts and
figures that might help people planning a similar trip – so here you go. (Also,
some pics and information about the van.)
About the van
The van is a self-build
camper on a 2005 Iveco Daily 35c14, which has a 3 ltr diesel engine. It has
been uprated from 3.5 to 4.2 tonnes and runs at 4 tonnes when in travel mode.
It was designed to spend long periods away in and to be as self sufficient as possible,
so it has a large battery bank (450 amp hours) and solar array (380 watts); mains
hook up and charging for when we are on campsites; a 30 litre marine calorifier
for making hot water from the engine cooling system; a 5kw diesel heater for
making hot water and a separate heater matrix for central heating when parked
up in cold weather; 14kg of butane for cooking indoors; a portable two burner
hob and grill with two Campingaz 907 cylinders for outdoor cooking; 280 ltrs of
fresh water; a dedicated filter unit and tap for drinking water; indoor and
outdoor showers; 4 burner hob and oven; 111ltr fridge and 17ltr freezer; and
last but by no means least, a 21ltr chemical toilet!
(If you are interested in
building your own camper, see SBMCC who
were an invaluable source of advice and support whilst we built ours.)
A view from the cab via the kitchen to the permanent rear bed
The toilet and shower set up (not at the same time!)
The indoor seating area
The roof showing the solar panel set up and auxiliary
fan in the rear skylight
Data from the trip
Repairs/casualties on this trip: new hydraulic kit for the clutch in France; new
front brake discs and pads in Italy; a snapped stainless steel saddle strap for
the boiler (a weld failure, probably caused by Italian roads!); a snapped plastic lock
nut on the awning handle in Sicily (duff design); seized plastic window stays
on two of the four Seitz side windows (probably grit/salt and heat – a duff
design as the two metal ones were fine); unexpected de-frost of the fridge in
very high ambient temperatures of 35c+ (operator ignorance as I’d let it get
too iced up and then inadvertently activated a de-frost cycle!); failed seal on
the main water tank lid (poor quality seal/sealant by manufacturer); and a
broken wine glass (over enthusiastic washing up!).
Gas consumption was just over 7kg of butane, supplying indoor and outdoor cookers
only. The cookers were in daily use and we only ate out in the evening on four
occasions, as a large part of the fun of travelling for us is foraging for
local ingredients and cooking unfamiliar food! (See Mrs B’s entry on the food
in Italy.)
Campsites were
mainly ACSI off-season rates (although we did upgrade once on
Sicily for a better pitch by the beach!).
Ferry costs
are two single tickets as we didn’t know when we would return at the point we
left!
The map of our route:
Note that we didn’t stop at every single one of the
way-points on the map – I’ve added a few in so that the route more or less maps
the roads we took. Also, the distances it gives are between the points and not
the actual road mileage we clocked up, which we have given from the odometer in
the van.
Note also that the trip to and from Mt Etna couldn’t
be mapped by road with the software we’ve used, so you get a curved line
instead, and the single lines between Dieppe and Chartres in northern France,
and Cosenza and Reggio/Messina in southern Italy are because we took more or
less the same route each way!
(Fuel was ¾ tank on leaving
the UK and we filled at Dieppe.)
Total distance for trip Miles Kilometres
5135 8264
In France 2350 3782
In Italy+Sicily 2785 4482
Fuel (total costs) GBP Euros
£896 €1270
(in France) £403 €571
(in Italy+
Sicily) £493 €699
(average cost) £0.95 per litre €1.34
per litre
(in France) £0.84 €1.19
(in Italy+Sicily)) £1.05 €1.49
(average consumption) MPG Km per ltr
24.8 8.8
(in France) 22.6 7.9
(in Italy+Sicily)) 27.0 9.6
(fuel used) Gallons Litres
207 943
(in France) 104 476
(in Italy+Sicily) 103 467
Motorway tolls Miles/GBP Km/€
France 122/£19.03 196km/€26.90
(average cost) 16p
per mile 14cents
per km
Italy 509ml/£43.86 818km/€62
(average cost) .09p
per mile .07cents
per km
Length of trip 91
nights in total (all in the van)
(in France) 34
(in Italy,
mainland) 30
(in Sicily) 27
Nights on campsites Costs
GBP Euros
Aires and Sostas
(in France) 23 £303 €429
average per night £13.17 €18.65
(in Italy,
mainland) 25 £287 €406
average per
night £11.48 €16.26
(in Sicily) 25 £321 €454
average per
night £12.84 €18.19
Nights on paying 3 £2.12
+ £4.94x2 €3
+ €7 + €7
Aires in France (£12
total) (€17
total)
Nights on paying 2 £16.25,
£9.89 €23,
€14
Sostas in Italy (£26.14
total) (€37
total)
Free nights in 8
France
Free nights in 3
Italy (mainland)
Free nights in 2
Sicily
Ferry to Dieppe £119 €168
Ferry to Newhaven £106 €151
Longest single drive was 531 miles (855km) in 14 hours, Manfredonia in
Puglia (near Bari) to Fossano (north of Cuneo) in Piemonte, (near the Alps).
Highest drives were to the Rifugio Sapienza on Mt Etna at 1920m and crossing the Alps
at Colle della Maddalena at 1996m.
Background reading:
For anyone that likes a bit
of background reading before visiting a country, we found these four books were
a brilliant insight into Italy and the Italians, all from very different
perspectives. (Thanks to Caroline and Mark for the Leopard and Al Dente loans!)
The Leopard
by Guiseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
Al Dente
by William Black
The Dark Heart of Italy by
Tobias Jones
S & J
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