2,218 miles later...

Another excellent road-trip across Europe is now complete. Whilst I didn't do as much talking as last time, I didn't have to listen to so much whinging either - swings and roundabouts I suppose. ;-)

I'll get some photos posted to http://picasaweb.google.com/idxxphotos.

Until next time...

Returning to England

The journey through Germany's secret hinterland, filled with towns you've never heard of with the biggest factories you're ever likely to see, whizzed past as you might expect on an empty speed limit free Autobahn. I made it to Luxembourg before midnight and crashed at a thankfully warm motel for only €20.

This morning's fog made the busier traffic at Brussels more interesting but I still made good time to Calais. Catching an earlier ferry takes away the time pressure for the final leg of the journey.

Appropriately enough, as the Pride of Dover carried me to France on Tuesday, the Pride of Calais is bringing me home. The captain promises we're leaving the weather behind us on the Continent and England should be clear.

Please don't misunderstand me

The Brenner Pass was spectacular as expected and I got there just in time before it got dark. The trip from Innsbruck has been exciting too with the Fernpass being the highlight - true to its name it's tree-lined and very pretty under its deep blanket of snow.

Anyway, to the purpose of this post. I'm currently resting after Wank (here near Nesselwang in Bavaria) and have just spent my wad on a sandwich and a coffee. Ho, ho, ho, juvenile humour at its best I'm sure you will agree. :-P

Heading for the hills

The 13th is lucky for me. Got a full tank of fuel and I've even managed to figure out how to switch my dashboard into kilometers. Not getting shot or killed by the locals was a real bonus(!).

Now I'm heading on to Verona where I'll be turning north for the run up to the mountains and Brennero.

Waiting in Brescia

With only 80km of fuel left and having driven past countless service stations that have all run out of fuel I have now found one near Brescia that is expecting a delivery. There's a very happy chap called (something like) Tinsoni who with his four words of English once visited Leeds and now feels like he is "my brother". He's brought me coffee and bread and moved my car up to the front of the queue - no one seemed to complain, I suspect he's the "big man" around here. I'm quite scared! :-)

In the meantime, an update from Yesterday. Venice was beautiful with a quite surreal atmosphere. At times it felt like we were in a huge themepark. And it was cold, especially on the water. We resisted the urge to take a Gondola trip as that would have been even colder. There's so much to see that in the end six hours was just not enough.

The trains and metro all worked well and we made it back to San Donato for 20:30, then to dinner with Dany. She took us to a truly fantastic Sicilian restaurant with some great fish dishes. The meal was great value too but for the €74 parking fine that Dany picked up.

A leisurely start this morning, a little bit of shopping and lunch. Then it was time for me to say farewell. Dany and Nobuko are hitting the fashion shops this afternoon and I'm hoping to make it over the Brenner Pass to Innsbruck before it gets dark.

Italian fuel strike!

I've just been reminded of a little problem that Dany failed to mention to me before I arrived in Italy. Every petrol station we've seen has been beseiged with customers trying to fit just a few more drops into their tanks and apparently now 8 out of 10 stations have no fuel at all. The queues are just crazy and do little to help a city already paralysed by too many cars. All very reminiscent of the UK protests a couple of years ago that were rumoured to be repeated this week.

I think I have 145 miles of diesel left which will hopefully get me far enough into Austria to find supplies. Otherwise it's going to be a long walk home. (Perhaps the BBC will send Ewan and Charlie's crew so we can make the third episode in the "Long Way" series.)

Trenitalia to Venice

Having escaped the morning mist and morning traffic(!) of Milano, we're now on the fastest train we could find to take us to Venice for the day. Out of the window we've got the fantastic vista of Lake Garda and the mountains on a clear day - picture postcard stuff.

My drive down yesterday went well in the end, despite the A1 being closed overnight and a late ferry crossing due to heavy seas. I decided to try the German Autobahns and this time they lived up to expectations. However, speed was tempered a fair bit by the rain from Koblenz to the Switzerland. As soon as I got to Basle everything got much colder and the driving snow as I headed up to the Gotthard tunnel was very exciting. Once on the other side everything was much drier. Tomtom had a laugh guiding me through the city centre to Dany's home in San Donato to meet with Frank and Nobuko. We then ate and drank the local fare before collapsing in preparation of an early start today.

A brief update on Nobuko's visits so far. After arriving on Saturday she's done: Lake Como with Dany on Sunday, Florence on her own (!) on Monday, Verona with Frank yesterday and Venice today with me. Tomorrow she's off to Madrid (flying via Roma) to see Javier before flying home again the following Monday.

The Nobuko reprise

As we all know Nobuko failed to make it to the party in Tuscany. But it would seem rather than not coming at all she is just running a little bit late(!). She arrived in Milan on Sunday and Frank's going to join her probably around about now.

I'm just about to set off and will hopefully meet up with the party in Verona sometime tomorrow lunchtime to early afternoon. We're then going to take in some of the sights of Northern Italy before Nobuko heads off to Spain to see Javier on her way back to her frozen home.

Updates for families and friends along with some photos will be posted as we go along.