Pisa

good pitches at Lago le Tamerici..

We didn’t visit Pisa last year and had decided that we would this year, it being right on our route along the coast.  We are by now wary of expecting to find anywhere to park our “bus” in large touristy towns, so camped for the night on an Agriturismo campsite at Coltano, about 10kms from Pisa, with the intention of catching a bus the next morning.  Our plans were thwarted though when the owner told us the bus stop was 2kms away and she ran a shuttle up there for the 11.30 a.m. bus!  However, she did also tell us that there was a big coach park on the edge of town, where campervans could park.

and at Pisa!

We found that we could not only park at the coach park, but camp overnight too, so were then fixed up for another night.  We’re so pleased we went, we think it’s an amazing place.  Apologies for the photo below but, of course, I had to take one of John holding up the tower!

needs a push!

We’d noticed another English registered ‘van, (a very rare sight!), was also parked so we went over to say hello and found a New Zealand family who had flown to England at the beginning of April and are now spending 6 months travelling around Europe, east to Turkey and north to Denmark.  Our trip is a mere weekend away compared with the miles they will have clocked up by the time they and their ‘van get back to England at the end of September!  The day turned into a long, twisting ride up and around several hairpin bends, as we chose to take the scenic main road, rather than the autostrada today.  We planned to use a camperstop but, tired from the journey, followed the inviting signs to a campsite at Chiavara.  We were horrified to learn that they were not only charging €30 per night for a pitch about 2feet wider than the ‘van, but they wanted €2 each on top for hot showers.  We stayed because there wasn’t a nearby alternative but, needless to say, we used our own shower!