Friday 2 June 2017

Treporti to Sartirani - 194 miles

Early start to another hot one and having got most things sorted last night it didn't take long for us to get under way after a little bit of shopping for bread etc. Today is actually National Day in Italy and is a public holiday; we were fully aware of this and thought it might be a better today to travel. Well.....

Needing to refuel we stopped at the first garage that had diesel for less than €1.32, 'cos that's the best price we saw on our way in. Fuel is quite expensive in Italy, on a par with the UK and, especially on the autostrada, often more expensive. Once clear of Jesolo, we found our road quiet and fast, but not so in the other direction! The queue was back as far as the autostrada – over 40km! Talk about Bank Holiday Monday on the M5! Our hearts went out to the poor service bus driver caught in it; we reckon it would take him at least 2 hours to get to his destination.

But luckily everything was okay heading west so we settled into a nice steady cruise with the aircon going and enjoying the scenery. Continental motorways are so much more interesting than the UK. We noticed more queues eastbound at the exits to major places – it seemed that all Italy was on the road, determined to enjoy their long weekend.

Stopped just after mid-day (early start) to give Jamie a run and also have a bite of lunch. All the service areas were full of trucks, obviously not allowed to operate on public holidays, but we squeezed in for an hour. Still absolutely red hot, we carried on with Como in mind as a destination. However we realised that it, too, would probably be heaving so mid-afternoon we started looking for an out-of-the-way sosta and almost immediately found one at Sartirana, a quiet little village about 30km short of Como. TomTom seemed to be a little uncertain at first, once trying to direct us up a farm track, but eventually settled down and led us there.

A six-van parking area, adjacent to what appears to be a small park, there was nobody else there, although it was probably a bit early (writing this at 5.00pm so there could be more later). Got ourselves into a shady corner, found the electricity hookup and, joy of joys, it was man enough to allow us to use our habitation air-conditioning. Typical, after 2 weeks of campsites, it's a sosta with proper hookup.

We'll probably have a walk later when it cools down, there seems to be a lake a little way down the lane. This is quite acceptable for a one night stay en route to Switzerland where we'll carry on to tomorrow.

Where We Stayed

Marked sosta at via Papa Giovanni Paolo1, Sartirana, Merate. N45º42'47.729” E9º25'7.133”

6 place sosta on hardstanding with water, waste & toilet disposal and electric hookup (16amp)

€15 (coins) for 24 hrs. Max 72 hr stay.