Retirement beckons and I’m moving away. I’ll be moving stuff in a van to the very south of Europe and will be taking around a month to drive back, dossing in the van as I go. I’ve got about a week’s worth of plans for Italy. Planning a visit to the Great Hadron Collider and was just looking at Château d’Angers in the Loire Valley and likely to end up at Bayeaux to see the tapestry so mostly will be France (although keen to avoid 40 Euro each way in the Mont Blanc tunnel, especially as I’ll have the 40Euro season ticket for the Swiss motorways). I like castles, big churches and mountainous scenery
What does the STW massive rank as the must-sees on a trip like this? Cheers

Castles and mountains while heading from Italy to France? Fenestrelle.
Still can’t quite get my head around it, the pictures don’t really do it justice.
I was there after closing time mind so went up the hill on the outside of it, just kept going and going and going.
Also turns out to be less impregnable if one of the moats isn’t full, the bridge over it is down and there isn’t an army shooting at you.

The Cathar castles of the Languedoc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathar_castles

and while youre there take in the Aude / Pyrenees
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aude

Travelling alone, or with someone?

If the latter, make sure you plan on leaving together.

Drive through the clouds over the millau viaduct , highest bridge in the world , north of montpellier

How about up from Italy to Innsbruck, then up to Neuschwanstein Castle, through the Black Forest, then head to France?

Are you planning on going up the Stelvio Pass? From what I have seen of it on TV, it is amazing.

Bayeux – the cartoon carpet is worth a visit if only to say that you have seen it. The town is nice enough and convenient if you are going back via Caen.

You can see the replica in Reading rather than Bayeaux.

Carcassonne is worth a visit. You can shout that immortal line “I shall disembowel him with a blunt spoon”.

Second the Millau Viaduct. Worth the trip alone if you aren’t scared of heights. Visitors centre is the service station on the north side.

That road is a better trip through France than the A10. But I’d you are near Toulouse I’d also recommend the Airbus factory tour and new aviation museum at the Blagnac airport.

If you get to Bayeux, you’re not far from Mont St Michele, (you might want to spell it right in your sat-nav to find it). Also D day beaches and stuff.

Timmelsjoch High Alpine Road from Italy to Austria (Obergurgl) is incredible.

ok so Bologna-Stelvio Pass-CERN-Millau Viaduct looks like an awesome couple of days and shouldn’t too hard to work something out from there

Cheers M’dears

oh oh, I just looked at the Timmelsjoch, looks like a bit of a diversion is called for – thanks for that lunge

I did a tour of the Loire Chateaux 40 years ago which started in Angers, where my sister studied, and the one in Angers is not the first that comes to mind – Chambord, Chinon, Amboise, Chenonceau, Blois and Azay le Rideau spring to my mind for various reasons before it – so I would look at the guides and go and see the ones that float your boat – good variety of wine in the area too.

Drive through the clouds over the millau viaduct , highest bridge in the world , north of montpellier

While you’re in the area visit the Roquefort cheese caves. Millau (the town) is quite a nice place for lunch btw.

#bookmarked

I live in Millau, if you stop give me a shout. I can show you how to get inside the P1 of the viaduc.

And others things to do in the area.

If you’re going over the Timmeljosch don’t forget this: https://www.timmelsjoch.com/en/motorcycle-museum/

Carcassonne is worth a visit.

Bears repeating. If you’re going that way from Italy, via the Midi…

Some stuff to look at –

Drive through the Cevennes, through the national park area north along the D908 as you head over from Italy via Montpellier (stopping off at Lac du Salagou).

Abbaye de Valmagne make really nice wine.

Aigues-Mortes is a nice walled city the far side of Montpellier in the Carmargues region.

Nimes has a colusseum. Pont du Gard is just up the road. At that point I run out of Midi region knowledge.

Loads of circular fortified villages in that Midi.

In laws used (sadly) to have a small place that way, bought for about 5p in the early 90s, which they then did up, sold, and had to pay the France property tax and basically made nothing on it.

To go with Stoner’s Cathar castles, the Bastide villages of midi Central. Beware, “La France Profonde” usually means shut at lunchtime in the more out of the way places.

Timmelsjoch is a bit of a shit in a van when you’ve got traffic coming against you. Oh, and it costs, but you get a free sticker.

(I used to work ferrying luggage around the alps and used the pad every other week in summer.)

Your route seemed very spread with lots of detours….