In the 1700’s, the Grand Tour was chance for wealthy, well to do, young gentlemen to travel through France, Germany, Switzerland or Austria to Italy. A chance to learn about renaissance art and architecture on a voyage of self discovery.

This September, some 300 years later, we’re embarking on our own version of the Grand Tour.

Our friendly and familiar jumping off point in Canterbury felt a little different this time. The parking area was packed. Both nights. In between it emptied then filled up again.

It seems that others may have had the same good idea about leaving in late August for their own Grand Tour.

As usual Sally had booked our tunnel crossing and as usual I’d been super enthusiastic about an early ‘adventure’ start. As usual, when the alarm went off at 05:00, I was feeling slightly less thrilled but a strong cup of coffee later and we were on the road.

After a smooth crossing, we were back to the butter smooth roads of France. This time we’d agreed that we would use the toll road network as we were keen to get to Italy and not lose too many of our 90 days in transit.

The first nights stop is past Reims to Philippe Hautem champagne where we arrive at a busy vineyard as the village is gearing up to start the annual harvest over the next couple of weeks. Knowing they were likely to be busy, we’d emailed them to check it was ok to come and I’m glad we did because it seems they get pretty busy nowadays. Shortly after we arrived, we were joined by another Brit van that was out today and that’s it…. no more room at the inn.

Over a fun filled tasting, we find out that this years grapes are looking very good and we share travel plans with our neighbours, picking up a super helpful recommendation for our visit to Venice.

Next morning as we’re getting ourselves sorted for departure, we notice another electrical gremlin has appeared. We no longer seem to be charging the habitation batteries from the engine when we drive. With no immediate or obvious reason, this is one we’ll have to get into when we’re standing somewhere for a few days. Thankfully the sunny weather means this shouldn’t be a problem.

Before we reach Austria, we have an important stop to make. As we weigh more than 3.5T, we need to rent a GoBox which will allow us to pay tolls on the Austrian motorway system. We learnt what to do (and what not to do) from the Gap Decaders, thanks Phil and Izzy.

Our first attempt to get one is in Germany, we were met by a slightly rude service station attendant who tells us the machine is broken and we can’t get one here. Sally asks where the next place is and will we be able to travel but is met with a non committal shrug. Thanks buddy.

We journey on. Into Austria.

The winding A7 takes us up and then quite steeply down into central Austria. Remarkably, we drive straight past Neuschwanstein Castle which is silly as it’s one THE castles to see. Still, next time.

By the time we reach the GoBox service station it’s really hot in the van and we all need to take a well earned break for lunch. Thankfully the much more helpful Austrian folks issue us our new toy and give us the warning – one beep all good, two beeps you only have €30 left so need to add money three beeps and you are in trouble you need to find a GoBox place immediately!

The first time it beeps it makes us jump.

And the second time.

We used toll guru to approximate how much we would need to pay on the GoBox. Toll guru said we would need about €75 so we loaded the GoBox with that and hoped it would be enough! We found ourselves counting the beeps and not being able to know how much we had spent was more than a little taxing!

After lunch it’s an easier drive down the valley to a little campsite in Hall in Tyrol, just outside Innsbruck.

Clean Air Zones in Europe

Unsurprisingly, there are an increasing number of clean air zones and requirements appearing across Europe as they are in the UK. What was surprising to us is that there is no European standard and it appears that every country does what it wants. For France and Germany we apply for ‘Crit Air’ and ‘Umweltplakette’ stickers respectively which now have pride of place in Beatrix’s windscreen. In Austria we don’t need a sticker but we will need to rent a GoBox as we’re over 3.5T to pay for Toll Roads. Italy doesn’t seem to have come up with a national standard so each region has their own approach!

Fingers crossed for us, we’ll just need our V5 Logbook and Certificate of Conformity should we get stopped.

The campsite has a nice vibe and after 3 long days on the road, we decide to stay for a few days to relax a bit. There’s a couple of reasons for this.

Firstly, Sally had visited Innsbruck on a family holiday and we wanted to reminisce and get some photos to share. Secondly, we just realised we’d reached Austria quicker than we thought and it’s clear that summer holidays haven’t finished quite yet so we thought we’d give everyone the last few days to get back to work and out of our way.

Innsbruck’s setting, it turns out, is pretty spectacular and we think has more than a hint of the Sound of Music about it. We really love it.

The city centre is a short bus ride away and it turns out the Old Town is pretty much the tourist centre but if we need further proof that it’s still the summer holidays, the streets are pretty busy. We hustle our way through the crowds to check out the ‘Goldenes Dachl’ (Golden Roof) which dates back to 1500, the Bruck over the Inn and reward ourselves with a coffee.

Two observations about Austria from our short time here. Firstly, the country still uses cash a lot. We were turned away with our Revolut card and phone on the bus and at the cafe’s.

Secondly, drivers are super polite on the roads. Even if you hover near a pedestrian crossing, the cars will obediently stop on the road. This led to a bit of a game after a while.

After a restful few days looking up at the Brenner Pass, we took a deep breath and set out to climb the 800m to reach Italy.

So the Grand Tour has begun, France check, Germany check, Austria check. We hope to see you in Italy!

Sally, Toby and Merlin xxx