Has anyone got any experience of towing through the tunnel de Tende between Italy and France on the N204. I know the col de Tende is out of bounds for caravans and hope the tunnel will do the trick. Thanks, Phil.
Experience can make you cocky and then safety for yourself and other roadusers can become compromised, believe me, I've been there and seen it/done it.Phil, try a little more research on this road and tunnel.
I don't think it is a road for caravanning or for the faint hearted.
Friends have cycled around the Col de Tende and having seen photo's of the area I would not be taking my van that way me thinks.
Try cycling web search for that area, having done day trips on similar roads whilst in France with narrow tunnels formed by rocks and rocky overhangs on some roads and having to contend with impatient French drivers no way would I want to be on the road with a van.
You may even find that the tunnel is closed now according to one report, and you are likely to find restriction re length of trailer (Caravan) you can tow in the area.
In Kerry last year two guys on one site warned us about a mountain pass, they took the wrong road on route and went through a mountain pass. One was driving a new TD5 with new caravan and the other a newish TDI with caravan.
They had brake fade due to over heating brakes and one narrowly missed having an accident.
We found the road quite tame to some we have experienced in France!
The wife and I are travelling down memory lane. We were last down there in the late 70's so are aiming to explore the old haunts around Menton, Roquebrune etc.. We are stopping near Bourg St Maurice for a couple of days first and then travelling down through the Frejus Tunnel via Turin and on to the coast turning West for the border. Sounds like you had an entertaining drive yourself!If you have not done the coastal motorway past Monaco and into Italy it is a spectacular trip through tunnels with huge drops and small farms on mountain goat terain drive ways on the side of the hills.
On mountainous roads past Digne L B and others we have some great times but met a few mad men and some hairy sittuations including rock falls on roads. It's OK but with a van in tow it could be more fun than one needs.
If you nhave not done the St Bernard tunnel the trip up through the Aoste Valley is stunning with the mountain around you. Climbing above the clouds and seeing lightning below and around you is spectacular.
Seeing a pine tree glow red and turn white as it EXPLODES into a ball of fire as you an arc of lightning strikes it less than 15 metres from you as you tow the van under the covered road towards the tunnel entrance is quite a thrill! Not something you forget
The road down from the mountain in Switzerland is also spectacular with the morning clouds gliding down the valley between the surrounding mountains.