The shortest route from Napoli to our destination would be 340km. With the issues we had on Day 3, we expected it to be a rough ride. Especially as the expected temperatures would be much higher compared to the days before. But one thing we did not want to miss is the to see and drive along the Amalfi coast. This would add another 90km to our route. If we include all stops (desired, required and unexpected) our average speed so far was just under 50km/h. If we were to get the keys for the place, we rented to the next two weeks, by 6pm – we had to start early. This in turn would also allow us to avoid the worst city traffic in Napoli. Even though we stayed in a hotel with a renowned brand name – the breakfast was nothing to write home about. Except for the view from the roof top restaurant. We could already see Mount Vesuvius and – in the far distance on the other side of the bay – Meta and Sorrent.
A large number of people told me that a secured garage in Napoli is essential. And I was relieved that the Hotel provided this. The word that we drove 1600km from Germany in a classic car somehow spread. When I went down to check for the Morgan – everyone from the Hotel staff told me how beautiful the Morgan looks. The parking warden was a very nice guy and watched out for the car – but apparently also spoke about it 🙂
At 8:15am the city traffic had already started. Compared to German standards the local driving habits are mental. Road conditions are just horrible. It is impossible to tell how many lanes a street actually has – nobody bothers anyway. Road signs are ignored – traffic lights do not seem to be important for the majority of scooter drivers. They pass on the left and right. And driving through all of this in a completely restored Morgan, that has unpredictable, spontaneous issues with power-loss – I guess this this is what dreams are made of. Well, nightmares at least.
But against all odds – we made it to the E45 without issues or scratches just with the motto: “Smile and wave boys!”. From there on it was normal Italian driving madness we got almost used to by now. The SS145 to Meta has a number of tunnels. In the morning all of them had a much lower temperature. Combined with the Revotec fan – which I switched on as soon as traffic slows down – I was able to keep the water temperature at 90C and we have no power-loss issues. Our luck stayed with us even when we got stuck in a jam due to an accident on this small road close to Meta – causing 30min delay.
We left Meta at 9:45am and to our surprise – the road to SS163 was completely empty. Our decision to take this detour really paid off. The view is just breath-taking. We stopped many times to take pictures, bought the mandatory Amalfi coast lemons, had an espresso and enjoyed every minute of this truly amazing coast line. Even though it is lovely – we were both glad that it was not our final vacation destination. It wouldn’t be my place to stay for more than two or three days. From about Minori to Salerno the road is even more fun to drive. Less traffic, less tourists, less pot-holes and the same number of curves along the shore line.
My plan was to take the E847 from Salerno to Potenza, onwards to Tarent. The location we rented it actually not in Brindisi itself but roughly halfway between Tarent and Brindisi. But we had another case of dynamic rerouting with Google maps. When I saw the sign for Penta coming up – we were already heading north-east on the E841. Next possible exit was Antessano. It was already 12:30pm and we both desperately wanted lunch. Unfortunately, the two restaurants we found were fully booked and did not want to serve us. Searching and driving around took 45minutes before we agree to just drive on.
An accident on the E45 around Eboli and the resulting traffic jam was the reason why Google maps redirected us. With another 300km to go – the smartest decision was to follow the recommended way. I cannot recall where about the temperature started to drop quite a bit. Rain kicked in and our lunch break ended up at an Autogrill on the AutoStrada for the third day in a row. The rest of the tour would be done with the roof on – which wasn’t so bad after all with just around 20C and occasional rain showers. This helped a lot with our power-loss issues – we did not have a single problem on this day. When driving just about 110km/h – the engine water temp gauge stayed at 90C and it looked like we will arrive at 5pm
But on the last stretch after Mola di Bari – one lane of the E55 was partly flooded for a short stretch. This was enough to cause a jam that took us an hour to get through. And as our destination is somewhat remote – the by far worst road conditions unknowingly were just ahead of us. Avoiding pot-holes slowed us down even more. The last 500m to the Trullo we rented were on a dirt road – but the Morgan got us there at 6:10pm – just a few minutes late. The second part of our vacation can start now.
Fixing C6622 
Leave a comment