2026 07 Crossing The Alps @OnTheRoadAgainTJ

Week 3, Part 4 7 September 2026 Bludenz → Peschiera del Garda, Italy Crossing the Alps Concerned at the extraordinarily late start, with a tyre that we still weren’t sure would hold, we set off to cross the Alps. I reminded myself that Percy and Mary Shelley had crossed the Alps in a horse and cart in the 1800s. At least, that’s what I seemed to remember, and it helped. What didn’t help was discovering that we had missed the Arlberg Pass and TomTom had led us into the Arlberg Tunnel instead. In hindsight, though, that wasn’t such a bad thing. The tunnel is around 14–15km long and cost €13, which seemed worth every penny after yesterday’s tyre drama. The next pass was a very different matter. We discovered that the Reschen Pass was closed for roadworks, so our route was diverted over the spectacular Timmelsjoch (Passo del Rombo) instead. In my 60-year life, I have never driven a road like this, with what seemed like a million ridiculous bends and a steep climb to 2,474m, followed by a descent of similar proportions. At the top it was windy, wet and cold, but the views were spectacular… not that I could really admire them while concentrating on the road, and J was far too terrified to look at anything anyway! We paid €20 for the Timmelsjoch road toll and received a sticker for the experience — I didn’t realise then how much I would have earned it. The Top Mountain Motorcycle Museum is also at the pass, although we didn’t stop to visit it. By that point, simply getting safely over the mountain was enough of an achievement. But after around 25km of twists and turns to descend again, our adventure was far from over. TomTom — or possibly one of my wrong turns — decided to take us on what I can only describe as a series of impossibly steep goat tracks through Alpine villages. At one point we even drove amongst loaded lorries through what looked like a cement factory with no visible exit or anything that resembled a road. And then, definitely TomTom’s choice this time, I was being directed onto a rickety wooden footbridge. At that point I flatly refused to follow TomTom and just carried straight on. At times I felt like laughing, but J’s stress levels were through the roof. Eventually, we made it out of the mountains and continued through Italy, driving on narrow, lorry-laden autostrade in the dark, blinded by headlights. Finally, we arrived at our destination at around 10:30pm — a free park-up in Peschiera del Garda, just a 10-minute walk from Lake Garda. After the day we’d had, we treated ourselves to a drink and shared a plate of pasta beside the lake before collapsing for the night in the van. We had made it over the Alps, and the tyre had held. Thank God. #OnTheRoadAgainTJ #VanLife #EuropeanVanLife