next week off...??

[jonboy21t]

Me & a few fellow petrol head buddies are off on a "euro adventure" tonight. We're heading south through France to the Millau Suspension bridge & then heading east to the Alps for a few days & then heading back to Le Havre via the autobahns of Germany.....

5 cars going:

Subaru Impreza
BMW M6
Jaguar XKR
Porsche 911
Porsche Boxster S

Anyone else got next week off & stuck for plans....???

We're leaving tonight on the 11pm ferry from Portsmouth & return on the 19th..ferry leaves in 12 hours - you've still got time to pack & reserve your ticket..!!

See ya...

jonboy21t

[dwilkie]

What a good idea! If I hadn't already spent all my money this month I'd be in - perhaps if you decide to do something like this in future you could post earlier and then I'd deffo be interested.

This post isn't supposed to be arsey like it sounds

[jonboy21t]

Hi there - my mistake, i meant to post it ages ago but never got round to it....

As for another time.....?? next year - probably autumn....

[jonboy21t]

Ok, i made it back last Saturday night @ about 11'ish, after a serious thrash across France from Annecy to Le Havre - made it to the ferry with only 20 minutes to spare - we were the last cars on before the gates closed.......

What can i say...?? The trip was amazing. We drove 2708 miles in 7 days through France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein & Germany. I spent 549 euros on fuel (about £500) & spent 500 euros in cash (hotels, beers, food etc...)

I had NO problems with the Impreza - the temp gauge didn't go over half the whole time, we had troubles with the Jag & had to head for the nearest service centre to get it sorted. The M6 went into limp mode after a very spirited drive down the Oberpal Pass & we had to attack the wheels on the Porsche with a lead hammer to loose some serious damage after he hit a kerb way up in the mountains.

Passes conquered included:

Col St Bernard
Lenzerheidepass
Passo Del Bernina
Passo Del Stelvio
Valle Sarentina
Brennerpass
Fernpass
Oberpalpass
Furka Pass (twice because it was so wicked)
Grimselpass
Sustenapss (the best)
Nufenenpass
Col de La Forclaz (in the dark....)

In general the roads were epic with smooth surfaces & little traffic, as there were 4 of us we all had walkie talkies & we took turns in taking the lead to set the pace, which was fast - some passes were taken well over motorway speeds......

We had brushes with the French & Swiss police - the jag got flashed on a Swiss motorway doing autobahn speeds in a 130kph limit..

It really was a fantasic experience & a perfect petrol head holiday...

As for doing it again.....100% without a doubt...they really were the best roads i've ever driven....

Here's a few choice pics....

Edited by jonboy21t on Friday 25th September 21:22

Edited by jonboy21t on Friday 25th September 21:44

[Justin-W]

That is nice, would love to do something of a simular lines just not got the top end power if you get me. Hopefully next year a nice drive down to southern France.......

[LukeBird]

I need to get around to doing a trip like that.

Looks ace!

[minimatt1967]

LukeBird said:

I need to get around to doing a trip like that.

Looks ace!

+1

[Neil.D]

Sounds great. Road trips do rekindle your affection with your car.

[SimonV8ster]

Good stuff Anymore photos ??

[ironictwist]

minimatt1967 said:

LukeBird said:

I need to get around to doing a trip like that.

Looks ace!

+1

+2

More photos indeed!!

[jonboy21t]

Loads of photo's....i'll add some pics tonight......

[shentodj]

Sounds great, very envious, always wanted to do something like this.
How about allowing us to benefit further from your experience by:
1) Mark up a google map (or similar) with your best roads etc?
2) Good Hotels/Bad hotels etc?
3) Beware police - any areas where they hide/catch you etc?
Would like to think I'll be going myself within the next couple of years (now my son is a bit older).
Look forward to hearing your recommendations.

Regards,
Shentodj

[jonboy21t]

shentodj said:

Sounds great, very envious, always wanted to do something like this.
How about allowing us to benefit further from your experience by:
1) Mark up a google map (or similar) with your best roads etc?
2) Good Hotels/Bad hotels etc?
3) Beware police - any areas where they hide/catch you etc?
Would like to think I'll be going myself within the next couple of years (now my son is a bit older).
Look forward to hearing your recommendations.

Regards,
Shentodj

To be honest, we didn't really have a route planned other than head south to the Millau suspension bridge & then head east from Millau to Avignon through the gorges of the Parc National Des Cevennes. After Avignon we headed to Carpentas, Nyons, Serres, La Mure, Bourg-Saint Maurice & then over the mountains to Aosta in Italy. With regards to the roads, anything east of Millau was fantastic.
After Aosta we headed headed east via the Italian Lakes to Tirano on the Swiss/Italian boarder, again the roads were fantastic although it did rain most of the day....We stayed in a great hotel in Tirano & then headed to the famous Stelvio Pass in the morning (again along fantastic roads - the SS38 north out of Tirano had more tunnels than a welsh coal mining village).
Stelvio was good, but the weather closed in at the top & the famous 40 odd hairpins on the east side were invisible due to mist & rain..we then headed to Innsbruck via the SS508 from Bolzano - this road was tunnel-tastic again with awesome views & plenty of room for overtaking the locals etc.....
Next day we planned to head west to Switzerland but the Jag had other ideas & we had to high tail it to Kempton in Germany to fix a problem, we still managed a couple of passes & ended up in Chur (Switzerland) after a serious long twilight drive...
Again we just picked a hotel @ random & checked in.....
Friday morning we got up early & headed west to drive the best roads of the whole week...

Oberalppass
Furkapass
Sustenpass
Grimselpass

These 4 passes formed a 100 odd mile round circuit & every mile was brilliant - to be honest we could've spent the whole week just driving this circuit as the roads were epic, again smooth road surfaces, little traffic & no police....the weather was perfect - if anyone goes to the Alps on a road trip DO NOT miss the Sustenpass & Furkapass........we then headed south west to Brig, Martigny & then over the pass to Chamonix (in the dark) It was then a quick drive to Annecy, find a hotel, have a beer or two & then get early for the last day dash to Le Havre.....

It really was an epic trip & driving on UK roads since my return has been somewhat depressing....still, we're already planning next years trip & next time we intend to cover the entire Alps east to west....

With regards to Police, in the Alps we saw none, speed cameras - we saw a few but they're always sign posted. Hotels we just found on a day to day basis - no plan is the best plan.....same with roads, we'd just look on the map and head for anything twisty or high lighted as a scenic route.

I had a look at a few websites before heading off, one of the best was "alpineroads.com" it's a bikers website but lists most of the good passes & has info regarding routes, speed traps & photos etc...

http://www.alpineroads.com/passes.php

I personally would advise going after the tourists but before the snow & September was the perfect time to go...

Get planning boys - you'll love it..!!

Edited by jonboy21t on Monday 28th September 18:05

[jonboy21t]

A few more pics.....