Trip to Tuscany

[Gimlet]

We are planning a drive over to Tuscany in May/June of 2004, driving a 2003 Tuscan 4.0L and a 2003 Tuscan S.
Has anyone done this before and have any tips for consideration ?
I have already spoken with Mike at Gorners regarding Servicing prior to the holiday.

[markh]

I did this trip last year in my 4.0 chimaera, stopped in Alcace on the way down and then spent 2 weeks charging around the Perugia (I know Umbria) area Assisi, Gobbio,Cortona etc. Back up and broke the journey in Cannes (satauday crossing the Italian/French border was pain in August took three hour). In the 4k miles the car did'nt miss a beat, just got a bit hot stuck in traffic crossing the alps.

Enjoy your trip

Mark

[Gimlet]

Thanks Mark,

Have you any advice that is worth noting.
ie: Specific Roads to avoid/use, things to take etc.

[pdV6]

Haven't done it in a TVR, but the Belgium/Germany/Swizerland route is much cheaper on tolls than the French autoroutes and has the added bonus of providing legal hooning time on the autobahns!

Very slow driving through Swizerland (GATSOs and coppers everywhere), but very relaxing plus lovely scenery.

[flying]

Went down this year in the Griff through France and Switzerland stayed two nights near Interlaken and took the train up to the top of the Jungfrau expensive but superb views and a day away from the car. Motorway from Milan to Bologna is ballache but the coastal motorway from Turin to Pisa very scenic and loads of tunnels. Found the roads in Tuscany to be quite mixed.
Only took a fanbelt on advice of my service guys.
E-mail me direct if you want any further help and I could give you a bell.

[pete]

I drove my Griff 500 down to Tuscany last October, as part of a 2 week jaunt around Europe. The route went something like this:

Tunnel > Macon > Mt Ventoux > St Tropez > Cannes > Monaco > Alassio > Pisa > Buonconvento in Tuscany > Sienna > Florence > Bologna > Maranello > Parma > Lake Maggiore > Lucerne > Alsace > Reims > Tunnel again!

It was, in a word, fantastic! Only the first and last days' drives were appreciably autoroute; other than that we tried to stick to more interesting roads. The car was great, apart from blowing a headlamp bulb as I reversed out of the garage leaving home on the first day, and developing a slightly leaky rocker cover gasket too late to repair before we left

Be warned - there's no super unleaded in Italy, even though some of the pumps say "Super" on them; it's all 95 octane. Oil is also *really* expensive in Italy, with even the Agip synthetic stuff costing about 75 euros for four litres. It's very cheap in France however, so buy your Mobil 1 from a large supermarket on the way down.

I took a small bag of hard-to-get spares; mainly a drive belt, otter switch, relays, bulbs, fuses, hose repair kit, throttle cable, miscellaneous screws, duct tape, cable ties etc. Also the tools to fit anything which I was carrying, AA 5* cover, and Steve Heath's book! Out of that lot I used one headlamp bulb

Feel free to email me via my profile if you want more info on our route, and hotel recommendations. Here's a taster of the Griff on Mont Ventoux:

www.daleynet.co.uk/Europe2002/Images/Europe1018.jpg

Cheerio,
Pete