Driving to Spanish F1 May 2014, advice and tips please
Discussion
3 cars will be setting off on Thursday afternoon to Llorett de Mar. Did anyone do this last year and any advice or tips would be great. We are all from the Worksop/ Sheffield area and like a few beers and a laff so if you want to team up let me know. 10 blokes and 1 bird in our group. We are going down in £500 cars and having them painted up in Banger style paint work. Tickets and hotels are booked so I am looking mainly for advice about ferry prices and best times to book/ find deals. Toll roads or not. Any traffic scams the local plod catch you out on or just your general experience when you went last. Cheers everyone.
From Yorkshire, don't rule out Hull to Zeebrugge. You save 250 miles of British motorway and end up only about 45mins further away from Calais. Also, it docks about 7am,giving a full day to tackle France.
I've done this drive twice, but always with an overnight stop...giving yourself more time means that you can plan more interesting 'non autoroute routes'
After skirting Paris, we've done Sancerre for a late lunch, passing Magny Cours to stop near Le Puy. Next morning, some great driving roads took us to the Autoroute at the epic Millau viaduct. We then zoomed to Perpignan before following the coast road over the border.
Another alternative is the West route. Calais to Le Mans, then down to Bordeaux, Toulouse, Andorra. A bit further, and with less motorways you may need two overnight stops, but it is a more varied journey. With etap hotels approx twenty pounds a night, it's not too expensive too.
Our return trip was from Bilbao to Portsmouth, after a day blasting through Navarra up to the northern Spanish coast.
Whichever route that you choose....enjoy!
I've done this drive twice, but always with an overnight stop...giving yourself more time means that you can plan more interesting 'non autoroute routes'
After skirting Paris, we've done Sancerre for a late lunch, passing Magny Cours to stop near Le Puy. Next morning, some great driving roads took us to the Autoroute at the epic Millau viaduct. We then zoomed to Perpignan before following the coast road over the border.
Another alternative is the West route. Calais to Le Mans, then down to Bordeaux, Toulouse, Andorra. A bit further, and with less motorways you may need two overnight stops, but it is a more varied journey. With etap hotels approx twenty pounds a night, it's not too expensive too.
Our return trip was from Bilbao to Portsmouth, after a day blasting through Navarra up to the northern Spanish coast.
Whichever route that you choose....enjoy!
We drove down to the Spanish F1 race last year and it was great.
Tips for a good holiday:
Be careful when booking a cheap hotel as it might be in a dodgy area. As we drove up to our hotel my blonde wife asked me why there were so many scantily dressed young ladies sitting on plastic chairs by the side of the road...
Get to the circuit early. The locals do and get all the best viewing spots. Don't waste money on the seats in the stands, go in the cheap public areas with the locals. Stop at local hypermarket and buy cheap folding chairs. Support Ferrari and Alonso and the locals will love you. Support Vettel and they might string you up.
Take decent sun lotion as it can get very hot even in May.
Don't buy large beers in the centre of Barcelona (Euro 28 for 2).
You will have a great time there. enjoy
Tips for a good holiday:
Be careful when booking a cheap hotel as it might be in a dodgy area. As we drove up to our hotel my blonde wife asked me why there were so many scantily dressed young ladies sitting on plastic chairs by the side of the road...
Get to the circuit early. The locals do and get all the best viewing spots. Don't waste money on the seats in the stands, go in the cheap public areas with the locals. Stop at local hypermarket and buy cheap folding chairs. Support Ferrari and Alonso and the locals will love you. Support Vettel and they might string you up.
Take decent sun lotion as it can get very hot even in May.
Don't buy large beers in the centre of Barcelona (Euro 28 for 2).
You will have a great time there. enjoy
Sorry we were in no rush. Took the Bentley and stayed in good hotels throughout France and then met up with friends in Spain. Parked up car in Barcelona and then took cruise around the med. We were away for over a month.
However, my father was taken ill in Jersey so we did the Barcelona to St Malo leg in one very fast return on mostly toll roads. Fuel consumption was epic and got me my own seat at the table at OPEC.
Toll roads in France are boring and only needed if you have to cover the ground quickly. Far better to plan your route on the lovely little D roads that go through the small towns which tend to have great bars and restaurants that you would miss on the toll roads. As you go down the west coast of France there are lots of excellent wine regions so it would have been rude not to stop frequently to check into a hotel and then sample the local products.
We traveled via Jersey/St Malo so we were already on the west side of France. It might be too much for one day if you are crossing over to Calais etc.
However, my father was taken ill in Jersey so we did the Barcelona to St Malo leg in one very fast return on mostly toll roads. Fuel consumption was epic and got me my own seat at the table at OPEC.
Toll roads in France are boring and only needed if you have to cover the ground quickly. Far better to plan your route on the lovely little D roads that go through the small towns which tend to have great bars and restaurants that you would miss on the toll roads. As you go down the west coast of France there are lots of excellent wine regions so it would have been rude not to stop frequently to check into a hotel and then sample the local products.
We traveled via Jersey/St Malo so we were already on the west side of France. It might be too much for one day if you are crossing over to Calais etc.
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