Euro roadtrip (UK-France-Germany-Denmark-Sweden-Norway-UK)
Discussion
Tentatively thinking of ways to entertain myself over the summer, and was mulling over the idea that a jaunt to the continent might be the answer. I've only driven abroad once before (a couple of days in Lille last year, courtesy of Le Shuttle) but there are quite a few northern European countries I'm keen to visit as I've never been to Scandinavia. A bit of preliminary research on here tells me I'll get taken out and shot in front of my family for any minor speeding transgressions in these parts, so I'll get the speed out my systems in the first half of the trip, by doing a few laps of the 'Ring and maxing out my car on the autobahn. Well, it would be rude not to given their proximity to my route!
So my basic plan would be:
Day 1 - Head from London to Portsmouth and take the ferry to Cherbourg, then spend a couple of nights in Normany with the family.
Day 3 - Head of early to the Nurburgring (480 miles), do a few laps, then head to Cologne (63 miles) for the night
Day 4 - Move on to Hamburg (264 miles), hopefully with a bit of derestricted Autobahn en route
Day 5 - Slog out 608 miles to Stockholm (boring day but read Copenhagen is very anti-car, so not really practical to stop)
Day 6 - A further 338 miles to see a friend in Tonsburg (Norway)
Day 7 - Head down to Larvik (25 miles) to get the ferry to Hirtshals. 212 miles onto Esjberg for the overnight ferry back to Harwich
Day 8 - Harwich to London
Any thoughts?
So my basic plan would be:
Day 1 - Head from London to Portsmouth and take the ferry to Cherbourg, then spend a couple of nights in Normany with the family.
Day 3 - Head of early to the Nurburgring (480 miles), do a few laps, then head to Cologne (63 miles) for the night
Day 4 - Move on to Hamburg (264 miles), hopefully with a bit of derestricted Autobahn en route
Day 5 - Slog out 608 miles to Stockholm (boring day but read Copenhagen is very anti-car, so not really practical to stop)
Day 6 - A further 338 miles to see a friend in Tonsburg (Norway)
Day 7 - Head down to Larvik (25 miles) to get the ferry to Hirtshals. 212 miles onto Esjberg for the overnight ferry back to Harwich
Day 8 - Harwich to London
Any thoughts?
I'd be tempted to spend longer in Sweden. It seems like a waste to drive 680miles or whatever it is to get to Stockholm that night, only to head off to Norway the next morning.
Stockholm (and the islands around it) are worth spending a good 2 days on at least.
edit: Nice place to go though. Scandinavia has a really nice feel to it, much different to the rest of Europe imo. Sometimes you just get this feeling that you're really heading towards the arctic.
Stockholm (and the islands around it) are worth spending a good 2 days on at least.
edit: Nice place to go though. Scandinavia has a really nice feel to it, much different to the rest of Europe imo. Sometimes you just get this feeling that you're really heading towards the arctic.
Edited by Shay HTFC on Friday 31st May 15:47
I can only comment on the latter part of your trip.
We travel in Denmark a fair bit with work, only on the main routes, from 1 gig to another and it all seems just abit average imho.
Sweden is good, and if it were me I'd look into seeing if there is still a ferry out of norway from Bergen back to Newcastle, i think????
If so, I'd say its worth a thought, as the drive from Oslo to Bergen is approx 550km's with a road tunnel thats 27 kms long, and the rest of the drive is pretty special too
Only done it once in the lorry, but got to see the northern lights along the way!!! Which was great, as was the amazing scenery along the rest of the route.
1 day, when I get the chance, its def a holiday driving route for me
We travel in Denmark a fair bit with work, only on the main routes, from 1 gig to another and it all seems just abit average imho.
Sweden is good, and if it were me I'd look into seeing if there is still a ferry out of norway from Bergen back to Newcastle, i think????
If so, I'd say its worth a thought, as the drive from Oslo to Bergen is approx 550km's with a road tunnel thats 27 kms long, and the rest of the drive is pretty special too
Only done it once in the lorry, but got to see the northern lights along the way!!! Which was great, as was the amazing scenery along the rest of the route.
1 day, when I get the chance, its def a holiday driving route for me
Leave the ring til on the way home in case you f
k your car up...i thought that was the golden rule in any european road trip involving it. You could drive around the coast of Sweden, i did that a couple of years ago, very relaxing drive and nice views. The ferry crossing on the way home will probably take longer and cost more as itll be two oneway trips.just scream back to cherbourg and go back to the uk that way. All of denmark is going anti car,but parking is cheap and public transport is excellent, so much better than uk.
k your car up...i thought that was the golden rule in any european road trip involving it. You could drive around the coast of Sweden, i did that a couple of years ago, very relaxing drive and nice views. The ferry crossing on the way home will probably take longer and cost more as itll be two oneway trips.just scream back to cherbourg and go back to the uk that way. All of denmark is going anti car,but parking is cheap and public transport is excellent, so much better than uk. On further inspection it appears the Esjberg-Harwich ferry is closer to £400, rather than the £150 I initially thought. This plus the fact that one of the people I was planning to stay with is now unavailable when I want to go means I'm probably going to have to scale back my plans. So for now I'm planning on just doing the France and Nurburgring bits.
Regarding the Nurburgring, I'm thinking it might be prudent to take an instructor for my first lap or two. Has anyone used one and were they worthwhile? How much did you pay?
Regarding the Nurburgring, I'm thinking it might be prudent to take an instructor for my first lap or two. Has anyone used one and were they worthwhile? How much did you pay?
Synchromesh said:
On further inspection it appears the Esjberg-Harwich ferry is closer to £400, rather than the £150 I initially thought. This plus the fact that one of the people I was planning to stay with is now unavailable when I want to go means I'm probably going to have to scale back my plans. So for now I'm planning on just doing the France and Nurburgring bits.
Regarding the Nurburgring, I'm thinking it might be prudent to take an instructor for my first lap or two. Has anyone used one and were they worthwhile? How much did you pay?
I'm not usually a nancy boy but when i turned up for a lap on my way back from Stuttgart I had to wait so had a walk around the track perimeter for awhile.Regarding the Nurburgring, I'm thinking it might be prudent to take an instructor for my first lap or two. Has anyone used one and were they worthwhile? How much did you pay?
Having watching the standard of high speed driving from Corsas to m5s or should i say lack of it I got back me old 911 and headed for the ferry.
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