Another Euro Road Trip (Lots of pics)

[H.Maxim]

A quick write up of the European road trip (I'll try and let the pictures do the talking) I did it with 3 mates although only 1 friend and myself drove, from 12th-18th of September, my 182 and a new 1.6 Golf. Definitely the best holiday any of us had ever been on, passed through France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. Great weather, good company and beautiful scenary.

The trip started with 3 of us in Leeds on the 12th at around 3pm with torrential rain, we made our way down to Acton where our fourth friend lives and killed some time before setting off to Dover at 2am for the 4am ferry to Calais.

IMG_0800 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

Slept the whole ferry journey to Calais and began the long journey down to Bourg-en-Bresse at 7am. We decided to miss Paris and took the route that went on the A26, absolutely no traffic at all and we made decent progress stopping every couple of hours to strech our legs and for food. Apart from a 10 minute spell of torrential rain the weather was beautiful 20 degrees+.

IMG_0827 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

After about 8 hours or so we arrived at our camp site in Bourg-en-Bresse. Even though we were pretty tired, we put our tent up and had a nice walk around the area and a bite to eat. Of all places this was McDonalds! We all slept like babies that night, totally shattered.

IMG_0862 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

The next day the trip properly began we headed from Bourg-en-Bresse to Annecy. Another boiling hot day from start to finish. We could have made our way to Annecy via a strech of motorway but decided to take the scenic route instead, which was worth it.

IMG_0885 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_0886 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_0915 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_0900 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_0935 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_0947 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

Within a couple of hours we had arrived in Annecy, which is a beautiful little place. Parked up near the lake and had a relaxed wonder around the lake enjoying a 15 minute go in a little motorboat and then some lunch by the lake.

IMG_1051 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_1069 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_0442 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_1100 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

We then made our way to the camp site near Aime via Bellecombe-en-Bauges. Travelling up and down some breaktaking roads.

IMG_1222 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_1234 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_1257 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

We arrived at the camp site very late because of the time we'd spent in Annecy around 9pm and the guy in charge of arranging the camp sites, for some reason booked a site near the top of a small mountain! When we arrived there the temperature reading on the car was already 6 degrees and the site manager prompty told us that it was too cold for us to camp there so we would have to make our way back down the mountain (which was fun) and find somewhere else. Luckily we found a place further down behind a butchers no less and set up camp.

IMG_1274 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

The views in the morning were amazing.

IMG_1290 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_1295 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

We then made our way to Val-d'Isère which was nearly deserted at this time of year.

IMG_1402 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_1467 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_1555 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_1572 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_1573 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_1582 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_1743 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

After making our way up and down past Val-d'Isère. The best part of the trip. Saw another 182 in beautiful condition.

IMG_1805 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

The road down into Italy was immense, more beautiful views and roads. A lot of bikers on the route coming from Italy for Saturday afternoon blast. We arrived in Susa, Italy mid afternoon and had a quick lunch before the journey to Cannobio on Lake Maggiore. This motorway journey was pretty uneventful apart from 4 huge cars coming past 110mph+ on the motorway which looked like they were under testing. Think Panamera but bigger and more muscular unfortunately we didn't get any pics of them. Arrived at the camp site around 6-7 and set up for the night.

I was looking forward to the day through Switzerland and the passes but the day didn't get off to a great start. Around 30 minutes into the journey of snaking moutain routes barely wide enough for 2 vehicle. My friend in the Golf reports his petrol light has been on for a while and he thinks he's about to run of petrol. Great. We pull over in a tiny layby debate the next course of action seen as though we're miles from any petrol station, have no petrol cans, plus it's a Sunday in Italy and nothing is open. The only option we had to was empty the cooler we bought along for snacks and take it to the first petrol station came across. Luckily ones of the locals understood me when I asked for the local gasolina place which was 30 minutes away. We filled the cooler up with €5 of petrol via the crude automated system and headed back along the mountain roads and cobbled areas with the cooler on my friends lap. Once back at the car the I got the petrol in a cup at a time. Needless to say he's got a nickname he'll never live down.

IMG_1933 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_0508 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

That little incident had easily wasted 90 minutes of our day so we pressed on towards the Swiss border. Initially we planned to buy the vignettes needed to driver on the Swiss motorway at the border crossing but we completely forget. The guy at the border just asked us where we had come from and where we were going and let us on our way.
Switzerland was beautiful, we headed straight towards the Furkapass and it didn't disappoint, none of the passes did.

IMG_0548 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_1982 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_1992 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_2079 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_2081 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

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IMG_2109 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_2152 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

We headed to Winterthur just north of Zurich where I unfortunately was flashed by a speed camera going into a tunnel. Think I was only doing 5kph over the limit but after what I had read about speeding in Switerzland before we left it was lazy by me. Nearly a month later and nothing has come through the post yet, fingers crossed.
The first and only traffic jam of the trip made us late again, we arrived at the camp site at 10pm and were greeted by a angry man German who was calmed down by some extremely drunk women.

The following day was the journey through Germany to Cologne where we would enjoy a night out and inside sleeping! I made a point to get everyone up on time so we could stop off at the Ring on the way. We enjoyed the autobhans in Germany. We got to the ring at 5 just as cars were queueing to go on. We were already late to get to Cologne so we only stayed for about 10 minutes. Biggest regret of the trip, should have gone. I also forgot to take the obligatory snap number the sign. Doh.

IMG_0577 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

IMG_2187 by Ho_Joo, on Flickr

Cologne was a great night out even though it was on a Monday, glad we were in a hotel that night. The final day we drove back through Belgium to Calais. Around 10 minutes from the ferry port, we went past 2 police bikers on the hard shoulder who promptly started to follow me and ordered me into an area just off the motorway. I knew it wasn't for speeding as I was going at under the limit. We were greeted by at least 10 policemen who searched the car and asked us if we were hiding anything. They search the whole car, one of them made a joke about Citroen Sport when he saw the Renault Sport in the engine which I didn't quite get but they were pleasant enough. Carried on to the Ferry and from Dover straight back to Leeds.

All in all just over 2300 miles in 7 days. The 182 averaged 35.5 mpg which I was very happy with. Washing the car was a long job too when back.
It was tiring on occasions but the weather was beautiful 20+ every single day, I think a day or two extra would have been perfect but we're already planning to go again next year. The 182 was a pleasure to drive, even with a boot and back seats full of stuff, although I think I'm in need of some new pads, caught them smoking a couple of times when we stopped on the better roads.

Also thanks to all the people I pm'd in the run-up to the trip, thanks for all of the answers to my questions (some of them really stupid).

 

[Ash']

Wow what an epic trip. Have to do something like this in 2013. What would you recommend when planning a Euro trip like this now you've done it?

Jealous...

 

[Ghm]

Looks so good, always wanted to do something like this but worried about driving on the 'wrong' side of the road.

 

[MikeCracknell]

Amazing pics and trip!

You won't get a ticket for speeding as at the moment the UK isn't part of the EU vehicle database sharing system thing. I have been flashed in France twice in two years and Germany once - hardly over the limit too, and nothing. The same reason why foreign truckers/motorists don't get done in UK. Get stopped in person by a cop in Europe, and yes, you will get done!

Luxembourg has an agreement though for some reason.

What stunning pictures, and what a trip!!!

 

[MikeCracknell]

Looks so good, always wanted to do something like this but worried about driving on the 'wrong' side of the road.

It takes a little getting used to, especially at junctions, but once you've done it, you'll be fine!!

 

[H.Maxim]

Wow what an epic trip. Have to do something like this in 2013. What would you recommend when planning a Euro trip like this now you've done it?

Jealous...

To be honest we arranged this all within 6 weeks. After seeing the threads on here I floated the idea with the 3 friends I went with and things went from there. We split the responsibilities between us. I did the route mostly using google maps. Accommodation, food, transfers, supplies were split between the rest.

Splitting the days into manageable bits and being flexible is important. On the day from France to Italy we cut out a whole section of country routes due to the petrol incident. We only had 2 cars so didn't get lost during the trip and communicated through a walky-talkie but I'd imagine more cars could be a bit of a nightmare unless you broke up into little groups.

 

[Jcs]

Great thread, great pics and write up.

I have 20 days holiday to take from work before march, tempting to do something like this.

 

[andywa]

Great right up mate and some cracking pics.

 

[mr.pink87]

Looks so good, always wanted to do something like this but worried about driving on the 'wrong' side of the road.

It's actually the right side of the road.

 

[Helldriver]

*lol @ pink87,@H.Maxim awsome trip. didn´t know that some euro guys have done it in the other direction (from AT;D;CH; F or other EU Country to UK) also like to read the "N-ring" trips from this comunity ^^

 

[Christopher]

Incredible! One day.

 

[jesus]

Brilliant write-up and excellent photos too. Looks like you had a decent trip

 

[Finny]

brilliant mate places look fantastic! think next year my ring trip will be abit longer after looking at these

 

[Chip-mk1]

FLOL @ the cooler full of fuel, nice bit of bodging

Looks like a fun trip.

I cant decide if I want to do places like Stelvio, on one hand it looks totally epic, but on the other, its just a whole load of hairpin bends on a road miles from home that given you are going to be driving relatively steady (ie not like you are on a track which is how I would want to drive them) might end up getting a bit tedious and not quite as epic as it first looks?

 

[Matt Cup]

Great write up and pics! Would love to explore more of Europe myself sometime soon!

 

[Leeshez]

Belting trip, photos and write up. That winding road is OMG.

 

[H.Maxim]

Amazing pics and trip!

You won't get a ticket for speeding as at the moment the UK isn't part of the EU vehicle database sharing system thing. I have been flashed in France twice in two years and Germany once - hardly over the limit too, and nothing. The same reason why foreign truckers/motorists don't get done in UK. Get stopped in person by a cop in Europe, and yes, you will get done!

I really hope that's true.

Great thread, great pics and write up.

I have 20 days holiday to take from work before march, tempting to do something like this.

You really should, although I don't know if half of the routes we did will be open come the winter.

*lol @ pink87,@H.Maxim awsome trip. didn´t know that some euro guys have done it in the other direction (from AT;D;CH; F or other EU Country to UK) also like to read the "N-ring" trips from this comunity ^^

I wonder what they think when they see our roads, nearly every bit of tarmac on the whole trip immaculate.

FLOL @ the cooler full of fuel, nice bit of bodging

Looks like a fun trip.

I cant decide if I want to do places like Stelvio, on one hand it looks totally epic, but on the other, its just a whole load of hairpin bends on a road miles from home that given you are going to be driving relatively steady (ie not like you are on a track which is how I would want to drive them) might end up getting a bit tedious and not quite as epic as it first looks?

There are a lot of switchbacks chip, no denying that going up and coming back down the passes. But the roads leading up to the passes tended to be a lot more open and flowing, which I enjoyed just as much if not even more and thats with a load of stuff flying around in the boot and back seats.

The only "boring" bits so to say were the motorways and which was expected. The emptiness of the roads was probably the best thing.

 

[Callum 197]

Looks so good! Makes me want to go!

 

[Chip-mk1]

There are a lot of switchbacks chip, no denying that going up and coming back down the passes. But the roads leading up to the passes tended to be a lot more open and flowing, which I enjoyed just as much if not even more and thats with a load of stuff flying around in the boot and back seats.

Yeah Mike from MWM said the same over a nandos last night when I was asking him about it as I know he has done those roads, he said the real fun is more on the other side of the mountain where its just some great challenging roads to really enjoy driving (with a hint of respect still as some have big drops etc) and that is actually more fun than the stuff that makes the pictures.