TTRS & V50
..Well minus all the bits in-between.
Anyway made the voyage to the south of France on 8th of July where the Mrs and I had been the year previous but went down on the train last time. Was a little worried about the ol’ Clio as the last time I made a long trip up to Inverness I cracked the sump within 5 minutes of arriving, so I made sure I had European cover.
Google mapped the journey at a cool 816 miles and tried to do it in legs. Started off from Nottingham as I’m at university here and went home home to Northampton to stay the night and get all the bits I needed for the car.
It was then Friday and the ferry was booked for 515pm so we left about 12 ish hoping to get there for about 3-4 ish. OH how wrong was I. M1 went ok and then slowed up a bit. Joined the M25 and was slowing a little more. The sat nav destination time was slowing moving towards the 515 mark and then it went past it. f**k, missed our ferry. Ended up doing 20 miles in about 2 hours on the M25, t’was a joke. I don’t use that road EVER, so if only I’d known I would have left about 9 in the morning to do the 3 hour trip to Dover, lol.
Arrived at Dover about half 6 and went straight to the check-in knowing we had missed the ferry, but hoped they would sort something out. Turns out there was one waiting to board in 10 minutes, bonus. 10 quid later and we were in the queue to board.
Arrived at Boulogne-sur-Mer at about half 10 French time and it was getting dark by then, so on with the light converters (god knows if I did them right). Next stop was Abbeville to stop in a Etap Hotel but now minus the sat nav and using good old maps. Got to Abbeville in about an hour easily enough, but the next mission was finding this Etap Hotel which wasn’t where it said it was on the map. Definitely the right place and triple checked we were but it wasn’t there.
Gone 12 o’clock now and I am pretty shattered. Ended up asking some sketchy French bloke filling up his tranny van, luckily he didn’t speak a word of English and my French is, ‘Bonjour’, ‘Merci’. He then hand gestured us to follow him to take us there. Riight, the Mrs and I were a little nerved by this as it’s nearly 1am and we have no idea where we were but thought what the hell. 5 minutes down the road we end up at an industrial estate and I am slowly dropping back from following him. Then, to turn a corner and see the hotel. So happy. Couldn’t say ‘merci beaucoup’, enough to the chap. To those who have stayed in one of these Etap’s before, basic isn’t the word. But ZZZ’s were soon flying out to continue the rest of the journey tomorrow.
Well woke up about half 10 and then went to the local supermarche to stock up on some pain au chocolat and start our 7 and half hour journey down France. Got going about 12 straight onto the tolls toward Rouen then on to Le Mans (so tempted to stop off and go to the track, but had a lot of driving ahead that day so pursued down the tolls).
Got to just south of Le Mans and it was time to fill up and have a driver swap. The only driver to swap with was the Mrs, lol. Considering she’s never driven my car let a lone in a foreign country I was a bit apprehensive. But soon got going, so weird being driven in your own car, but I needed a rest to be fair. Past Tours and Poitiers and onto Niort nearing Bordeaux I thought I’d do the last leg, just in case I had to dodge some potholes, second nature to me nowadays.
Over some nice big bridges the views were pretty immense, wish I took more pictures, but hey ho.
Once at Bordeaux I literally thought that was it, but still another hour to the west coast.
Bang on half 7 as googlemaps said, we arrived at the villa in Andernos Les Bain. Cracking. Next mission was getting up the drive, now this was a close shave with the sump but got up.
The journey took away some french wildlife..
Relax for two weeks..
Couple of pictures from the main beach Grande Crohot, nicest beach I have ever been on. Even when it was cloudy it was still stunning.
Never done a stitch, so a quick photo merge, you get the idea though..
Well two weeks soon passed and it was time to make our way back, this time it was a full French slog and a night to stop in Dover. So Saturday 24th came and our ferry crossing was at 915pm French time. Easy peasy. Set off at 11 and blundered back up the tolls the same way we came. This time I had to do the whole lot as the Mrs was feeling the sunstroke, lol.
Nice stop off in Le Mans for lunch (only a service station though).
Got all the way to Rouen and I missed my exit, thing is, it’s not quite so easy to turn around on the French roads, and delayed the journey by a good 40 minutes.
Finally found the right exit and was heading towards Boulogne again. Another exit missed and I was now slightly concerned as it was gone 8 o clock. Found the way in the end though and rolled up at half 8 checking in. 3 passport checks and we were boarded. Finally, a stunning sunset to finish our two weeks.
Next stop Dover, and getting to a Premiere Inn fast as I was shattered, never driven that long solidly.
Coming up to 11 o clock and we check in and sleep like never before.
Sunday morning I fill up for the final time and get some munch from Sainsbury’s and start our way back to Northampton.
Well English roads are pure dogs**t, M20 was slowing and reach the M26 to a total stand still. 2 hours later and 2 miles later it eases. M25, another slow one. Get to the M1 and they had a 50 mph limit which wasn’t there two weeks ago. So a long, long typical English journey back to Northampton.
A good 1766 miles were clocked up and a respectable 38mpg was sufficed.
All in all a great trip and not one thing went wrong with the Clio. One thing though. Ktec stealth’s are horrendous for long distance driving. I’ve had it on for way over a year now but even I was starting to get a headache on the French tolls.
Oh and the Clio is now for sale ☺
Sorry for the long read, not quite as epic as Tramps Tour Europe, but still a great experience.
Anyway made the voyage to the south of France on 8th of July where the Mrs and I had been the year previous but went down on the train last time. Was a little worried about the ol’ Clio as the last time I made a long trip up to Inverness I cracked the sump within 5 minutes of arriving, so I made sure I had European cover.
Google mapped the journey at a cool 816 miles and tried to do it in legs. Started off from Nottingham as I’m at university here and went home home to Northampton to stay the night and get all the bits I needed for the car.
It was then Friday and the ferry was booked for 515pm so we left about 12 ish hoping to get there for about 3-4 ish. OH how wrong was I. M1 went ok and then slowed up a bit. Joined the M25 and was slowing a little more. The sat nav destination time was slowing moving towards the 515 mark and then it went past it. f**k, missed our ferry. Ended up doing 20 miles in about 2 hours on the M25, t’was a joke. I don’t use that road EVER, so if only I’d known I would have left about 9 in the morning to do the 3 hour trip to Dover, lol.
Arrived at Dover about half 6 and went straight to the check-in knowing we had missed the ferry, but hoped they would sort something out. Turns out there was one waiting to board in 10 minutes, bonus. 10 quid later and we were in the queue to board.
Arrived at Boulogne-sur-Mer at about half 10 French time and it was getting dark by then, so on with the light converters (god knows if I did them right). Next stop was Abbeville to stop in a Etap Hotel but now minus the sat nav and using good old maps. Got to Abbeville in about an hour easily enough, but the next mission was finding this Etap Hotel which wasn’t where it said it was on the map. Definitely the right place and triple checked we were but it wasn’t there.
Gone 12 o’clock now and I am pretty shattered. Ended up asking some sketchy French bloke filling up his tranny van, luckily he didn’t speak a word of English and my French is, ‘Bonjour’, ‘Merci’. He then hand gestured us to follow him to take us there. Riight, the Mrs and I were a little nerved by this as it’s nearly 1am and we have no idea where we were but thought what the hell. 5 minutes down the road we end up at an industrial estate and I am slowly dropping back from following him. Then, to turn a corner and see the hotel. So happy. Couldn’t say ‘merci beaucoup’, enough to the chap. To those who have stayed in one of these Etap’s before, basic isn’t the word. But ZZZ’s were soon flying out to continue the rest of the journey tomorrow.
Well woke up about half 10 and then went to the local supermarche to stock up on some pain au chocolat and start our 7 and half hour journey down France. Got going about 12 straight onto the tolls toward Rouen then on to Le Mans (so tempted to stop off and go to the track, but had a lot of driving ahead that day so pursued down the tolls).
Got to just south of Le Mans and it was time to fill up and have a driver swap. The only driver to swap with was the Mrs, lol. Considering she’s never driven my car let a lone in a foreign country I was a bit apprehensive. But soon got going, so weird being driven in your own car, but I needed a rest to be fair. Past Tours and Poitiers and onto Niort nearing Bordeaux I thought I’d do the last leg, just in case I had to dodge some potholes, second nature to me nowadays.
Over some nice big bridges the views were pretty immense, wish I took more pictures, but hey ho.
Once at Bordeaux I literally thought that was it, but still another hour to the west coast.
Bang on half 7 as googlemaps said, we arrived at the villa in Andernos Les Bain. Cracking. Next mission was getting up the drive, now this was a close shave with the sump but got up.
The journey took away some french wildlife..
Relax for two weeks..
Couple of pictures from the main beach Grande Crohot, nicest beach I have ever been on. Even when it was cloudy it was still stunning.
Never done a stitch, so a quick photo merge, you get the idea though..
Well two weeks soon passed and it was time to make our way back, this time it was a full French slog and a night to stop in Dover. So Saturday 24th came and our ferry crossing was at 915pm French time. Easy peasy. Set off at 11 and blundered back up the tolls the same way we came. This time I had to do the whole lot as the Mrs was feeling the sunstroke, lol.
Nice stop off in Le Mans for lunch (only a service station though).
Got all the way to Rouen and I missed my exit, thing is, it’s not quite so easy to turn around on the French roads, and delayed the journey by a good 40 minutes.
Finally found the right exit and was heading towards Boulogne again. Another exit missed and I was now slightly concerned as it was gone 8 o clock. Found the way in the end though and rolled up at half 8 checking in. 3 passport checks and we were boarded. Finally, a stunning sunset to finish our two weeks.
Next stop Dover, and getting to a Premiere Inn fast as I was shattered, never driven that long solidly.
Coming up to 11 o clock and we check in and sleep like never before.
Sunday morning I fill up for the final time and get some munch from Sainsbury’s and start our way back to Northampton.
Well English roads are pure dogs**t, M20 was slowing and reach the M26 to a total stand still. 2 hours later and 2 miles later it eases. M25, another slow one. Get to the M1 and they had a 50 mph limit which wasn’t there two weeks ago. So a long, long typical English journey back to Northampton.
A good 1766 miles were clocked up and a respectable 38mpg was sufficed.
All in all a great trip and not one thing went wrong with the Clio. One thing though. Ktec stealth’s are horrendous for long distance driving. I’ve had it on for way over a year now but even I was starting to get a headache on the French tolls.
Oh and the Clio is now for sale ☺
Sorry for the long read, not quite as epic as Tramps Tour Europe, but still a great experience.
