thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,646
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Dec 16, 2015 10:50:43 GMT
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Really great write up and you certainly managed to get most of the great passes in.
Oh and stop telling people that the Swiss actually love cars ..... I've been trying to keep that a secret.
The Swiss Police are another matter though.
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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Dec 16, 2015 11:37:10 GMT
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The Swiss Police are another matter though. Indeed, as we found out this year...
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'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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Dec 16, 2015 12:31:56 GMT
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Great report. Thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I'm planning a European trip next year (depending on my currently pregnant wife) albeit on a motorbike. We have family in Bavaria and plan to visit the Seigfreid Line and the Atlantic wall which were both WW2 battlements.
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p1erce
Part of things
Posts: 50
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Dec 16, 2015 14:12:51 GMT
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Great read. Inspired me to do something similar.
You clearly did a lot of research and route planning for this one!
Look forward to reading the next adventure!
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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Dec 16, 2015 16:49:46 GMT
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Yeah sure did, I actually enjoy the planning as much as the trip. I'm a massive map nerd (if that is a thing).
Thanks for all the comments people, I'll get the next one up as soon as I have the photos to go with it.
We did do a small trip around Wales in 2014 as we couldn't afford a big Europe one, so I'll throw some photos from that up in meantime.
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Last Edit: Dec 16, 2015 16:50:50 GMT by b3nson
'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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Finally got round to getting some photos of the 2015 trip, just need to sort through them and find some that aren't just mountains, mountains, mountains, river. In the mean time some of the photos from our Welsh Trip. There were some great areas and great roads, although all too often they would be ruined by some plonker driving well below the speed limit in a Volvo. Also I planned it fairly poorly in that it involved alot of driving on boring roads on the penultimate day, but all in all still a fun weekend away. We did 1200 miles in total over the 4 days and took in pretty much every road I've ever seen recommended - my favourites were: Black Mountain Pass - probably the best we did, got up there fairly late so was dead quiet A4059 from Hirwaun - Lovely and open, great sight of corners ahead, just had to watch out for sheep (there is a hell of a lot in Wales!) B4520 between Brecon and Bullith Wells - Such a fun road, really twists up and down, quite a few blind corners to keep you on your toes A483 West of Bullith Wells - Alot faster but still nice sweeping, twisting roads. Had to pull over as a farmer was herding all his sheep down the middle of a National Speed Limit road! Road from the Elan Valley reservoirs to Devils Bridge - Very tight, single lane roads, perfect for the MX5. Wasn't so keen on the Aberystwyth mountain road, but was stuck behind a Volvo (told you!) so that probably didn't help. Llanberis Pass was a nice road, more for the views.. The EVO triangle was good, not the best by far though. If anyone's looking for a nice place to stay in the North then look up the Buckley Arms in Dinas Mawddwy, it was fantastic for the price. Other notable events that happened were driving through a valley when 2 RAF jets flew overhead, was like something off of Forza Horizon. Headed out to Lynn Brianne about 6pm one night, took us an hour to drive out there on the smallest roads possible but it was so beautiful, and we saw only 1 other car in the 2 hours we were out there. Awesome dam too. On Saturday we went to the VHRA speed trials on Pendine Sands, basically a load of badass hotrods racing across the sand, would definitely recommend it to anyone with any interest in cars! And also my mates Polo G40 broke it's clutch cable for the 2nd year in a row, but twice this time. We banned him from taking it anywhere in future. Hooning is not a crime!
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'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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Are those last 2 pictures at Pendine Sands?
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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Are those last 2 pictures at Pendine Sands? Yeah, great place and the event was fantastic. Can't say the same about the Welsh weather!
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'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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Wow. Yeah, the few times I've been to Wales it's been raining-much the same with Ireland. I'm off to Google where it is and when it's on.
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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Europe Round 2 After telling anyone who would listen or sit through hours of photos about how great the first big trip was, the plan was created to go again, but bigger and better. The idea was to do the best parts of the original trip, Switzerland and Lake Como, and expand upon that to take in the Nurburgring, Black Forest, Austria and hopefully nicer parts of Southern France. Ambitiously we only added a couple more days to the total time away while adding a shed load more miles and things to see. I spent literally months making up a must-see route plan to take in the best roads Germany, South France and Austria had to offer and adding in many sights along the way. In hindsight we were definitely over confident after the first trip! This time we'd be taking the MX5 again and Taylor had sold the Polo and replaced with an infinitely more reliable DC2 Integra Type-R. New additions to the group were a pair of James' in an airbagged Golf GTI, which despite reservations from a few of us spring loving airbag doubters performed very well on the Nurburgring and mountain roads although the exhaust could have been a bit(alot) quieter. The other patrons on the camp sites we stayed on definitely knew when we left and came back, as did any surrounding villages for a 10 mile radius. We all met at a services on the M20 at about 4.30am and then proceeded to the Eurotunnel terminal, where as efficiently as last time we boarded a train and were in France very shortly. The majority of the morning were spent trundling along the Belgian motorways towards Germany with the passengers sleeping and the drivers trying not to sleep. A few UK registered modified cars passed us on the motorway and we all gave each other the standard car guy thumbs up, all knowing we were making the pilgrimage to the temple of speed that is the Nurburgring. By mid afternoon we were getting close, everyone was know away and getting excited. One of the James' had been there before so directed us in past the main straight and pit buildings and a few miles later we pulled into a viewing area on the side of the track. We were here and soon to drive our own cars on the famous tarmac! It is a truly amazing place, just seeing bit of race track inbetween houses and trees, and the normal road running alongside, weaving under the track and back out again. This was a major reason for making this whole trip again as I'm sure a place like this can't last long in our over legislated world, that's if the money woes don't finish it first. I wanted to be able to say to my kids that I had driven at this legendary place in my own car. We did however have a couple of hours to kill before the tourist sessions opened so grabbed some photos of the Porsches that were currently lapping and drove on a bit further to another viewing point. I'm pretty sure everyone says this, but the track looked so steep and ridiculously narrow compared to playing it on various videogames! At this point I was getting genuinely worried about driving around it. We still had some time to kill so decided to head out into the local area and find a campsite. I had found a couple on the map that looked to be in a nice area so we headed out that way and into a lush valley with a river running through it. The first one we came to was an absolute winner, the nice German guy that ran it coming out and welcoming us, asking about the cars and setting us up in an amazing spot right next to the river. If I remember it was about 6 euros each for the night, with the usual spotless shower blocks we remembered from the camp sites last time. No time for relaxing though as the MX5 was having a small problem for the first time ever, the right front brake was sticking on, not great for lapping the Nurburgring. We stripped the brakes and found the caliper was returning and holding the pad on. Unforunately we have no clamps or grips at all so resorted to wedging various tools in the carrier to push it back and forward to free it off. Luckily that seemed to do the trick and a quick blast up and down the road confirmed all was ok again. Most of the others, now napping or sitting in the sun, were rounded up and we headed to the entrance of the tourist sessions inside the track. I wish we had taken more photos as it is a car lovers dream, but it was too easy to be distracted both by all the awesome machinery parked up, and with the thought of trying not get taken out by it while on the Ring. We made the decision to stand and watch cars exiting and entering the 'paddock' area. This was a poor choice as it just made me more nervous! Weirdly I wasn't worried about crashing my car or getting hurt, it was mainly the outrageous bills it brings or destroying some German's 100k Porsche at the same time and having to deal with that! I'm ashamed to say I very nearly bottled it, as me and Taylor were pretty much talking each other out of it with discussions of what could go wrong. It would have been so stupid to drive all that way and not drive it, but I very nearly did, what a dick. It took James to walk over to the ticket desk and buy his 1 lap ticket for me to snap out of it and join the fun. In the end we all bought a ticket and lined up at the barrier for our lap of Nurburgring with sweaty palms and my heart beating like mad in excitement.
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'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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Found it! 4th and 5th June. All entry passes are sold out but you can still spectate for free. In Carmathen South Wales. The trouble is Mrs Fred is preggers and due on 31st May......I'm sure she'll understand Clicky link here
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Fantastic write up and looks like a load of fun. Would love to go on a road trip someday. Let's hope the missus and kids don't mind
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We are driving to Venice in the summer the planned route takes us with in a few km of the ring! So as I needed an overnight stay guess where that will be.
Any one any idea on the price of the ring taxi/ bus?
As I doubt the Mrs will appreciate me doing a lap even a slow lap in the Saab fully laden with two weeks holiday baggage
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Excellent, an update. Love the Elan Valley, very pretty to drive. Here's "your" dam several years ago in the middle of winter... And "your parking bay! Keep promising my lot I'll take them to Germany, one day
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Last Edit: Jan 5, 2016 0:32:42 GMT by georgeb
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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I apologise for the lack of car photos in the following bit, this will be rectified in later instalments, I wouldn't normally include people photos as nobody will have a clue (or care) who the hell we are, but they do add a bit more to the story and break up the text. As the previous photo demonstrates, I did actually make it onto the Nurburgring, and all the way around without crashing. And it was awesome. Genuinely so much fun. Even if we were about the slowest people on there. I think the only car we overtook was a Rover 75... If I had a track car and valid insurance, I would happily spend a whole weekend there. As a group we were on a massive high and it was very tempting to do more laps, but impending storm clouds put us off. So after more snooping round the car park we decided to do the only thing to do after lapping the Ring, head to the Pistenklause for steak and beer. It's a pretty damn cool place, and I would love to live in the little village it's in, surrounded by hills and with the distant sounds of cars screaming around famous corners. The food and beer was as equally satisfying, although I must say the service we received must have been the worst of the whole trip. I really have never met a waiter with less people or basic service skills than the bloke who served us, obviously they think they can rely on the food and a famous name, which I suppose they can! We headed back to the campsite for more Bitburgers and got to know the friendly resident animals. Then bed, as another long day was planned for day 2. By 6.30am we were already well on the road, weaving through some very picturesque German countryside and onto the autobahn towards the Black Forest, and eventually the Swiss border. Miles and miles of motorway passed, but not the de-restricted type. The only small section was pretty busy so we were unable to really push on, but cruising along legally at 115mph was still cool, although in a short geared MX5 it was far from relaxing and definitely not economical! We pulled off the Autobahn about 50 miles from the Swiss border and headed into the Black Forest in search of the first proper driving roads on the trip. It was dead quiet and we curved our way up pretty quickly via some great smooth roads. It wasn't as impressive as the alpine roads of the Alps but still a great way to get from A to B. A few quick photo opportunities were had here and there but we still had half a country to cross so we trucked on Southwards. We stopped for a break and wander around a waterfall before heading to the border into Switzerland at about 4pm. The border guard had a bit of a moan at us about not following his orders (a tad difficult as he was speaking German and using very ambiguous hand signals). I think his words, when eventually in English, were 'When you're in my country you do what I say'. I think somebody was on a power trip that afternoon. Keen to avoid any argument we nodded and apologised, and he signalled us on our way. We were in Switzerland! Our target was Interlaken to stay at the campsite we had done on our previous visit. The plan was to be there for a couple of days and drive the Grimsel pass we missed last time due to snow. We also planned to head to Zermatt and ride the highest cable car in Europe. As last time we didn't buy the Toll pass required to use the Swiss motorway system, as we wanted to drive the back roads and avoid more boring motorway driving. Now being early evening the traffic soon died off to nothing but at first it was taking what seemed like ages to tick the miles off. As experienced last time there was loads of interesting and modified cars about, we even got a few thumbs up: We swapped drivers (my mate Dan taking over driving duties in the MX5) and although a small detour around some shooting event that had closed a town took us through some random back roads and slowed us down a bit, due to the open roads and light traffic our pace was soon picking up and knowing we were only an hour or so from beer and food we were all in good spirits despite well over 12 hours solid driving. About 45 minutes from the campsite we were driving in convoy as a marked BMW 5 Series police car came down the road the other way. Now as the driver of a low, loud car with big rollbar, I was always slightly anxious around traffic police, and this increased when abroad due to the stories of British motorists being easy targets and notorious Swiss police. We had, however, encountered absolutely no problems on the previous trip, so I was pretty relaxed and was mainly thinking of the days ahead. Until the BMW hit it's brakes hard and swung a quick u-turn in the middle of road. Immediately we were all on edge, chattering over the radios nervously. We knew Taylor had a brake light out on the Integra so assumed we were about to be pulled and given a ticking off for that, while rummaging through all our documents to find out if anything else was untoward. The BMW followed us for 15 minutes (it seemed like far longer!), hanging back but obviously keen to keep an eye on our little convoy. We decided as there was a petrol station up ahead we'd pull in and fill up, and if he was going to have a chat with us we could deal with it there. We weren't the only ones with that idea. As we neared the petrol station 2 more marked BMW's shot out from the side of the road, completely blocked the road and waved us down, directing us onto the petrol station forecourt. When 4 armed, massive Swiss policemen appear out of nowhere and order you to stop, you do sh!t yourself a little bit. This wasn't going to be good...
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Last Edit: Jan 5, 2016 20:56:46 GMT by b3nson
'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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Epic! As for the cliffhanger - hurry up, for goodness sake!
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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We are driving to Venice in the summer the planned route takes us with in a few km of the ring! So as I needed an overnight stay guess where that will be. Any one any idea on the price of the ring taxi/ bus? As I doubt the Mrs will appreciate me doing a lap even a slow lap in the Saab fully laden with two weeks holiday baggage It was pretty expensive, I think around 100 euros? We did look at doing it but was put off by the price! Thanks for the responses guys, will continue the story later this week when I have the time to write it up properly.
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'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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Cracking write up so far. Really looking forward to the update
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skinnylew
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 5,546
Club RR Member Number: 11
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Holy cliff hanger Batman.........was it the Swiss fun police? or did you tick off that border guard so much he organised a welcoming party
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b3nson
Part of things
Posts: 886
Club RR Member Number: 22
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I was in bed by 8pm. Asleep about 20 seconds after that. 36 hours of almost non-stop driving punctuated with less than 2 hours sleep somewhere in middle will do that to you.
We were a long long way from where I had planned us to be. A whole winters worth of meticulous planning seemed completely ruined.
No Swiss mountain passes.
No cable car ride up the highest one in Europe.
No morning spent on the longest dry toboggan run in Europe.
No spectacular German castle.
No Austria
No Italy
No beers and pizza on Lake Como.
All because of a couple of hours spent on a Swiss petrol station forecourt about 24 hours ago...
We were sat in our cars surrounded by Swiss police, worrying what was going to happen next. Each car was visited by a different traffic cop and asked to get out documentation including driving licenses and insurance. Polite, but stern and with the authority that you just do what they ask. The guy who came to our car could speak English bout as good as I can speak German but we understood what he wanted to see. Documents were taken away and we were left to sit in silence. A few minutes later another man appeared, evidently more senior than the others. In perfect English he asked us to step out of the cars and gathered us round.
More questions followed, how long had we been in Switzerland, where were we heading, where had we come from. He asked had we been near Lucerne. I saw no point in lying, as no doubt he already had the answers he wanted and was just confirming what he already knew. Yes I said, and showed him the exact route we had taken.
Eventually we got to the point of the conversation and he told us why we had been stopped. He explained that 3 cars on UK plates had been caught on a speed camera on a rural road near Lucerne. This was at least 2 hours driving away from where we were now, but was an area we had passed through. We must have been Switzerland's Most Wanted at the time for them to pick us up where we were now.
We had been caught doing approximately 70mph in a 50mph zone (only later did we find out that rural Swiss roads have a speed limit of 50mph, not the 60mph we though, not that we wouldn't have been caught speeding anyway but it may have changed things slightly).
I must admit I was actually a bit relieved when he said we had been caught speeding, I mean what's the worst that can happen? A fine and a slapped wrist, “sorry Mr Swiss Policeman we won't do it again” and we head on our way.
He then explained that we would indeed be punished, but as the offence had occurred in another 'state' of Switzerland he would need to make a phone call to his colleagues from that area to determine what was to be done. Off he walked back to his car.
10 minutes later and he came walking back over. We would indeed have to pay a fine, he said, and then we could be on our way. Excellent, let's get this over with and get on with the trip.
How much is it? We asked.
1200 Francs, he replied
What!?! 1200 Francs, that's a sh!t load of money, about £900 at the current exchange rate. We had to confirm we heard him right!
Yes, 1200 francs per car, he confirmed.
PER CAR. We hadn't realised that! 3600 francs IN CASH, right there, was required to get us moving again. We couldn't believe it.
We asked if there was any other way to settle this, could we appeal? Where were the photos of us from the speed camera? Where was the proof of the speed we had been caught at?
The answer was no to everything. That was the fine and that had to be paid before we could go anywhere. What if we couldn't pay? (A genuine concern, we had some cash on us but unlikely to be enough, and some of the group had saved for months for this trip and simply did not have the spare funds). The answer to that was then they may have to take our cars off of us.
Real panic had set in by now. Some of the other guys were getting pretty angry, and I can understand why. I mean we had no proof this offence actually occurred, and were expected to hand over cash there and then. Was this even a real thing or were we being ripped off?
The cars were all marked, the police in uniform and it was in a very public place so it seemed as legit as it could be and the way I saw it, we had no choice. We could stay there and argue til the cows came home but it was likely all that would do is create bigger problems for us. We were in their country, and if you do the crime, you have to be prepared to deal with the consequences.
Plus I really didn't fancy spending the night in a Swiss cell.
After much discussion we decided that paying up was our only viable option. But how?
Emptying wallets, bags and gloveboxes onto the roofs of the cars, we all put our cash in together. There was no way we had many Francs between us, short by about only 2000 or so. Luckily they let us pay in a combination on Francs and Euros (how kind), so more money was emptied out. It took ages to count over all the cash, and we received a nice little receipt in return. Money well spent.
We also had to fill in sheets documenting who we were and who was driving.
All of this must have taken about an hour to complete, all the time some serious storm clouds were rolling in from the mountain, just to add to the misery.
Once all paid up, we wanted confirmation that we could go on our way and wouldn't be picked up anywhere else for the same thing.
'Yes all paid up' confirmed the senior policeman 'although of course, if you have been caught speeding elsewhere the same thing could happen again' (I'm pretty sure he said this with an wry, evil smile, but I could be making that up)
This genuinely struck fear into me. What if we had been caught elsewhere? We had been travelling the same speed on most of these roads so it was definitely possible. If we got pulled again and the same amount was required we'd be going home car-less, no question about it. In my mind it was far too much of a risk to stay in Switzerland any longer than we had to, I was already paranoid another group of cars would be around the next corner to pull us for another fine.
After discussion with the rest of the group, we decided the only option was to head straight for the Swiss border and get the hell out of the country.
I must say at this point the Swiss Police were always very polite, not aggressive and after the fine had been settled, pretty friendly. I asked one of them if we could buy the motorway pass anywhere local, and he guided me into the petrol station and translated for me to purchase 3 passes. I thanked him, grabbed the passes and chucked one in the windscreen of each car. A quick check of the map and the nearest border was with France, a couple of hours southwest of where we were currently.
This was the exact opposite direction to where we wanted to be travelling and make the rest of the trip completely impossible in the time frame we had. It was a devastating realisation, but it was the only option. Any other direction would mean much more time of Swiss roads and the risk, in my mind, was too great. 2 hours after we had been stopped we set off, joining the motorway a few miles down the road.
By now darkness had fallen and the thunderstorm was right above us. Huge rain drops fell on the screen, and I struggled to pick out the lines of the road between the wiper blades and sub-standard headlamps of MX5. Massive forks of lightening were seen in every direction. I wish we had taken some photos of this but it's not dramatic to say we were more worried about crashing the car in a combination of tiredness and horrendous weather.
I've never had such a tense couple of hours of driving. By now I was in full paranoid mode, expecting to see high-vis markings and blue lights around every corner. Even seeing a set of blue lights up the side of the mountain, at least a few miles from the motorway, set my heart racing.
I was also immensely worried that if we had been caught elsewhere, they might be waiting for us at the border to stop us leaving the country. This seems pretty stupid now, but in my mind at the time this was a real possibility. I'd even deliberately chosen our route across the border into France to be the one that I would imagine would have the lowest chance of any border guards still being there! It was like we were on one of the Gumball Rallies (except without the wealth). I felt like an outlaw, on the run.
Eventually we reached the border, and to my relief (and slight embarrassment that I was so worried) there was absolutely nobody manning it. We drove straight through into the promised land of France. It was coming up to 1am. We had been on the road since 6am. And we had no idea what to do next. All we knew was that we weren't going to finish the trip like this.
Sorry it's a bit wordy so far, really didn't have any photos to add, there will be some more soon I promise!
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Last Edit: Jan 7, 2016 19:55:18 GMT by b3nson
'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP
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