After reading somewhere around here about the 1% rule and considering myself as a long time lurker, and fairly minimal contributor to this forum, I though I would provide something (hopefully) of interest to people. Back in 2013 me and a few mates did a 10 day roadtrip around Europe, and another one earlier this year. As it's something I know alot of people would love to do at some point I though I'd do a write up about it. I haven't done one for this years yet, it proved a slightly more troublesome trip with a very cautionary tale, but if the general response is good I'll add that to this as well.
04/01/15 - Added some photos of an 'interim' trip to Wales we did in 2014 and first part of 2015 European trip has been added.
07/01/15 - More of the second trip has been added
Disclaimer: This won't be nearly as interesting as a couple of other trip write ups on here (a certain Canadian adventure and a certain American adventure).
Also it was written a couple of years ago and I'll be copying most of it from the MX5 forum I originally posted it on, therefore some of it may be written in present tense so please shout if any of it doesn't make sense.
So let's cast ourselves back to 2013:
So last night at 11.30pm I pulled up home after 9 days on the road, travelling across Europe to the best driving roads and most amazing places I’ve ever been. This trip had been 2 years in the making and after various self imposed deadlines that came and went without any action we finally had a small group of people ready to set off very early on the 8th of June for a trip that would exceed all expectations. I’m sure this is someone that either many of you guys have done, are planning to do or plan on doing at some point, so I thought I’d write up my experiences and hopefully provide some useful information for others in future.
First of all let’s go through some stats:
2 cars (my Mazda MX5 and a VW Polo G40 Supercharged)
4 people
2620 miles
4 countries (France, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco)
£431.15 worth of fuel
£185.59 in tolls
1 broken clutch cable
I did carry out some preparation on the 5 before leaving – carried out a full service including brake fluid, replaced front pads with Axxis pads and gave everything a good check over. The car didn’t use a drop of any fluids in the whole trip but I’m glad I upgraded the pads as on one particularly enthusiastic downhill run both cars brakes started to overheat, there was smoke pouring out of the front brakes of the Polo and a nice colour change on my discs!
We left home at a ridiculous 4.15am to meet at Clacket Lane services with the other guys in the Polo for 5am, then straight down to the Eurotunnel for one of the 1st trains out. I’d definitely recommend the Eurotunnel, was good cost wise (about £120 per car I think?) and we were in France within 2hrs (including check in, boarding etc).
So straight off the train onto the French motorways for a couple of hundred miles down to Reims. Before I post up the obligatory Reims grandstand photo (awesome and wierd place, so worth a stop to break up the long motorway journey) I have a couple of observations on driving in France:
I’d never driven abroad before, ever. Driving on the right did somehow seem very natural and apart from the first few minutes where you’re consciously not trying to drive on the left it was actually very easy and problem free. All 3 of us driving during the trip had no problems at all.
French motorways are fantastic. Yes they cost a fair bit in tolls but I think you pay for what you get. Well surfaced, quiet (we could sit in the slow lane for miles without seeing/overtaking anything), decent speed limits (80mph in most places) and everyone seems to be able to drive correctly (no middle lane hogging, driving too slowly etc). However they don’t seem to care for speed limits with trailers, we got overtaken by many cars towing caravans or trailers at over 90mph down hills.
Also the services are generally very good and frequent, nice picnic areas and restaurants, if a bit dear (but when aren’t they). In fact when we pulled up at the 1st petrol stop at a motorway services the whole experience set the tone for the trip – both funny and awesome all at the same time. At first none of the pumps were working and everyone (of various nationalities) looked very confused. I thought I was doing something wrong and that there may have been some strange way to fuel up in France but after some time and various broken conversations it was determined there was a computer error and they started working again. At this point a large queue had built up and the Polo (after probably the longest stint of it’s life without breaking down) decided not to restart and was blocking a pump. A quick diagnosis suspected a sticky starter where it had got so hot and it was swiftly bump started into action and this problem didn’t occur again for the rest of the trip, bizarre!
As we were paying and getting ready to leave a group of Brits pulled in that made our cars look curse word in comparison! A caged BMW M Coupe with huge wheels and a spare set of track wheels in the passenger seat, a caged up and stripped out Porsche 911 and a brand new Lamborghini Gallardo being driven by a very, very attractive lady. We’d already been passed on the motorway by countless Aston Martins including a 70’s Vantage convertible. As a group of car lovers this was the first of many chance encounters that we had with some amazing vehicles on what would have otherwise been just a normal road! After we gawped at said cars for a while continued down to Reims.
04/01/15 - Added some photos of an 'interim' trip to Wales we did in 2014 and first part of 2015 European trip has been added.
07/01/15 - More of the second trip has been added
Disclaimer: This won't be nearly as interesting as a couple of other trip write ups on here (a certain Canadian adventure and a certain American adventure).
Also it was written a couple of years ago and I'll be copying most of it from the MX5 forum I originally posted it on, therefore some of it may be written in present tense so please shout if any of it doesn't make sense.
So let's cast ourselves back to 2013:
So last night at 11.30pm I pulled up home after 9 days on the road, travelling across Europe to the best driving roads and most amazing places I’ve ever been. This trip had been 2 years in the making and after various self imposed deadlines that came and went without any action we finally had a small group of people ready to set off very early on the 8th of June for a trip that would exceed all expectations. I’m sure this is someone that either many of you guys have done, are planning to do or plan on doing at some point, so I thought I’d write up my experiences and hopefully provide some useful information for others in future.
First of all let’s go through some stats:
2 cars (my Mazda MX5 and a VW Polo G40 Supercharged)
4 people
2620 miles
4 countries (France, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco)
£431.15 worth of fuel
£185.59 in tolls
1 broken clutch cable
I did carry out some preparation on the 5 before leaving – carried out a full service including brake fluid, replaced front pads with Axxis pads and gave everything a good check over. The car didn’t use a drop of any fluids in the whole trip but I’m glad I upgraded the pads as on one particularly enthusiastic downhill run both cars brakes started to overheat, there was smoke pouring out of the front brakes of the Polo and a nice colour change on my discs!
We left home at a ridiculous 4.15am to meet at Clacket Lane services with the other guys in the Polo for 5am, then straight down to the Eurotunnel for one of the 1st trains out. I’d definitely recommend the Eurotunnel, was good cost wise (about £120 per car I think?) and we were in France within 2hrs (including check in, boarding etc).
So straight off the train onto the French motorways for a couple of hundred miles down to Reims. Before I post up the obligatory Reims grandstand photo (awesome and wierd place, so worth a stop to break up the long motorway journey) I have a couple of observations on driving in France:
I’d never driven abroad before, ever. Driving on the right did somehow seem very natural and apart from the first few minutes where you’re consciously not trying to drive on the left it was actually very easy and problem free. All 3 of us driving during the trip had no problems at all.
French motorways are fantastic. Yes they cost a fair bit in tolls but I think you pay for what you get. Well surfaced, quiet (we could sit in the slow lane for miles without seeing/overtaking anything), decent speed limits (80mph in most places) and everyone seems to be able to drive correctly (no middle lane hogging, driving too slowly etc). However they don’t seem to care for speed limits with trailers, we got overtaken by many cars towing caravans or trailers at over 90mph down hills.
Also the services are generally very good and frequent, nice picnic areas and restaurants, if a bit dear (but when aren’t they). In fact when we pulled up at the 1st petrol stop at a motorway services the whole experience set the tone for the trip – both funny and awesome all at the same time. At first none of the pumps were working and everyone (of various nationalities) looked very confused. I thought I was doing something wrong and that there may have been some strange way to fuel up in France but after some time and various broken conversations it was determined there was a computer error and they started working again. At this point a large queue had built up and the Polo (after probably the longest stint of it’s life without breaking down) decided not to restart and was blocking a pump. A quick diagnosis suspected a sticky starter where it had got so hot and it was swiftly bump started into action and this problem didn’t occur again for the rest of the trip, bizarre!
As we were paying and getting ready to leave a group of Brits pulled in that made our cars look curse word in comparison! A caged BMW M Coupe with huge wheels and a spare set of track wheels in the passenger seat, a caged up and stripped out Porsche 911 and a brand new Lamborghini Gallardo being driven by a very, very attractive lady. We’d already been passed on the motorway by countless Aston Martins including a 70’s Vantage convertible. As a group of car lovers this was the first of many chance encounters that we had with some amazing vehicles on what would have otherwise been just a normal road! After we gawped at said cars for a while continued down to Reims.