Road trip 2008 De-brief, photos, facts figures and videos

[expostmanpat]

Ok a few facts and figures,

Computer:

Distance travelled 3760 miles

Car running time 89 hrs, 52 mins

Average speed 42 mph

Fuel consumption 51.5 mpg

Actual:

Litres used 403.47

Gallons 88.75

fuel consumption 42.36 mpg

(Exchange rate 1.2 euro, 2.0 chf)

Fuel cost £441.06

average price £4.97g / £1.09 l

Road Tolls (inc. Vignettes)

£138.20

Day 0

A services on the M1

Finnally got to meet the mad punters who had trusted me with their Holiday plans :eek:

Kaiserb_uk - Will, Never met before, what a relief to find out he is a great guy

SimonSheil - Simon, met Simon a couple of times before, allthough hadn't talked much, another great guy to have around.

Sean, Simons co-driver, Not a member of Brisky (yet), Fantastic dry sense of humour, and soon intigrated with the Briskodians

APD007 - Alan, Met loads of times and allways got on well, this week was no exception (well apart from Will and Pat threatening to smother him )

Mathepac -Pat (the real one) Never met before, but had heard stories Top bloke with a fantastic ability to make everyone laugh, and the ladies swoon (and get lost, upset entire nations, re-write history, and eat the EU bread mountain)

Irin and Roxanne, Met before on the Prague trip, a very friendly couple who get on famously with everyone. (but don't let him lead again)

Day 1

Early morning pit stop south of Paris

Millau Bridge and Gorge

Arrival in Nimes around 5 'o' clock, after much running about down 1 way streets managed to find the hotel garage and our 1950's 'Agatha Christie' Hotel

Garage

Hotel from garage

Hotel lobby

and a rather messy bedroom

After settling down for a hour or two we wandered f for an Alfresco meal of Pizza, and a chance to get to know one another:)

Nimes:

Finally colapsing into bed about 9.30 pm, approx 30 hours after setting off :eek:

Porbably a little too much for a single day, along the way we lost Pat to fatigue in a services 30 miles from Paris and eventually we all had a cat nap before reaching Millau. After a side excursion for the main Party down a Drainage culvert everyone arrived in Nimes around the same time. Despite this I think everyone saw everything and had a good day. If only the Holiday could have started 100 miles above Millau, where the Auto route turns from featureless straight tarmac to a fast snaking paradise

Edited 15 September, 2008 by postmanpat

[Wardy]

Sounds like you had a brilliant trip

Steve

[expostmanpat]

Day 2

Today was meant to be an early start, poor Irin and Roxanne had to wait a good half hour for the rest of us to get ready for the off, The sun was out and it looked like a perfect day to tackle Mount Ventoux.

We jumped straight onto the main road for Avignon and onto Carpentras.From Carpentras we travelled on to Bedoin:

Before starting the climb up to the Chalet Reynard and the base of Mount Ventoux. Unfortunately there seemed to be some sort of cycling road race taking place and we started to come accros many bikes. From Bedoin the road as some lovely sweeping bends that can be taken at a reasonable pace, unfortunately just as we were getting in top the swing one of these bends turned into a hairpin, fortunately a gravel road led from the corner of the bend allowing a bit of an escape road, a good early reminder to the leading car to be more catious in future )

Chalet Reynard:

From here we continued up Ventoux toward Malaucene, afetr dodging cyclists and support cars the weather closed in and we found ourselves in cloud, litterally only able to see a couple of feet in front. Upon reaching the top point it was decided to not to continue along the ridge to Malaucene, but to turn around and return to the Chalet.

Once back in clear air we climbed away from Ventoux on the opposite side of the Valley before dropping into Sault. The visibility remained good along some fantastic winding roads with the odd hairpin . A detour was required, on approaching a fast bend we found a coach and lorry broadside, the van having a ripped off axle, another timely reminder that you never know what is around the next corner!!!

From Sault back to Carpentras for a Steak and chip Sandwiche and then the blat down the main route into Cannes for our 2 night stay at the Cannes Riviera. A little bit of swearing at the sat nav for directions in the city and straight up to the roof top pool for a dip

The hotel:

Another messy bedroom:

View from bedroom window:

After after being joined by Irin and Roxanne (who booked their own accomodation on the lamb) and a wander round Cannes by night (Irin decided a sea swim was in order :eek:)we settled on a small restaurant near the port for an excellent evening meal, Mysel swmbo, Pat and Will then went on to a small cafe for a few beers befoere returning around 11.

[expostmanpat]

Day 3

A day of rest and a chance to catch breath after 2 long days of driving..............NOT!

Today was meant to be wander round Cannes day, Irin and Roxanne decided to top up their tans, Simon and Sean wandered down the coast to Monaco, the rest of us, after a lazy morning decided that it would be a shmae not to take a wander up the Col de Turini

Cannes beach:

The odd yacht:

A slightly less salubrious form of transport:

Leaving Cannes we head out toward Nice and Monaco, before turning off the autoroute for Castillon,sospel, and Moulinet. From the very minute we leave the main motorway the roads start to climb alarmingly with hairpin after hairpin. The view get more dramatic, the roads narrower and the drops steeper. Between Moulinet and Bollene - Vesubie it is possible to turn off the Col and circle on a one way road around the peak in the Mercantour NP. This seemed like a fine idea to be able to go into attack mode with no danger of traffic in the opposite direction , In practice this road was quite busy, this road was quite narrow (a car width) the drops off the edge where quite steep (sheer ) and it was largely unpaved rutted gravell (ie at more thn 2mph the undertray on the fabia was scraping along the ground :() Today we lost Pat, this was a good thing, we found him again as we were leaving the one way road (he was about to enter) and so save him damaging his extrmeley low sump!!!

The road down to Luceram was hairpin after hairpin that had to be taken at a steady pace, (more to follow later ) before a quick but late dash back to our hotel in Cannes The mile round single track road took over an hour :eek:) and an alfresco Chinese evening meal (yummy) At this point I was seriously worried that my timings for the trip where miles out, the Col trip should have been 3 -4 hours but it took nearer 6 :eek:

low down

HEADS:

Views along the single track road:

Final thought for the day, the gorgeous Adelle, a sweet young french filly that Monsieur Pat managed to charm over breakfast.

Edited 15 September, 2008 by postmanpat

[expostmanpat]

Day 4

Today we head out of Cannes, for Grasse, here we picked up the Route Napoleon, turning off for the Verdon Gorge towards Moustiers, at Castellane. We managed to loose Pat (again) and after reaching Moustiers returned along the Corniche sublime to Comps - sur Artbury (finding a miffed Pat who's sat nav had taken him there by a direct route and 2 hours in front of us ), after going full circle we returned to Castellane and the route Napoleon for the run up to Gap and then onto our Hotel in Barratier. The Route Napoleon is a fantastic driving road with sharp hairpins followed by long sweeping bends. The Verdon gorge was spoiled by being held up by a coach but the views where fantastic. The Corniche was a fine driving road as was the stretch from Comps to Castellane.

The hotel at Barratier was in a fantastic unpopulated space with clear blue/green lakes nearby. This was possibly our best hotel, with a pool, sauna, jacuzzi and steam room The hotel restaurant provided us with a fantastic meal of local produce and the craic was excellent if a little insulting of French history

Carpentras:

Verdon Gorge and the Corniche sublime:

Barratier

Messy bedroom

pool etc

And not for the squeemish or for those that have eaten:

Edited 8 May, 2009 by postmanpat

[expostmanpat]

Day 5

Today we headed back to Gap and the route Napoleon to Grenoble. Taking the route to Moutier and on to the little saint Bernard Pass, However much of the route to the pass consisted of Hhairpins. The original plan was to trave through the Mont Blanc tunnel, but it had been decided to take the Grand st Bernard pass if the weather permitted. IT DID. So from Pre-saint-Didier it was down to Aosta and then over the Grand st Bernard and onto our hotel in Crans. This was also accessed by a series of hairpins. The hotel was a quiet ski lodge style again, with pool, and pool table. Again we had a very nice evening meal in the hotel. (I have now tried Escargo!!) Today was a very long day, partially due to the adding of the Grand st Bernard and partly due to the extremely winding nature of the roads between passes. Local road works didn't improve things either.

A few roads and the great st. Bernard pass:

Lake at top of pass:

And the border crossing over the pass

At the top of the pass we met up with a few Lotus owners on much the same tour, Question, does anyone know Sam the owner of a red fabia vRS who dated a lass whos brother owned a Lotus, he had a Brisky sticker

Our hotel for the night:

[expostmanpat]

Day 6

Possibly the longest and most intense driving day to date.

From Crans we headed straight to Hospenthal, well as straight as we could on the Furkastrasse and the Furka pass, possibly my personal favourite peice of road! Next came the OLD st Gothard pass, a series of cobbled Hairpins (poor Alan drove straight past the turn off and had to turn round, by the bottom he wished he had stayed on the new road!!) From there it was a nice run down to Bellinzona before heading back for the St Bernadino pass and onto the motorway for our run into Chur. Again our party got slightly split but everyone found their way. Wills group doing all the twisties up to the Bernadino pass and the m-way down, ourselves and Pat followed the m-way up to the beginning of the pass and the twisties down, Believe it or not there was actually an hairpin bend or 2 on the m-way going up :eek:. The rains vame on the way to chur so main roads where eventually welcomed, the weather cleared as we entered the city though. Due to a clerical error by the booking agents 2 of our party had to stay at an alternative hotel, but we all met up for our evening meal at a local restaurant where Pat once again provided the entertainment.

The furka pass

Saint Gothard pass

saint Bernadino pass

Chur hotel

Edited 15 September, 2008 by postmanpat

[Makefish]

Outstanding mate, and a great looking trip

If there was an award to go to a Briskodian then you'd deserve one although I'm not sure which one it would be :P

Look forward to seeing more pics etc

[expostmanpat]

Day 7

So I lied, today was longer than yesterday,

From Chur we headed out to Davos, onto Zernes and Sluderno, with the exception of cows in the middle of the road, this IS the greatest road in the world, long sweeping bendings, tighter complexes with excellent visibility, meant high speed and safe passage, and at the end? the Stelvio Pass. The stelvio, over populated with flamin tourists, and full of road works, when these are completed and new tarmac down it will be out of the world, still a fantastic experiance. Down the other side to Sondalo and then a little suprise, a practically single track road up and over the next mountain! More hairpins than you could shake a stick at with no road edges and '000's of feet sheer drops, this was done slolwy!!! This road was unamed and appeared at some point to have been used as a cycle hill climb. Again half the party got split up by taking the sat navs advice to find a main road. From Vezza D'Oglio we picked up a slightly more used twisty road before hitting the autoroute into Bolzano and our 4 star hotel, complete with roof top swimming pool, sauna, slolarium etc,etc. Pushing the boat out we ate in and sampled fine dining with quality plonk.

Nearly forgot to mention the half dozen or so Lambos travelling up the back side of the Stelvio, ah the noise of them blatting round the hairpins, just wish we had caught them in the tunnels!

Road from Davos

stelvio pass

Not my car :P

Coming down the other side (See above)

The cycle track

The Sheraton

Desert yum yum

and a motley bunch

Edited 15 September, 2008 by postmanpat

[expostmanpat]

Day 8

Our last serious driving for pleasure day.

From the luxuary of the Sheraton (after an early morning swim and Jacuzzi) its off to Cortina d'ampezzo via del passo sel e val Gardena, and the Passo di Gardena. Somehow after driving for 90 minutes Simon and ourselves managed to find ourselves 90 minutes ahead of the rest of the pack (sat nav refusing to take them any other than the main road and them following Irin) We had a nice long break though and they caught up eventually taking the correct route. From there it was a nice clear road to lienz before gheading north to Heiligenblut, and the Grossglockner road. WOW what a road upto the Franz Jopseph Glacier, where with more time we could have walked on or in the Glacier, a must for revisit. Over the top of the Grossglockner and we ran into low cloud (well high cloud at nearly 3000m. This meant there was little point in taking the old hairpins of the hill climb, and so we dropped through the crest of the moyuntain for the descent into Austria. Shortly before dropping out of the cloud we came behind a fruitcase local who must have known the road like the preverbial and it was a pleasure to follow his tail lights. It was then into Zell am See to our Chalet Style hotel where we also ate evening meal. As an aside travelling through the countryside toward the town there was a tractor convention, there must have ben well over 500 vintage machines!!

On the way to the Grossglockner:

Franz Joseph Glacier Grossglockner:

Our Hotel and Zell am see:

Edited 15 September, 2008 by postmanpat

[Stuart_J]

Looks like a well organised trip & you have managed to fit in many of the Classics. Will be a holiday to remember for all Im sure.

As I said in the other thread, you now have the bug so where next year ??

Stuart

[expostmanpat]

Day 9

We bid fairwell to Austria with long straight fast roads heding into moutain ranges, entering southern Germany we looked forward to deserted autobahns etc etc, but it was not to be, what appeared to be rush hour traffic (10am on a saturday :eek:) speed limits in place due to water spray, and massive tail backs due to road works, and poor lane discapline :grumpy: The further North we got, the road works spaced out, the driving improved and the limits dissapeared, Will who at the beginning of the week didn't like driving at 80 on the auto route managed a GPS 136 in his mapped furby, me I managed a GPS 133 in a (std car before haveing to stand it on its nose for a loony french Peugot.) So a late arrival in Koblenz to our recently refurbished hotel. Will, Alan , simon and myself decided as the weather was good, and businees likely to be low to head straight for the 'ring for the 90 min tourist laps advertised. Hitting a completely closed autobahn with diversion with 25 miles to go, Alan shot off and got lost, the rest of us found our way only to find the track closed due to a re-arranged event. But we managed to skank a place on the event......... a guided ring walk with Dale the resident race school instructor . We also found out that the closure would not have had any bearing as in practice during the mornings race event a new bio-deisal powered race car had split its fuel tank dumping 200l of bio over a mile long section of the track!!!!

Returning late to the hotel we met up with Alan, Pat and Sean in a local Italian, they where just finnishing their meal after deciding not to wait, and who can blame them!!!!!

Leaving Austria

Walking and talking the 'ring racing line:

well my line

Our hotel

Edited 15 September, 2008 by postmanpat

[expostmanpat]

Day 10

Our last day, we head out of Koblenz for the ring, having been told the night before it would be shut to bikes but probably open to cars. On arrival it was clear it was not to be, the ring was still closed and unlikely to open due to the clean up operations:( So it was off to the ferry on empty autobahns, and clear belgium roads. Of course we managed to get lost in Dunkirque, searching for petrol stations, and closed Hypermarkets. We blamed the French for closing half the town for some sort of fair. Then onto the ferry and sad good byes in blighty.

Another dissapointed punter:

3800 miles of soot

The trip was tiring, it was hard work at times keeping together, and leading on some of the roads took a lot of concentration. The organisation was quite long and hard but in the end it paid off. Overall it was well worthwhile, I enjoyed every moment and it truly lived upto my expectations (which where very high) The icing on the cake was that all who went enjoyed themselves, we had no injuries, no arrests, and everyone agreed it was the road trip of a lifetime :D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Thanks everyone for making my idea work and making our holiday extra special, Jeannette and I could not have wished for better company and wouldn't hesitate to see you all again.

Andrew

Edited 15 September, 2008 by postmanpat

[expostmanpat]

As I said in the other thread, you now have the bug so where next year ??

Stuart

http://briskoda.net/off-topic-chit-chat/2009-road-trip-feeler-thread-postmanpat-package-tours-proud-present/110096/

:P

[mannyo]

Of course we managed to get lost in Dunkirque, searching for petrol stations, and closed Hypermarkets.

Assuming this was a Sunday, you should have realised that virtually everything in France is closed on a Sunday, like we used to be quiet a few years ago. I usually found the only places open were the motorway service areas.

Looks lika a good time was had by everyone. To get an idea of the scale of the Millau bridge, look at one of your photos, the cars on the bridge look like ants.

[mdk1]

Looks like a mega tour, wish i could have taken part.

maybe next year.

[Gillywibble]

Absolutely unbelievably stunning :eek::eek::eek:

I'm so jealous.

[expostmanpat]

Thanks for looking.

Now to start editing the video :eek:

[RobClubley]

Whoa! Fantastic write-up, great photos, excellent organisation.

Wish I could have joined you!! Bit far from here though!!

Cracking stuff.

[Wardy]

A great review and some breathtaking photos. Was most enjoyable reading and looking

Steve

[Lady Elanore]

A great thread Andy. Did it take as long to do as the holiday lasted? Enjoyed it all thanks.

[Royston]

As it says ont front bumper -Awesome!

You commitment to driving and organisation can only be commended. This is summat to tell the grandkids when the internal combustion engine no longer exists!

Well done.

[sms]

on day 8 photos, is that actually snow??? also what was the total cost of the trip was it 440 ish or was that just fuel? (sorry its been a long long day).

[expostmanpat]

on day 8 photos, is that actually snow???

Yes and Ice

also what was the total cost of the trip was it 440 ish or was that just fuel? (sorry its been a long long day).

I wish

Total cost, for two people:

Fuel £441.06

Tolls £138.20

Garage £34.16

Misc. gifts drinks sandwiches £234.66

Dining out inc drinks £486.16

Accomodation £800

Total £2134.25

[Glider]

Great write up, thanks for sharing your trip with us, whets the appetite to go and give it a try.