European road trips.

[DonkeyApple]

Ever since we were at uni, a group of friends and I have always done at least one lad's road trip into Europe a year.

The trips are only ever about 3/4 days and tend to centre around points of interest or events and involve much gout inducing dining.

In recent years we have begun to run out of ideas as there is only so far you can reach sensibly within that time frame. There are obviously going to be places and events that we've overlooked so I'm looking for inspiration.

To give you some ideas as to what we've already covered here are some of the types of runs:

WW1 war graves.
Bridge too Far route.
Battle of the Bulge.
NRing Old Timers.
Monte Carlo.
Le Mans classic.
Brittany.
Trouville.
Bordeaux.
Cologne.
Loire
Epernay
Paris
Bruge
Amsterdam.

There is an RTR war grave in northern Germany we'd like to visit but the route is dull. Ireland is out as people would try and play golf. No ferries to Norway any longer. Denmark is properly dull.

Not done Stelvio.

General idea is usually one day full driving then a couple of days pottering locally. But keen to avoid massive motorway legs which does limit range but not a set rule. Also have to be a little wary of where the cars are overnight.

[MarshPhantom]

Pague - around 600 miles from Calais so possible in your time available.

[DonkeyApple]

MarshPhantom said:

Pague - around 600 miles from Calais so possible in your time available.

Good call. Have done it, back in 90s just after the revolution. In a ford Sierra. Class.

[littleredrooster]

Circuit des Remparts, Angouleme?
http://www.circuit-des-remparts.com/index-id_page-...

I'm hoping to go there myself this year.

[DonkeyApple]

littleredrooster said:

Circuit des Remparts, Angouleme?
http://www.circuit-des-remparts.com/index-id_page-...

I'm hoping to go there myself this year.

That looks like a good weekend. Looks like it may be how Le Mans was twenty years ago before the package holiday firms got involved.

Nice crossing to Le Havre and a cross country journey down. Good time of year also.

Thanks for the heads up.

[Russwhitehouse]

I can vouch for the Circuit des Remparts. I live twenty minutes away and we go most years. Great proper no mercy racing on a tight city circuit. The weather is always hot and sunny and the surrounding countryside provides stunning driving roads. Pre book seats for the tribunes though, as standing all day craning your neck to see is no fun at all. Seats cannot be bought on the day anymore so get them via the website. Always a massive turn out of Brit competitors in a lush variety of precious metal.

[truck71]

Reims, take a tour of some champagne producers, go to Laon for lunch. Pop over to Belgium to Ypres, Spa etc- lots of great roads. Or, try Luxembourg city, loads of history and a bit of a surprise.

Another thought, have you read the poor boys tour from the last C&SC?

You said Ireland is out due to golf (quite right by the way), does this include NI? Belfast is very interesting with great cuisine, the coast road heading North West out of Larne is superb with a great little place for lunch in Ballygalley.

Jumping back to France, you can hit the Dordogne in a day which out of season is reasonably traffic free with great scenic roads.

Edited by truck71 on Sunday 4th January 13:57

Edited by truck71 on Sunday 4th January 14:05

[DonkeyApple]

Russwhitehouse said:

I can vouch for the Circuit des Remparts. I live twenty minutes away and we go most years. Great proper no mercy racing on a tight city circuit. The weather is always hot and sunny and the surrounding countryside provides stunning driving roads. Pre book seats for the tribunes though, as standing all day craning your neck to see is no fun at all. Seats cannot be bought on the day anymore so get them via the website. Always a massive turn out of Brit competitors in a lush variety of precious metal.

Thanks. I do like that part of the world and this event looks good.

[lowdrag]

Spa 6 hours in September. The right crowd and no crowding. As someone who did Angouleme a few times in the 90's I find it expensive and too controlled these days.

[DonkeyApple]

truck71 said:

Reims, take a tour of some champagne producers, go to Laon for lunch. Pop over to Belgium to Ypres, Spa etc- lots of great roads. Or, try Luxembourg city, loads of history and a bit of a surprise.

Another thought, have you read the poor boys tour from the last C&SC?

You said Ireland is out due to golf (quite right by the way), does this include NI? Belfast is very interesting with great cuisine, the coast road heading North West out of Larne is superb with a great little place for lunch in Ballygalley.

Jumping back to France, you can hit the Dordogne in a day which out of season is reasonably traffic free with great scenic roads.

Edited by truck71 on Sunday 4th January 13:57

Edited by truck71 on Sunday 4th January 14:05

We've done all the first ideas. And the Dordoigne. All fantastic.

Northern Ireland is dangerous as a quick dash down the M1 means bags of clubs will be loaded before you know what's happening. It's a real danger. One year we had a chap who decided he'd fly himself to Le Touquet a day before we would be passing so he could get a round in. He was only snapped into line for future trips because we actually forgot to pick him up. It's a crippling affliction.

What's the poor lads tour?

[Keep it stiff]

[quote=DonkeyApple]



Northern Ireland is dangerous as a quick dash down the M1 means bags of clubs will be loaded before you know what's happening. It's a real danger. One year we had a chap who decided he'd fly himself to Le Touquet a day before we would be passing so he could get a round in. He was only snapped into line for future trips because we actually forgot to pick him up. It's a crippling affliction.

On that basis I guess you have ruled out Scotland too?

[DonkeyApple]

Keep it stiff said:

DonkeyApple said:

Northern Ireland is dangerous as a quick dash down the M1 means bags of clubs will be loaded before you know what's happening. It's a real danger. One year we had a chap who decided he'd fly himself to Le Touquet a day before we would be passing so he could get a round in. He was only snapped into line for future trips because we actually forgot to pick him up. It's a crippling affliction.

On that basis I guess you have ruled out Scotland too?

Did a lap of Scotland a few years back. Fantastic. Left the golfers down south out of necessity.

Edited by DonkeyApple on Sunday 4th January 17:07

[DonkeyApple]

lowdrag said:

Spa 6 hours in September. The right crowd and no crowding. As someone who did Angouleme a few times in the 90's I find it expensive and too controlled these days.

Thanks. Done several Spa events. One of the best was stumbling across some enormous Beetle event when heading to the Ardennes.

I think the 90s saw the end of most events as they used to be. It's worse if you knew them from before.

Edited by DonkeyApple on Sunday 4th January 17:30

[AJAX50]

Ireland is fantastic, it could be worth risking the golfers. We got the ferry to Dublin, stayed there a couple of days, went across to Sligo, then down the west side on the coast road to Dingle, quite spectacular. Got the ferry back from Cork to Pembroke. We were really luck with the weather never had to put the hood up on the Healey in the two week we were there.

[v8250]

OP, a favourite of mine is the British Classic Car Show in Morges, held second weekend of October. The route? Head to Annecy any way you like for the first overnight...then up to La Clusaz, Flumet, Saint Gervais les Bains and into Chamonix for a good loooooooooooooooooooooooong lunch. Post lunch cross the border into Switzerland to Martigny [this leg has some great driving and October's superb as there are few tourists!] and take the D9 to Montreux...and maybe time for supper?It's a cool place with great evening views onto the lake. Or, continue on the northern lake road of Lac Leman straight into Morges; about 40mins for the second overnight. Spend a day in Morges admiring the superb array of British cars and bikes...and the evening/night too if you've time; it's a great party atmosphere. Next day head back on any route you choose...nip into Geneve, Dijon, Troyes, Reims. To do properly it's a 5 day trip and great fun. Oh, and there are some superb eateries en route if you like your food.

PS there are also some serious golf courses...but just don't tell your buddies

[leyorkie]

Algarve Classic
It's in October but the weather down there is still good.
Ferry to Bilbao there's a way to start a trip

[jamesatcandsc]

If you want to base the road trip around a classic event I've always fancied going to Schwetzingen (http://www.classic-gala.de/).

Didn't get to the inaugural Chantilly (http://peterauto.peter.fr/fr/evenement/retour/id/24/nom/Chantilly+Arts+%26+Elegance+Richard+Mille) myself this year, but apparently it was very good and I've always fancied the Pau historics (http://www.classicgt.co.uk/grand-prix-de-pau-historique/).

The best Euro-jaunt I did personally was getting the ferry down to Santander (a great start if you like a drink or ten on the boat with mates and then plenty of time to sleep it off), drove up to the Pyrenees via Bilbao (Guggenheim), San Sebastian (brilliant food, lovely city) and then Biarritz (mainly for leching), did a lot of driving in the mountains across to Andorra (some great cols), then on up to St Malo via Bordeaux then Brittany and Normandy for the boat home. I didn't bother with Pamplona and a load of other stuff, but you could easily make it en route.

The absolute must do for me, though, is Mont Ventoux. It's a big, long trip, but that is one hell of a hill.

[NNH]

-Lake Como
-DFDS freight ferry to Norway from Immingham does take passengers/cars too

[Neonblau]

From your list you may have been here, but as an event this takes some beating:

http://www.tanksintown.be/

[DonkeyApple]

Thanks everyone. I knew PH would have some better ideas than I'd ever find using Google.

Particularly interested to learn that you can travel freight to Norway as that was a country we definitely wanted to tour.

Found this article: http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advic...