European Road Trip April/May '16
Discussion
TRIP REPORT
Firstly, apologies for the slow write up. As you will tell by the below I'm no author. If any of you have any questions I'll be more than willing to help.
Initially I was hoping to update this thread daily while I was away but time & internet speed was against me.
Overall we both had a thoroughly good time, being our first “road trip” holiday we didn’t really know what to expect and I think due to that reason we both enjoyed it so much, I would also like to point out that this trip also put me off owning a Caterham. Don't get me wrong money not being an issue I would have a Caterham in the garage however even in June we had a lot of rain and I could think of nothing worse than a journey down to Switzerland in an open top car.
A quick clean before we set off!
Day 1 – Thursday 16th June 2016
We both woke at 3.00am after not much sleep to drive down to Eurotunnel. Was fairly busy with both the Euros and Le Mans goers which made the early morning start more bearable:
Arriving at Eurostar Folkstone:
It was ridiculously busy for that time of day we had to queue for around 30-40 mins for boarder control, however there were some nice views:
Getting on the train, always want to put my foot down at this point!:
Upon reaching France the weather looked great however that didn't last long and for at least 60% of the journey we where in heavy rain.
First stop along the E17 just outside the Saint Quentin on route to Reims the weather was terrible at this point and to be honest and I found it hard going:
Still clean
Arrived at Reims, I was really pleased we stopped here and I picked up a great leaflet all about the history:
We then came off the A5 to join the D396 in order to hit the D996, which I must say was one of the best roads of the holiday, quiet, flowing and most importantly dry:
I do have a short video I'll add over the weekend (hopefully!)
Apologies for poor video view I was still working on the best mounting points. Once we reached Dijon we stopped to watch the first half of England v Wales which was a well-deserved break, a note for anyone looking at doing this sort of trip please ensure your Partners have toilet breaks when they see services rather than wait! The D996 goes on for a while!!
The roads seemed to be more interesting from Dijon all the way to Lake Geneva:
15 hours after leaving home we finally arrived at our hotel, for the last couple of hours the weather was terrible which was a shame as the roads really opened up.
View from our room
If I was planning this journey again I will keep the long first day, I was tired by the end, which is a credit to the Golf and I would have done longer mileage on the second night in hindsight and by passed Turin.
Weather got worse and worse during the night, but thankfully we awoke to sunshine for our drive to Turin:
Amazing views at a service station:
Even better at the next petrol station:
On route to the St Bernard Pass:
We found this part of France/Switzerland really nice and are looking to return at some point in the future. We arrived at the top of the St Bernard Pass and I’m glad I waited until June as there was still so much snow at the top, going any earlier would be risky:
Nice views at the top:
Looking back at the St Bernard Pass
Didn't actually drive this road but amazing views:
Then then had an early night but looking back I would have driven to Monaco in one day as I felt fresh as a daisy and would have preferred an extra night in Lake Como.
From Turin we headed down the SS20 towards Monte Carlo which again was a great road:
We then moved on to the D2204 in France which again was a fantastic road.
Finally seeing Monte Carlo:
We arrived in Monaco before midday which was nice as we had a good 24 hours to explore Monte-Carlo, unfortunately there weren’t many supercars around but we had a lovely meal and saw a few decent cars:
All these in the hotel carpark:
Amazing
The next day we were heading to Maranello to see the Ferrari museum and stay at the Ferrari hotel but went via Pisa (thanks to a recommendation from someone on here), although I’m pleased we saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa I was disappointed by the area and didn’t feel as if my car was safe so we only stopped or a quick pic and continued out journey.
At the Ferrari Museum:
Something isn’t right here!
The Ferrari hotel was empty and felt slightly eerie, however the restaurant there was really good. Very reasonably priced, service was great and food was amazing.
Starters
Main
From Maranello we were staying on Lake Como via Lake Garda.
Arriving at Lake Garda:
We arrived at Lake Como for two nights which was a well-deserved rest. The hotel was amazing, views were incredible and to top it off the weather was great.
Breakfast with a view
The hotel we stayed in was amazing, details will be earlier in the thread but if your looking to stay in this area well worth considering this hotel:
We left bright and early on day 7 as we were covering a few passes.
From Lake Como we headed to the Stelvio Pass from the West to East, as mentioned within this forum before this was a slight disappointment, very busy and not really a flowing road, even with no traffic was a little too tight for my liking, however I am very pleased to say I have driven it and the views were pretty impressive.
At the top
At the top
We then turned around and came back up the Stelvio pass and joined the Umbrail Pass which was very quiet compared to the previous road and IMO more enjoyable I didn’t feel as if I was almost stopping at every corner.
We then followed the 28 Fluela Pass all the way to Davos which was a great road.
We stayed in this lovely hotel and went for a short walk which was hard work in the mountains but the views made it worthwhile!
Breakfast with a view again!
Day 8 we left Davos and headed to Andermatt completing the San Bernardino, San Gottardo, Furka, Grimsel & Susten Passes to be honest this was the only day on the whole holiday where I did too much driving towards the end of the “Andermatt loop” I had enough of driving even though these were some of the best roads of the holiday.
We followed the 13 down to the San Bernardino Pass which was a great road
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