Holland to Barcelona and back (via Monte Carlo...)
Discussion
Just returned from a great road trip over the New Year period!
After reading about the Route Napoleon on this forum I decided to head over there to have a look. Me and a mate drove from Holland to Lyon and then headed out to Grenoble for the Route. Traffic was very light thanks to the holiday period and the drive was absolutely brilliant! We might have broken the odd speed limit on the way but who cares...
From Cannes we popped over to Monte Carlo. I managed a (very slow) lap of the 'circuit'. How people take a Grand Prix car round there is beyond me! Our next destination was San Remo, just over the French-Italian border. When you take the coastal road, make sure you do it when the Italians have lunch otherwise you'll be stuck forever.
Having 'done' the Cote d'Azur we drove to Barcelona on Sunday 29th of December. The peage was virtually empty and we cruised at an easy 100mph (car was fitted with winter tyres...) the entire way. Every now and then we spotted some big stickered-up off-roader driving the other way: obviously Paris-Dakar contenders.
Spain was just as great as France. I thoroughly recommend the coastal routes north and south of the city: very scenic, corners galore and no other traffic in sight (in the off-season of course).
Having slept off the effects of the New Years celebration we decided to drive back to Holland in one go on January 1st. No problem thanks to those wonderful French toll roads: light traffic & no plod in sight! As a result we covered the 900 miles in about ten hours! Speeding? Us?
Anyway, what better way to start a new year then drive 2500 miles in a week...
MDG.
After reading about the Route Napoleon on this forum I decided to head over there to have a look. Me and a mate drove from Holland to Lyon and then headed out to Grenoble for the Route. Traffic was very light thanks to the holiday period and the drive was absolutely brilliant! We might have broken the odd speed limit on the way but who cares...
From Cannes we popped over to Monte Carlo. I managed a (very slow) lap of the 'circuit'. How people take a Grand Prix car round there is beyond me! Our next destination was San Remo, just over the French-Italian border. When you take the coastal road, make sure you do it when the Italians have lunch otherwise you'll be stuck forever.
Having 'done' the Cote d'Azur we drove to Barcelona on Sunday 29th of December. The peage was virtually empty and we cruised at an easy 100mph (car was fitted with winter tyres...) the entire way. Every now and then we spotted some big stickered-up off-roader driving the other way: obviously Paris-Dakar contenders.
Spain was just as great as France. I thoroughly recommend the coastal routes north and south of the city: very scenic, corners galore and no other traffic in sight (in the off-season of course).
Having slept off the effects of the New Years celebration we decided to drive back to Holland in one go on January 1st. No problem thanks to those wonderful French toll roads: light traffic & no plod in sight! As a result we covered the 900 miles in about ten hours! Speeding? Us?
Anyway, what better way to start a new year then drive 2500 miles in a week...
MDG.
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