Just returned from amazing French touring holiday in Elise
Discussion
First off an apology for the length and self indulgence of this post, but wanted to share my experiences of touring France and encourage others to try - it was an amazing time.
Route: Cherbourg, Nantes, Bordeaux, St Emilion, Bergerac, Cahors, Millau, Collonges la Rouge, Poitiers, le Mans, Cherbourg. 1,964 miles door to door over 12 days.
Roads: mostly very smooth, with some terrific bends in the south and some very long straights, and so little traffic. So very very different from England in so many ways! It made for fabulous driving every day! Despite a number of "blasts", mostly touring / sightseeing speeds so got 43 mpg over the holiday. Oh, and driving the Mulsanne straight was something I just had to include in the itinerary.
Weather: sun every day and roof off always, apart from two mornings when we had a little rain. This was a real relief given the awful weather we'd had during August and early September in England.
Luggage / packing: boot full with two soft bags in the middle and two day sacks stuffed in the sides behind the wheel arches. The roof in its bag stored neatly on the passenger side pod / sill, making a comfortable arm rest for my wife who navigated us using a road atlas. Limited wardrobe not an issue as we were moving on and staying a max of two days in any one location.
Accomodation / food: used Alastair Sawday's "French Bed and Breakfast" book to select accomodation in the main, and looked for Chambre D'Hote signs on a few occassions. B&B varied between 90 and 45 euros a night for the two of us. Very friendly and great hospitality, with delicious food as always in France.
Reception to the car: if you want to know what it feels like to be a celebrity, go to France in a S2 type 49 Elise! We were photographed and videoed time and time again. Got shouts, cheers and waves as we passed by and from other drivers. Every comment was positive and they came from young and old, male and female alike. Stopped at the Millau viaduct viewing area off the autoroute (only autoroute travelled, just to experience the amazing bridge) and ended up with people photographing the car rather than the bridge! Not a journey for the shy and retiring!
Other sports cars seen: a Renault Alpine followed us and waved, other than that, only saw an MG TF, a Boxter and an SL that were French registered. Presume that it's the dearth of sports cars that leads to the reception commented on above?
Sorry again for going on and on, but it's been an absolutely amazing experience. Neither of us wanted it to end and want to do it again for longer, possibly further south along the Pyrenees, Med coast and French alps above Monaco next time.
Route: Cherbourg, Nantes, Bordeaux, St Emilion, Bergerac, Cahors, Millau, Collonges la Rouge, Poitiers, le Mans, Cherbourg. 1,964 miles door to door over 12 days.
Roads: mostly very smooth, with some terrific bends in the south and some very long straights, and so little traffic. So very very different from England in so many ways! It made for fabulous driving every day! Despite a number of "blasts", mostly touring / sightseeing speeds so got 43 mpg over the holiday. Oh, and driving the Mulsanne straight was something I just had to include in the itinerary.
Weather: sun every day and roof off always, apart from two mornings when we had a little rain. This was a real relief given the awful weather we'd had during August and early September in England.
Luggage / packing: boot full with two soft bags in the middle and two day sacks stuffed in the sides behind the wheel arches. The roof in its bag stored neatly on the passenger side pod / sill, making a comfortable arm rest for my wife who navigated us using a road atlas. Limited wardrobe not an issue as we were moving on and staying a max of two days in any one location.
Accomodation / food: used Alastair Sawday's "French Bed and Breakfast" book to select accomodation in the main, and looked for Chambre D'Hote signs on a few occassions. B&B varied between 90 and 45 euros a night for the two of us. Very friendly and great hospitality, with delicious food as always in France.
Reception to the car: if you want to know what it feels like to be a celebrity, go to France in a S2 type 49 Elise! We were photographed and videoed time and time again. Got shouts, cheers and waves as we passed by and from other drivers. Every comment was positive and they came from young and old, male and female alike. Stopped at the Millau viaduct viewing area off the autoroute (only autoroute travelled, just to experience the amazing bridge) and ended up with people photographing the car rather than the bridge! Not a journey for the shy and retiring!
Other sports cars seen: a Renault Alpine followed us and waved, other than that, only saw an MG TF, a Boxter and an SL that were French registered. Presume that it's the dearth of sports cars that leads to the reception commented on above?
Sorry again for going on and on, but it's been an absolutely amazing experience. Neither of us wanted it to end and want to do it again for longer, possibly further south along the Pyrenees, Med coast and French alps above Monaco next time.
Edited by mj01 on Sunday 5th October 15:04
Sounds great.
I did a trip through France down to Monaco and back over 2 weeks in the summer. Details and pics here
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
I did a trip through France down to Monaco and back over 2 weeks in the summer. Details and pics here
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
Up-The-Dubs, I must have been following you around as I was doing the Stelvio and Monaco at the same time as you! Saw that red Elise going up the Stelvio and then saw you and the Caterham parked up behind the casino in Monte Carlo, was admiring your Stelvio sticker, should have said hello.
I got back on Sunday from a two week tour, took in Brussels, Nurburgring, St. Anton, Lake Como, Monaco, Cannes, Grenobles, Reims. Was in a 911 which makes a bit more sense on the motorways, hats off to you Elise drivers!
Chris
I got back on Sunday from a two week tour, took in Brussels, Nurburgring, St. Anton, Lake Como, Monaco, Cannes, Grenobles, Reims. Was in a 911 which makes a bit more sense on the motorways, hats off to you Elise drivers!
Chris
bordseye said:
As a slight "off topic" - any problems with ground clearance getting on / off the ferries?
No problem on Eurostar.When I use the ferries I always use Norfolkline to Dunkirque and the crews on them are brilliant and always directed the Lotus on the main deck with the trucks so you dont have to use the ramps.
chris_w said:
Bill K - think I might have seen you too - did you turn up a road signposted to Stelvio and then do a three point turn? If so, I was the 911 coming up behind you (who didn't realise I wasn't on the SS38, damn satnav!).
I think it's possible we may have seen each other Chris at some point but we didn't do the Stelvio bit so perhaps that was someone else. I only saw one Elise the whole trip and that was a local LHD S2. I saw a few 911s though. I did envy you guys when on the motorway. In fact I envied anything with a carpet and higher gearing.bordseye said:
As a slight "off topic" - any problems with ground clearance getting on / off the ferries?
Mine's lowered and we juuussst scraped on the angle from up ramp to table top if you know what I mean. Coming home however the speed bumps on the French side after you clear passport control are evil. Even creeping them diagonally we had a bit of scrapage. bordseye said:
As a slight "off topic" - any problems with ground clearance getting on / off the ferries?
We travelled on the Condor / Britanny Ferries fastcraft from Poole to Cherbourg and had no problem with the ramps. The loaders were good at both ends, proactively checking the front of the car and directing us diagonally across the ramps.chris_w said:
Up-The-Dubs, I must have been following you around as I was doing the Stelvio and Monaco at the same time as you! Saw that red Elise going up the Stelvio and then saw you and the Caterham parked up behind the casino in Monte Carlo, was admiring your Stelvio sticker, should have said hello.
I got back on Sunday from a two week tour, took in Brussels, Nurburgring, St. Anton, Lake Como, Monaco, Cannes, Grenobles, Reims. Was in a 911 which makes a bit more sense on the motorways, hats off to you Elise drivers!
Chris
Was that you that pointed out the stelvio sticker to your girlfriend/wife at the back of the casino? That was me sitting on the wall in front of the car, I was going to say hello (heard you spoke English) but I was a bit shagged, it was our "day off" from driving and after a heavy night before I really just wanted my bed I got back on Sunday from a two week tour, took in Brussels, Nurburgring, St. Anton, Lake Como, Monaco, Cannes, Grenobles, Reims. Was in a 911 which makes a bit more sense on the motorways, hats off to you Elise drivers!
Chris
! Funnily enough we stayed on the shores of Lake Como 2 nights before and Grenobles 2 nights after 
!Aren't we all boring sods doing the same boring roads!
Edited by up-the-dubs on Friday 3rd October 23:23
Bill K 111 said:
up-the-dubs said:
Ha!
The only other Elsie I saw all holiday was another 111s at the bottom of Stelvio with luggage rack too!!!!!What is it with you 111s drivers and your damn luggage!?
VVC. Very Varied Clothing The only other Elsie I saw all holiday was another 111s at the bottom of Stelvio with luggage rack too!!!!!What is it with you 111s drivers and your damn luggage!?
At least we.... ahem.... convinced/badgered him into taking the roof off. He couldn't not do it with 15 mad Irish jeering him
! He looked at his wife and she just shrugged, couldn't not do it .
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