2008 Audi R8

[seefarr]

easy_rider33 said:

Some cracking photos since I last checked the thread, as said previously, you can't have enough photos of an R8 on a mountain road!

I hope to do something similar soon.

Thank you! I've been thinking about what trip to do this year to find a few roads too... I'm finding it hard to pass up another trip to Spain. The ferry is expensive but it's a night's accom and food and drink are cheap once you're there is how I'm convincing myself!

roadie said:

Cracking thread and great to see you use the car hard like it is meant to be.

£320 for one tyre is pretty galling!

Yeah it was a lot for one tyre but it was less than two tyres of something else.... and then I'm not sure I'd be happy with different brands front and back in a 4wd car. I could go up to 305s on the back, but they're showing as £335 a tyre for MPS4S now too!

Shnozz said:

I am more surprised that a Corvette C3 could manage 95mph! Beautiful cars (I am after one myself) but many seem rather underpowered!

I don't think I could distinguish between a small and big block by ear but it sounded pretty healthy when he gave it a squirt going past. He pulled off at the next intersection so I repaid the favour by changing down to third and giving him the gift of V8 at 8250rpm.

[seefarr]

This week saw us out in Somerset for a wedding. We stayed a few days in a big AirBnB with some mates just near Cheddar with a steeeeeep lane to get get up to it - the Audi was three wheeling round the turn but Quattro got us up the hill as it shuffled power around. We had just a kiss of scraping up and down (as did our mate's Fiat 500) which is a testament to how usable the car is.



We went up to Cheddar on Sunday at 10am but everything opened at 10:30am so not much to see but a nice gorge with some goats to spot up high and a strangely empty road....so next morning I was up and out at the crack of dawn (8:45). I'd read a few threads on here with people saying the Cheddar Gorge road is always busy with walkers and rubber-necking tourists but it was dead at 9am!

Building speed with the V8 in 2nd echoing off the walls, I only saw one other car coming in the other direction and a couple of campervans parked up on the side. And the goats. The goats had come down from up on high and were all hanging out next to and in some cases lying on the road which added a certain extra level of excitement. I caught up to another car once out of the gorge proper but the patented Seefarr "wait on a straight until another car comes up behind you" got me plenty of clear lovely road. Lunges up into third up this two lane B road were a memorable "jeeze this thing is quick" reminder.

At some point I started running into a lot more traffic and although I had a route planned out, I just turned round and went back the way I'd come for more gorge fun. Coming down the hill working the brakes and running in 2nd just for the shear noisy brilliance, windows down and Green Lung rocking on the stereo whilst goat dodging. I parked up at the bottom for a couple of pics (handbrake off!), the car happily ticking away and I was completely wired.





A couple of people at the wedding asked what I'd get next but I just can't think I'd ever sell it!

On the way back from the wedding the next day we had the cruise control set at warp factor in the outside lane, singing along to Crowded House when a BMW X5 suddenly appeared just off our back bumper. So we slowed down and moved over to the middle lane so he could go past but he just pulled up level with us. I looked over and saw a uniformed man with a radio on his arm giving the slow-down gesture.....bummer. He crawled past, gave a flash of the blues and just when I thought he'd be pulling us over he rocketed off!

[seefarr]

Thanks very much for all the kind words

There's not too much to report on the poor old Audi. The last few weeks have seen it develop into a home for wayward spiders, with every possible orifice sprouting a spiders web! We've decided that the next batch of "Audi on a mountain" pics will be in Switzerland so I'm busy planning how to hit as many passes as I can, whilst also keeping the ballast happy with stops in Alsace, the Italiany Swiss lakes and Champagne.

Having a whole bunch of people check in here and then seeing DRZ's beautiful McLaren GT get it's black wheels changed to silver-grey has inspired me to finally get rid of the hateful carbon wrap on my wheels. I've got it booked into a wheel place locally on Saturday morning to take a look and see where we are. I can see a bit of kerb rash on the little bit uncovered during the recent tyre change so...

I've also ordered a set of replacement wing mirror cases in real (!) carbon fibre. I was thinking of removing the existing wrap but I still have to remove the units to do that and it sounds like hard work. And I actually do like the little bit of carbon to match the side blade which takes away from the general blackness of it. Plus, you know....SHINY! it's a meaningful amount of weight up high so the CoG will be improved. The cases are shared with another Audi coupe - all the "nice TT m8" jokes are finally coming up trumps with a cheap (ish) price on aftermarket units. In 4-6 weeks we'll see how successful I am at replacing them myself. And then how much replacement mirror glass costs.

Which just leaves the grill to sort. All the 2nd hand ones are scabby / broken / pickup only in Manchester / sold as a job lot of 2 (??!?) and new ones are running at £600+ from EU (which will mean VAT and duties on the way in). I think I'll keep an ebay alert active and try to wait this one out.

And finally I found out you can disable the tire pressure warning system via a re-code and removing fuse D2. I confirmed I'm missing D2 so that's where our issues are. My worry with turning it back on myself is someone turned it off because it was fked, but it could just be because it was on non-standard wheels at some point. More thinking required on this one too - maybe I get it MOTed at Audi before the trip and get it done there....

[seefarr]

We began step one of the de-carbonification process today - took it round to a local wheel shop for a look. He said to remove the wrap it'll need to be dipped to remove the glue etc. so basically a full refurb. It's booked in on the 28th and I'll be going with BMW Ferric Grey II which the wheel guys said was a great choice, both for looks and for ease of maintenance due to it's ubiquity. Can't wait!

Getting out of the yard was super tight and I made a massive mare of the right angle turn with 100 people watching. Stalled a few times and came within a bee's dick of scraping the rear up the wall - the sight in the rear view mirror of it looking like it's already touching will haunt me in my dreams. Sports car ownership isn't all mountain passes and super models, ya know!

We also booked the Eurotunnel today for our trip to Switzerland in October.

#fatshaming

[seefarr]

I went and picked the car up on Friday at 16:50 after they'd already locked everything up. They seemed happy to open it back up and drag it out and all the staff came out to oooh and ah at the new wheels and ask a bunch of questions which was cool. We love it!





The car is sadly super dirty from sitting in a workshop for a week and I feel bad to wash it with the current drought so it's staying filth for now.... It's not like it's the first time!

[seefarr]

Changing the wing mirrors went as well as it probably could have. I didn't break the glass or scratch the paint, the aluminium Allen bolt was only a little rounded out and I only broke one little plastic clippy electrical gubbins retainer doodad. Auto electrical plugs are my least favourite thing.

And the 1000s of nesting spiders didn't kill me.



Everything seemed to fit pretty well and they look a hell of a lot better than they did before . The mirrors still mirror and the indicators continue to indicate.





Doing a spot of automotive archeology on the old mirrors and I started to pull off the wrap to find that they look like carbon fibre under the carbon fibre wrap? Don't tell me I've bought after market carbon to replace genuine carbon?!



Closer inspection revealed that they were plastic with what looked like a strange weave pattern painted on. My best guess is that previous guy bought the cheapest "carbon" mirrors from eBay, saw they were st but fitted them anyway and then had them wrapped later. I judge you, previous guy.

[seefarr]

Shnozz said:

First go on that carbon effect looks like a poor dipping attempt.

Bingo, I was unaware that was a thing but you're 100% there. That would explain why it's got the OEM moldings on it but they look like they've come out of a really old mould.

[seefarr]

Out laws weekend up in Norfolk again. I managed to sneak off for a drive on the MiL's birthday morning on some random Audi sized B roads. Not sure if I had great luck or what but I only had to make one overtake the whole time. The Audi always manages to shrug off pitted, lumpy, gnarly roads with astonishing ease.
And I'll never tire of the charge from the top of 2nd into 3rd!

We had a couple of people come up to chat about the car over the weekend - it seemed like more than usual. I don't know if the shiny wheels make the car seem more "friendly" but to me they look so much better. Especially with the rest of car caked in crud!

We had a play with a gorgeous blue Mustang on the way home too - two V8s are always better than one.



https://maps.app.goo.gl/ipj3cQRz55rTF5CL8

[seefarr]

We were up last weekend in North Yorkshire for a friend's birthday so here's an Audi on a mountain moor:





We had a fabulous drive even with the sheep dodging, lumpy tarmac, cattle grid, suicidal rabbits, single track road Britishness of the whole thing. The purple (heather, gorse?) was strong too.



Then an easy 5 hour drive straight to Heathrow and out to NYE for a week's work.

I've spent my entire time with the car convinced the front grill was a fake carbon replica and I've no idea why I didn't twig that if everything else was wrapped, it might be too. I figured this out last week too so I've contacted a wrap place to unwrap it.

[seefarr]

Switzerland trip! It's currently 25c in Swiss but will be down to maximums of 10c so let's pray it doesn't snow up high...

Friday night was a drive down to Folkestone.



Overnight in a Premier Inn and a walk to the closest decent looking pub. Sadly they weren't doing food and we were too lazy to walk another 20 mins somewhere else so we improvised a nutritious meal of our own representing all the required food groups.



Up early and some of us had had too much rosé, by making friends with the landlady and getting poured extra larges. I volunteered and drove up to the first booths for Eurotunnel where I promptly kerbed my nice freshly painted wheels. Cosmic.

We ended up in the middle of an Aston Martin owners club trip. I loved the fact that their cars were all so shiny whilst my darling wife had detailed the Audi by driving it through a field at Mudathon.



And then today is an easy drive on the lovely motorways across France to Strasbourg. Easy, unless you lose the toll ticket behind the seat. Like a tt.

[seefarr]

Shinyfings said:

If you head for France on a regular basis get a tag. Cheap as chips and you can use the no need to stop toll gates.

I looked at getting one of these but by the time I got round to doing the doing it was too late! The next toll booth after my last post, the ticket was wiped and we had to sit there and use the help button. Sorry to the guys stuck behind me!

B'stard Child said:

Court_S said:

Good to see it still getting lots of use….what an absolute pisser about catching the recently refurbed wheels though.

WHS - I like dirty cars - shows they are being used - Sam may well disagree

Wheel was annoying - it was bound to happen but it's a shame it was so fast. This is why we can't have nice things.

Seeing as you like dirty pics, check out this utter filth!



We got into Strasbourg and I took us on a 10 walk to the wrong hotel. Words were had after I embarrassed us by trying to check in and then we walked 10 minutes back basically to the car park which was where our hotel actually was! Seeing as we were near the German border, we went and drank some beers to cheer ourselves up. Then off to a Vinstub to eat out body weight in pork and cabbage, followed by a bar selling Rhum Arrangé (rhum agricole infused with fruit and other delicious stuff) that we'd spotted on our abortive hotel mission (every cloud etc). If you're ever in Strasbourg make sure you seek out Le Gustavia - delicious concoctions and a super friendly owner.

We woke slightly rum headed and drove down the first half of the Route des Vins in Alsace. The cutest looking Germanic villages interspersed with rolling vine covered hills make a for a lovely drive. The local specialty is cremant - think champagne but without the high prices and snootyness. We were getting lots of stares in the small cobbled streets, a couple of smiles and even a thumbs up.



We managed to find some empty roads in between towns to briefly open up the taps too but even burbling along at moderate pace or the V8 echoing round the little streets was still raising a smile.



Then we stopped for a very long Michelin starred lunch. To say it wasn't a bad first proper day on your would be an understatement!

[seefarr]

We finished that day in Mulhouse and drank craft beer and ate flammkucken in a bar with Massey Ferguson tables.



We stayed in Mulhouse because the Schlumpf collection car museum is there - still the largest collection of Bugattis in the world at 129.

Two(of five) Royales.


Racing Bugs out the wazoo:


And even red cars:


And they had 3 1930s Mercedes F1 cars and, and, and... Ridiculous amounts of astonishing cars and the best car museum I've been to.

After that we went to go purchase slightly cheaper fuel and a Swiss vignette (motorway toll sticker) from a service station. Simple, right? Yeah, nah.

We went to a Shell which turned out to be mostly for trucks, have only two lanes for cars and also have a MASSIVE speed bump where we grounded out the centre of the car. We waited, got to the pumps and there was no 98. On to the next candidate - a Carrefour where we weedled our way in to the enormous complex only to find the pumps all shut.

Right, fk you France, I'm going to Switzerland. We got the vignette at the border, filled up in Die Schweiz and grabbed a quick sandwich. Onwards via 2.5 hours of motorways to our overnight on the other side of Switzerland in Chur. We could have done 4.5 hours and included the Oberalp pass but that would have seriously eaten into the beer time.


Switzerland is as bonkers pretty as always. We got to the hotel and we were walked down and placed securely in the electric vehicle park underground ("Are you sure? You know this noise is not electric!).

[seefarr]

OssAndy said:

That museum is something else isn't it? I went there in 2013 and was astonished at the collection. I'm enjoying your updates, in the middle of planning a trip down to the alps in my R8 for next year.

Hopefully I can give you some ideas!

The plan today was to tick off four passes: Fluela, Albula, Julier and Bernina. Those of a sensitive disposition regarding Audi-on-a-mountain photos may want to skip a few days updates!

https://goo.gl/maps/5RcX2H2K8ivujpNo6

The conditions on the pass website for our first one weren't looking great....



I'd seen on a weather website it was going to be 7c by midday so we just went for it and it was fine! No snow in evidence.




Delicious warm tarmac and V8, not a lot of traffic, nice wide lanes, perfect weather together with mental views meant this was a pretty spectacular way to start the day. We can't decide if this or Albula were out favourite but there's no reason you can't do both!

We were struck by the Alpine landscape (above the treeline) and how strange it is. We figured out we'd been to Switzerland 10 times previously but always in winter for snowboarding.







Next up we were on the Albula which started out just over single lane - I wouldn't want to meet a large vehicle coming the other way so we kept it sensible when we had no visibility. It opened up heading through the forest and up into the Alpine though and it was a stunning drive. At one point I had the window down and the V8 reverberating off the guard rail and the stone wall on the other side giving a sound not unlike a V16 hammering along at 8000rpm - spine tingling stuff!



The Beautiful Blond Ballast has done well to get a pic at this point! We had many, many hairpins today- I prefer them going uphill but I'll take them as they come.



We stopped for lunch and a liquid refreshment part way along.



To be continued....

[seefarr]

LesMcQueen said:

Love it, thanks for sharing!

thank you!

So onwards and down the rest of the Albula which continued to be great. We were spat out onto the Julier pass. This was a bit busier and went through some cute towns:



And some cute towns with great names. Many lols where had with "No, you're a ...."



From there we went past St. Moritz and I decided that the famously great value town would be a great time to fill up with petrol at 2.09CHF per litre.

BBB took over for the next section.



Finally we headed up the Bernina pass to head to our overnight spot. Views were stunning and traffic was ok so just after the top we pulled over and I swapped back to driving.





I had a good 10 minutes of wonderful roads before it dissolved into endless road works. A bit of a bummer but still worth it.

We are overnighting... Somewhere 5 minutes before the Italian border. The accom is beautiful and I think used to do dinner but doesn't any more. There was a restaurant next door but it seems not to be open any more so after a confusing check in in Italian and a complimentary prosecco from the help-yourself bar (really? You're leaving Australians to help ourselves?) we drove a few mins up the hill to the only thing we could see that was open. We parked down next to a very picturesque school and church.



We walk into the Osteria and everyone stops talking. It's kind of just a bar with La Ragazzi bellied up chatting st with the bar maid. It's clearly not doing food but we order a couple of drinks to try to catch the lie of the land. Before we order the next round I summon my inner Italian (at this stage I'm at 3 different languages in 3 days) and give a good "e la cucina aperta?" (Thank you Google translate) expecting everyone in the bar to laugh at us but she says "sí!“ and hands across a menu. We order breaded chicken and a chacuterie board and the bar maid flicks the light on in the back and cooks our meals, all while keeping going with the crap being spoken by the old boys at the bar through a little window.

Back to the accom for some self-serve grappa and bed!

Edited by seefarr on Tuesday 11th October 20:38

[seefarr]

Yesterday's plan was to go back up the Bernina pass, Maloja, Splügen then San Bernadino and finish in the Swiss lake town of Locarno.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/vASuWQzx8bGcybcY8

So back up Bernina and because it was earlier (and once we got past the road works) we had a great run at the uphill hairpins. We stopped at the top just as the train went past too which was cool.





Then past St. Moritz again (with requisite pee break in the bus station loos - so classy) and onto the Maloja pass. It started very prettily along a lake but sadly it was all single lane with traffic lights.



This bunched up the traffic behind a campervan so I wasn't hopeful of getting a good run at it. The camper pulled over but everyone else was just cruising so we pulled over into a car park for 5 minutes. We pulled back out just as another car came round the corner with a GT3 RS following so I was hopeful of some fun but sadly after a couple of corners we found the same campervan in front again! .

The road was pretty tight so no opportunity to pass for ages but we eventually got past on a very long straight along with the Porka and then a VW SUV thing came hammering past both of us and almost crashed on the next corner. Ooooookay. We had a few mins of fun with the Porsche before we found the SUV thing and I just called time on the whole exercise and we pootled into Italy.

The turn off to the Splügen pass (hehe, Splügen) was single lane which summed up the lower part of it. Toight like a toiger. We had loads and loads of 1st gear single lane hairpins - these are a reasonably intense team sport as the passenger is helpful for spotting if there's no one coming the other way on the left hand ones. This was giving me great scope to demonstrate my driving god status with my heel-and-toe double-declutch downshifts to 1st. She didn't say it but I'm pretty sure she was turned on - chicks dig that sort of thing.

We then had some single lane through a tunnel with hairpin which was honestly a bit too much in the "I really, really hope no one is coming the other way. Really." kind of way.

They even numbered their uphill tornante (hairpins) - we are at 47 here with quite a few more to go! So. Many. Tornante!



We pulled off near the top for a quick bush pee and to give the car a break - the gearbox tunnel was getting quite warm even though the engine water and oil temps were fine. I'm not sure if it wasn't enjoying the constant blats through 1st? You'll have to imagine the glorious hot oil and brake smells with the happy ticking of a well used V8.



Just as we pulled back out an RS4 came barreling up behind me so I thought we might be on for a bit of fun then but he didn't keep up in the next long lot of tunnels - maybe he doesn't like 8k V8 noise? The way back down wasn't as intense anyway - BBB has decided she doesn't like the downhill hairpins so we took it a lot easier.

Onwards to the San Bernardino pass! There is a new tunnel / motorway bit or the old scenic road and despite my carefully laid route we ended up in the tunnel all the way to the top. I had a minor melt down which is when we realised that all that single lane hairpinnery had taken it out of me so we stopped for lunch in the town of San Bernardino at the end of the tunnel. A small beer, a lot of water and a wonderful pizza at the lovely Restaurant Centro set the world back in its place though.



We decided to do the 10 minutes back down the way we'd come and come back up the scenic drive, then take the motorway back down to our overnight.

And I'm glad we did - there were more single lane hairpins but it felt quiter and a little bit more open and better sighted. At the top we found a spooky lake and the now familiar moonscape.



Coming down to the town of San Bernardino again we went past two blokes filming us and giving the thumbs up - they must have heard the V8 from a ways off to be able to get ready! It was a lovely run back down - more open and good 2nd gear territory. We stopped to grab some incredibly expensive hydrocarbons and BBB drove us down to Locarno on the motorways.

Edited by seefarr on Thursday 13th October 16:23

[seefarr]

BrettMRC said:

This looks epic OP!

I really must organise a roadtrip of my own.

Yup, my only regret is that we only started doing road trips for the sake of road trips when we bought the R8 - get out there and do it!

Yesterday we drove from Locarno and spent the day in Lugano which is another Swiss lake side town. It's super pretty but everyone there was either ladies-who-lunch types or hideously attired Russians. Not my kind of scene but I did enjoy ogling the nice watch stores and we had a really delicious but unpretentious lunch at Antica Osteria del Porto.

Today's plan was to end up in Andermatt via a few passes:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/PCbKwadmYZGqz5hQ9

It was a fine plan, nay, a great plan but sadly our actual day looked more like this:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/bN1AFzDscFpEqgiS7

We started heading up into the hills behind Locarno and it turned into a stunner of a road. Good tarmac, two lanes, loads of cliffs and stone walls to bounce the V8 music around. There were little cable cars to get across the other side of the valley and even a helicopter doing construction work (because Switzerland!). It was so good that BBB started to feel a bit woozy so we dialled the pace back a notch.



I'd read from someone else (maybe Brad?) that it was great on the Swiss side but turned ugly, narrow and congested on the Italian side but this was not to be our issue today. 100m after the Italian border we found this:



Road closed for another 2 hours. bks.

It was going to be another 1.5 hours to go back down and take an alternative road to get to the other side and then we'd still have a long day ahead of us so we just killed the plan altogether and decided we'd drive up the Gotthard and then a lunch place we'd found on the Nufenen.

The drive back down was a delicious tonic for my pissed-offedness though and we even had a laugh at the old blokes who we'd scoped on the way up who waved at us with a wry smile in a "fancy seeing you again" kind of way. Things were looking up until we got out of the tunnel on the far side of Locarno and got jammed into some hideous traffic for 45 mins. Dear Switzerland: you carve enormous holes through mountains at the drop of a hat - why can't you make two motorways join up and instead have the only path to be endless roundabouts though industrial wasteland? Maybe it's because it's the Italian part? #justsayin.

We eventually made it to Gotthard pass though and things were looking rosier. For those who don't know, there are 3 Gotthard roads - the newest is a straight shot tunnel at 120kph, the next oldest is a windy but beautiful road at 80-100kph and the oldest is a windy goat track full of 1st gear hairpins, much of which is cobbled(!). We strapped on our big boy pants, readjusted our sizeable trouser vegetables and ...chickened out with the middle one.


BBB has just informed me that for the record she doesn't have trouser vegetables.

It was still an absolute peach of a road though, not a driver's road from South to North but jaw dropping views everywhere and just a great piece of engineering. If we come back I'll plan it better and do the little one but today was a little too haphazard.



So onwards to the Nufenen for the lunch place... except I'm a tt and selected the Furka pass instead, which we had planned for tomorrow.

It was an real rollercoaster ride of a road. The surface is pretty lumpy but God bless those Audi engineers because even at pace the R8 rode it like a trooper - no bottoming out or crashing and never getting bucked off line. It's great how much confidence you can get on a road like this with quality suspension.





And confidence was what you really needed here - no namby pamby guard rails, just big chunks of granite on some corners and half finished steel poles on others... and sometimes nothing, all with a biiiiiig drop on the other side.

As we got to the top at 2400m it started to sock in with clouds and there was still a fair amount of snow on the ground so I was tip toeing the summer tyres around. It was only once we reached the top that we figured out we were on the wrong pass but we just turned round and went back a few Kms to a hotel we'd seen on the way up. The hotel Tiffenbach did some delicious, incredibly hearty food all covered in cheese - we knew we were back in the German bit of Swissy at that stage. Outside was a Volvo Amazon in full rally spec that it turns out you can rent from a company called rentaclassic.



I had two beers and a plum brandy (just to settle the stomach) to finish and then BBB drove me back down the pass to our accom in Andermatt. Another successful day in the end!

Edited by seefarr on Saturday 15th October 16:04

[seefarr]

dontfollowme said:

I really enjoy this thread - keep up the great work

Thank you!

I should mention we are staying at the Andermatt Alpine Apartments complex because they have a washing machine. It's a strange proto alpine village 15 minutes walk out of town with 15 apartment blocks. It feels like nobody has stayed in this apartment for a very long time if at all - all the cutlery was very well laid out, the shower was super blocked up with calcium, there is no plug for the 15a iron, the lights in the bedroom don't work etc. Last night we got lost coming home in the deserted identikit modernist wasteland with no building names too.

Today was just a driving loop out of Andermatt - Susten, Grimsel and then Nufenen as we did Furka yesterday.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ePZKLVp8xiX39Q6M7

The drive out of Andermatt was actually super pretty and a beauty of a road - a shame the car didn't have more heat in it but I'm pretty OCD about not giving it beans until it's up to temp so we pootled at moderate levels.

We turned off into the Susten and now we were warm we started to use the full vocal range. Spitty rain had started by this stage which was actually kind of good for this road - it was lovely and open flowing corners but with a speed limit of 80kph you are very quickly into bankruptcy territory in the dry.

Bankruptcy? Let me explain Swiss speeding penalties. Up to 20kph over the speed limit (so 100kph on a mountain pass) it's all fairly standard (100 - 240 CHF). But after that they really lose their sense of humour and it becomes a criminal conviction and goes to a judge who can impose fines as a percentage of your salary. So that quick blat in third can be pretty damn costly! It hadn't been a massive issue until today because 8Xkph had felt pretty quick on most of the roads but we were doing a lot more cruising today.

Anyway, road was super pretty with snow on them thar hills, we had no traffic, rock music on (Ghost \m/ ) and there was the occasional hairpin to liven things up!





We nipped off to check out a nice waterfall and I watered some rocks of my own.



AND THEY HAD BABY COWS WITH BELLS!



Ahem.

And next to the Grimsel pass. More of the same really - mostly too fast to really open up but the trees were stunning with their reds and golds.



We had a bit more traffic as well but the road ended in a series of hairpins near some dams that was pretty damn (!) stunning. We had lots of mist rising up from waterfalls that traffic meant lots of stopping, which meant lots of Audi on a mountain photos sorry!!







Next up was the Nufenen which I had read from a couple of people was on the way to nowhere so wasn't as trafficked. Sadly it seems like everyone wanted to go to nowhere today!

PS: I am reminded by the vastly intelligent BBB that today is the weekend so may account for a lot of the traffic. Derp.

Campervans, SUVs galore and even a tour bus for a soccerball team meant we were setting no records. On the upside, we had a lot of hairpins, a V8 with an excellent vocal range to play tunes on and some ridiculous views to take pictures of while we waited for some clear space.





Around the top (2478m is the highest in Die Schweiz) the road turned to concrete which wasn't as nice, the traffic built up even more and we needed a break so we carried on to our lunch spot of Locanda Orelli which we'd found in the Michelin guide. And God bless those Frenchmen, they've managed to sniff out an amazing restaurant! Fabulous food, great views and a generous host.



BBB generously offered to drive us back home via the bottom half of the Gotthard.

And so ends the driving portion!

Edited by seefarr on Saturday 15th October 17:15

Edited by seefarr on Saturday 15th October 17:19

[seefarr]

Next morning we departed Andermatt for our overnight in Neuchâtel. We had a choice of a two and a half hour motorway shot or or four hours via the Susten Pass and via Interlaken. This is a driving holiday so there was really only one choice.

Even though it was a sunny Sunday and everyone in Switzerland was out on the road, most of them were bikers so we had a good run. As such I'd like to upgrade my appraisal of the Susten from "beautiful but not as interesting" to "beautiful and a great road". It certainly does have enough to keep you interested even with the Swiss speed limits - 3rd was a great gear, grumbling up between 3k and 4.5k with the windows down and the rock wall providing great acoustic. And it's got some lovely wide hairpins down in the forest section too.



My most amusing moment was following a silver generic box driven at OAP speed for a couple of minutes in the tight stuff. The only place to overtake was a nice long straight tunnel so 2nd gear, full noise to 8k on the way past. I like to imagine the oblivious occupants mystified at the noise and fury going on around them until I dart into their field of vision - "BERYL, WHAT’S GOING OOOOOOON?!?“.

After that it was a bit of a schlep up to our lunch spot of Interlaken which as the name suggests is between two lakes. On the way we spotted a waterfall so went off to investigate.



On the small road to there we seemed to be driving past a small airport but then there was a strange wide road crossing our road and... Oh, we're driving on the airport. I was all for turning 90 degrees and trying my luck but a strident BBB talked me off the ledge.

Edited by seefarr on Thursday 20th October 16:49

Edited by seefarr on Friday 21st October 07:44

[seefarr]

My parking in Interlaken was probably a candidate for the "bad parking" thread. After visiting a waterfall without public services and road works through endless tunnels on the way into town, I was in something of a rush.



We had an incredibly terrible coffee next to the car park (mostly in order to utilise the facilities) and I heard a very familiar V8 gurgle and I immediately thought "fiddlydee, someone has stolen our car and all of our underpants". It turned out to be a white one on the other side of the park though which was nice.

On the way out of town we stuck to the other, non-tunnel side of the lake and it was a stunning bit of road. It was also a sunny Sunday so every pushbike, motorbike, classic and sports car was out on the roads.




Besides the R8 in town, we saw 3 others on that bit of road so maybe there was an event on!

Overnight was in Neuchâtel which was on a lake and quite pretty. Next day we had a boring drive to our next stay in Champagne. Only interesting thing was yet another R8 (this one a V10) who pulled alongside us on the motorway. I downshifted three gears and he did the same - giving our fellow motorists 18 cylinders of noisy joy was great fun although BBB described me as a child.

We stayed at a château in Étoge in Champagne - after the Swiss hotels it seemed like really good value. I went past the obvious parking and pulled straight up to the front like "that guy".



I asked the lovely check-in lady where I should park and she removed a "reserved" sign from one of a couple of undercover parks right at the front and we went for a walk around town to do some tasting and buying.

It turns out you can fit 7 days worth of clothes and 14 bottles of champagne in an R8.

Edited by seefarr on Monday 24th October 21:43

[seefarr]

A spot that should contain an Audi but doesn't:



Is what greeted us when we got home last night. They'd bashed in my back doors (!), took some jewelry including a new watch I'd bought BBB for our 10 year anniversary this week. It all seemed very professional and at least they didn't leave a massive mess. They'd taken a bottle of spray from under the kitchen bench and sprayed everywhere they'd touched so the forensics couldn't get any prints. The police have all been lovely and very decent at ignoring all the mysterious mason jars hand labelled "Corn whiskey 60%" that are scattered around.

So if you do see RD54PPX driving around, make sure you notify Surrey police for me!