Spanish road trip

[don4l]

Just got back from my fourth tour of Spain and Portugal with Drive Espana.

Spanish roads are awesome - there is a huge network of motorways, which means that there are lots of deserted A roads.


12 Cars, including 5 Astons, took part. 7 of the cars had toured together before,



We had hotels with views over great medieval cites like Toledo and Segovia, castles and historic buildings to stay in and a wonderful group of people with 5 Astons, 2 Ferraris, 1 Porsche, 1 Bentley, a TR5, a BMW 6 Series and a TVR.


The main roads are spectacular, winding roads with open sweeping bends that you can sometimes see for miles ahead, and no traffic. I had one stretch of 45 minutes without seeing another car. Road surfaces were billiant and you could really press on in safety.

On the last day, however, we were taken to another level. Jasper had linked up with a group called Superdeportivos Cantabria who were doing a car show in Santander on the day we had an evening ferry. They were doing a drive in to Santander from a village 25 miles outside

We expected a few cars and a chat what we found was a procession of over 170 supercars being escorted into Santander by the traffic police, with crowds of onlookers lining the route. They closed all the road junctions and in every village encouraged us to make as much noise as possible for the crowds. I had my own personal police motorcycle outrider with his blue lights flashing for about 5 miles. I was doing 75mph through the villages. I don't know what speed we did between the villages, but one of our group said that we hit 150!!!

It felt weird as we swept into Santander with the police waving us on and telling us all to give it more wellie.

It was absolutely batsh*t mental.

6 of the cars have already booked for next year. We've persuaded Jasper to start and finish with Michelin starred restaurants. The middle bit is going to concentrate on the Pyrenees.

[V8 Animal]

A better ending some what to your trip compared to my recent trip.
Im trying to persuade SCD to put a tour on as I would be up for that always better to put a few supercars together.

[CHRW]

Count me in. Im up for that!

Agree on the amazing roads in Spain. Paradise to enjoy your Aston to its full glory!

[IanV12VR]

You can't tell us about your trip and post no pictures - there must be some!

[don4l]

IanV12VR said:

You can't tell us about your trip and post no pictures - there must be some!

This was my fourth trip and I didn't take any.

I'll post up some from previous trips.

Jasper, if you are reading this, send me some pics and I will put them up.

Here is a picture taken at the Marques de Riscal. This hotel has a Michelin starred restaurant, and we spent two nights there in 2012. We are going back next year.






This is the view from the Parador at Toledo:-



That isn't a good shot because the very impressive cathedral is just to the left of the photo.

I've found a night time shot of yhe city.



More to come...

[W1111AM]

[quote=don4l]

This was my fourth trip and I didn't take any.

I'll post up some from previous trips.

Jasper, if you are reading this, send me some pics and I will put them up.

Here is a picture taken at the Marques de Riscal. This hotel has a Michelin starred restaurant, and we spent two nights there in 2012. We are going back next year.

This is my idea of a tour, including Michelin Star food, good job Jasper!!

[Aston Traveller]

W1111AM said:

This is my idea of a tour, including Michelin Star food, good job Jasper!!

I was on the tour when the stay at the Marques de Riscal picture was taken. Believe me they were not all like that. The last Parador was appalling. The room was awful and the food stone cold and unappetising. The route varied somewhat with instructions and mileage being creative. I think the quality of the tours must vary. I have also heard this from others on different trips. Buyer beware...
Fay

[V8 Animal]

You just can't beat a Premier Inn

[Aston Traveller]

V8 Animal said:

You just can't beat a Premier Inn

staying in one tomorrow!

[don4l]

Aston Traveller said:

I was on the tour when the stay at the Marques de Riscal picture was taken. Believe me they were not all like that. The last Parador was appalling. The room was awful and the food stone cold and unappetising. The route varied somewhat with instructions and mileage being creative. I think the quality of the tours must vary. I have also heard this from others on different trips. Buyer beware...
Fay

Fay,

I know that you didn't really enjoy the trip, but more than half of the people who were on it came back last year. Seven of the cars this year were on their third trip(and had also been on the Rioja Ramblings trip), and most of us have already signed up for next year.

Both the manager and the chef have been replaced at Lerma, and the food was excellent this time. I phoned them a week before the trip and requested room 228, which they were happy to give me(at no extra cost).

I suspect that you might prefer Harsh's(Petrolheads) trips, where things appear to be a lot more organised. One of the couples on this year's trip had been on a Petrolheads tour, and although the husband enjoyed it, his wife did not. She found it a bit too hectic, and a bit too organised. They have already booked with Jasper for next year.

That is one of the really important things about these trips. My wife doesn't really understand why I like noisy cars. She hates it when there is lots of acceleration and braking - and she doesn't like the noise. However she loves cathedrals, museums, castles and good food. So these trips are perfect for us.

I like the freedom that you have on Jasper's tours. You can drive in company if you want to, or you can go it alone. I like to travel alone because the Spanish roads allow me to "make progress". If I was driving in convoy, then I would either be going a bit faster than I would be comfortable with, or I would be going a bit slower than I wanted.

Having said that, last Saturday, on the drive into Santander, I made a lot more progress than I would normally do - and it was bloody fantastic. I'm still on a high.

[Aston Traveller]

don4l said:

Fay,
I know that you didn't really enjoy the trip.

Hi Donal- You actually don't know what I like and do and do not like. I did like the trip where it was good. I did not like the lack of information or the mis-information or the out of date information that was given. I did not like the fact that that nothing was done where it was bad. The fact that the chef has been replaced did not help on my tour.

Don4l said:

I suspect that you might prefer Harsh's(Petrolheads) trips, where things appear to be a lot more organised.

again wrong, I would not enjoy this convoy driving and assisted overtaking at all. I have friends who love Petrolheads trips. I also like the choice of either driving alone or with one or two friends.

What I like is accurate and up to date information so that I can make my own informed choices.


Your trip sounded good with a fantastic ending. I am glad you enjoyed it.
Fay

[Jasper Gilder]

Nice bit of Video here with a DB9, TVR and F355 from the UK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB8wEzdw3GY

[V8 Animal]

Jasper Gilder said:

Nice bit of Video here with a DB9, TVR and F355 from the UK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB8wEzdw3GY

That looks brilliant that's why I joined SCD I love the diversity of supercars when grouped together.

[don4l]

Jasper Gilder said:

Nice bit of Video here with a DB9, TVR and F355 from the UK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB8wEzdw3GY

That's me at 5:07. I cannot for the life of me remember where that was. Do you recognise the location?

[don4l]

Well, although I don't remember taking any photos, it seems that I took more than 80.

Here are a few of them:-

First up is our dining room at Guadalupe. Normally, we would have eaten indoors. However, the weather was unusually warm, so they let us eat out in the open. The normal restaurant is behind the windows that you can see in the photo.



I should have taken a photo from the table. We were sitting in our T-Shirts looking at snow covered mountains.

Here is a photo taken by a resevoir:-





More photos tomorrow.

[Jasper Gilder]

don4l said:

That's me at 5:07. I cannot for the life of me remember where that was. Do you recognise the location?

That's where you joined the drive-in at Posada del Pas

[don4l]

Some more photos. These were taken by my lovely wife.

First up is the bar area at the Parador at Guadalupe - complete with orange and lemon trees. This was an incredibly relaxing area to savour a glass of beer.



The next one is a group car photo taken on our last day in Segovia.



Finally, my wife took a photo on the wild ride into Santander. You can only see 10 cars in this photo. There were 196 of us. Next year I will have video cameras filming the entire thing.



That's it for now. I enjoyed a holiday with a wonderful bunch of people.

[Ed50]

Some nice pictures there Don,all looks very interesting……….

Well you've navigated Spain with great enthusiasm so can I encourage you along to Burghley now as I'm trying to get 200 cars there.

Any others that haven't signed up yet please give it some thought it should prove a good day out.

[don4l]

Ed50 said:

Some nice pictures there Don,all looks very interesting……….

Well you've navigated Spain with great enthusiasm so can I encourage you along to Burghley now as I'm trying to get 200 cars there.

Any others that haven't signed up yet please give it some thought it should prove a good day out.

I'd love to, but I am going back to Spain on the 23rd. I won't, unfortunately, be taking the car this time, as I am going to visit the in-laws at Altea. So, I will be flying into Alicante, and will probably rent a Ford Focus for the week.