Road trip to Germany - considerations?

Road trip to Germany - considerations?

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Deesee

8,328 posts

82 months

Wednesday 3rd October 2018
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Highway Star said:
Deesee said:
The 5 is a quick road, the culture shock of then driving into Switzerland however takes a lot of self discipline....
Indeed - was at 220kph down the 5 past Freiburg and Offenburg last week after having been stuck at 120kph chugging through CH for hours...
We overnight in the Black Forest on our way to Italy, every morning when we arrive in Basel she pulls her head out her book looks at me and says that didn’t take long hehe we’ve only just set off...why do we need fuel again as I pull into the shell garage..

Had the missfortune of taking the a35 (parallel road on the French side) thinking it can’t be that bad, never again!

Highway Star

3,573 posts

230 months

Wednesday 3rd October 2018
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Deesee said:
We overnight in the Black Forest on our way to Italy, every morning when we arrive in Basel she pulls her head out her book looks at me and says that didn’t take long hehe we’ve only just set off...why do we need fuel again as I pull into the shell garage..

Had the missfortune of taking the a35 (parallel road on the French side) thinking it can’t be that bad, never again!
Sounds like we take a similar route then - we have a place on the Tuscany/Umbria border, usually my wife and son fly to Pisa, I pick them up there having left a day earlier and driven, overnighting just south of Freiburg. I tend to avoid Basel and its queues altogether by taking the short autobahn section (can't remember the number) around near Lorrach and joining the A2 again once in Switzerland and heading south. The 5 can be a pain when only two lanes, but at least it becomes three up at Offenburg.

Deesee

8,328 posts

82 months

Thursday 4th October 2018
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Highway Star said:
Deesee said:
We overnight in the Black Forest on our way to Italy, every morning when we arrive in Basel she pulls her head out her book looks at me and says that didn’t take long hehe we’ve only just set off...why do we need fuel again as I pull into the shell garage..

Had the missfortune of taking the a35 (parallel road on the French side) thinking it can’t be that bad, never again!
Sounds like we take a similar route then - we have a place on the Tuscany/Umbria border, usually my wife and son fly to Pisa, I pick them up there having left a day earlier and driven, overnighting just south of Freiburg. I tend to avoid Basel and its queues altogether by taking the short autobahn section (can't remember the number) around near Lorrach and joining the A2 again once in Switzerland and heading south. The 5 can be a pain when only two lanes, but at least it becomes three up at Offenburg.
We are just north of the marche/Abbruzo boarder, so (now with children) we will do Black Forest then onto Garda for a few days then down rather than one stopping. But we’ve also tried Jura then onto Simplon then down, no traffic at all.

You must be on the other side of the Sibalini mountains from us !!!

gazza5

815 posts

104 months

Friday 5th October 2018
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Did eurotunnel to liege (went to SPa for GT racing) and we also visited the nurburgring.

If doing the nurburgring - personally - I would get one of the instructors with you if you plan on doing a lap. I hired a polo gti and did two laps, and my mate did two laps. Didn't fancy taking the golf r round being a lease.

We did it early one saturday morning (nurburgring) and it was busy at 8:30 - but we had fantastic weather - this was the first weekend of schiool holidays so 20 - 23rd july.

Did have a lovely run on the autobahn - getting overtaken at 130 mph by 2 bmw m5 (uk plates) and 2 amg mercs (german plates) at them sort of speeds seems weird at first. I mainly cruised at 100 mph - it was 6:30 in the morning so traffic light. But yes obey speed limits - I always keep the hi viz jackets on display on the 2 back headrests - letting people know I have them.

Lovely roads around the nurburgring track - well worth a visit - it took a lot to not speed on them tbh.

Didn't find the belgians that bad driving wise - far better than over in the UK - i would say the driving from west london to harrow yesterday in rush hour (12 miles 1 hour 20 minutes) was far worse than anything I saw abroad.

johnwilliams77

8,308 posts

102 months

Friday 5th October 2018
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Why do you feel the need to show people you have the hi-vis vests?

gazza5

815 posts

104 months

Friday 5th October 2018
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johnwilliams77 said:
Why do you feel the need to show people you have the hi-vis vests?
My wifes dad lived in france (north east paris) and it was always something they did - and it was basically there advice to us - I think they were just scared we may get stopped and never bother seeing them again.

Also if going to any german cities - check re emission sticker - think its 11 euros or something around that, depending where your hotels are.

Etretat

1,333 posts

221 months

Friday 5th October 2018
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You must get an emissions sticker. this has already been referred to(in German) no one has commented on it. Very cheap and easy to get(you send a scanned copy of your V5 and pay online not much)
Of course you can ignore this and may well get away with it but is it worth the risk?

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/travel/driving-abroad/...


Ps You need a different one for many areas of France

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/law...




ClassicMercs

1,703 posts

180 months

Friday 5th October 2018
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Umm - speeding - first day in Germany caught doing 30kph in a 25 zone on a bend - the bank charges to make the payment cost as much as the small fine.
In France now - await a couple of potential tickets from first couple of days - the French are good at putting cameras where a speed limit changes - you know it's a zone - you are concentrating on staying at say 70 or less - and suddenly it's 50 - the camera is in the 70 but focused bang on where the 50 starts. Zero grace.
Found in France that Waze was actually more up to date than the very latest TomTom map - been running both since the camera incidents.

Atomic12C

5,180 posts

216 months

Monday 8th October 2018
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Etretat said:
You must get an emissions sticker. this has already been referred to(in German) no one has commented on it. Very cheap and easy to get(you send a scanned copy of your V5 and pay online not much)
Of course you can ignore this and may well get away with it but is it worth the risk?

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/travel/driving-abroad/...


Ps You need a different one for many areas of France

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/law...
The above applies only if you are to enter the emission zones.
All other areas do not require one.
There is currently enough space between the emission zones in northern Germany to thread your way between them to not have to go through the pain of acquiring stickers.

Kccv23highliftcam

1,783 posts

74 months

Tuesday 9th October 2018
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MC Bodge said:
Vive la EU!
Sure

https://www.environmentalbadge.com/


rofl

'82-'86; '02-'05; '11-14 before you ask. Love Europe and the diversity of the nation states not the "EU".



AB

Original Poster:

16,969 posts

194 months

Wednesday 14th November 2018
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Thought I'd update from my hotel room in Asslar.





Left just after 5am on Monday, had to go via Gloucester and Central London for a couple of meetings then headed down to the tunnel. Popped into Halfords in Folkstone for the magnetic GB plate, breathalysers etc then got straight through. We had flexiplus tickets so it was painless (apart from having the car explored top to bottom). We got on 3rd in line and got straight off. We had to be in Dusseldorf yesterday morning but didn't fancy driving all the way so we stopped in Liege which was nice.

Monday night...



Had a day in Dusseldorf then drove the 1hr 45min journey to Asslar which is where I am now. Have a meeting this morning then off to the 'ring - we'll be driving back tomorrow morning, will have to get all the way as close to London as possible as have another meeting 9am Friday.

The car loved being home, and loved the autobahn, treated it to 2 tanks of BP Ultimate 102 which I know will make no difference but couldn't help myself.

Driving is actually very easy, especially with it being mostly motorway, through the towns etc it's no trouble remembering which side of the road you have to be on, was worrying my brain might not work properly with being in my own car.

Standard of driving in Germany is wonderful, Belgium wasn't so great.

Edited by AB on Thursday 15th November 07:06

chopper602

2,172 posts

222 months

Wednesday 14th November 2018
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AB said:
The car loved being home, and loved the autobahn, treated it to 2 tanks of BP Ultimate 102 which I no will make no difference but couldn't help myself.
Driving is actually very easy, especially with it being mostly motorway, through the towns etc it's no trouble remembering which side of the road you have to be on, was worrying my brain might not work properly with being in my own car.
Standard of driving in Germany is wonderful, Belgium wasn't so great.
I found my car to be a lot more lively on Aral 102, although expensive it's great stuff for the 'ring.

I never found Belgian drivers problematic, just the roads which are in a terrible condition

AB

Original Poster:

16,969 posts

194 months

Thursday 15th November 2018
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Today was a fun day.


https://i.imgur.com/KaqZxxp.mp4
https://i.imgur.com/o6jMxcV.mp4



Edited by AB on Thursday 15th November 20:48

AB

Original Poster:

16,969 posts

194 months

Saturday 17th November 2018
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