Discussion
Saturday we set off at 9am for our 12:00 ferry from Portsmouth. A foggy but uneventful drive down in plenty of time and we lined up waiting for a delayed ship. We had half a tank of fuel left and if you're reading this in the future or from another country this is important because Britain currently has fuel shortages. Really.
After a wait we got to the next line up then we were all excited about actually boarding. We got to the front of the queue and there was a Cayman with Martini stripes in the next row so I gave it a blip to make him question why he was 2 cylinders short of 8. This clearly woke up the traffic controller who stopped us and told us we were too low / wide to go up the ramps so we would have to wait! #fatshaming. So we pulled over to the side at the front of the queue while everyone else went past, giving us a big old stare wondering if we'd broken the rules or just plain broken down ("you know this is your fault, don't you?” "yes."). On the upside this meant we were parked down on the lowest deck with the trucks so were off first.
The missus had booked us into Commodore class cabin right at the front of the ship. Pluses included more space, a guaranteed dinner reservation, breakfast in your cabin and a great view:
Minuses included being at the front of the ship, so your wife gets seasick and you don't get to go to dinner! Beer and crisps in the bar ("it's the centre of the ship so moves around the least" did the job for me anyway.
When we woke up the famously choppy Bay of Biscay wasn't and we set off at the front of the queue on Sunday with minimal lines at passport control. Compared to the slog through France I'd love to do a ferry again - it just seems like a big floating bar with nothing to do but drink beer and look at the ocean, which is about my favourite thing. Not sure how the wife feels about it though - we'll have to see how the seasickness tablets work on the way back.
We did 1:30 on toll roads to Logroño which is in La Rioja region and is famous for its pintxos which is Basque tapas. €2 beer and €1.60 local young rose (called clarete) almost makes the plentiful petrol seem cheap (€100 for 60L). The hotel had reserved us a wide parking spot so no worries there but this may become a theme as the Spanish love a tiny parking garage...
We had a couple of people stick phones out to film us on the way and some pointing and thumbs up. The car seemed to always have people staring at it when we parked up so I guess they're a rarer sight than in the UK. Or I'm very handsome.
Monday we went to a small town with a big cathedral and then up to a vineyard for a lamb chops set menu which included a bottle of wine, served outside under vine leaves which was an impossibly relaxing way to kick off a holiday. It was a £700 a night hotel too (Marques de Riscal) so loads of fancy cars in the carpark (evil sounding GT3 RS and 996 turbo), mostly Brits.
After a wait we got to the next line up then we were all excited about actually boarding. We got to the front of the queue and there was a Cayman with Martini stripes in the next row so I gave it a blip to make him question why he was 2 cylinders short of 8. This clearly woke up the traffic controller who stopped us and told us we were too low / wide to go up the ramps so we would have to wait! #fatshaming. So we pulled over to the side at the front of the queue while everyone else went past, giving us a big old stare wondering if we'd broken the rules or just plain broken down ("you know this is your fault, don't you?” "yes."). On the upside this meant we were parked down on the lowest deck with the trucks so were off first.
The missus had booked us into Commodore class cabin right at the front of the ship. Pluses included more space, a guaranteed dinner reservation, breakfast in your cabin and a great view:
Minuses included being at the front of the ship, so your wife gets seasick and you don't get to go to dinner! Beer and crisps in the bar ("it's the centre of the ship so moves around the least" did the job for me anyway.
When we woke up the famously choppy Bay of Biscay wasn't and we set off at the front of the queue on Sunday with minimal lines at passport control. Compared to the slog through France I'd love to do a ferry again - it just seems like a big floating bar with nothing to do but drink beer and look at the ocean, which is about my favourite thing. Not sure how the wife feels about it though - we'll have to see how the seasickness tablets work on the way back.
We did 1:30 on toll roads to Logroño which is in La Rioja region and is famous for its pintxos which is Basque tapas. €2 beer and €1.60 local young rose (called clarete) almost makes the plentiful petrol seem cheap (€100 for 60L). The hotel had reserved us a wide parking spot so no worries there but this may become a theme as the Spanish love a tiny parking garage...
We had a couple of people stick phones out to film us on the way and some pointing and thumbs up. The car seemed to always have people staring at it when we parked up so I guess they're a rarer sight than in the UK. Or I'm very handsome.
Monday we went to a small town with a big cathedral and then up to a vineyard for a lamb chops set menu which included a bottle of wine, served outside under vine leaves which was an impossibly relaxing way to kick off a holiday. It was a £700 a night hotel too (Marques de Riscal) so loads of fancy cars in the carpark (evil sounding GT3 RS and 996 turbo), mostly Brits.
Today was quick 3 hour tour on the way to another enormous lunch.
https://goo.gl/maps/3nTwJTGiyAnKJrBk9
I'd seen a ribbon of tarmac on Google maps that had some MC Escher like road thing happening so this was where we headed.
The NA718 headed up to the top of one of the flat Mesa looking mountains here abouts and then down the other side. It started out amazingly twisty running up through a gorge and ended up in forests by the top. The switchback stuff was a few at the top and them down the bottom again. There was a fair amount of traffic on this road with campers and walkers around but getting a clear section just required patience to pull over and wait. I was leaning on the brakes and firing it out of the hairpins in 2nd and I could really feel it starting to send power to the front as I came out. Listening to the car happily ticking away with a used brakes smell here at the top and bottom:
It was so good we drove back up again and turned onto the NA7130 which was glorious. Dead empty, perfect tarmac, good sight and a few sleepy villages to break it up, it went up a wooded valley and down the other side of a mountain. Rock n roll and window down enough to hear the rumble and occasional punt through the revs. Just amazing.
Lunch was at a place that specialises in roast mutton so we went the tasting with upgraded Grand Riserva Rioja - an extra €10 got us a '94!! Two courses followed by a dish of mutton that could feed a rugby team meant a sedate drive back to Logroño through the vineyards to cap off another cracker of a day.
Tomorrow we drive up to the Pyrenees proper. We seem to have collected every single bug in Spain on the windscreen so we're hanging out for a services with a screen wipe thing too! No more lamb.
https://goo.gl/maps/3nTwJTGiyAnKJrBk9
I'd seen a ribbon of tarmac on Google maps that had some MC Escher like road thing happening so this was where we headed.
The NA718 headed up to the top of one of the flat Mesa looking mountains here abouts and then down the other side. It started out amazingly twisty running up through a gorge and ended up in forests by the top. The switchback stuff was a few at the top and them down the bottom again. There was a fair amount of traffic on this road with campers and walkers around but getting a clear section just required patience to pull over and wait. I was leaning on the brakes and firing it out of the hairpins in 2nd and I could really feel it starting to send power to the front as I came out. Listening to the car happily ticking away with a used brakes smell here at the top and bottom:
It was so good we drove back up again and turned onto the NA7130 which was glorious. Dead empty, perfect tarmac, good sight and a few sleepy villages to break it up, it went up a wooded valley and down the other side of a mountain. Rock n roll and window down enough to hear the rumble and occasional punt through the revs. Just amazing.
Lunch was at a place that specialises in roast mutton so we went the tasting with upgraded Grand Riserva Rioja - an extra €10 got us a '94!! Two courses followed by a dish of mutton that could feed a rugby team meant a sedate drive back to Logroño through the vineyards to cap off another cracker of a day.
Tomorrow we drive up to the Pyrenees proper. We seem to have collected every single bug in Spain on the windscreen so we're hanging out for a services with a screen wipe thing too! No more lamb.
elvismiggell said:
I am deriving significant amounts of vicarious enjoyment from all of this! 
Boring question - how do you manage with the luggage situation? Is it all just rammed in behind your seats or have you got some wedged in around you inside the cabin itself?
Boring question - how do you manage with the luggage situation? Is it all just rammed in behind your seats or have you got some wedged in around you inside the cabin itself?
Loads of luggage space! A soft skinny Eastpak wheely and a cabin-max backpack on the shelf behind the seats (doesn't impact rear or blindspot views) and then a smaller Eastpak soft cabin wheely in the frunk with shoes, oil, spare coats etc. We packed clothes for nine days this trip.
Yesterday we left Logroño and stopped off at Sos del Rey Catolico. Rather than the Autoroutes I plotted a route that took us to the South end of the A127 which was not exactly on the way but...
And yes, twisty toad on Google equalled a good one! Loads of nice views when we got to the top too.
The town of Sos is the most perfect medieval hilltop town. If it was in Italy it would be swarmed with American tour buses and have the same shop every 20 meters. Instead it had 2 restaurants that only open at 13:30, a cafe, a food store and that's about it. It's a wonderful place unless you need the bathroom at 12:00 and were thinking of lunch sooner after. We pushed onto Jaca, our overnight stop.
Next day we had a drive from the Michelin guide to do. Did I mention how good these are? "Scenic" often corresponds to "good roads" and it's a much easier sell to say "we've got a drive to a church, a monastery and a scenic valley" rather than "I've found a road with enough switchbacks to make you barf"!
https://goo.gl/maps/sMvCJdkeZ1rrkaLZA
And yes, twisty toad on Google equalled a good one! Loads of nice views when we got to the top too.
The town of Sos is the most perfect medieval hilltop town. If it was in Italy it would be swarmed with American tour buses and have the same shop every 20 meters. Instead it had 2 restaurants that only open at 13:30, a cafe, a food store and that's about it. It's a wonderful place unless you need the bathroom at 12:00 and were thinking of lunch sooner after. We pushed onto Jaca, our overnight stop.
Next day we had a drive from the Michelin guide to do. Did I mention how good these are? "Scenic" often corresponds to "good roads" and it's a much easier sell to say "we've got a drive to a church, a monastery and a scenic valley" rather than "I've found a road with enough switchbacks to make you barf"!
https://goo.gl/maps/sMvCJdkeZ1rrkaLZA
We started off with a petrol fill and finally a windscreen clean - it was such a relief to be able to see out again! The first interesting part of the drive was up a wooded valley to a town called Echo. Cute stone houses with strange conical chimneys and tight streets.
We carried on after a quick walk to check out a 10C monastery a few clicks after that but stopped there as the road went down to 1 lane.
Next up the A176 was as good as roads get in terms of surface and also had strangely wide lanes so racing lines became mandatory. Good sight lines meant that many left hand corners were taken as God intended using both lanes. We turned off onto the NA176 which I'd picked up from a Jethro Bovingdon drives series on Motortrend. And it was awful! Rutted 1.5 lanes wide (despite having a middle lane marked) that went down to single lane for the tight corners was not a lot of fun.
After a few clicks we crossed over the Navarro border and it was clear these guys understood roads as it changed immediately. It was just 2 lanes wide so I was using more than my fair share I'm the tight twisty stuff but great surface and we saw no other car, bike or cycle the whole time. There was even a couple of sections of tunnel interspersed with tight corners with just enough space to get to the higher registers of 2nd gear in between.
What we did see were sheep though, a whole herd of them complete with shepherd taking up the whole road. We spotted them in plenty of time but it was a useful reminder to dial it back a notch.
We turned right up the NA137 (another one from the Bovingdon show) which climbed up along a river, through some tight gorges up above the treeline all the way to the French border. Up near the top we started to see lots of cow poop on the road so calmed down a bit where there was no sight lines.
After a cattle grid we had switchback nirvana up to the top. Amazing road and stunning views at the top.
After we caught our breath it was the same but downhill! I wasn't leaning on the brakes that hard here so don't really know if they fade - engine braking is pretty high at 8000rpm so I made use of that. We stopped in for a quick beer half way down ("ooh that one looks interesting, never seen that, I'll have that one...oh it's 7.6%... are you ok to drive from here?”) then found a little cafe near the bottom that did ham and cheese sandwiches big enough to feed a family.
Back into town for wine and ham and discussions about how we can make a move up here work ("I'll farm goats and make cheese!”).
We carried on after a quick walk to check out a 10C monastery a few clicks after that but stopped there as the road went down to 1 lane.
Next up the A176 was as good as roads get in terms of surface and also had strangely wide lanes so racing lines became mandatory. Good sight lines meant that many left hand corners were taken as God intended using both lanes. We turned off onto the NA176 which I'd picked up from a Jethro Bovingdon drives series on Motortrend. And it was awful! Rutted 1.5 lanes wide (despite having a middle lane marked) that went down to single lane for the tight corners was not a lot of fun.
After a few clicks we crossed over the Navarro border and it was clear these guys understood roads as it changed immediately. It was just 2 lanes wide so I was using more than my fair share I'm the tight twisty stuff but great surface and we saw no other car, bike or cycle the whole time. There was even a couple of sections of tunnel interspersed with tight corners with just enough space to get to the higher registers of 2nd gear in between.
What we did see were sheep though, a whole herd of them complete with shepherd taking up the whole road. We spotted them in plenty of time but it was a useful reminder to dial it back a notch.
We turned right up the NA137 (another one from the Bovingdon show) which climbed up along a river, through some tight gorges up above the treeline all the way to the French border. Up near the top we started to see lots of cow poop on the road so calmed down a bit where there was no sight lines.
After a cattle grid we had switchback nirvana up to the top. Amazing road and stunning views at the top.
After we caught our breath it was the same but downhill! I wasn't leaning on the brakes that hard here so don't really know if they fade - engine braking is pretty high at 8000rpm so I made use of that. We stopped in for a quick beer half way down ("ooh that one looks interesting, never seen that, I'll have that one...oh it's 7.6%... are you ok to drive from here?”) then found a little cafe near the bottom that did ham and cheese sandwiches big enough to feed a family.
Back into town for wine and ham and discussions about how we can make a move up here work ("I'll farm goats and make cheese!”).
Can you jump an R8? Yes!
Should you jump an R8? No.
Yesterday's drive was up to a famous pass on the border called Portalet then down to our overnight stop at Ainsa.
https://goo.gl/maps/eiRvkKogGcFRtqvS9
We headed up to the pass and it was a nice road but enough traffic that it was annoying. I made a few overtakes but just kept coming up on the next miserable small SUV and figured it wasn't worth it. Near the top the road surface turned to absolute poo. We had 2km before the view point, stuck behind a Citroen something and the missus said "with the terrible road and no guard rails probably best to just cruise". But an overtaking lane appeared so overtake we did! And overtake we should not. Just over a rise there was what I would describe as a washout, like a creek had flowed through the tarmac and washed out a section to be 20cm lower. I saw it at the last second but still managed to get air, scrape the front and I think something at the back as we landed.
Very slow up to the top and it seems like nothing is broken so that's a plus. Still upset but the view was pretty amazing. A camper van pulled up and out popped a friendly Portuguese bloke called Madeira and a tiny floofy dog. He told stories of rallying Audis in Portugal back in the day and my mood greatly improved.
Back down the hill at a subdued pace, we made an unscheduled detour up to some thermal baths that Michelin recommended. The road was pretty amazing up a narrow canyon but a little too narrow for the passenger apparently. I built speed gradually and it seems fine - there's a bit of a shudder under braking but I think that was from another day when I might have warped a disk putting the parking brake on after a mountain session.
Onwards to the North bit of the N260 to Broto (which is a road that has four sides in a loop plus a tail so very confusing). After a couple of clicks it starts to get tight and windy and we see the "Windy Road, Next 23km" sign. It did not disappoint. Hardly any traffic on our side, enough room to get a hustle on and seemingly endless corners. And views.
If you're getting sick of seeing of seeing "Audi on Mountain" pictures just let me know, so I can ignore you. Anyway, we stopped at Broto for lunch and carried on to the East side of the N260 to be greeted by another windy road sign, this one warning of 32km.
Another fabulous drive and Ainsa was just as pretty as the last time we were there 9 years ago, but now they had a bar selling craft beer so it's better.
Should you jump an R8? No.
Yesterday's drive was up to a famous pass on the border called Portalet then down to our overnight stop at Ainsa.
https://goo.gl/maps/eiRvkKogGcFRtqvS9
We headed up to the pass and it was a nice road but enough traffic that it was annoying. I made a few overtakes but just kept coming up on the next miserable small SUV and figured it wasn't worth it. Near the top the road surface turned to absolute poo. We had 2km before the view point, stuck behind a Citroen something and the missus said "with the terrible road and no guard rails probably best to just cruise". But an overtaking lane appeared so overtake we did! And overtake we should not. Just over a rise there was what I would describe as a washout, like a creek had flowed through the tarmac and washed out a section to be 20cm lower. I saw it at the last second but still managed to get air, scrape the front and I think something at the back as we landed.
Very slow up to the top and it seems like nothing is broken so that's a plus. Still upset but the view was pretty amazing. A camper van pulled up and out popped a friendly Portuguese bloke called Madeira and a tiny floofy dog. He told stories of rallying Audis in Portugal back in the day and my mood greatly improved.
Back down the hill at a subdued pace, we made an unscheduled detour up to some thermal baths that Michelin recommended. The road was pretty amazing up a narrow canyon but a little too narrow for the passenger apparently. I built speed gradually and it seems fine - there's a bit of a shudder under braking but I think that was from another day when I might have warped a disk putting the parking brake on after a mountain session.
Onwards to the North bit of the N260 to Broto (which is a road that has four sides in a loop plus a tail so very confusing). After a couple of clicks it starts to get tight and windy and we see the "Windy Road, Next 23km" sign. It did not disappoint. Hardly any traffic on our side, enough room to get a hustle on and seemingly endless corners. And views.
If you're getting sick of seeing of seeing "Audi on Mountain" pictures just let me know, so I can ignore you. Anyway, we stopped at Broto for lunch and carried on to the East side of the N260 to be greeted by another windy road sign, this one warning of 32km.
Another fabulous drive and Ainsa was just as pretty as the last time we were there 9 years ago, but now they had a bar selling craft beer so it's better.
Thanks for the positive feedback!
Yesterday we had a 4hr trip via France planned. The point of it was to do the Col du Portillon pass from France back to Spain. This may not be shown via these waypoints depending on when you view it, as shall become clear.
https://goo.gl/maps/BPwgW2ch2Dpt3EeSA
The first pass from Spain to France... Was a 3km long tunnel with a fair amount of traffic on it so the road up was pretty but not fast. It was operating a single lane too so everyone got to queue for 5 minutes for a green light. On the upside after we got through there was a series of switchbacks to get to the valley floor and I knew if we pulled over we'd have 5 minutes of clear space.
and if you're on the side of a mountain, you may as well take a picture.
Our plan worked to perfection and we caught up to the car-train as we entered the first town. The trip through France was generally dull roads but pretty mountain scenery. We got through the last town and the start of the pass we'd been aiming for and
Ah. That's a shame is what I said except with a lot more colour and passion. We had to backtrack and head North so to get a waypoint in the navigation I just saw a restaurant next to a lake and headed for that. And it turned out to be a pretty damn happy accident in the end.
There were some large tour group sort of tables set up but we thought that France doesn't really screw up food and it was great. A whole bunch of noise in the parking lot and then a whole bunch of noisy Spaniards at the big tables was explained by the MG car club visit.
Back down another pass into Spain with a bit of traffic and then onto the C28 to Sort for our overnight. It started out with cracked concrete so I wasn't too hopeful but they had resurfaced it after a few Kms with lovely fresh tarmac and the fun started properly. All the way up to 2070m to a ski resort, only some bikes around to play with, alpine meadows with cows and horses, more jaw dropping views and then some switchbacks to finish off.
Down into Sort which is a.... town.... In a pretty place. It had a Rock Bar playing punk rock with craft beer. Apart from that I'm not sure if I'd go back. Except for the amazing roads all around, so I probably will.
Yesterday we had a 4hr trip via France planned. The point of it was to do the Col du Portillon pass from France back to Spain. This may not be shown via these waypoints depending on when you view it, as shall become clear.
https://goo.gl/maps/BPwgW2ch2Dpt3EeSA
The first pass from Spain to France... Was a 3km long tunnel with a fair amount of traffic on it so the road up was pretty but not fast. It was operating a single lane too so everyone got to queue for 5 minutes for a green light. On the upside after we got through there was a series of switchbacks to get to the valley floor and I knew if we pulled over we'd have 5 minutes of clear space.
and if you're on the side of a mountain, you may as well take a picture.Our plan worked to perfection and we caught up to the car-train as we entered the first town. The trip through France was generally dull roads but pretty mountain scenery. We got through the last town and the start of the pass we'd been aiming for and
Ah. That's a shame is what I said except with a lot more colour and passion. We had to backtrack and head North so to get a waypoint in the navigation I just saw a restaurant next to a lake and headed for that. And it turned out to be a pretty damn happy accident in the end.
There were some large tour group sort of tables set up but we thought that France doesn't really screw up food and it was great. A whole bunch of noise in the parking lot and then a whole bunch of noisy Spaniards at the big tables was explained by the MG car club visit.
Back down another pass into Spain with a bit of traffic and then onto the C28 to Sort for our overnight. It started out with cracked concrete so I wasn't too hopeful but they had resurfaced it after a few Kms with lovely fresh tarmac and the fun started properly. All the way up to 2070m to a ski resort, only some bikes around to play with, alpine meadows with cows and horses, more jaw dropping views and then some switchbacks to finish off.
Down into Sort which is a.... town.... In a pretty place. It had a Rock Bar playing punk rock with craft beer. Apart from that I'm not sure if I'd go back. Except for the amazing roads all around, so I probably will.
Edited by seefarr on Sunday 17th October 21:36
Next day was continuing East up the N260, over the border again to the Spanish exclave of Llívia for lunch. The next two sections of the N260 was just as great but a bit busier and with loads of motorcycles. After an appropriate length of time to warm the fluids after quite a cold morning we were right up it!
We turned off that up to the border which was a bit crap. We made it to the lunch place I'd identified just before opening - a cheese maker with a scenic restaurant. Sadly it seems we should have booked for Sunday lunch so back across the border we went!
https://goo.gl/maps/pLkrGqCxDtDH1CFq5
Back down South and then onto a road called...the N260. Tight and with a bit of slow car traffic but pretty we found a mahousive tour bus which slowed us to a crawl for the last few Kms. We were supposed to stop at a garden designed by Gaudi in a town called Lillet but it seems (after a 700m walk in the sun) I'd done a generally pretty s
t job of organising this day and it was shut for siesta! Gruntlement levels were fairly low and the walk back down the hill came with some mild discussions regarding how fault need not be attributable to any single one person. But back into town we lucked onto a fantastic restaurant for lunch to restore spirits.
After lunch we were onto a road I'd found on a TV show or on PH somewhere called the B402. And honestly it was a bit much! 30kms of constant really tight 2nd gear corners, skinny lanes and no sight lines after a big lunch left us both calling time by the end. There were no pull in zones either so we didn't get any pics!
After that we were supposed to take the older N260a but it looked like more of the same so we wussed out, I handed over control and we took the wider N260 into Olot. And so ends the mountain portion of our trip.
Olot was a nice town and possibly worth more than one night, certainly if the majority of your time is spent washing. They do take this whole Catalan thing really seriously though (I don't think I've ever seen menus written in it before) and there were loads of murals, graffiti and yellow ribbons everywhere. Catexit could be a thing...
We turned off that up to the border which was a bit crap. We made it to the lunch place I'd identified just before opening - a cheese maker with a scenic restaurant. Sadly it seems we should have booked for Sunday lunch so back across the border we went!
https://goo.gl/maps/pLkrGqCxDtDH1CFq5
Back down South and then onto a road called...the N260. Tight and with a bit of slow car traffic but pretty we found a mahousive tour bus which slowed us to a crawl for the last few Kms. We were supposed to stop at a garden designed by Gaudi in a town called Lillet but it seems (after a 700m walk in the sun) I'd done a generally pretty s
t job of organising this day and it was shut for siesta! Gruntlement levels were fairly low and the walk back down the hill came with some mild discussions regarding how fault need not be attributable to any single one person. But back into town we lucked onto a fantastic restaurant for lunch to restore spirits. After lunch we were onto a road I'd found on a TV show or on PH somewhere called the B402. And honestly it was a bit much! 30kms of constant really tight 2nd gear corners, skinny lanes and no sight lines after a big lunch left us both calling time by the end. There were no pull in zones either so we didn't get any pics!
After that we were supposed to take the older N260a but it looked like more of the same so we wussed out, I handed over control and we took the wider N260 into Olot. And so ends the mountain portion of our trip.
Olot was a nice town and possibly worth more than one night, certainly if the majority of your time is spent washing. They do take this whole Catalan thing really seriously though (I don't think I've ever seen menus written in it before) and there were loads of murals, graffiti and yellow ribbons everywhere. Catexit could be a thing...
Edited by seefarr on Tuesday 19th October 17:01
Edited by seefarr on Tuesday 19th October 17:05
Edited by seefarr on Tuesday 19th October 17:19
Drove a Mk1 R8 manual years back when I went to collect my first S3. Absolutely sublime cars and very underrated/done down by large swathes of motoring enthusiasts who don’t actually have a clue about them.
Very entertaining write-up and some great trips!
I’m based in Surrey too, have a fairly quick Golf and do like a good b-road blat so if you fancy a drive out give me a shout. Also, if your “back roads to Sevenoaks” route is the same one as mine, then yes it’s a belter!
Very entertaining write-up and some great trips!
I’m based in Surrey too, have a fairly quick Golf and do like a good b-road blat so if you fancy a drive out give me a shout. Also, if your “back roads to Sevenoaks” route is the same one as mine, then yes it’s a belter!
Cheers guys. If I feel like being embarrassed by a Golf I'll give you a bell!
Next day was our biggest distance to cover to get to the next place and should have been a 4:20 motorway schlep to Zaragoza. But what's an hour's detour between friends?
https://goo.gl/maps/hG5cmW7RM7JQ5pfH8
So off to the Montsec ranges for some gorges and lakes. The Beautiful Blonde Ballast kindly offered to do the boring bit at the start and handed over control just at the start of the C1412b. What a girl! And what a road that turned out to be! You're probably bored of me ticking them off
but after so long driving in Britain finding yet another perfect tarmac, empty, beautiful scenery road stacked with lovely 3rd gear corners is still not getting old for me.
We turned off that onto the reason for the detour, the C13 and it was just as good a road, prettier than before with a little more traffic but not crazy. And so many views, the road ran along side a series of dams and down canyons.
The missus proclaimed it her favourite road of the trip! We stopped at the next random town for lunch and after that I selected "no tolls" on the satnav and pointed at Zaragoza. The satnav took us straight to a toll booth! Much swearing
but no tickets to collect and a Google led us to understand it had been turned from a toll road to free the month before - result!
We had two night in Zaragoza and loved it - loads of little bars and restaurants in the old town and some great stuff to see. We missed out on seeing a fair bit so we'll have to go back.
Next day was our biggest distance to cover to get to the next place and should have been a 4:20 motorway schlep to Zaragoza. But what's an hour's detour between friends?
https://goo.gl/maps/hG5cmW7RM7JQ5pfH8
So off to the Montsec ranges for some gorges and lakes. The Beautiful Blonde Ballast kindly offered to do the boring bit at the start and handed over control just at the start of the C1412b. What a girl! And what a road that turned out to be! You're probably bored of me ticking them off
but after so long driving in Britain finding yet another perfect tarmac, empty, beautiful scenery road stacked with lovely 3rd gear corners is still not getting old for me.We turned off that onto the reason for the detour, the C13 and it was just as good a road, prettier than before with a little more traffic but not crazy. And so many views, the road ran along side a series of dams and down canyons.
The missus proclaimed it her favourite road of the trip! We stopped at the next random town for lunch and after that I selected "no tolls" on the satnav and pointed at Zaragoza. The satnav took us straight to a toll booth! Much swearing
but no tickets to collect and a Google led us to understand it had been turned from a toll road to free the month before - result!We had two night in Zaragoza and loved it - loads of little bars and restaurants in the old town and some great stuff to see. We missed out on seeing a fair bit so we'll have to go back.
From Zaragoza we had a schlep down to Albarracin but we stopped on the way to do a walk and look at some cave paintings. It was quite warm in the sun so we were pretty sweaty when we got back to the air conditioned car. A 45 minute drive down some more windy roads was a great way to cool off. The country is really getting its Autumn on now and mixed in with the conifers were these lovely deciduous trees going full on gold.
Altitude and NA cars gets mentioned a lot but I guess I've never driven a non-turbo car at altitude before. We were constantly over 1000m the last few days and over 2000m I really noticed the power drop - as much as 20% if you believe the Internet. On the way into Albarracin I turned out of a t-junction behind some little SUV thing I'd been stuck behind for the last few Kms and pulled into the outside lane to over take at a clear spot. I short shifted into 2nd as he'd been doing granny speed but he obviously clocked me overtaking and decided to boot it. Between his auto turbo at full go and my lazy shifting at altitude I actually only squeaked the overtake but honestly, what a bell end!
We arrived into town all good (twisty, good roads down a gorge, windows down, V8 thunder bouncing off cliffs, BORING!), checked in with lots of questions and compliments on the car from the hotel staff. We went up the steep hillside to try to find a beer to congratulate ourselves for the walk but sadly a few coaches of tourists were in town and every bar, restaurant, cafeteria and tabac was full with waiters shooing us out. We ended up drinking a can in the park like hobos:
Altitude and NA cars gets mentioned a lot but I guess I've never driven a non-turbo car at altitude before. We were constantly over 1000m the last few days and over 2000m I really noticed the power drop - as much as 20% if you believe the Internet. On the way into Albarracin I turned out of a t-junction behind some little SUV thing I'd been stuck behind for the last few Kms and pulled into the outside lane to over take at a clear spot. I short shifted into 2nd as he'd been doing granny speed but he obviously clocked me overtaking and decided to boot it. Between his auto turbo at full go and my lazy shifting at altitude I actually only squeaked the overtake but honestly, what a bell end!
We arrived into town all good (twisty, good roads down a gorge, windows down, V8 thunder bouncing off cliffs, BORING!), checked in with lots of questions and compliments on the car from the hotel staff. We went up the steep hillside to try to find a beer to congratulate ourselves for the walk but sadly a few coaches of tourists were in town and every bar, restaurant, cafeteria and tabac was full with waiters shooing us out. We ended up drinking a can in the park like hobos:
Edited by seefarr on Sunday 24th October 09:12
Albarracin is a beautiful town and you should go but probably out of season with less tour groups. And book a restaurant.
Anywho, birthday the next day so I had 75kms of windy road plotted in, a stop at a monastery and onwards to Soria. Timing was tight for the monastery visit so we had to get a wriggle on. Sadly the satnav ducked when it should have weaved and we only got 15kms of nice road before it chucked us out on the motorways and it was too late by the time I'd figured it out to turn around.
Day went well though, we stopped off at a charming village called Mediacelli for lunch in a great restaurant then we ticked off a Michelin star restaurant in Soria for dinner as the only customers
. They didn't do a matching wine tasting but the waiter managed to match 5 different wines anyway - what a guy!
We were up bright eyed and bushy tailed (kind of) for another drive onto our final stop of Burgos.
https://goo.gl/maps/5myh4S4TvU9kohWU6
I'd plotted a stop up the top of a mountain with a great view. The drive there was great, the view was underwhelming.
Back down the hill to go see a famous lake (Laguna Negra) and the drive through the National Park to get there was super pretty. We parked up like all the other tourists but with a couple of nods of appreciation from other guys. And the lake was really pretty.
Then some 3rd gear corners interspersed with sleepy villages and lots of stares took us to Burgos and sadly that's the last of the nice drives!
Burgos is stack full of the tiniest of tiny little parking garages and all our research before hand couldn't find a good answer. We've done amazingly well with decent car parks throughout the whole trip though so it was bound to happen once. We went down the main underground car park which had reviews saying things like "tight ramps but good size parks". They lied about the parks but the ramps were a bit of a breath in, 3 point turn sort of affair. Despite being quite steep the R8 didn't kiss the front coming down. On the line is in, right?
Anywho, birthday the next day so I had 75kms of windy road plotted in, a stop at a monastery and onwards to Soria. Timing was tight for the monastery visit so we had to get a wriggle on. Sadly the satnav ducked when it should have weaved and we only got 15kms of nice road before it chucked us out on the motorways and it was too late by the time I'd figured it out to turn around.
Day went well though, we stopped off at a charming village called Mediacelli for lunch in a great restaurant then we ticked off a Michelin star restaurant in Soria for dinner as the only customers
. They didn't do a matching wine tasting but the waiter managed to match 5 different wines anyway - what a guy!We were up bright eyed and bushy tailed (kind of) for another drive onto our final stop of Burgos.
https://goo.gl/maps/5myh4S4TvU9kohWU6
I'd plotted a stop up the top of a mountain with a great view. The drive there was great, the view was underwhelming.
Back down the hill to go see a famous lake (Laguna Negra) and the drive through the National Park to get there was super pretty. We parked up like all the other tourists but with a couple of nods of appreciation from other guys. And the lake was really pretty.
Then some 3rd gear corners interspersed with sleepy villages and lots of stares took us to Burgos and sadly that's the last of the nice drives!
Burgos is stack full of the tiniest of tiny little parking garages and all our research before hand couldn't find a good answer. We've done amazingly well with decent car parks throughout the whole trip though so it was bound to happen once. We went down the main underground car park which had reviews saying things like "tight ramps but good size parks". They lied about the parks but the ramps were a bit of a breath in, 3 point turn sort of affair. Despite being quite steep the R8 didn't kiss the front coming down. On the line is in, right?
Edited by seefarr on Sunday 24th October 10:03
I realised I didn't finish this one up so here goes.
Burgos is rightly famous for it's black pudding (morcilla) and we had a tapa of it for lunch and dinner both days we were in town! Onwards for a a toll road schlep to the ferry back at Bilbao. The only interesting thing was a minivan who pulled out camera phones when we overtook them which was fine. What was not fine was them randomly speeding up another 20kph to overtake us as we were coming up to the back of a truck doing 80kph up a hill.
Why?
The ferry was fairly uneventful - we were placed on what was quickly christened the Donkey-Deck in front of a couple of Fezzas and behind a lovely '65 Mustang that was in the ferry over with us. The missus did not get sick this time as well so we'll call it a once-off.
Waiting to get back in our cars we struck up a conversation with the Mustang couple and had a good old chat whilst we waited. He had a bunch of classic cars with the earliest being 1925 and the Mustang his newest.
So that's it! What did we achieve?
Despite that it was another super adventure in an amazing car!
Burgos is rightly famous for it's black pudding (morcilla) and we had a tapa of it for lunch and dinner both days we were in town! Onwards for a a toll road schlep to the ferry back at Bilbao. The only interesting thing was a minivan who pulled out camera phones when we overtook them which was fine. What was not fine was them randomly speeding up another 20kph to overtake us as we were coming up to the back of a truck doing 80kph up a hill.
Why?The ferry was fairly uneventful - we were placed on what was quickly christened the Donkey-Deck in front of a couple of Fezzas and behind a lovely '65 Mustang that was in the ferry over with us. The missus did not get sick this time as well so we'll call it a once-off.
Waiting to get back in our cars we struck up a conversation with the Mustang couple and had a good old chat whilst we waited. He had a bunch of classic cars with the earliest being 1925 and the Mustang his newest.
So that's it! What did we achieve?
- 2700km of wonderful Spanish tarmac. This really is the promised land of roads and I'm seriously thinking about booking it in every year. I just can't imagine Switzerland/Northern Italy/Austria being this empty and amazing.
- The burning of all the fuel in Spain (avg. 21mpg) and the deaths of all the bugs in Spain.
- Two extra inches added to our collective waistlines. The food in Spain is my absolute favourite European cuisine, no matter if it's Michelin starred or dodgy looking back street cafe. And the booze is cheap and plentiful.
- Some very dirty carpets. I guess there must have been a diesel or fuel-oil spill on our deck of the ferry so the whole time we were stood chatting we were working this into our shoes.
Let''s hope that's not permanent staining but I guess worst case I can order some more from Audi.
- A couple of extra scratches in the tiny car parks perhaps because of Spain's relaxed attitude to park-by-feel.
- But the worst is a thumb sized dent I've picked up on the scuttle panel behind the driver's door - I think this was pulling back onto the road from one of the ubiquitous mountain-side stops and I heard a clunk as we came up over the edge.
Despite that it was another super adventure in an amazing car!
No updates for 6 months which I guess is because there's not much to say! I had the joy of a detached retina diagnosed and operated in late December so I was not driving anywhere for the next two months. No lasting damage from that or the dose of the deadlies I got soon after but I can heartily recommend avoiding both.
The R8 was due a service in March and what with the spectacularly rubbish service we'd had from the main dealer I booked in with RE Performance in Swindon. It was a two hour drive out which was ok and when I got there I met Ricky. I asked him to take a look at the leak I had that was dripping on the rear parcel shelf. He came out to take a look and luckily there were some new drips on top of the carpet, which showed that water was dripping down from from the window rather than down under the carpet. That just needed the rear high level brake light replaced and all is well.
I also asked Ricky to take a look at the rear wishbones that were replaced on the last service. Early V8 wishbones are no longer made and if they need replacing (which they did on the last service) then you might have to replace all the rear suspension with V10 gear. My worry was that they'd somehow managed to cram the later V10 wishbones on early V8 suspension but Ricky confirmed all was well there too which was a relief. Not sure if it's all V10 back there or they somehow managed to source the last V8 wishbones in existence but it's in good health.
Ricky is a deadset legend too - down to earth, knowledgeable and trust worthy. It's no wonder he has such a good name, it's just such a shame Swindon is so furkin far away.
Nothing else much to report in the service. Ricky's place is an amazing place though - he had three V10 cars in various states of undress getting twin turbo treatments. And that's ignoring the awesomeness of the Dodge.
And a casual new V10 block lurking in the corner ready for a full forged turbo build.
Besides that the R8 hasn't really had any days out besides the occasional trip to country pubs (including a couple of miraculously empty roads) and a trip up to Norfolk to visit the out laws. On the way back from the service I had to put £120 worth of fuel in it but it's all worth it to feed that V8!
The R8 was due a service in March and what with the spectacularly rubbish service we'd had from the main dealer I booked in with RE Performance in Swindon. It was a two hour drive out which was ok and when I got there I met Ricky. I asked him to take a look at the leak I had that was dripping on the rear parcel shelf. He came out to take a look and luckily there were some new drips on top of the carpet, which showed that water was dripping down from from the window rather than down under the carpet. That just needed the rear high level brake light replaced and all is well.
I also asked Ricky to take a look at the rear wishbones that were replaced on the last service. Early V8 wishbones are no longer made and if they need replacing (which they did on the last service) then you might have to replace all the rear suspension with V10 gear. My worry was that they'd somehow managed to cram the later V10 wishbones on early V8 suspension but Ricky confirmed all was well there too which was a relief. Not sure if it's all V10 back there or they somehow managed to source the last V8 wishbones in existence but it's in good health.
Ricky is a deadset legend too - down to earth, knowledgeable and trust worthy. It's no wonder he has such a good name, it's just such a shame Swindon is so furkin far away.
Nothing else much to report in the service. Ricky's place is an amazing place though - he had three V10 cars in various states of undress getting twin turbo treatments. And that's ignoring the awesomeness of the Dodge.
And a casual new V10 block lurking in the corner ready for a full forged turbo build.
Besides that the R8 hasn't really had any days out besides the occasional trip to country pubs (including a couple of miraculously empty roads) and a trip up to Norfolk to visit the out laws. On the way back from the service I had to put £120 worth of fuel in it but it's all worth it to feed that V8!
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