Advice on Road Trip :)

[ShiDevil]

Hi

Euro Road Trip leaving in June on a Thursday morning 7am Calais heading to Annecy, then some Swiss passes aiming for Freiburg area for last night on Sunday night to head home Monday late afternoon early evening to Calais and then home.

Thoughts.....

Initial idea but trying to work out what’s feasible... we want to arrive around 4pm most days, maybe 2 days mountain driving and a night out Annecy and Freiburg or near.

Start: Market Deeping, Peterborough
1 Folkestone Kent, England
2 Calais, France
3 Annecy, France
4 Furka Pass, Switzerland
5 Sustenpas, Switzerland
6 Simplon Pass, Switzerland
7 St Gotthard Pass, Switzerland
8 Grimsel Pass, Switzerland
9 Freiburg Baden-Wurttemberg Germany
10 Calais, France
E Market Deeping, Peterborough

Edited by ShiDevil on Monday 11th December 07:28

[Nine-Eighty-Six]

Personally, I'd say it's just about possible, but that will not be an enjoyable trip.

You've got 3 hours from Annecy to the Furka alone - and mountain passes are neither fast nor relaxing to drive. A 200 mile round trip can be a full day of driving in that part of the world - and that's without stopping for photos etc.

Plus, you need to be very careful about when you're going - some passes open surprisingly late in the year, depending on winter snowfall.

[Stephanie Plum]

When are you thinking of going?

[sixspeed]

ShiDevil said:

Hi

Euro Road Trip leaving Thursday morning 7am Calais heading to Annecy, then some Swiss passes aiming for Freiburg area for last night on Sunday night to head home Monday late afternoon early evening to Calais and then home.

Thoughts.....

Initial idea but trying to work out what’s feasible... we want to arrive around 4pm most days, maybe 2 days mountain driving and a night out Annecy and Freiburg or near.

Start: Market Deeping, Peterborough
1 Folkestone Kent, England
2 Calais, France
3 Annecy, France
4 Furka Pass, Switzerland
5 Sustenpas, Switzerland
6 Simplon Pass, Switzerland
7 St Gotthard Pass, Switzerland
8 Grimsel Pass, Switzerland
9 Freiburg Baden-Wurttemberg Germany
10 Calais, France
E Market Deeping, Peterborough

Thursday morning? Left it a bit late I'd say, all those passes will be closed for winter by now.

[phil y]

www.alpen-paesse.ch/en

Only one of those passes is open.

[ShiDevil]

Lol. Completely forgot to highlight we are doing this in June! Trying to work out which passes to drop, what’s realistic so we have a chilled drive etc.

[DuraAce]

ShiDevil said:

Lol. Completely forgot to highlight we are doing this in June! Trying to work out which passes to drop, what’s realistic so we have a chilled drive etc.

Your itinerary whilst possible, will not be remotely chilled. They will be long days in the car. You'll constantly be looking at the clock thinking 'we need to push on as time is against us'

Progress over the passes can be slow, much moreso in a car than on a bike. Think 20-30 mph average speeds.

Take more days or if you can't then don't prebook all your accommodation - this just makes you press on all the time as you have to be somewhere by a set time.

I have a rough itinerary then you just go with the flow as each day progresses.. Some days you'll get good miles in, others not so much as getting stuck behind a big line of buses etc can really cost you time, or you might come across somewhere nice that you'd like to explore.
Look for accommodation each day as you go, booking.com, airbnb mean you'll never be stuck for somewhere to stay.

You'll never see everything in one trip, also gives you reason to return.

[chasingracecars]

Going in June???

Go via Le Mans!

[ShiDevil]

DuraAce said:

Your itinerary whilst possible, will not be remotely chilled. They will be long days in the car. You'll constantly be looking at the clock thinking 'we need to push on as time is against us'

Progress over the passes can be slow, much moreso in a car than on a bike. Think 20-30 mph average speeds.

Take more days or if you can't then don't prebook all your accommodation - this just makes you press on all the time as you have to be somewhere by a set time.

I have a rough itinerary then you just go with the flow as each day progresses.. Some days you'll get good miles in, others not so much as getting stuck behind a big line of buses etc can really cost you time, or you might come across somewhere nice that you'd like to explore.
Look for accommodation each day as you go, booking.com, airbnb mean you'll never be stuck for somewhere to stay.

You'll never see everything in one trip, also gives you reason to return.

Hi.

We do a road trip each year, Le Mans, Germany, Monaco, Turin, etc. We always leave 3am Thursday morning and back Monday. We know the score in terms of driving etc and these types of mountain roads. Normally, we do a long stint on day one, when we are all feeling great, from Calais to Turin, or Baden Baden, or Grenoble etc. Annecy, is pretty easy to get to and we don't hang around getting there on the first day. This time we are looking at Annecy as the first location to start on. Recent trips have seen us on the Route Napoleon and Stelvio, so we know the score with mountain passes. Stelvio, we got up early and blasted up it, and I wouldn't say we were much beneath 50mph and much quicker for most of it, apart from the real tight bits through the tunnells, as there wasn't much traffic on the first run....the second and third runs a little slower, cyclists and going down was much slower... The other mountain roads around there, were pretty rapid and we are all mic'd up, so that helps.

I was looking to see if anyone had advice, on whether this route was achievable, which passed to maybe remove as seeing them all might be too much to do. We ultimately want to end up at our location at around 4pm each day so we have time to chill etc. We also want to book locations ahead, so we know what we are up to, given we are likely to be driving, 2-3 TVRs, Aston Vantage etc.

Ending up in Feiburg, seems a good area to focus, as it leaves a good stint back home on the final Monday, but also keeps us in Germany on a Sunday night, where France is typically dead. We then get back to Calais for around 7pm, and home for 10pm ish.

The driving is important, but, we also want some good places to head out in the evening, late afternoon etc. If we spend for example Thurs Night in Annecy, with Friday and Sat in the alps, maybe staying near Lucerne Fri Night and Sat, Sun heading to Freiburg and travelling home Monday. This means we have two good nights out on the first night and last night.

Appreciate anyones guidance.

Edited by ShiDevil on Monday 11th December 16:26

[ncs]

I've done these roads a few times now & they are simply amazing but as said I think you ight be pushing your luck a bit re times.

Is the order youve posted the route you want to take as it seems a bit back to front to me, I've done most of them & if it was me i would try as follows.

1/Annecy (beautiful place, stay near the lake if you can)

2/Great St Bernard Pass (Via Aosta from Annecy which means your going up the Italian side which is much better/faster/smoother, then down the Swiss side with Mont Blanc in your rear view mirror, which aint so bad!)

3/Turn right at Martigny

4/ Simplon Pass (both ways)

5/ Furkastrasse onto Grimsel Pass (if you carry on to the Furka Pass it gets really tight & you can hoon it round a hairpin bend into a bus! Tends to tighten certain muscles somewhat)

6/Turn right onto Susten Pass stop at the top for a coffee) to Wassen, then left up to Lucerne etc...

This route has you going both ways on Simplon so you could find a place to stay at the southern end. Alternatively do Annecy/Gt St Bernard (from the north/heading south) then Aosta to Simplon/Furka etc

I now fully expect to get flamed for the above but hopefully it makes sense.

I've done similar stuff a few times now in my beloved Griff, usually with several TVRs or a Fezza but its beeen over the course of a couple of weeks with nice long stops in between. Looking forward to next years jolly which includes Lake Geneva, Gt St Bernard, a vineyard near Turin (3 nights) 4 nights on Garda, 1 night on Maggiori, then Simplon, Furka & Grimsel Pass in a day to Grindlewald for 2 nights, then three days getting home.

Far more relaxing!

Nick

[ncs]

[ncs]

[ShiDevil]

ncs said:

I've done these roads a few times now & they are simply amazing but as said I think you ight be pushing your luck a bit re times.

Is the order youve posted the route you want to take as it seems a bit back to front to me, I've done most of them & if it was me i would try as follows.

1/Annecy (beautiful place, stay near the lake if you can)

2/Great St Bernard Pass (Via Aosta from Annecy which means your going up the Italian side which is much better/faster/smoother, then down the Swiss side with Mont Blanc in your rear view mirror, which aint so bad!)

3/Turn right at Martigny

4/ Simplon Pass (both ways)

5/ Furkastrasse onto Grimsel Pass (if you carry on to the Furka Pass it gets really tight & you can hoon it round a hairpin bend into a bus! Tends to tighten certain muscles somewhat)

6/Turn right onto Susten Pass stop at the top for a coffee) to Wassen, then left up to Lucerne etc...

This route has you going both ways on Simplon so you could find a place to stay at the southern end. Alternatively do Annecy/Gt St Bernard (from the north/heading south) then Aosta to Simplon/Furka etc

I now fully expect to get flamed for the above but hopefully it makes sense.

I've done similar stuff a few times now in my beloved Griff, usually with several TVRs or a Fezza but its beeen over the course of a couple of weeks with nice long stops in between. Looking forward to next years jolly which includes Lake Geneva, Gt St Bernard, a vineyard near Turin (3 nights) 4 nights on Garda, 1 night on Maggiori, then Simplon, Furka & Grimsel Pass in a day to Grindlewald for 2 nights, then three days getting home.

Far more relaxing!

Nick

Thanks for advice Nick and the time you spent doing so. I’ll review and no doubt get in touch with questions etc. Steve