8 days, 8 countries, 3000 miles
Discussion
So, earlier in September I went on a bit of a road trip with 2 mates, 2 cars, My Mk1 MX5 and my mates Mk3 MX5. Here's a quick write up of the 8 days.
Day 1.
Huddersfield to Dover. Nice and easy start to the trip. Approx 35 miles into the journey, I have no gauges other than speedo working, and no indicators. Bloody fuse has blown. Did I take a spare? Nope... Phone call to my mate who we are picking up in Dover - any chance you can find somewhere that sells 10a car fuse in the next hour before you need to set off! He does well, finds every fuse for my car other than the 10a one. Doh. Stop at service station for a quick break, and I had a bright idea. Spare fuse in the boot from my non existent electric aerial. RESULT. Problem fixed. The rest of the day went well.
Day 2.
Dover to Freiburg. Wow, that's a long way. Especially when you lose your convoy with your mate straight off the ferry. He who has the map, and your mobile phone decides not to work in Europe (never realised I had to get Orange to set it up for me!?). Not even arranged to meet at a specific camp site as didn't know how far we'd get. Think I did a couple of Hundred extra miles that day. I certainly don't recommend driving through Brussels unless you a) know where your going and B) have to. I finally find my way, and a pay phone, and find out where my mates are camping, and turn up 5 hours later...
Day 3.
Freiburg to Milan. This is where the fun starts. Quick (max it out on Autobahn, 112mph limiter still in place on my car it seems...) 60km to travel to Switzerland, pay 40E for a 'Motorway tax disk', then onwards heading for a nice mountain pass. The St. Bernadino Pass. What a nice drive that was, twisty hairpins most of the way up, smooth tarmac, good fun. Shame about the lack of air because of the altitude, it is surprising how little power I had on the way up. And promptly overheated at the top. Leave key in ignition for the fan and open bonnet for 10 mins to cool down. Sorted. Nice views too.
View from bottom:
View from the top:
Quick drink at the top at the little cafe thing, then on towards Lake Como. Someone crashed in a tunnel heading into Italy, holding us up a good hour or so, then it was getting dark. Driving round Lake Como in the dark is not recommended. Not quite as bad a Brussels though. We couldn't find a campsite, so headed for Milan, its near Monza so figured we'd find a hotel for the night. Another long day, but mostly fun.
Day 4.
Grand Prix qualifying. Left the cars in the secure underground car park and got the bus to Milan Central Station, then a train to Monza, and a free shuttle bus to the circuit. Well, near the circuit. No one mentions the 40 minute walk through the park to get to the circuit!! Anyway, nice day, watched qualifying and a couple of support races.
GP3 Action:
Got back to hotel, went on internet to figure out what to do for the race day, and find a hotel for the next night (travelling south towards Monte Carlo).
Day 5.
Grand Prix day, set off early, train then walk to circuit, sat in some better seats as it wasn't busy for support races, then it got busy an hour or so before the race. Watched the race, couple of grid and during pics:
Then back to the hotel, get the cars back out and head out of Milan and south towards our hotel for the night. Good fun day!
Day 6.
Central/Southern Italy to Monte Carlo to Southern Italy. Long day this will be. Set off towards Southern Italy to find a camp site just short of Monte Carlo. Just before turning off the toll road leading down, fuse blows again. Getting a bit sick of this now, though bought some foreign spares earlier in the holiday so managed to change it again. Had an afternoon in Monte Carlo, took my pictures when it was dull, then sun came out when we were leaving. Oh well.
Left late afternoon to go up the Col De Turini (of WRC fame). Roads are crap up there, car didn't like it, was knackered by time I got to top and had to come down again in the dark. Not so fun. A few pics:
Day 7.
Southern Italy to Switzerland! Another long but entertaining day. Early start, removed ants from base of tent when packing away, then set off North. Made good progress through Italy, so decided to follow the fun plan and head for some mountain passes in Northern Italy/Switzerland. Altitude once again took its toll and reduced my power to very little, and increased my temperature to very high. Cue over heating again. Oh well, cooled down after a bit of a rest in the middle and at the top! Here's a few pics:
Then onward to camp in Switzerland for the night, nice, but very chilly!
Day 8
Switzerland to Holland.
Another early morning, very cold! Set off for the long journey back towards home, not much to report here other than the weather turned nasty for half the day so my right arm got a bit wet as my weather seals on the roof by the door aren't that water tight it seems. No pictures as once again it was a full days driving, stopped in Aachen, Germany for a treble whopper before hopping over the border into Holland to find a camp site. Pitch black when we found one, and the owner only spoke dutch, which was entertaining...
Day 9
I seem to have mis counted the days... Anyway. Holland to home, another boring motorway fest through Belgium and into France, and a shock at the ferry terminal when they wanted 180E per car. Not a nice end to the trip!!
Anyhow, no further mishaps and arrived back home after covering exactly 3000 miles.
Things i've learned from the trip and advice to anyone wanting to do this sort of thing.
Day 1.
Huddersfield to Dover. Nice and easy start to the trip. Approx 35 miles into the journey, I have no gauges other than speedo working, and no indicators. Bloody fuse has blown. Did I take a spare? Nope... Phone call to my mate who we are picking up in Dover - any chance you can find somewhere that sells 10a car fuse in the next hour before you need to set off! He does well, finds every fuse for my car other than the 10a one. Doh. Stop at service station for a quick break, and I had a bright idea. Spare fuse in the boot from my non existent electric aerial. RESULT. Problem fixed. The rest of the day went well.
Day 2.
Dover to Freiburg. Wow, that's a long way. Especially when you lose your convoy with your mate straight off the ferry. He who has the map, and your mobile phone decides not to work in Europe (never realised I had to get Orange to set it up for me!?). Not even arranged to meet at a specific camp site as didn't know how far we'd get. Think I did a couple of Hundred extra miles that day. I certainly don't recommend driving through Brussels unless you a) know where your going and B) have to. I finally find my way, and a pay phone, and find out where my mates are camping, and turn up 5 hours later...
Day 3.
Freiburg to Milan. This is where the fun starts. Quick (max it out on Autobahn, 112mph limiter still in place on my car it seems...) 60km to travel to Switzerland, pay 40E for a 'Motorway tax disk', then onwards heading for a nice mountain pass. The St. Bernadino Pass. What a nice drive that was, twisty hairpins most of the way up, smooth tarmac, good fun. Shame about the lack of air because of the altitude, it is surprising how little power I had on the way up. And promptly overheated at the top. Leave key in ignition for the fan and open bonnet for 10 mins to cool down. Sorted. Nice views too.
View from bottom:
View from the top:
Quick drink at the top at the little cafe thing, then on towards Lake Como. Someone crashed in a tunnel heading into Italy, holding us up a good hour or so, then it was getting dark. Driving round Lake Como in the dark is not recommended. Not quite as bad a Brussels though. We couldn't find a campsite, so headed for Milan, its near Monza so figured we'd find a hotel for the night. Another long day, but mostly fun.
Day 4.
Grand Prix qualifying. Left the cars in the secure underground car park and got the bus to Milan Central Station, then a train to Monza, and a free shuttle bus to the circuit. Well, near the circuit. No one mentions the 40 minute walk through the park to get to the circuit!! Anyway, nice day, watched qualifying and a couple of support races.
GP3 Action:
Got back to hotel, went on internet to figure out what to do for the race day, and find a hotel for the next night (travelling south towards Monte Carlo).
Day 5.
Grand Prix day, set off early, train then walk to circuit, sat in some better seats as it wasn't busy for support races, then it got busy an hour or so before the race. Watched the race, couple of grid and during pics:
Then back to the hotel, get the cars back out and head out of Milan and south towards our hotel for the night. Good fun day!
Day 6.
Central/Southern Italy to Monte Carlo to Southern Italy. Long day this will be. Set off towards Southern Italy to find a camp site just short of Monte Carlo. Just before turning off the toll road leading down, fuse blows again. Getting a bit sick of this now, though bought some foreign spares earlier in the holiday so managed to change it again. Had an afternoon in Monte Carlo, took my pictures when it was dull, then sun came out when we were leaving. Oh well.
Left late afternoon to go up the Col De Turini (of WRC fame). Roads are crap up there, car didn't like it, was knackered by time I got to top and had to come down again in the dark. Not so fun. A few pics:
Day 7.
Southern Italy to Switzerland! Another long but entertaining day. Early start, removed ants from base of tent when packing away, then set off North. Made good progress through Italy, so decided to follow the fun plan and head for some mountain passes in Northern Italy/Switzerland. Altitude once again took its toll and reduced my power to very little, and increased my temperature to very high. Cue over heating again. Oh well, cooled down after a bit of a rest in the middle and at the top! Here's a few pics:
Then onward to camp in Switzerland for the night, nice, but very chilly!
Day 8
Switzerland to Holland.
Another early morning, very cold! Set off for the long journey back towards home, not much to report here other than the weather turned nasty for half the day so my right arm got a bit wet as my weather seals on the roof by the door aren't that water tight it seems. No pictures as once again it was a full days driving, stopped in Aachen, Germany for a treble whopper before hopping over the border into Holland to find a camp site. Pitch black when we found one, and the owner only spoke dutch, which was entertaining...
Day 9
I seem to have mis counted the days... Anyway. Holland to home, another boring motorway fest through Belgium and into France, and a shock at the ferry terminal when they wanted 180E per car. Not a nice end to the trip!!
Anyhow, no further mishaps and arrived back home after covering exactly 3000 miles.
Things i've learned from the trip and advice to anyone wanting to do this sort of thing.
- Plan your main route before you set off. We only did this a day in advance, but its well worth doing, even if you don't follow it exactly, it gives you a good starting point.
- Plan where you're going to stay before you set off, maybe even book in advance, it gets a bit wearing driving round looking for places pretty quickly. Or at least take a sat nav which can find camp sites/hotels etc
- Take spare fuses! I suppose spare bulbs too, especially if you're not very good with languages.
- Do it, have fun, take care on the mountain passes, and don't do more than 500 miles in a day, you won't enjoy it!
Edited by Don Phil on Sunday 23 October 00:32
Edited by Don Phil on Sunday 23 October 00:33
Edited by Don Phil on Sunday 23 October 13:19
Don Phil said:
Day 2.
Dover to Freiburg. Wow, that's a long way. Especially when you lose your convoy with your mate straight off the ferry. He who has the map, and your mobile phone decides not to work in Europe (never realised I had to get Orange to set it up for me!?). Not even arranged to meet at a specific camp site as didn't know how far we'd get. Think I did a couple of Hundred extra miles that day. I certainly don't recommend driving through Brussels unless you a) know where your going and B) have to. I finally find my way, and a pay phone, and find out where my mates are camping, and turn up 5 hours later...
LOL!Dover to Freiburg. Wow, that's a long way. Especially when you lose your convoy with your mate straight off the ferry. He who has the map, and your mobile phone decides not to work in Europe (never realised I had to get Orange to set it up for me!?). Not even arranged to meet at a specific camp site as didn't know how far we'd get. Think I did a couple of Hundred extra miles that day. I certainly don't recommend driving through Brussels unless you a) know where your going and B) have to. I finally find my way, and a pay phone, and find out where my mates are camping, and turn up 5 hours later...
CocoUK said:
A good little read that, any pictures of your motor with the MK3 with a suitable mountain in the background?
Monza - awesome!
No SatNav or pre-booked stop-over - bonkers!
At times I wish i'd remembered the sat nav,, but majority of the time we were ok, no thanks to me though!Monza - awesome!
No SatNav or pre-booked stop-over - bonkers!
I'm sure there is a pic of both the cars somewhere in my collection, i'll have a look when I get chance.
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