European Road Trip "Report"
Discussion
Just got back this week from a Euro trip with my OH. We had a great time, and we even took the STi Spec-D around the 'Ring a couple of times each, albeit in terrible wet weather!
We had a lot of fun though, and the car was brilliant - the perfect roadtrip companion. We visited Germany and went to the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, as well as the zoo, and of course the Nurburgring.
We also visited the Rhine Falls in Switzerland and Lake Constance which were both amazing.
The German Autobahns were fantastic, and we saw some nice metal on them and the roads in and around Nurburg were just amazing. I honestly can't wait to go back. Our Hawkeye Impreza hit 125k on the trip and is now on 126500 miles! And I bloody love this car!!
The fuel cost a fortune in Germany, €1.90 a litre for V-Power
It is 100 RON there though, but strangely only 98 in France. Anybody know the reason for the regional variations?
Will post a bunch of photos, although they won't all be in order!
Here's a sample:
We had a lot of fun though, and the car was brilliant - the perfect roadtrip companion. We visited Germany and went to the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, as well as the zoo, and of course the Nurburgring.
We also visited the Rhine Falls in Switzerland and Lake Constance which were both amazing.
The German Autobahns were fantastic, and we saw some nice metal on them and the roads in and around Nurburg were just amazing. I honestly can't wait to go back. Our Hawkeye Impreza hit 125k on the trip and is now on 126500 miles! And I bloody love this car!!
The fuel cost a fortune in Germany, €1.90 a litre for V-Power
It is 100 RON there though, but strangely only 98 in France. Anybody know the reason for the regional variations?Will post a bunch of photos, although they won't all be in order!
Here's a sample:
We had such a good time. We had planned to go and do the Stelvio but in the end we ran out of cash and decided to head back. We'd had that good a time that in the end it really didn't matter. Had a play with a convoy of 911's on the 'Ring 
I have to say, Germany is such a lovely country. Everything is clean, and well kept. People take pride in their homes and seem to have respect for other people and their property. A fantastic place.
I'm struggling now to remember the exact route we took etc. but we stayed over in Folkestone and then the next day went across on the tunnel, and drove all the way to Dusseldorf, travelling through France, Belgium, Holland and Germany
It was a long day but we had to get it done as we had tickets to see Green Day in Monchengladbach that evening. That was a highlight as they were superb as always
Doing a Euro trip was a bit of a lifelong dream fulfilled for me, but next time I'd like to do the Stelvio and maybe go down to Monaco. One of the things that amused me was how the Services in Germany and Belgium were loaded with beers in the fridges, moreso than soft drinks in some places! The Germans were great too, and the guest houses we stayed in were superb.
The trip to the 'Ring was brilliant, and we did 2 laps each. It was only open 17:00 til 19:30 so not a massive amount of time, but it was such good fun. We both really enjoyed it, and there were a couple of nice motors on hand. We also spent some time at the Ringwerk museum and had a look around the visitors centre and Nurodisney - I don't believe they have ever run the rollercoaster they built, have they?
We stayed in a small village called Wimbach, just next to Adenau at a beautiful guest house in the countryside, surrounded by scenery and wildlife. We also managed to get down to Pinocchio's in Adenau, for one of their legendary pizzas, shown in the pics below. The next night we ate the awesome steak at the Pistenklause, where we got chatting to a bunch of fellow Brits about all things cars and 'Ring related They were a nice bunch.
From there we moved on to Stuttgart and visited the Zoo and the excellent Porsche museum. We planned to do the Mercedes museum also, but just didn't have time. On the way to the Zoo we passed the Mahle factory, which had a nice sculpture of a set of pistons and rods outside it! :lol1:
The Zoo at Stuttgart is brilliant BTW, so if anybody likes that sort of thing, I would highly recommend it
From there we went to Gailingen, a small town near the Swiss border and stayed in a guest house which was also fantastic, and served us the best rump steak I have ever eaten The next morning we went over to Konstanz to see Lake Constance, before heading up the the Rhine Falls, the largest waterfalls in Europe:
The water here was crystal clear, and teeming with Salmon! It was an amazing sight, and the boat trip we took was fantastic, taking us right to the edge of the waterfall. I got pretty soaked by the spray but it was great! :lol1:
From there we were really just heading home, and stayed overnight near Saarbucken. We then drove all the way home the next day, which kicked the hell out of us, but was worth it, as I was contacted by an agency about a job I was in for, to tell me I had a final interview and they wanted to see me the next day! We got back, and I got the job So good news all round :lol1:
We did make sure we passed through Reims on the way back though
I will post a few random pics from the near 2000 we took between us! Let me know if you have any questions about the trip, I'd be happy to help anyone planning anything similar
I have to say, Germany is such a lovely country. Everything is clean, and well kept. People take pride in their homes and seem to have respect for other people and their property. A fantastic place.
I'm struggling now to remember the exact route we took etc. but we stayed over in Folkestone and then the next day went across on the tunnel, and drove all the way to Dusseldorf, travelling through France, Belgium, Holland and Germany
It was a long day but we had to get it done as we had tickets to see Green Day in Monchengladbach that evening. That was a highlight as they were superb as always
Doing a Euro trip was a bit of a lifelong dream fulfilled for me, but next time I'd like to do the Stelvio and maybe go down to Monaco. One of the things that amused me was how the Services in Germany and Belgium were loaded with beers in the fridges, moreso than soft drinks in some places! The Germans were great too, and the guest houses we stayed in were superb.
The trip to the 'Ring was brilliant, and we did 2 laps each. It was only open 17:00 til 19:30 so not a massive amount of time, but it was such good fun. We both really enjoyed it, and there were a couple of nice motors on hand. We also spent some time at the Ringwerk museum and had a look around the visitors centre and Nurodisney - I don't believe they have ever run the rollercoaster they built, have they?
We stayed in a small village called Wimbach, just next to Adenau at a beautiful guest house in the countryside, surrounded by scenery and wildlife. We also managed to get down to Pinocchio's in Adenau, for one of their legendary pizzas, shown in the pics below. The next night we ate the awesome steak at the Pistenklause, where we got chatting to a bunch of fellow Brits about all things cars and 'Ring related
They were a nice bunch.From there we moved on to Stuttgart and visited the Zoo and the excellent Porsche museum. We planned to do the Mercedes museum also, but just didn't have time. On the way to the Zoo we passed the Mahle factory, which had a nice sculpture of a set of pistons and rods outside it! :lol1:
The Zoo at Stuttgart is brilliant BTW, so if anybody likes that sort of thing, I would highly recommend it
From there we went to Gailingen, a small town near the Swiss border and stayed in a guest house which was also fantastic, and served us the best rump steak I have ever eaten
The next morning we went over to Konstanz to see Lake Constance, before heading up the the Rhine Falls, the largest waterfalls in Europe:The water here was crystal clear, and teeming with Salmon! It was an amazing sight, and the boat trip we took was fantastic, taking us right to the edge of the waterfall. I got pretty soaked by the spray but it was great! :lol1:
From there we were really just heading home, and stayed overnight near Saarbucken. We then drove all the way home the next day, which kicked the hell out of us, but was worth it, as I was contacted by an agency about a job I was in for, to tell me I had a final interview and they wanted to see me the next day! We got back, and I got the job
So good news all round :lol1:We did make sure we passed through Reims on the way back though
I will post a few random pics from the near 2000 we took between us! Let me know if you have any questions about the trip, I'd be happy to help anyone planning anything similar
We adjusted to driving on the right fairly quickly and we never once got stuck in a long traffic jam. As soon as we got back into the UK, that was the first thing that happened!
I only took the car to about 140mph on the derestricted sections of autobahn, but that was pretty intense! I didn't wanna push the Hawk too far though so didn't go beyond that
Anyone who loves cars and driving should visit the 'Ring. I was sorry we only got a two and a half hour session there, but the upside was that the place wasn't busy and my Mrs even got to drive a lap completely clear of any other cars. It was wet and we weren't pushing it or trying to set any records, we just went there to have some fun, which we did. I did one of my laps following around what looked like a Porsche club outing, which was fun I showed them the Scooby could eat them for breakfast on the last straight too
More photos:
We saw the Alfa above the next day, pulled up on the grass and fluid all over the track!
I only took the car to about 140mph on the derestricted sections of autobahn, but that was pretty intense! I didn't wanna push the Hawk too far though so didn't go beyond that
Anyone who loves cars and driving should visit the 'Ring. I was sorry we only got a two and a half hour session there, but the upside was that the place wasn't busy and my Mrs even got to drive a lap completely clear of any other cars. It was wet and we weren't pushing it or trying to set any records, we just went there to have some fun, which we did. I did one of my laps following around what looked like a Porsche club outing, which was fun I showed them the Scooby could eat them for breakfast on the last straight too
More photos:
We saw the Alfa above the next day, pulled up on the grass and fluid all over the track!
Looks great.
Strangely, was just talking to the Mrs about doing a similar trip at some point sparked off by seeing a 'ring sticker on the back of a car outside our flat. Even stranger, was that she seemed up for it!
Did you plan out your route and where you were going to stay or just turn up at places and chance it?
Strangely, was just talking to the Mrs about doing a similar trip at some point sparked off by seeing a 'ring sticker on the back of a car outside our flat. Even stranger, was that she seemed up for it!
Did you plan out your route and where you were going to stay or just turn up at places and chance it?
MiltonRX said:
Looks great.
Strangely, was just talking to the Mrs about doing a similar trip at some point sparked off by seeing a 'ring sticker on the back of a car outside our flat. Even stranger, was that she seemed up for it!
Did you plan out your route and where you were going to stay or just turn up at places and chance it?
Well we planned the route as in where we'd go every day and we booked hotels or guesthouses for those places in advance. We carried a tent and sleeping bag in the car in case of emergency. As we ended up changing the route halfway through the trip we then cancelled some of the hotels and booked new ones while already out there in Germany. Strangely, was just talking to the Mrs about doing a similar trip at some point sparked off by seeing a 'ring sticker on the back of a car outside our flat. Even stranger, was that she seemed up for it!
Did you plan out your route and where you were going to stay or just turn up at places and chance it?
It's so worthwhile, for sure. The best holiday I've ever had really. Having a Mrs who is just as into it does really make a huge difference though, I think.
We are already thinking about next year and how we'd like to do the 'Ring again, plus the GP circuit, as well as Hockenheim and Spa then tick off the Stelvio and visit Maranello etc.
Nice one!
I have an extra day this weekend so will make it as far as Reims but am planning for Germany next summer. I've been trying to get to the Porsche museum since it opened, it looks well worth it.
It'll be good to get the Scud on some open, less congested roads at last-even if it's only for a few days.
I have an extra day this weekend so will make it as far as Reims but am planning for Germany next summer. I've been trying to get to the Porsche museum since it opened, it looks well worth it.
It'll be good to get the Scud on some open, less congested roads at last-even if it's only for a few days.
Johnnyforeigner said:
Nice one!
I have an extra day this weekend so will make it as far as Reims but am planning for Germany next summer. I've been trying to get to the Porsche museum since it opened, it looks well worth it.
It'll be good to get the Scud on some open, less congested roads at last-even if it's only for a few days.
Tearing up and down the old straight at Reims in a 430 Scud would be one hell of an experience I have an extra day this weekend so will make it as far as Reims but am planning for Germany next summer. I've been trying to get to the Porsche museum since it opened, it looks well worth it.
It'll be good to get the Scud on some open, less congested roads at last-even if it's only for a few days.
joesmoe said:
great pics
this is exactly what i wanted to see as I'm off to the ring tomorrow morning for the first time
can't wait!
You'll really enjoy it. It was my second time, but the first time I did just one lap in a Suzuki Swift (old shape!) with no 2nd gear this is exactly what i wanted to see as I'm off to the ring tomorrow morning for the first time
can't wait!
Driving the Scooby was a bit different to that Price of V-Power was a shocker!
The pizza and the steak were both bloody brilliant!
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