France and Back - 1800 mls - ZERO problems, 100% Superb !!
Discussion
Just got back from a trip to the South of France and back, almost 1800 miles in total, the car ran beautifully, no problems at all, it purred all the time 
Yesterday morning I was in Geneva, with a ferry to catch from Le Havre, 460 miles away, at 4pm, I set off at 8 in the morning and got to the ferry with 45 minutes to spare, not bad going huh?
My route was Gloucester - Portsmouth - Le Havre - Orleans - Bourges - Moulins - Clemont Ferrand - Montpelier and down to Cap d'Adge on the Med Coast where I stayed for a few days, before the return trip to Le Havre via Geneva.
I'll write up a bit more about the trip, and post a few Pics and Video clips once I've sorted everything out and come back down to earth, these cars are amazing, I'd go as far to say if you never take it abroad on a long trip, then whats the point of having one? My face is hurting from 1 week of BIG grins
More to come.............,
Yesterday morning I was in Geneva, with a ferry to catch from Le Havre, 460 miles away, at 4pm, I set off at 8 in the morning and got to the ferry with 45 minutes to spare, not bad going huh? My route was Gloucester - Portsmouth - Le Havre - Orleans - Bourges - Moulins - Clemont Ferrand - Montpelier and down to Cap d'Adge on the Med Coast where I stayed for a few days, before the return trip to Le Havre via Geneva.
I'll write up a bit more about the trip, and post a few Pics and Video clips once I've sorted everything out and come back down to earth, these cars are amazing, I'd go as far to say if you never take it abroad on a long trip, then whats the point of having one? My face is hurting from 1 week of BIG grins
More to come.............,
JensenA said:
Just got back from a trip to the South of France and back, almost 1800 miles in total, the car ran beautifully, no problems at all, it purred all the time Yesterday morning I was in Geneva, with a ferry to catch from Le Havre, 460 miles away, at 4pm, I set off at 8 in the morning and got to the ferry with 45 minutes to spare, not bad going huh?
My route was Gloucester - Portsmouth - Le Havre - Orleans - Bourges - Moulins - Clemont Ferrand - Montpelier and down to Cap d'Adge on the Med Coast where I stayed for a few days, before the return trip to Le Havre via Geneva.
I'll write up a bit more about the trip, and post a few Pics and Video clips once I've sorted everything out and come back down to earth, these cars are amazing, I'd go as far to say if you never take it abroad on a long trip, then whats the point of having one? My face is hurting from 1 week of BIG grins
More to come.............,
Please do a report.As i would like to do something like this myself next year.I have family down there,and they are always moaning that i dont visit.I had a couple of my cousins come over a year ago and had never seen or heard of a TVR before,they were more than impressed with the Cerb,I would like to visit them next year. Yesterday morning I was in Geneva, with a ferry to catch from Le Havre, 460 miles away, at 4pm, I set off at 8 in the morning and got to the ferry with 45 minutes to spare, not bad going huh? My route was Gloucester - Portsmouth - Le Havre - Orleans - Bourges - Moulins - Clemont Ferrand - Montpelier and down to Cap d'Adge on the Med Coast where I stayed for a few days, before the return trip to Le Havre via Geneva.
I'll write up a bit more about the trip, and post a few Pics and Video clips once I've sorted everything out and come back down to earth, these cars are amazing, I'd go as far to say if you never take it abroad on a long trip, then whats the point of having one? My face is hurting from 1 week of BIG grins
More to come.............,
Sounds as fantastic as when I did a similar route in the same model of car nearly 8 years ago.
I'll never forget firing out of Les Alpes, iirc coming from Aix En Provence and reliving the default Matt Monro moment hard wired into every Brit PHer's psyche when confronted with sweeping, mountainous vistas and a swooping, private hoonscape.
I swear, it felt like about 160+ for minutes on end, none of this quick dab for fear of being rounded up by Livingslime and shot.
The consumate stuff of dreams.
Good man.
I'll never forget firing out of Les Alpes, iirc coming from Aix En Provence and reliving the default Matt Monro moment hard wired into every Brit PHer's psyche when confronted with sweeping, mountainous vistas and a swooping, private hoonscape.
I swear, it felt like about 160+ for minutes on end, none of this quick dab for fear of being rounded up by Livingslime and shot.
The consumate stuff of dreams.
Good man.
BLUETHUNDER said:
Please do a report.As i would like to do something like this myself next year.I have family down there,and they are always moaning that i dont visit.I had a couple of my cousins come over a year ago and had never seen or heard of a TVR before,they were more than impressed with the Cerb,I would like to visit them next year.
Great idea.Now this is the sort of thing that should be in Sprint.
Hers's my update, it's a bit rambling, but it's Sunday night, so if you have nothing better to do ........
The plan for my trip was to head to somewhere on the Mediterranean coast in the South of France. I chose the Portsmouth - Le Havre crossing (£120 return) I know on the face of it Dover-Calais is cheaper, but Portsmouth is 2 hrs closer to me, and you end up about another 100 miles further south so it actually works out cheaper. The ferry left at 11:30pm, and got into Le Havre 8am local time. I headed South East towards Clemont Ferrand and decided to stop at Moulin, and booked into one of the cheap and Cheerful (£20) Formule 1 Hotels – well recommended - I could have gone further, but I'd done a lot of stopping off for breaks and a leisurely lunch.
On the second day the aim was to reach a Camp site somewhere on the coast, so I set my Tom Tom for Montpelier and headed off, going through Clemont Ferrand, where I was constantly being photographed by people on there Mobile phones (or maybe it was the car). Everyone looked, Motor bikes just keeping alongside me so they could have a look inside, with the pillion snapping away. After popping 'n Banging through the Town centre it was back onto the main road, and what a road! An amazing road for fast driving, although it's mostly dual carriageway, it is full of bends, and I mean REAL bends, it's was like driving on a race track, you really have to 'drive' the car along, a brilliant road, I loved it!!
I got to near Montpelier at about 3pm, and got Tom Tom to take me to the nearest beach, and I ended up at Cap d'Agde, so I asked Tom Tom to take me to the nearest Camp site, which it duly did. Les Champes Blancs, a camp site with 3 swimming pools, water slides and jacuzzi pools. 100 euros for the week, with each camp plot having its own little washroom with hot & Cold water, toilet and shower, perfect.
I put my Tent up, and set up everything else, 1 foam roll mat, a sleeping bag, single burner Gaz stove and Gaz lamp and a fold up Camping chair, a set of disposable plstic cutlery and paper plates from tesco, ready for my spartan week of camping. At about 2 in the morning, I woke up with the sensation of floating in water, I clambered out of my tent and discovered that my tent was indeed floating in 2 inches of water, a water pipe had burst and flooded just my little area, out of a possible 1000 plots, only mine was affected! Well to cut a long story short (sorry if I'm boring you) the camp management in way of compensation moved me into a Chalet, with electricity, 2 double bedrooms, fridge, lounge and dining area, cooker, microwave and a full set of cooking pans, plates and knives and forks – bliss J and thats where I stayed for the rest of the week.
Over the weekend there was a huge Custom Car event in Cap d'Agde, over 2000 Max Power type cars from all over Europe, with all the locals lining the roads and sitting on the roundabouts too watch all the cars go by - but guess what everyone pointed at and stood up to take photos of? When I parked up the car was constantly surrounded by people, and I got chatting to the Max Power types who all thought the car was 'Beautiful', none of them had even heard of TVR, and when you reply “It’s a small British car company”, you feel so proud. If TVR ever does make a return will we still get the same feeling when we reply “It’s a car company owned by a Russian and the cars are built in Latvia” ??
On the Friday it was time to head back home via Geneva where a friend of mine lives. This time I tool the Toll road, 270 miles to Geneva along the most spectacular motorway I have been along, a motorway built on concrete pillars running along the side of a mountain valley, amazing - and it cost under 15 euros for 300 miles. What do we get in rip-off England? A 10 mile stretch of 'normal' M6 that costs us £5.
After a wonderful night in Geneva, slumming it in a 5 bedroom house overlooking the lake, I set off back for Le Havre 450 miles away, as time was tight I elected to take the toll roads, the journey took under 8 hours and only cost 35 euros for fast almost traffic free roads - apart from the Paris periphique. I got to the ferry with an hour to spare, it left at 5pm and got into Portsmouth at 9:30 ( I still can’t work out why it takes 8 hours on the way out, but only 4 coming back), I drove straight home to Gloucester and was back home for 11.
So thats it, well worth it, and something I'd recommend to anyone. My car never missed a beat, absolutely nothing went wrong, oil pressure never below 60, Water temp never went above 90 even in the occasional City traffic, it was perfect.
Total mileage 1680
Petrol Used 343L(75gal) @£1.00/L so £343
Fuel Consumption 22.1mpg
Along the route I also got Tom Tom to take me on the most direct A to B route, and that took me along some pretty hairy twisty, bumpy mountain roads so, the car was driven over a good variety of roads, not just normal fast A roads and motorways, and I did drive it pretty hard.
So what has this taught me? Well I have started to despair of the number of newbies who are buying Cerbs because they are now the same price as a hot hatch, and the first question they ask is "What sort of wheels can I buy for it?"
Well my Cerb has a few stone chips and paint blemishes here and there, the standard RL 17's are starting to look a bit tatty. But I have spent my money on looking after the car, so while it may not look as pretty as some of the ones with 19" wheels, it's got 406hp, and gets me to France and Switzerland and back without drama and puts a huge smile on my face, that’s what these cars are supposed to do
Instruments at 95 mph
The grotty pool at the Camp site !
The plan for my trip was to head to somewhere on the Mediterranean coast in the South of France. I chose the Portsmouth - Le Havre crossing (£120 return) I know on the face of it Dover-Calais is cheaper, but Portsmouth is 2 hrs closer to me, and you end up about another 100 miles further south so it actually works out cheaper. The ferry left at 11:30pm, and got into Le Havre 8am local time. I headed South East towards Clemont Ferrand and decided to stop at Moulin, and booked into one of the cheap and Cheerful (£20) Formule 1 Hotels – well recommended - I could have gone further, but I'd done a lot of stopping off for breaks and a leisurely lunch.
On the second day the aim was to reach a Camp site somewhere on the coast, so I set my Tom Tom for Montpelier and headed off, going through Clemont Ferrand, where I was constantly being photographed by people on there Mobile phones (or maybe it was the car). Everyone looked, Motor bikes just keeping alongside me so they could have a look inside, with the pillion snapping away. After popping 'n Banging through the Town centre it was back onto the main road, and what a road! An amazing road for fast driving, although it's mostly dual carriageway, it is full of bends, and I mean REAL bends, it's was like driving on a race track, you really have to 'drive' the car along, a brilliant road, I loved it!!
I got to near Montpelier at about 3pm, and got Tom Tom to take me to the nearest beach, and I ended up at Cap d'Agde, so I asked Tom Tom to take me to the nearest Camp site, which it duly did. Les Champes Blancs, a camp site with 3 swimming pools, water slides and jacuzzi pools. 100 euros for the week, with each camp plot having its own little washroom with hot & Cold water, toilet and shower, perfect.
I put my Tent up, and set up everything else, 1 foam roll mat, a sleeping bag, single burner Gaz stove and Gaz lamp and a fold up Camping chair, a set of disposable plstic cutlery and paper plates from tesco, ready for my spartan week of camping. At about 2 in the morning, I woke up with the sensation of floating in water, I clambered out of my tent and discovered that my tent was indeed floating in 2 inches of water, a water pipe had burst and flooded just my little area, out of a possible 1000 plots, only mine was affected! Well to cut a long story short (sorry if I'm boring you) the camp management in way of compensation moved me into a Chalet, with electricity, 2 double bedrooms, fridge, lounge and dining area, cooker, microwave and a full set of cooking pans, plates and knives and forks – bliss J and thats where I stayed for the rest of the week.
Over the weekend there was a huge Custom Car event in Cap d'Agde, over 2000 Max Power type cars from all over Europe, with all the locals lining the roads and sitting on the roundabouts too watch all the cars go by - but guess what everyone pointed at and stood up to take photos of?
When I parked up the car was constantly surrounded by people, and I got chatting to the Max Power types who all thought the car was 'Beautiful', none of them had even heard of TVR, and when you reply “It’s a small British car company”, you feel so proud. If TVR ever does make a return will we still get the same feeling when we reply “It’s a car company owned by a Russian and the cars are built in Latvia” ?? On the Friday it was time to head back home via Geneva where a friend of mine lives. This time I tool the Toll road, 270 miles to Geneva along the most spectacular motorway I have been along, a motorway built on concrete pillars running along the side of a mountain valley, amazing - and it cost under 15 euros for 300 miles. What do we get in rip-off England? A 10 mile stretch of 'normal' M6 that costs us £5.
After a wonderful night in Geneva, slumming it in a 5 bedroom house overlooking the lake, I set off back for Le Havre 450 miles away, as time was tight I elected to take the toll roads, the journey took under 8 hours and only cost 35 euros for fast almost traffic free roads - apart from the Paris periphique. I got to the ferry with an hour to spare, it left at 5pm and got into Portsmouth at 9:30 ( I still can’t work out why it takes 8 hours on the way out, but only 4 coming back), I drove straight home to Gloucester and was back home for 11.
So thats it, well worth it, and something I'd recommend to anyone. My car never missed a beat, absolutely nothing went wrong, oil pressure never below 60, Water temp never went above 90 even in the occasional City traffic, it was perfect.
Total mileage 1680
Petrol Used 343L(75gal) @£1.00/L so £343
Fuel Consumption 22.1mpg
Along the route I also got Tom Tom to take me on the most direct A to B route, and that took me along some pretty hairy twisty, bumpy mountain roads so, the car was driven over a good variety of roads, not just normal fast A roads and motorways, and I did drive it pretty hard.
So what has this taught me? Well I have started to despair of the number of newbies who are buying Cerbs because they are now the same price as a hot hatch, and the first question they ask is "What sort of wheels can I buy for it?"
Well my Cerb has a few stone chips and paint blemishes here and there, the standard RL 17's are starting to look a bit tatty. But I have spent my money on looking after the car, so while it may not look as pretty as some of the ones with 19" wheels, it's got 406hp, and gets me to France and Switzerland and back without drama and puts a huge smile on my face, that’s what these cars are supposed to do
Instruments at 95 mph
The grotty pool at the Camp site !
Edited by JensenA on Sunday 23 September 21:10
[quote=JensenA]
The grotty pool at the Camp site !
quote]
Waterproof camera then.
Did the local Pool Gendarme insist that you wear "Budgie Smuggler" Speedos? They were well agressive about it when we when camping last year. Bunch of durrrty French wotnots.
Great write up. Lovely adventure and superb memories, what is life for if not for this?
This should be on the "Cerbera Good News" thread.
The grotty pool at the Camp site !
quote]
Waterproof camera then.
Did the local Pool Gendarme insist that you wear "Budgie Smuggler" Speedos? They were well agressive about it when we when camping last year. Bunch of durrrty French wotnots.Great write up. Lovely adventure and superb memories, what is life for if not for this?
This should be on the "Cerbera Good News" thread.
A very amateurish Vid of some of the driving I did, if you havent been to France this gives you an idea of what it's like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KQh25q94jY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KQh25q94jY
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