Our trip to the nurburgring and beyond - part 2
Discussion
For those looking at this bit first - seek out the other post - "Our trip to the nurburgring and beyond".
Enjoy....
The Second and installment - as promised!!!
On to Monaco!!!!
This was one of the highlights of the trip for us - Neither of us have ever been to Monaco before. Also, we now welcome back into our little Story cousin Paul, though this time accompanied by his Fiance, Charlotte! They flew down to meet us for the weekend in Monaco.
If I had to sum up Monaco in one word, that word would be EXPENSIVE!
If I was allowed to use a few more words, I would use these; Expensive, Exotic, Clean, Fascinating, amazing, unconventially charming.
I was totally blown away by Monaco - of course anyone who has watched motorsport will have a vague idea about the race track bits, but nothing prepares you for the opulence.
As with all places, there are two sections - the cheap bit (which is kinda more expensive than Chelsea!) and the expensive bit (just dont ask! Dont even think to ask).
The expensive bit is the area by the Casino Royale, including the Hotel de Paris, and the Cafe de Paris. I have no idea what it would cost to stay in the Hotel de Paris, but I can tell you that in the restaurant, one of the main courses was over 450 Euros! In uk money that still equates to about 400 quid for a dish! Arty snaps of the Car outside each.
The casino
The Hotel De Paris
and what a car park! The tiny car park was crammed with brand spanking Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, and the like. The Porsche was starting to look a little long in the tooth!
For the F1 Guys, I present the following photos:
The starting grid
By Casino
The big hairpin
That bit by the wall
Going under the tunnel
La Rascasse (last bend before pit entrance). We actually ate there - it was very very nice (and obviously expensive!)
The main thing that strikes you with the people in Monaco is that they can actually afford the toys that they buy. I saw an Enzo there that was clearly being used like a car! (as opposed to a museum piece) - pulled up by a restaurant, parked badly and went for his meal!.
Rach and I did our bit, and dressed up a little to go to the Casino on the Sat night. This is us - not a great photo, but taken with a little camcorder, so best we had.
The casino was amazing! - I have only been in a casino once before, and I am not one of lifes gamblers. I went in with 100 euro, and actually came out in profit at the end of the evening, with 155 euro. It is just such an experience though, the Croupiers are just amazing. In Monaco, all the chips are the same colour for all the players, and only different colours for amounts. That means one thing when playing roulette - remember what you bet on!
Even so, amazingly there wasnt a single argument or disagreement - it was astonishing! The biggest bet I saw was 10,0000 Euro that was put down on a single number on the roulette table. It was gone as quickly as it was put down as a different number rolled in! The guy did not bat even an eyelid! Other world.....
We stayed in the more modest Mariot, which overlooked one of the ports - I am quite a boat fan, and these things were huge! The big difference in Monaco is that the super rich actually use their boats! On the Saturday, the bay was filled with boats, and the port empty. This was quite a refreshing change - I have stayed on a boat in Majorca before, and the large boats there just stayed put almost permanently - what a waste!
View from hotel room
A couple more big boat shots for those that share my passion.....
Nice little speed boats
Nother one
Col De Turini
Back to driverland. No trip to Monaco would be complete without a trip to the Col de Turini! This was well covered by our friends from Top Gear, that recently took a trip down to this road on the first episode of last series. Look out for the repeat - the one with the Green GT3 RS, the Lambo (orange I think), and the stripped out Aston Martin. To be fair their budget for filming was higher than mine, so it would probably give you a better impression!
Paul scored a bit of a result on the hire car - it was this little Alfa, whilst diesel showed significant prowess on these amazing mountain roads.
Some more snaps of the Col de Turini route
Near the bottom - an amazing old and now redundant road structure
Some of the views
Interestingly, this was where Clarkson and Hammond waited for May on the video - a fact I only became aware of when we returned home. Seriously, that is important - honest.
At this point, Rachael pointed out that I had taken more photos of the car than her. I told her that that simply wasnt true....... and quickly took some snaps of her to prove the point......
Interesting fact number 5 - The col de turini road that they use on the montecarlo rally is the road to and from the col de turini. It is NOT the road that ascends to the top of the mountain from that point.
The above may seem obvious to most sensible minded people, but not to me! As a result, we took this one way road up to the peak! A mistake that all too quickly became made obvious by the landrovers we encountered! Nonetheless, with very very careful progress, we made it all the way around, though with some pretty incredulous looks form our off roading neighbours! Did make for some great views though.......
The way down was equally fun, having taken respite at the top for a brief bite. On this occasion, I can wholeheartedly confirm that Top gear had chosen well, and I would absolutely recommend that any driving enthusiast must at some point take this drive! Oh, and if you want to go to the top - take someone elses Porsche!
The cleanliness of Monaco is just outstanding. You have to turn a blind eye to the costs, else it would just dominate your holiday, but for those that want to know, some sample costs include
hotel cost us 750 euro for three nights bed only (ie no meals).
A meal in the hotel for four of us cost 225 euro
Even so, it was well well worth it. Some more snaps of Monaco streets, and Paul, Charlotte and Rach.
With another fond goodbye to Paul and Charlotte on the Monday, Rachael and I were now off to Cannes (location of the famous film festival, though gladly not whilst we were there!)
Enjoy....
The Second and installment - as promised!!!
On to Monaco!!!!
This was one of the highlights of the trip for us - Neither of us have ever been to Monaco before. Also, we now welcome back into our little Story cousin Paul, though this time accompanied by his Fiance, Charlotte! They flew down to meet us for the weekend in Monaco.
If I had to sum up Monaco in one word, that word would be EXPENSIVE!
If I was allowed to use a few more words, I would use these; Expensive, Exotic, Clean, Fascinating, amazing, unconventially charming.
I was totally blown away by Monaco - of course anyone who has watched motorsport will have a vague idea about the race track bits, but nothing prepares you for the opulence.
As with all places, there are two sections - the cheap bit (which is kinda more expensive than Chelsea!) and the expensive bit (just dont ask! Dont even think to ask).
The expensive bit is the area by the Casino Royale, including the Hotel de Paris, and the Cafe de Paris. I have no idea what it would cost to stay in the Hotel de Paris, but I can tell you that in the restaurant, one of the main courses was over 450 Euros! In uk money that still equates to about 400 quid for a dish! Arty snaps of the Car outside each.
The casino
The Hotel De Paris
and what a car park! The tiny car park was crammed with brand spanking Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, and the like. The Porsche was starting to look a little long in the tooth!
For the F1 Guys, I present the following photos:
The starting grid
By Casino
The big hairpin
That bit by the wall
Going under the tunnel
La Rascasse (last bend before pit entrance). We actually ate there - it was very very nice (and obviously expensive!)
The main thing that strikes you with the people in Monaco is that they can actually afford the toys that they buy. I saw an Enzo there that was clearly being used like a car! (as opposed to a museum piece) - pulled up by a restaurant, parked badly and went for his meal!.
Rach and I did our bit, and dressed up a little to go to the Casino on the Sat night. This is us - not a great photo, but taken with a little camcorder, so best we had.
The casino was amazing! - I have only been in a casino once before, and I am not one of lifes gamblers. I went in with 100 euro, and actually came out in profit at the end of the evening, with 155 euro. It is just such an experience though, the Croupiers are just amazing. In Monaco, all the chips are the same colour for all the players, and only different colours for amounts. That means one thing when playing roulette - remember what you bet on!
Even so, amazingly there wasnt a single argument or disagreement - it was astonishing! The biggest bet I saw was 10,0000 Euro that was put down on a single number on the roulette table. It was gone as quickly as it was put down as a different number rolled in! The guy did not bat even an eyelid! Other world.....
We stayed in the more modest Mariot, which overlooked one of the ports - I am quite a boat fan, and these things were huge! The big difference in Monaco is that the super rich actually use their boats! On the Saturday, the bay was filled with boats, and the port empty. This was quite a refreshing change - I have stayed on a boat in Majorca before, and the large boats there just stayed put almost permanently - what a waste!
View from hotel room
A couple more big boat shots for those that share my passion.....
Nice little speed boats
Nother one
Col De Turini
Back to driverland. No trip to Monaco would be complete without a trip to the Col de Turini! This was well covered by our friends from Top Gear, that recently took a trip down to this road on the first episode of last series. Look out for the repeat - the one with the Green GT3 RS, the Lambo (orange I think), and the stripped out Aston Martin. To be fair their budget for filming was higher than mine, so it would probably give you a better impression!
Paul scored a bit of a result on the hire car - it was this little Alfa, whilst diesel showed significant prowess on these amazing mountain roads.
Some more snaps of the Col de Turini route
Near the bottom - an amazing old and now redundant road structure
Some of the views
Interestingly, this was where Clarkson and Hammond waited for May on the video - a fact I only became aware of when we returned home. Seriously, that is important - honest.
At this point, Rachael pointed out that I had taken more photos of the car than her. I told her that that simply wasnt true....... and quickly took some snaps of her to prove the point......
Interesting fact number 5 - The col de turini road that they use on the montecarlo rally is the road to and from the col de turini. It is NOT the road that ascends to the top of the mountain from that point.
The above may seem obvious to most sensible minded people, but not to me! As a result, we took this one way road up to the peak! A mistake that all too quickly became made obvious by the landrovers we encountered! Nonetheless, with very very careful progress, we made it all the way around, though with some pretty incredulous looks form our off roading neighbours! Did make for some great views though.......
The way down was equally fun, having taken respite at the top for a brief bite. On this occasion, I can wholeheartedly confirm that Top gear had chosen well, and I would absolutely recommend that any driving enthusiast must at some point take this drive! Oh, and if you want to go to the top - take someone elses Porsche!
The cleanliness of Monaco is just outstanding. You have to turn a blind eye to the costs, else it would just dominate your holiday, but for those that want to know, some sample costs include
hotel cost us 750 euro for three nights bed only (ie no meals).
A meal in the hotel for four of us cost 225 euro
Even so, it was well well worth it. Some more snaps of Monaco streets, and Paul, Charlotte and Rach.
With another fond goodbye to Paul and Charlotte on the Monday, Rachael and I were now off to Cannes (location of the famous film festival, though gladly not whilst we were there!)
Edited by jjcodex on Sunday 17th August 20:41
This is the last phase of our hols - it has less car-related stuff in it, but I have added it for the sake of completion.
I have to say, the holiday was neatly divided into two main sections - week 1 which was all about the driving and the getting there, and week 2 which was all about where we were going. So the bulk of the car stuff by this point was really done. With that said, the places along the south coast of France were ace.
As soon as we hit the med, the clouds disappeared, and the temperature sky rocketed! We didnt see a day where the temperature dropped below 30 deg c. Hot enough for anyone!
Cannes
Cannes is only a very short trip from Monaco, lying just west of Nice. So after a leisure drive, we found ourself in the heart of the host of the legendary film festival.
We were only here for one night, and wanted to take as much in as we could.
The first visit to the beach was greeted with the view below -
Not our hotel, but a big ass one on the sea front (the Carlton)
In a nutshell - s
t loads of big-ass boats!
This part of the beach is divided up into sections, each with a restaurant, followed by some seating on the beach, then the sea! It is kinda wierd. Each of these sections are allocated to one of the hotels, so walking down the beach is not really possible.
Rach and I saw through this little problem by cunningly spending a st load of money on a meal in one of the beachside restaurants. There - that'll show em!
I have to say - the water was super clean, and really warm. Not anything like the water that surrouds our fair isle!
The cars around the Cannes area were not up to the overall level found at Monaco, but there was plenty of money around, and the below is just typical of the cars near the big hotels and shopping area...
The shot below is one last one of the beach and area - note the total lack of clouds!
Not really a great deal more to say about cannes to be honest - Rach loved it because there was much shopping and beaches. I kinda found it a bit boring.
With that said, Ninja Rach and I covertly managed to defy such laws and go for a paddle!
Antibes[/COLOR][COLOR=black] is a small town just East of Cannes, and we only day-tripped there. One of my regrets is that we didnt spend a little more time there. It was a tiny little walled town, surrounded by a newer town that should be ignored wherever possible.
The gem for the petrolheads (of the boating variety at least) was the marina however. I have never seen so many boats in one place at one time. It was astonishing!
Rach managed to find a boat she felt she could just about live with....
I suggested this one, which Rach suggested was a little more 'tender' sized!
And finally, for the man that absolutely has everything - note the helicopter wrapped on the back
A couple of snaps of the old town....
Avignon
From now on, I have to say they may look a little more like usual holiday snaps, so many may choose to sign off at this point, and I wouldnt blame them! For others - read on!
Soo after having endured about as much sun, sand, and beautiful people as anyone can possibly deal with, it was time to make our way slightly inland, but further west.
For those that dont know, Avignon is an ancient city with a fairly interesting history. Much of this would be fascinating to us all, but to be honest, Google and I suspect Wikepedia will provide a better job of explaining it all. So I will focus on the important bits.....
The road there....
The best thing about Avignon is that the old part of the town is surrounded by a fantastic city wall. Why is this fantastic? Because it allows you identify the stty bits from the good bits! Keep inside the wall and all is good.
We stayed in a fabulous hotel. It was called the Hotel D'Europe. It was one of the older buildings in the town, and it got us the chance to actually experience something a little nicer than the average travel lodge type hotel. Once used by Napoleon so they said!
Best of all, they had a nice garage for the porsche! A good thing, because the French seem to take the definition of bumper rather literally.
The outside
The courtyard and breakfast area
The bedroom...
You will note the two doors either side of the bed that look like cupboards. The one on the left is actually to the bathroom! How cool eh!
JAMES' ATTEMPT AT AN ARTY SHOT -
crap eh!! LOL
Other hotel snaps
Some other piccies of the city.....
Some nice cafe type places near the hotel
Popes palace - massively impressive building to be honest! Kinda what you would expect all things considered.
Some posh looking building!
View from palace! Not bad eh!
Inside the city wall
Outside the city wall
The other noteworthy thing at Avignon is the half finished bridge - has an interesting story, but basically, the bit that isnt there any more was washed away by massive flooding. The river is the Rhone, which is a pretty impressive thing.
I have to say that Avignon is a pretty amazing place to visit, and I would recommend it. It is a very picturesque place, and truly lived up to the recommendations. If you are in the area - check it out, even if it is for a day trip!
After this, we then headed to a Gite (Self Catering Holiday Home) and hitched up with my folks and a couple of their close friends for a couple of days. By now, the weather had reached loony point - 30 degrees on the cooler days, and no wind whatever!
The Gite was dead impressive, and another opportunity for me to take snaps of the car! Hurrah! LOL
I also managed to minaturise Rachael to make the Fireplace look really massive!
The pool was pissing important, as the place didnt have air conditioning - This meant that alcohol was necessary to assist in sleeping!
Yet another James arty piccie
I call this "Red clouds and some stuff in the front"
We visited a place called Arles for the day, which can be found south of Nimes. Most interesting thing I can find to say about Arles is that it has this arena that looks a little like a mini-colluseum. Otherwise, it is kinda more of the same. Couple of photys!
The last part of our journey took us to a place called Narbonne. It is a funny place really - very clean, but not a lot there. There is a place by the sea that should be avoided at ALL COSTS! It has a beautiful beach, but they have pampered to the worst kind of tourists - the British!!!! LOL. It was unbelievably crappy.
With that said, I have to say, the road to the place was just stunning (one of the best we found for a quick blast!) And the jewel in the crown was a small Chateau that we fell across quite by accident. Sadly we didnt have the camera, so I cant really share with you this part of the holiday. This is the website for the chateau, which has many nice piccies to give you an idea though if you want to know!
http://www.gerard-bertrand.com/
Soo after a brief stay in a travel-lodge type hotel, it was time to pack the car up on to the train, complete with us! This was one of the most nervous times for me - handing over the keys to a complete stranger to load the car up onto the train!
I was very very scared, but so far as I can tell, they treated my baby with complete care and respect!
The car on the train.......
Rach enjoying the last of the sunshine!
The cabin was somewhat dated, but we had our own, it was airconditioned, and also, it had beds! What more do you need!
So there we go! After a quick breakfast, it was back on the Chunnel and back to Exeter!
Total mileage covered by the car - around 2,500 miles thereabouts
Total mileage by train (from Narbonne to Calais) - around 700 miles.
Total journey from Exeter to Exeter therefore around 3,200 miles! And every mile was fantastic!
Total cost.... - Dont ask! Too much!!!!
Total space occupied by photographs (so that you are all grateful that you were not subjected to all of the photos!!!!) 12Gb!
Thank you one and all for sharing in our experience!
The floor is now open for questions! ROFOL
Oooo - Special mention to 'Tiny' Bear, our faithful companion who tirelessly guarded the car whilst we couldn't!
JJ
I have to say, the holiday was neatly divided into two main sections - week 1 which was all about the driving and the getting there, and week 2 which was all about where we were going. So the bulk of the car stuff by this point was really done. With that said, the places along the south coast of France were ace.
As soon as we hit the med, the clouds disappeared, and the temperature sky rocketed! We didnt see a day where the temperature dropped below 30 deg c. Hot enough for anyone!
Cannes
Cannes is only a very short trip from Monaco, lying just west of Nice. So after a leisure drive, we found ourself in the heart of the host of the legendary film festival.
We were only here for one night, and wanted to take as much in as we could.
The first visit to the beach was greeted with the view below -
Not our hotel, but a big ass one on the sea front (the Carlton)
In a nutshell - s
t loads of big-ass boats!This part of the beach is divided up into sections, each with a restaurant, followed by some seating on the beach, then the sea! It is kinda wierd. Each of these sections are allocated to one of the hotels, so walking down the beach is not really possible.
Rach and I saw through this little problem by cunningly spending a s
t load of money on a meal in one of the beachside restaurants. There - that'll show em!I have to say - the water was super clean, and really warm. Not anything like the water that surrouds our fair isle!
The cars around the Cannes area were not up to the overall level found at Monaco, but there was plenty of money around, and the below is just typical of the cars near the big hotels and shopping area...
The shot below is one last one of the beach and area - note the total lack of clouds!
Not really a great deal more to say about cannes to be honest - Rach loved it because there was much shopping and beaches. I kinda found it a bit boring.
With that said, Ninja Rach and I covertly managed to defy such laws and go for a paddle!
Antibes[/COLOR][COLOR=black] is a small town just East of Cannes, and we only day-tripped there. One of my regrets is that we didnt spend a little more time there. It was a tiny little walled town, surrounded by a newer town that should be ignored wherever possible.
The gem for the petrolheads (of the boating variety at least) was the marina however. I have never seen so many boats in one place at one time. It was astonishing!
Rach managed to find a boat she felt she could just about live with....
I suggested this one, which Rach suggested was a little more 'tender' sized!
And finally, for the man that absolutely has everything - note the helicopter wrapped on the back
A couple of snaps of the old town....
Avignon
From now on, I have to say they may look a little more like usual holiday snaps, so many may choose to sign off at this point, and I wouldnt blame them! For others - read on!
Soo after having endured about as much sun, sand, and beautiful people as anyone can possibly deal with, it was time to make our way slightly inland, but further west.
For those that dont know, Avignon is an ancient city with a fairly interesting history. Much of this would be fascinating to us all, but to be honest, Google and I suspect Wikepedia will provide a better job of explaining it all. So I will focus on the important bits.....
The road there....
The best thing about Avignon is that the old part of the town is surrounded by a fantastic city wall. Why is this fantastic? Because it allows you identify the s
tty bits from the good bits! Keep inside the wall and all is good.We stayed in a fabulous hotel. It was called the Hotel D'Europe. It was one of the older buildings in the town, and it got us the chance to actually experience something a little nicer than the average travel lodge type hotel. Once used by Napoleon so they said!
Best of all, they had a nice garage for the porsche! A good thing, because the French seem to take the definition of bumper rather literally.
The outside
The courtyard and breakfast area
The bedroom...
You will note the two doors either side of the bed that look like cupboards. The one on the left is actually to the bathroom! How cool eh!
JAMES' ATTEMPT AT AN ARTY SHOT -
crap eh!! LOL
Other hotel snaps
Some other piccies of the city.....
Some nice cafe type places near the hotel
Popes palace - massively impressive building to be honest! Kinda what you would expect all things considered.
Some posh looking building!
View from palace! Not bad eh!
Inside the city wall
Outside the city wall
The other noteworthy thing at Avignon is the half finished bridge - has an interesting story, but basically, the bit that isnt there any more was washed away by massive flooding. The river is the Rhone, which is a pretty impressive thing.
I have to say that Avignon is a pretty amazing place to visit, and I would recommend it. It is a very picturesque place, and truly lived up to the recommendations. If you are in the area - check it out, even if it is for a day trip!
After this, we then headed to a Gite (Self Catering Holiday Home) and hitched up with my folks and a couple of their close friends for a couple of days. By now, the weather had reached loony point - 30 degrees on the cooler days, and no wind whatever!
The Gite was dead impressive, and another opportunity for me to take snaps of the car! Hurrah! LOL
I also managed to minaturise Rachael to make the Fireplace look really massive!
The pool was pissing important, as the place didnt have air conditioning - This meant that alcohol was necessary to assist in sleeping!
Yet another James arty piccie
I call this "Red clouds and some stuff in the front"
We visited a place called Arles for the day, which can be found south of Nimes. Most interesting thing I can find to say about Arles is that it has this arena that looks a little like a mini-colluseum. Otherwise, it is kinda more of the same. Couple of photys!
The last part of our journey took us to a place called Narbonne. It is a funny place really - very clean, but not a lot there. There is a place by the sea that should be avoided at ALL COSTS! It has a beautiful beach, but they have pampered to the worst kind of tourists - the British!!!! LOL. It was unbelievably crappy.
With that said, I have to say, the road to the place was just stunning (one of the best we found for a quick blast!) And the jewel in the crown was a small Chateau that we fell across quite by accident. Sadly we didnt have the camera, so I cant really share with you this part of the holiday. This is the website for the chateau, which has many nice piccies to give you an idea though if you want to know!
http://www.gerard-bertrand.com/
Soo after a brief stay in a travel-lodge type hotel, it was time to pack the car up on to the train, complete with us! This was one of the most nervous times for me - handing over the keys to a complete stranger to load the car up onto the train!
I was very very scared, but so far as I can tell, they treated my baby with complete care and respect!
The car on the train.......
Rach enjoying the last of the sunshine!
The cabin was somewhat dated, but we had our own, it was airconditioned, and also, it had beds! What more do you need!
So there we go! After a quick breakfast, it was back on the Chunnel and back to Exeter!
Total mileage covered by the car - around 2,500 miles thereabouts
Total mileage by train (from Narbonne to Calais) - around 700 miles.
Total journey from Exeter to Exeter therefore around 3,200 miles! And every mile was fantastic!
Total cost.... - Dont ask! Too much!!!!
Total space occupied by photographs (so that you are all grateful that you were not subjected to all of the photos!!!!) 12Gb!
Thank you one and all for sharing in our experience!
The floor is now open for questions! ROFOL
Oooo - Special mention to 'Tiny' Bear, our faithful companion who tirelessly guarded the car whilst we couldn't!
JJ
HI all
Ref Ronin - I wasn't aware of that! I will be digging this film out of my collection, and re-watching with interest!
Ref the train - it wasn't cheap, but it was well worth it. I believe the train cost £400 odd, but the cost is per-car, and each cabin can house 4 people (though it would be a little cosy! So for us, it was divided two ways.
The train left Narbonne late afternoon, and arrives at calais first thing in the morning (7:30 odd). It is quite a good way of doing it - waay easier than driving all that way - especially having covered so far on the way down south!
JJ
Ref Ronin - I wasn't aware of that! I will be digging this film out of my collection, and re-watching with interest!
Ref the train - it wasn't cheap, but it was well worth it. I believe the train cost £400 odd, but the cost is per-car, and each cabin can house 4 people (though it would be a little cosy! So for us, it was divided two ways.
The train left Narbonne late afternoon, and arrives at calais first thing in the morning (7:30 odd). It is quite a good way of doing it - waay easier than driving all that way - especially having covered so far on the way down south!
JJ
jjcodex said:
Ref the train - it wasn't cheap, but it was well worth it. I believe the train cost £400 odd, but the cost is per-car, and each cabin can house 4 people (though it would be a little cosy! So for us, it was divided two ways.
The train left Narbonne late afternoon, and arrives at calais first thing in the morning (7:30 odd). It is quite a good way of doing it - waay easier than driving all that way - especially having covered so far on the way down south!
JJ
That really isn't too bad... Using Mappy (great site for working out Euro tolls btw), that Narboone to Calais is 1079km's, with €62 in tolls. So say you are going to ignore the limits, as it is France, you can't get points and the roads are nice The train left Narbonne late afternoon, and arrives at calais first thing in the morning (7:30 odd). It is quite a good way of doing it - waay easier than driving all that way - especially having covered so far on the way down south!
JJ
So say 21-22 MPG for a powerful heavy cruiser or around 13l/100km = 140l Price of fuel on the Autoroute? Say for PULP £1.28, 140l @ £180 + £50 toll = £230.
The fact that you are travelling while sleeping makes sense (and could go into work that morning), or add a hotel room to the costs, and it is looking rather good. You could be anal, factor in tyres, wear and tear, servicing, depreciation etc, but that is getting really sad....
Then add the speeding ticket from le Plod as he was sitting behind a bridge on the bit of road that wispered "go for it" and you are quids in!
Quite agree. I would definately use the service again, I must say. It allowed us to spend that time cruising around the south of France. I will say this though, it is always a nervous time when you hand your keys over to the guy that loads your pride and joy onto a great big transporter!
JJ
So say 21-22 MPG for a powerful heavy cruiser or around 13l/100km = 140l
Price of fuel on the Autoroute? Say for PULP £1.28, 140l @ £180 + £50 toll = £230.
The fact that you are travelling while sleeping makes sense (and could go into work that morning), or add a hotel room to the costs, and it is looking rather good. You could be anal, factor in tyres, wear and tear, servicing, depreciation etc, but that is getting really sad....
Then add the speeding ticket from le Plod as he was sitting behind a bridge on the bit of road that wispered "go for it" and you are quids in!
JJ
smack said:
jjcodex said:
Ref the train - it wasn't cheap, but it was well worth it. I believe the train cost £400 odd, but the cost is per-car, and each cabin can house 4 people (though it would be a little cosy! So for us, it was divided two ways.
The train left Narbonne late afternoon, and arrives at calais first thing in the morning (7:30 odd). It is quite a good way of doing it - waay easier than driving all that way - especially having covered so far on the way down south!
JJ
That really isn't too bad... Using Mappy (great site for working out Euro tolls btw), that Narboone to Calais is 1079km's, with €62 in tolls. So say you are going to ignore the limits, as it is France, you can't get points and the roads are nice The train left Narbonne late afternoon, and arrives at calais first thing in the morning (7:30 odd). It is quite a good way of doing it - waay easier than driving all that way - especially having covered so far on the way down south!
JJ
So say 21-22 MPG for a powerful heavy cruiser or around 13l/100km = 140l Price of fuel on the Autoroute? Say for PULP £1.28, 140l @ £180 + £50 toll = £230.
The fact that you are travelling while sleeping makes sense (and could go into work that morning), or add a hotel room to the costs, and it is looking rather good. You could be anal, factor in tyres, wear and tear, servicing, depreciation etc, but that is getting really sad....
Then add the speeding ticket from le Plod as he was sitting behind a bridge on the bit of road that wispered "go for it" and you are quids in!
the orange car is a pgo cevennes
http://www.pgo.fr/models/cevennes/index-en.html
a chap on here has one.
okay car. runs a 2.0 pug 206 gti motor.
http://www.pgo.fr/models/cevennes/index-en.html
a chap on here has one.
okay car. runs a 2.0 pug 206 gti motor.
Thank you so much for sharing your amazing trip in such great detail. My wife and I have been contemplating a trip "across the pond for a driving holiday" for quite sometime. I shared your two write-ups with her and it looks like we are trying to plan a trip like that for next summer. I have almost a year to figure out what kind of car to rent and where to rent it.......
BigE1967 said:
Thank you so much for sharing your amazing trip in such great detail. My wife and I have been contemplating a trip "across the pond for a driving holiday" for quite sometime. I shared your two write-ups with her and it looks like we are trying to plan a trip like that for next summer. I have almost a year to figure out what kind of car to rent and where to rent it.......
That is great news!!!I am confident that you will have a great time, though if you want to chat further on this, then by all means contact me through this board - I would be happy to offer our experience where it helps!
JJ
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