Not joined yet? Register for free and enjoy features such as alerts, private messaging and viewing latest posts and topics.

First Trip to France

Discuss anything non Z4 related here
Post Reply
Vonlipvig
Member
Member
Posts: 636
Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2016 4:34 pm
Location: West Devon

First Trip to France

Post by Vonlipvig » Fri Sep 15, 2017 4:13 pm

My wife and I have just got back from our first road trip to France. First time driving on the continent for either of us but seeing as the port is on our doorstep, we thought it would be nice to get over there, beginning of September, drive down the west coast roof down in the sunshine.

After some careful packing we were off the ferry, in the rain, with the forecast for the next 7 days being more rain, typical! We got into Roscoff early in the morning and began our drive down to our first hotel in Vannes. It was grey as we left so the roof was up to begin with until it began to clear so we pulled over to put the roof down and have a bit of a comfort break. While we were parked up we had a couple of what I can only assume were wild kittens come out to watch what we were doing, lovely little great to start the day. As we continued down the weather remained dry yet I was still keeping a close eye out for places to pull over quickly should I need to and there were plenty. That was of course until we hit the dual carriageway and the heavens opened, roof still down. With nowhere convenient I slammed the brakes on into the rather narrow hard shoulder. Those 20 seconds to get the roof seem rather a lot longer when you are getting drenched let me tell you. With the roof back up, we carried on to Vannes and I was surprised at just how quickly the interior dried out. We were only in Vannes for one night which we felt was enough just for the town, but it was very nice and would recommend it.

Next day we were driving down to La Rochelle for a couple of nights and for this route we had planned a bit more of a scenic route through the national park and by the coast. Luckily it was dry and the roof was down for the majority of the drive through some truly stunning scenery. I was being a passenger for this leg and it was nice to keep an eye out for nice houses and the such. We stopped for a bit of lunch and there was a bit of rain coming down so the roof was back up again, you can see a theme developing here. We got to our destination and the nice secure underground parking with a nice large single bay with two concrete pillars either side, my kind of space. A couple of days pottering around La Rochelle was lovely and it was nice to have a day free of driving for our first driving holiday.

We then left La Rochelle to head further south and it was time to have our first petrol stop. We had managed to find a place that had normal 95, not the 95 E10 which is more commonplace, but trying to get to the entrance to the pumps, jeez that was a mission. Leaving the hypermarket you had to head off to the right else you ended up back on the dual carriageway, nothing to warn you of this either. Then when you saw the pumps, you had to go on a little rat run to entrance, but we got to them and got filled up. We headed of to Rochefort to grab a bite of lunch as we were heading to wine country and wanted to have a bigger lunch and smaller dinner. Nice little place, very quiet and all the people were very friendly. Our next stop was at Royan to get the ferry over to Verdon for our drive down to the Chateaux we were staying in for the night. Ferry was pleasant enough, thought it was a bit cheeky that you had to pay for you car and each of the passengers mind you. As we got off the ferry, more rain! It did stop long enough to get the roof off for the rest of the drive down to our resting spot and oh my it was lovely over there. In the sun it would have been absolutely stunning, defiantly on the list to go back to. As we pulled up to the vineyard, we knew we were in the best place of our holiday. Our own Chateaux, two bedrooms, armoury, moat, everything you can imagine, it truly was stunning. A bit worrying though was the hunting going on in the woods around, it doesn't bother us, but when you hear shot flying over your head so close it whizes, it's a bit worrying!

Next morning, it was the long slog back up north. We were driving from the Medoc region right up to just outside Quimper so we decided to bit the bullet and take the toll road. We did stop a couple of times for lunch and petrol, which saw us trying to navigate Nantes in the rush hour, not particularly fun... From start to finish that day it took us around 9 hours and we were well and truly looking forward to a couple of nice sunny nights in our final Chateaux.

Well, it was raining, heavily, all day. Another person staying there mentioned it is the worst they had ever seen it in the 10 years they have have been coming. Still, could have been worse, we were looking at the Caribbean for the week before we booked France and look what happened there! We still managed to get out and visit Quimper for a very wet walk around. This is where we were so glad we had the car as without it, we would have been stuck. It did dry up around 9 in the evening as we were driving back from dinner so it was roof down and to the beach for a nighttime stroll.

Our final morning the sun was fully out, finally! Nice wander around the local town and beach before a couple of hour drive back up to Roscoff. Oh my the road once you left the dual carriageway was amazing. Beautiful views, wide, empty, long sweeping corners and blue skies. If I knew that road better and didn't have a boot full of stuff, it would make a very very fun route. When we got to Roscoff, the need for the roof down was gone so it was time to stock up on wine. I did find a very got use for the little dip in the boot, perfect wine bottle size. Use a couple of towels to wrap around each individual bottle and it stored it very nicely indeed.

Overall we did just over 900 miles in the week, I know that for a road trip that isn't huge, but for our first I think it was respectable. In that we used about two and a half tanks of petrol and the Z never missed a beat. Now I just need to clean her, my god is she dirty!
Attachments
20170914_101805_HDR.jpg
20170914_101805_HDR.jpg (296.77 KiB) Viewed 463 times
20170915_122154_HDR.jpg
20170915_122154_HDR.jpg (244.07 KiB) Viewed 463 times
20170914_084448_HDR.jpg
20170914_084448_HDR.jpg (220.33 KiB) Viewed 463 times
20170911_164558.jpg
20170911_164558.jpg (176.53 KiB) Viewed 463 times
20170911_164412_HDR.jpg
20170911_164412_HDR.jpg (250.85 KiB) Viewed 463 times
20170911_154245.jpg
20170911_154245.jpg (185.82 KiB) Viewed 463 times
20170911_152315.jpg
20170911_152315.jpg (211.44 KiB) Viewed 463 times
2009 Sapphire Black 23i

User avatar
Gaffa22
Member
Member
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2017 9:31 am

First Trip to France

Post by Gaffa22 » Fri Sep 15, 2017 5:28 pm

Good write up Von, did you like La Rochelle, keep thinking of going there myself.

Were are not long back form our road trip to the Italian Lakes and the Cote dAzur, 2480 miles
We were in the Honda S2000 but hopefully I'll have a Zed for next years trip.

When you fancy a longer trip, Italy and especially lakes are fantastic.
2010 E89 35i DCT
2017 Honda CBR1000RR fireblade
2016 Honda VFR1200F
Image

Vonlipvig
Member
Member
Posts: 636
Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2016 4:34 pm
Location: West Devon

First Trip to France

Post by Vonlipvig » Fri Sep 15, 2017 6:07 pm

Gaffa22 wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 5:28 pm Good write up Von, did you like La Rochelle, keep thinking of going there myself.

Were are not long back form our road trip to the Italian Lakes and the Cote dAzur, 2480 miles
We were in the Honda S2000 but hopefully I'll have a Zed for next years trip.

When you fancy a longer trip, Italy and especially lakes are fantastic.
La Rochelle was very busy on the Saturday night, Sunday was nice and quiet though. It was pretty, plenty of nice places for a wander, decent food etc. Also nice having the coast right there and plenty of other towns and villages close by.

I'm sure that road trip you took was ace, Italy will be a bit far for us atm I think. Might well be worth flying down and hiring a car though :driving:
2009 Sapphire Black 23i

User avatar
jabber
Lifer
Lifer
Posts: 3137
Joined: Mon Jul 05, 2010 9:23 am
Location: Hampshire

First Trip to France

Post by jabber » Fri Sep 15, 2017 6:22 pm

Great write up like the pics
Z less again
14 E89 Z4 2.0 msport grey gone now
10 E89 Z4 3.0 Black auto now. Very sadly gone
Gone 04 E85 z4 3.0 Maldives blue smg

User avatar
mr wilks
Legend
Legend
Posts: 21894
Joined: Wed Jul 04, 2012 10:02 pm
Location: Lancashire

First Trip to France

Post by mr wilks » Fri Sep 15, 2017 6:59 pm

Shame you didn't get the weather but good to get out for a decent drive :driving: La Rochelle is a gem & the surrounding area + islands are also well worth visiting for anyone planning a trip
3 ZMRs
3 E89s
5 Si coupes
5 Si roadsters
997 C4
TTRS
F82 M4
MK7 Golf Gti
current Bmw 6 Gran Turismo

DaveZ4richardson
Member
Member
Posts: 314
Joined: Sun Mar 19, 2017 8:56 pm
Location: Carlisle

First Trip to France

Post by DaveZ4richardson » Fri Sep 15, 2017 7:19 pm

Am hoping to visit La Rochelle on my 2 week road trip next year round France. :driving:
DaveZ4richardson :thumbsup:
3.0i 2003 E85 auto cruise control, smart top module.

Post Reply