Euro Road Trip 09

Road Trip

Member
 Lancashire
Just got back from another Euro Tour and thought you might enjoy some pics.

In these "credit crunch times" we thought we may not bother doing a trip this year. I usually start the planning and booking of hotels after Christmas, but this year we decided to leave it, and see how things go. By April we thought we really needed something to look forward to and started booking the hotels, based around one of many routes I've put together over the years. As it turns out am really glad we had it all sorted, as my dad died suddenly, only 3 weeks before we were due to start the trip. It was all such a shock; dead, buried, and gone forever, all within a week. The following 2 weeks I was kept busy trying to sort out his affairs and Kathryn was working 12hrs+ per day. We had very little time together when we needed it the most. Even days before the trip I couldn't get excited about it, but in the end we had a good time and I'm glad we had the chance to get away and spend some time together.

In order to save a few quid I reduced the trip by 1 day and reduced the mileage also. We gone some good hotel deals, the average price paid was £74/night.

As usual we headed south after work on Friday arriving in Ashford around midnight; 296 miles.

Day 1, Ashford (England) - Interlaken (Switzerland) 595 miles

There's always some interesting stuff at the Chunnel Terminal
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Heading south on the Autoroute
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Had a little convoy with a French Z4C
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About 20 miles from our hotel the cloud dropped, the heavens opened and it poured with rain. Visibility was terrible. The hotel was really nice, about 2000ft above Lake Thun. Our room had a "lake view", but we couldn't see anything. After 890 miles in 24hrs we were bloody knackered!
 
In france with my Imola MR at the moment, although no pics yet, lol.

Looks awesome as always, keep the pics coming !

btw .. love the lotus cortina !!
 
Get some pics for us please Andy :) (BTW, it's an Anglia)

Day 2, Grindelwald 44 miles

Plan for today was to visit the Eiger and take the train up into the mountain. We had done this trip about 10 years ago and really enjoyed it. Fingers crossed for the weather.

We opened our curtains to a great view of the mountains
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Lots of low cloud as we head for Grindlewald
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The Eiger is there somwhere
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The cost of the train ride up the mountain was 150CHF each (about £90), so with the poor state of the weather we decided to scrap the idea, and went for lunch in the town.

Parked up next to a nice Anniversary 986
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Some car fans having their pics taken with the cars
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This lovely old Porker was being transported home after finishing a rally
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Nice trip!

I'm heading to Grindelwald in a few weeks time with my Dad (sorry to hear about your loss). I'll be stopped en-route at the Nurburgring too though. Last time I was there I don't remember the railway costing that much!?!
 
Looks another good trip :thumbsup: .

Sorry about your dad fella, don't know what i'll do when mine goes, he's always been such a rock for me.

Anyways, always love looking at your pics :)
 
Day 3 - Interlaken to Celerina - 210 miles

It's another gloomy day with lots of low cloud. Not to worry, we have 3 passes to drive today and we might rise above it all.

Heading east
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Susten Pass

We tail a couple of GB bikers at the bottom of the pass
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As we gain altitude it gets more misty, darker and wetter
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Passing 5000ft there are the first traces of snow. One of the bikers pulls over to let us passed.
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Onwards and upwards as the rain starts to turn to snow.
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The landscape is changing quickly now
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This aint getting any better
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Both bikers now pulled out and left us on our own
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OMG!
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I'm really starting to feel like we shouldn't be here
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It's becoming a blizzard
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I really thought I wasn't gonna make it up the exit of the hairpin
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It was just after we took this pic that we came acorss 3 bikers who'd come off in the snow.
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I think they'd made it up the east side and were trying to get down the west side we had just come up. I felt really bad for them, but sports bikes, like sports cars, don't perform too well on snow. An X3 had pulled over to offer assistance but I think they were ok. Just damaged pride and some broken bodywork.

I managed to carry on in the tracks of the X3 and eventually made it to the summit at nearly 7500ft
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Just got to get down now!
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Kathryn was quite upset and more than a little frightened when she saw the bikers picking themselves up off the road. If you look at the second from last pic above you can see her wiping the tears from her eyes :( . She kept her eyes shut on the way down and just pointed the camera and pressed the button until the snow was gone (I felt like doing the same).

Descent
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Look at the cloud here
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Back to civilisation
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Nice write-up :D Have been in that area quite a few times, sommer and winter. Never with a nice car though, always the family car :headbang:
I hope u get some better weather :D
 
Sorry to hear about the turbulent and difficult times, although as you say the trip was probably a good escape.

Nice pics and a thorough write up as always! That snow looks more than hairy - I would have undoubtedly turned around, especially as I had difficultly getting off my drive earlier this year during the snow skirmishes! We head off to the French Alps on Saturday morning (been counting down the days for the last 2 months!), and then back up through the Black Forest, will be sure to post some pics when we get back.
 
Day 3 Cont

Heading north for our next mission of the day
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When I first read about this pass I couldn't wait to see and drive it for myself.
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R8
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At least it's not snowing yet
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You certainly don't want to get it wrong and go through that fence!
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The Klausenrennen was a mountain climb race held between 1922 and 1934 and one of the world greatest road driving challenges.
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We were driving the route west to east. The actual race was driven east to west.
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Pausing for breath. Looking back from where we came
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Onward to the summit
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Quiz question for you - what do the Klausen Pass, Mont Ventoux and the Nurbergring have in common (answer below).

We've made it, but guess what?
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More white stuff
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We push on through the snow at the summit and head down the eastern slopes
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What a sight it must have been to see the V12 and V16 monsters thundering along this road at speeds of upto 160mph.
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Answer to the question is, they are all approx thirteen miles in length.

Part of the old preserved cobbled road near the starting point
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After a very busy morning it's time for a well earned lunch stop to calm the nerves
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Click here to read more about this amazing road race
 
Glad you're enjoying :)

Day 3 cont

Heading south
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Not sure what the ladder is for?
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Re-surfacing
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Up to this point the surface had been pretty poor. I had a Passat and an A6 hanging off my rear bumper. I let them passed at the first opportunity as I wasn't prepared to wreck by suspension, and watched the bounce off into the distance.

The surface is improving now
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Made it
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It's starting to snow
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At last, it starts to brighten up as we descend
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We eventually reach our hotel in Celerina, a couple of miles east of St Moritz
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The M safely tucked up in the underground garage
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Had a liltte walk to stretch our legs and get some fresh air
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