My European Road Trip

[mason storm]

It was time to journey home after this so I drove Route Napoleon which was mega, 5 hours of driving on mostly empty roads through the mountains and arrived at Annecy another lovely location.

Here's a pic near the lake the next morining where there was a military ceremony wher they gave out medalls for troops serving in Afghanistan.



Then it was off to our next stopping off point at Dijon and let me tell you the roads were great an unexpected bonus with twisty bits along with glenter sweeping roads that were all great fun

The final day was spent travelling back to Calais then home and I decided to drive the National roads to Reims and then got back on the toll roads. The national roads from Dijon through Troyes and up to Reims were so pretty with Vinyards and fields as the scenery and roads lines with trees on either side. They weren't very twisty just long straights between villages and towns but you could drive really fast and i overtook alot of people. so didn;t loose much time versus the toll roads and I saved myself some cash

Hope you enjoy the pics

[Taz]

my first stop will be belgium area, any suggestions????

[mason storm]

Sorry I can't help as i went straight over to Interlaken

[Taz]

panic is beginning to set it

you look to have planned everything so well, so far I have bought a tent and planned a very rough route, I'm now panicing thinking I may end not finding places to stop

yesteday I checked with orange, they suggested internet would work out aboyt £1 per min, so taking the laptop could become very expensive

[mason storm]

panic is beginning to set it

you look to have planned everything so well, so far I have bought a tent and planned a very rough route, I'm now panicing thinking I may end not finding places to stop

yesteday I checked with orange, they suggested internet would work out aboyt £1 per min, so taking the laptop could become very expensive

If you can afford a few hotels alot of them do free wi fi which would help you out in planning as you go round

[Wondermike]

mason storm, nice pics, looks like you had a great time.

Taz x, your road trip is shaping up to be legendary I think only Aebous could match you for the potential for it to be mayhem.

[Taz]

i will suprise you, my trip will be brill

[roofless]

Taz i wouldn't worry too much about finding accommodation, there're normally plenty of B+B's or the such like wherever you go, i would just recommend you pick a sensible time in the day to start looking for a place to stay, preferably just before shops shut, then you won't end up in the middle of the night hunting around blindly.
People are generally very helpful and if somewhere is full they'll know someone who has space most likely.
Take a simple phrase book if your french is anywhere near as poor as mine. Also if you have a rough idea of where you might head you can always print off some numbers and addresses by doing a search here in the uk before you go, do town searches and a wide area. Iphone apps for hotels are pretty good or if you have a smartphone see if there is one for your phone, will probably pull down less data than a laptop

[lacroupade]

Taz just dont do what I did and drive the Paris peripherique on a Red Day (start of a particular holiday period, in this case 18 July) when what would have been a 45 minute cruise turned into a 4-hour nightmare which barely saw me get to the ferry in time....which brings me to the frenchies talent for bureaucracy......I got bounced off the boat because of my dogs pet passport - the vet had pyt both the tick and worm treatments on the same poage when they should have been on different ones.

So thanks to the jumped up little Vichy bastard on the Sea France desk who made me trawl Calais at 1am to find a vet who, for 60 euros, supplied another rubber stamp to 'normalise' things - everything in France has to have a frickin rubber stamp

But the specific car bureaucracy is to remember to carry your V5 as the gendarmes get very excited if they stop you for any reason and you can't prove ownership.

[MalcZ4]

I just got back from France yesterday.

Here is a cautionary tale - don't speed!
I got stopped for doing 94 kph in a 70 kph limit and it cost me 90 euros. The gendarme said I had gone through a radar trap and his colleague further down the road had the gun on me. I did see his colleague when I passed, but he had the gun down by his side and was crossing a zebra crossing at the time - I was sitting still at the zebra letting him cross. I think the gendarme further up the road saw the sports car with a UK registration and just pulled me in. The first think he said was "Avez vous argent?" I only had 2 x 50 euro notes and had to go into the baker shop to get change for him. The thing is - I reckon I was only doing about 80 kph, and if I said I had no money he would have sent me on my way. I did ask to see the proof of the speed, but he pretended he couldn't speak English.

[roofless]

I just got back from France yesterday.

Here is a cautionary tale - don't speed!
I got stopped for doing 94 kph in a 70 kph limit and it cost me 90 euros. The gendarme said I had gone through a radar trap and his colleague further down the road had the gun on me. I did see his colleague when I passed, but he had the gun down by his side and was crossing a zebra crossing at the time - I was sitting still at the zebra letting him cross. I think the gendarme further up the road saw the sports car with a UK registration and just pulled me in. The first think he said was "Avez vous argent?" I only had 2 x 50 euro notes and had to go into the baker shop to get change for him. The thing is - I reckon I was only doing about 80 kph, and if I said I had no money he would have sent me on my way. I did ask to see the proof of the speed, but he pretended he couldn't speak English.

Blimey those antics take me back a few years and more, we used to stash some items in the car for bribes in case we got pulled in spain etc, long long ago, anything that had a little value, this was back in my early MG days and anything with an octagon badge on it was a useful 'sorry mate no money but here have this'

[Taz]

But the specific car bureaucracy is to remember to carry your V5 as the gendarmes get very excited if they stop you for any reason and you can't prove ownership.

did not know i had to take the log book?

[MalcZ4]

But the specific car bureaucracy is to remember to carry your V5 as the gendarmes get very excited if they stop you for any reason and you can't prove ownership.

did not know i had to take the log book?

It has to be the original - not a photo copy.