2015 Road Trip

YouTube · Post by **Sailor** » Tue May 26, 2015 11:39 pm

We set off this morning in bright sunshine, headed for Arlon, Belgium, at the SE corner next to France and Luxembourg. We didn't like the place much, so carried on south and are now in a hotel just outside Luneville, France.

480 miles + a ferry is enough for one day, especially with the roadworks and getting irritated by that bright flash of a speed camera this afternoon ... (130/110. Mea culpa.)

No photos: none worth taking today. Even the dashcam got bored and refused to play with my new 64Gb SD card.

Post by **simonc** » Wed May 27, 2015 1:57 am

Lucky you Sailor. European roads, brilliant scenery, off-the-beaten-track bars and bistros and (often) delicious food. Is Strasbourg on the itinerary? Wonderful place to visit if you get the time.
Hope you have a lovely trip.

Post by **Donald** » Wed May 27, 2015 9:09 am

Head down to Florence, meet you there in a week?

YouTube · Post by **Sailor** » Thu May 28, 2015 10:53 pm

Day 2

We didn't manage Strasbourg but we did go to Colmar to look at some old buildings and great looking old Merc.

From there, we went west-east through Switzerland towards Tirol. The 2383m Fluela Pass (E of Davos) was good fun.

We ended up in an old, old Romansch village near the Italian border - Mustair. The hotel building still has remnants of its 13th century beginnings: its prices are 21st century though. 2 days' budget in one go!

Day 3

Shock horror! Boo hoo! There had been snow over Whitsun and the Stelvio was closed ...
A boring couple of hours plus a bit of scenery took us to Lake Garda. We chose the car on the right:-

We're now in Cremona. Marvellous.

(We won't manage Florence I'm afraid @Donald )

Post by **simonc** » Fri May 29, 2015 2:08 am

Brilliant photos Sailor. Keep 'em coming please.
Drive safely.

Post by **Drax** » Fri May 29, 2015 9:13 am

Sailor wrote:Day 2

We didn't manage Strasbourg but we did go to Colmar to look at some old buildings and great looking old Merc.

the Wife and I went to Colmar as part of our European honeymoon tour a few years ago, gorgeous place!! and funnily enough she bought medicine from the shop down the street

Post by **Donald** » Fri May 29, 2015 9:39 am

Shame you can't head further south, the backroads between Modena and Florence (through Maranello/Sestola/Abetone) are a lot of fun. Same goes for a lot of the mountain roads around Genoa.

YouTube · Post by **Sailor** » Sat May 30, 2015 12:30 am

Day 3 (continued)

The square outside our hotel in Cremona:-

Day 4

You can forget the M25. The autostrada before, near and after Bologna was awful. 32 degrees and Italian lane discipline? I usually reckon that if I can't see the following car's number plate, it's too close. A Fiat Stilo whose bonnet I couldn't see in the mirror except for the bit near the wipers - at 75 mph - was just too much for me. If I could be arsed to sign up to YouTube, the dashcam footage would be interesting. Especially as we went from that speed to zero in 200 metre thereafter. Back down to truck speed for me, chaps. We're on holiday, after all.

Worth the effort, though. This was the evening view from our room in San Marino:-

prelude91 · Post by **prelude91** » Sat May 30, 2015 7:41 am

Epic trip, sailor, makes me get wanderlust, do I really need to find a job!!! keep the posts coming. I've often been told that driving/ riding in Italy is a nightmare.

rainbow_nugget · Post by **rainbow_nugget** » Sat May 30, 2015 8:29 am

Always fancied doing something like this. Looks lovely, I'm rather jealous!