Firstly: Sorry for the americanism.

Now, onto the post proper. Next year I quite fancy going on a fairly long
camping holiday in the summer. I also fancy going around Europe. Preferably
in the Golf if I can convince it to be suitably reliable.

Anyway, the route I've just scribbled on Google maps goes here (Nottingham)
to Dover, on to France via some sort of tunnel or ferry, down to the south
of France, over the Alps, into Italy, then Slovenia, Hungary, Cz, Wolfsburg,
the Ring and home. However, that does boil down to near on 4000 miles, or
200 miles a day. I suspect that might be taking the **** a bit (I'd guess at
around 4 hours in the car if I drive every day).

OTOH, knock off Slovenia, Hungary and Cz and you take about 700 miles off,
which would make the driving more manageable, considering as there'd be some
need to stop and camp and sit on the beach some days etc. My bird will be
present so constant driving will not be acceptable. P'raps it's better to do
1000 miles in a day rather than do 200 miles every day for a week...

What say the road trip boys (this means you Dan)? And anyone who's been to
XYZ and can say "That place is an effing ****e hole, you'd rather be in
Rotherham".

Doki wrote:

Firstly: Sorry for the americanism.

Now, onto the post proper. Next year I quite fancy going on a fairly long
camping holiday in the summer. I also fancy going around Europe. Preferably
in the Golf if I can convince it to be suitably reliable.

Anyway, the route I've just scribbled on Google maps goes here (Nottingham)
to Dover, on to France via some sort of tunnel or ferry, down to the south
of France, over the Alps, into Italy, then Slovenia, Hungary, Cz, Wolfsburg,
the Ring and home. However, that does boil down to near on 4000 miles, or
200 miles a day. I suspect that might be taking the **** a bit (I'd guess at
around 4 hours in the car if I drive every day).

OTOH, knock off Slovenia, Hungary and Cz and you take about 700 miles off,
which would make the driving more manageable, considering as there'd be some
need to stop and camp and sit on the beach some days etc. My bird will be
present so constant driving will not be acceptable. P'raps it's better to do
1000 miles in a day rather than do 200 miles every day for a week...

What say the road trip boys (this means you Dan)? And anyone who's been to
XYZ and can say "That place is an effing ****e hole, you'd rather be in
Rotherham".

Make sure you do Le Mans - you can drive a large part of the track, have
lunch in Arnage village and visit the museum - and Reims. Never been to
Reims myself, but really need to do it soon.
--
SteveH 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo'
www.italiancar.co.uk - Ducati 750SS - Hongdou GY200
Alfa 75 TSpark - Alfa 156 TSpark - B6 Passat 2.0TDI SE

"Doki" wrote in message
...
Firstly: Sorry for the americanism.

Now, onto the post proper. Next year I quite fancy going on a fairly long
camping holiday in the summer. I also fancy going around Europe. Preferably
in the Golf if I can convince it to be suitably reliable.

Anyway, the route I've just scribbled on Google maps goes here (Nottingham)
to Dover, on to France via some sort of tunnel or ferry, down to the south
of France, over the Alps, into Italy, then Slovenia, Hungary, Cz,
Wolfsburg, the Ring and home. However, that does boil down to near on 4000
miles, or 200 miles a day. I suspect that might be taking the **** a bit
(I'd guess at around 4 hours in the car if I drive every day).

OTOH, knock off Slovenia, Hungary and Cz and you take about 700 miles off,
which would make the driving more manageable, considering as there'd be
some need to stop and camp and sit on the beach some days etc. My bird will
be present so constant driving will not be acceptable. P'raps it's better
to do 1000 miles in a day rather than do 200 miles every day for a week...


I'd say try to keep it below 400 miles in any day if you have a booking for
the next place on your itinerary. If you find the road is closed and it's a
mountain pass you may find a sizable diversion is on the books (when I
crosses the Sierra Nevada it was supposed to be the shortest day but an
unusually cool spring left the main pass closed and a 3 hour drive became
over 6, if you have 1000 miles already in your plan for a day an extra 200 to
go round will make for a very late arrival. Not good for setting up a tent.

(SteveH) gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

Make sure you do Le Mans - you can drive a large part of the track, have
lunch in Arnage village and visit the museum - and Reims. Never been to
Reims myself, but really need to do it soon.

There's not a lot of the old circuit left, but the straight past the pits
is there, with pit and timing buildings on one side, and grandstand on
the other. Restored to the stage where they're "safe", empty, and
atmospheric as all hell. Real "hairs-standing-on-back-of-neck" stuff.

You're looking west of the city, on the N31, just after Thillois village,
there's a roundabout with a road heading towards Gueux. There's a
restaurant on the roundabout in an old building (visible in most of the
old pics of the racing in the restaurant) - doesn't look like much from
outside, and quite expensive, but excellent.

http://maps.google.com/maps?
f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=reims&ie=UTF8&ll=49.253318,3. 932494&spn=0.006064,0.016522&t=h&z=17
-or-
http://snipurl.com/3gwxk

For B&B round that area, especially if you're taking the missus, I can
_heartily_ recommend http://www.domainedelong.com/ - only four rooms,
gorgeous place - and their Champagne is _fantastic_ (and only about €12/
bottle)

"Doki" writes:

OTOH, knock off Slovenia, Hungary and Cz and you take about 700 miles
off, which would make the driving more manageable, considering as
there'd be some need to stop and camp and sit on the beach some days
etc. My bird will be present so constant driving will not be
acceptable. P'raps it's better to do 1000 miles in a day rather than
do 200 miles every day for a week...

Keep it to France then? Big country, plenty to see and eat, plenty of
beaches?

What say the road trip boys (this means you Dan)? And anyone who's
been to XYZ and can say "That place is an effing ****e hole, you'd
rather be in Rotherham".

http://www.logis-de-france.fr/ is wot I sez. Book yourselves into a
Campanile on Sunday nights though as their restaurants are open, which
isn't the case for pretty much all other restaurants.

--
'89 Mazda RX-7 Convertible Mazda MX-5 trackday shed
'94 Mitsubishi Evo II Audi A8

"Timo Geusch" wrote in message
...
"Doki" writes:

OTOH, knock off Slovenia, Hungary and Cz and you take about 700 miles
off, which would make the driving more manageable, considering as
there'd be some need to stop and camp and sit on the beach some days
etc. My bird will be present so constant driving will not be
acceptable. P'raps it's better to do 1000 miles in a day rather than
do 200 miles every day for a week...

Keep it to France then? Big country, plenty to see and eat, plenty of
beaches?

Dunno. I'd like to do 3 weeks and at least a couple of countries. Maybe
better to do a couple of countries a year than 7 in one and see **** all of
any of them.

What say the road trip boys (this means you Dan)? And anyone who's
been to XYZ and can say "That place is an effing ****e hole, you'd
rather be in Rotherham".

http://www.logis-de-france.fr/ is wot I sez. Book yourselves into a
Campanile on Sunday nights though as their restaurants are open, which
isn't the case for pretty much all other restaurants.

Those frenchist *******s haven't written it in English!

Doki wrote:

http://www.logis-de-france.fr/ is wot I sez. Book yourselves into a
Campanile on Sunday nights though as their restaurants are open, which
isn't the case for pretty much all other restaurants.

Those frenchist *******s haven't written it in English!

http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/index.htm

HTH.
--
SteveH 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo'
www.italiancar.co.uk - Ducati 750SS - Hongdou GY200
Alfa 75 TSpark - Alfa 156 TSpark - B6 Passat 2.0TDI SE

"Doki" writes:

"Timo Geusch" wrote in message
...

http://www.logis-de-france.fr/ is wot I sez. Book yourselves into a
Campanile on Sunday nights though as their restaurants are open, which
isn't the case for pretty much all other restaurants.

Those frenchist *******s haven't written it in English!

They have, if you look closely. Specsavers is over there --.

--
'89 Mazda RX-7 Convertible Mazda MX-5 trackday shed
'94 Mitsubishi Evo II Audi A8

"Doki" wrote in message
...

Dunno. I'd like to do 3 weeks and at least a couple of countries. Maybe
better to do a couple of countries a year than 7 in one and see **** all
of any of them.

We managed France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium in 3
weeks, 3000 miles, and we weren't even trying for a road trip. Ok, all but
France and Italy were pretty much passing through, but we still got a
stunning mountain pass in Switzerland, obligatory autobahn-playing, and a
pleasant breakfast in Luxembourg.

(France, potter down N roads to the alps, wander round doing cycling and
walking on big hills for a couple of weeks, down to Italy for more
conventional tourism, cousin's wedding just south of Rome, then head back
home again at a slightly less pottering pace).

cheers,
clive

Doki wrote:

Dunno. I'd like to do 3 weeks and at least a couple of countries. Maybe
better to do a couple of countries a year than 7 in one and see **** all of
any of them.

If you try to do seven countries in three weeks you'll see **** all and
spend most of your time driving which will not impress the gf.

Personally I'd do France down the west coast and take three weeks doing
it, possibly Plymouth to Roscoff to start because the landfall is one of
the most spectacular along the coast.

http://www.panoramio.com/photos/original/4744704.jpg

Then the coast road to Le Conquet

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/4176197
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/4400075
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/6205231

Carnac:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1880549

Vannes

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/13090

and the gulf of Morbihan

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/2851767

South crossing the Loire on the bridge at St Nazaire

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1215587

Down to Beauvoir sur Mer and take the very scary Le Gois crossing to
Noirmoutier.

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1298704

Coast hop down to La Rochelle

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/3138453

Then Bordeaux, St Emilion, Arcachon, the Dordogne

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/349926

Pop over to Marseilles

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/483451

Recreate Ronin on the way through St Tropez, Cannes and Nice and drive
down the Grand Canyon du Verdon.

And then make it up yourself.