Jon's Summer 2008 Alps Expedition

[JonS]

As some of you know, the wife and I, my friend and his girlfriend are off on a little summer tour of Europe. A total of 15 days, covering approximately 3,300 miles, just for ultimately one reason - Stelvio!

 

Me driving The Bug, and my friend in his 53 plate Z4. We are embarking on a trip that we thought we would regret it if we didnt do it this year, whilst we both have the opportunity. As quite a few people have shown interest in where we going I thought I would put some info here to show what we doing and where we're going. Feel free to add comments/advice/etc.

 

We leave on July 26th and get back on August 9th. This is more or less the route we will be taking: Map

 

Day 1 - Saturday 26th July 2008

Home to Reims via Euro Tunnel

An early start from home in Kidderminster down to Folkstone for an after lunch train to Calais. From here it is a simple blat to Reims getting used to driving on the right in a right hand drive car - something I have never done before.

 

Mileage: 396miles

Map 1

Map 2

Hotel: Hotel Campanile, Reims

 

 

Day 2 - Sunday 27th July

Reims to Dijon

The morning we're heading over to the old Reims Grand Prix circuit to have a look around the old grand stands and do a few laps as well

The afternoon is simply a commute to Dijon for the overnight stop in preparation for a very long 3rd day.

 

Mileage: 230miles

Map 1

Map 2

Hotel: Dijon Holiday Inn

 

 

Day 3 - Monday 28th July

Dijon to Monaco

Long drive today with an optional detour. We head for the Mediterranean coast at Marseilles and along the coast past Saint Tropez, Cannes & Nice on to Monaco. The optional detour is on the way down to Marseilles, heading further east to go over the Millau Viaduct. As it is along drive anyway we will decide which way to go in the morning.

 

Mileage: 441miles

Map

or:

Mileage: 627miles

Map

Hotel: Ambassador Hotel, Monaco

 

 

Day 4 - Tuesday 29th July

Monaco

A day to live it up in style in Monaco. My wife & I's 2nd wedding anniversary so a nice rest day with a bit of glitz & glamour… and also the opportunity to drive the Monaco Grand Prix circuit!

 

Mileage: -miles

Hotel: Ambassador Hotel, Monaco

 

 

Day 5 - Wednesday 30th July

Monaco to Aosta

Leave Monaco and head north over the Col De Tende, the first of the mountain passes ahead. Once over we head to Turin, to Colle della Madelena for some incredible views over Turin and the Alps. From here we head further north to Aosta. Depending on our arrival time here depends whether we take a quick spin to Chamonix & back.

 

Mileage: 207miles

Map 1

Map 2

Hotel: Aosta Holiday Inn

 

 

Day 6 - Thursday 31st July

Aosta to Airolo

Start the day with a trip to Chamonix through the Monte Blanc Tunnel. Return to Aosta to go over the Grand St Bernard pass. In the afternoon, a nice steady drive north east over Grand St Bernard pass into Switzerland over numerous other passes onto the mountain village of Airolo for the night.

 

Mileage: 293miles

Map 1

Map 2

Hotel: Hotel Forni, Airolo

 

 

Day 7 - Friday 1st August

Airolo to Lake Como

The morning will be a loop of some of the greatest mountain passes in Europe: San Gottardo, Sustenpass,Grimselpass, Furkapass & Oberwald. Once playtime is over we commute south to join the Lake Como shoreline for the scenic drive to Como.

 

Mileage: 212miles

Map 1

Map 2

Hotel: Hotel Castello Di Carimate

 

 

Day 8 - Saturday 2nd August

Lake Como

1st of two rest days in the Lake Como area. One of these days may included a trip south east to Modena, the home of Ferrari, Lamborghini & Pagani. Also the next two days is an opportunity to do some laundry and give the cars a well earned break.

 

Mileage: 130miles

Map

Hotel: Hotel Castello Di Carimate

 

 

Day 9 - Sunday 3rd August

Lake Como

2nd rest day in Lake Como. A chance to catch our breath and take in the sights of the stunning Italian scenery.

 

Mileage: -miles

Hotel: Hotel Castello Di Carimate

 

 

Day 10 - Monday 4th August

Lake Como to Livigno

And now, the business end of the holiday begins: Today we head back into the Alps towards the business end of the holiday. Our drive today takes us along the eastern shoreline of Lake Como, north to St Moritz and over Julierpass on to Davos - the start of the greatest driving road in the World! *According to Top Gear! From Davos we head over Fluelapass, Ofenpass up to Passo Dello Stelvio. A quick peak at what the next day will bring, we head straight for the hotel in Livigno - and some tax free shopping!

 

Mileage: 246miles

Map

Hotel: Hotel Lac Salin, Livigno

 

 

Day 11 - Tuesday 5th August

Stelvio

Stelvio Playtime! A day to tackle the highest road in the eastern Alps (9,048ft) 60 hairpin bends covering a climb of 1,871m! Plenty of time to cover a fair few miles of turns, not just at Stelvio, but also other routes in the close vacinity. Another busy day in the office!

 

Mileage: ??miles

Map (approx)

Hotel: Hotel Lac Salin, Livigno

 

 

Day 12 - Wednesday 6th August

Livigno to Rastatt

Leave Livigno over Stelvio for one last time head briefly into Austria passing through Innsbruck enroute to Rastatt in Central Germany. We will hit one stretch of derestricted Autobahn today - the best one for beginners! Today is simply a commute, a long one at that.

 

Mileage: 483miles

Map

Hotel: Rastatt Holiday Inn

 

 

Day 13 - Thursday 7th August

Rastatt to Ghent

Head north west passing near to Nuerburg (we'll be back here for more fun sometime soon!) over another stretch of derestricted Autobhan and on into Belgium for a rest day in Ghent.

 

Mileage: 328miles

Map

Hotel: Holiday Inn Express, Ghent

 

 

Day 14 - Friday 8th August

Ghent

My friend's girlfriend's birthday, spent sightseeing in Ghent. A welcome day off from driving after the quick tour through Germany. A day to explore Ghent and its historical centre.

 

Mileage: -miles

Hotel: Holiday Inn Express, Ghent

 

 

Day 15 - Saturday 9th August

Ghent to Home

Nice easy drive to Calais for an afternoon Ferry to Dover and a steady drive back home, winding down after the manic two week trip.

 

Mileage: 311miles

Map 1

Map 2

Hotel: Home!

 

So there you have it, 2 cars, 4 people, 15 days, 3,300 miles and 1 reason! It's taken 6 or 7 months working out where we wanted to go, when, where to stay, the route and the itinerary. The anticipation at this point (21 days till we go!) is incredible - neither of us can wait! I hope this has given you an insight into this kind of trip if you haven't done anything like this before. I shant go into the cost of this as you can imagine some of the hotels are expensive, some are not. It is only as expensive as you make it.

 

There has also been a lot of other things to sort out prior to the trip. Things like making sure the cars are setup and healthy to do the distance, making sure you have enough memory cards, battery chargers, sat nav itineraries mapped, as well as buying a set of walkie talkies so we can keep in contact easily without costing a fortune in mobile phone calls.

 

I have really enjoyed planning this trip, with my friend Jon and if you got this far in the post I hope you have enjoyed reading it.

 

Now all we have to do is make sure we can pack everything into the boot!

 

[JonS]

Photos:

Some teaser shots of the route to come:

^{I don't own any of these photos}

 

The old Reims GP Circuit

 

Millau Viaduct

 

Monaco

 

Grand St. Bernard

 

Sustenpass

 

Near Airolo

 

Hotel Castello di Carimate, nr Lake Como

 

Torri di Fraele

 

Passo dello Stelvio

 

Passo dello Stelvio

 

Hotel La Sac Salin, Livigno

 

Ghent Castle, Belgium

[dobbo]

Looks a hoot ! My one and only recommendation is to take out European Breakdown Cover !!! As you probably read elsewhere, my cambelt failed one hour south of Calaid on a similar trip at the end of May.

 

We got a hire car for the 2 weeks, the car was recovered to my choice of garage in UK and we also got a hire car at Dover to get us home once we were back in England. That cover was the best £65 I've spent this year.

 

Really jealous of this trip - have a great time !

[JonS]

Thanks for the tip Chris, actually just taken the cover out ealier today £56.46 with AA member discount, also saved with AA travel insurance as well.

[Fiona]

Hi,

 

Trip sounds ace.

 

Steve and I are just back from a 3900 mile trip to Italy. Had a great time. We booked the Pagani and Lambo factory tours and visited Modena to see the Ferrari museum.

 

Couple of things:

• You can't drive the Reims circuit anymore. You can get up to the old grandstands but the entire circuit is no more. GPS coordinates here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reims-Gueux.
  
• Unfortunately you can't drive the full Monaco circuit as well. There is actually a roundabout about 400 yards down the start finish straight where you are forced to go off left rather than turn right.
  
• Fuel is just as expensive in France and Italy. We spent nearly £900 in 15 days and about £200 on motorway tolls (which we only did when we had to).
  
• Monaco is a nightmare to drive around - never been somewhere where the streets are so narrow. We actually had to stick the car in reverse to navigate round one switchback corner - and the guy in the Aston behind decided to reverse out all together.
  
• Don't go to the Millau viaduct - go to a small town called Therondels where you get the best view of the bridge itself.
  
• Sounds like you have kept the mileage down to decent figures. Don't understimate how tiring doing hundreds of miles a day is. On our longest day (Reims to Turin) we did 498 miles and it was absolutely knackering.
  
• The french have invested in more motorway speed cameras. If you see a sign it does mean one is coming up. Same with villages in Italy. If you see a sign on the way in there will be a camera and although it doesn't always say it (the name of the village is enough to signal a change in speed limit) it is 50kph.
  
• Italians tailgate quite a bit but not in a nasty way, more just in a "can I get past?" way. They also have a habit of sitting in the middle of the raod which is a bit unnerving when you meet them coming the other way round a tight cormer.
  
• We had temperatures of 37 and 38c. It was absolutely stifling without aircon. Fingers crossed it is a bit cooler for you.
  

Some pics of the factories:

 

We were lucky to meet Horatio Pagani himself. Nice chap!

 

If you do want to do the Lambo tour and the Pagani you must pre-book. Let me know if you want the details. Pagani was €14 each and Lamborghini was €35 each.

[JonS]

Thanks for the tips Fiona. We were aware of the Monaco circuit, but not the Reims. Shame, but still be nice to see the grand stands. I have tried to contact the Pagani factory, but havent got a reply. Can you send me the details of those three, would be great if we can go see them, although the days we have available to go are Saturday & Sunday and I'm thinking they may not be open then. Any info you can give me would be great Also useful to know the camera & toll info

Thanks.

[Fiona]

You will be able to get into the museums at Ferrari and Lamborghini at the weekend but I don't think the production line is operational. Pagani, I think, is only open during the week.

 

Lambo: [email protected]

Pagani: [email protected]

Ferrari: you can't tour the factory but you can just turn up at the museum whenever.

[Steve J]

French toll roads are a rip off, Italian ones are more reasonably priced. ~€30 compared to €7 for a similar length stretch.

 

The Mont Blanc tunnel is very expensive (~£30 IIRC) and isn't that interesting driving through. Take a guide book with you and read the section about the tunnel as you're driving . If you spot a lorry carrying margarine, then get the hell out of there!

 

Petrol is about €1.60 on the autoroutes and €1.50 off them, though we found the occasional much cheaper place (€1.40) on the outskirts of larger towns.

 

The newer road maps give fixed camera locations, but the Gendarmes really like to sit by the Toll Roads (and on the bridges) especially those routes from Calais, Boulogne, Dunkerque to Riems.

 

As Fi says, if there's a sign that says there are cameras, then there are. Better get used to sticking to 50kph though those.

 

Wish we were back there rather than back at work.

[Ladders]

Fi, Ste, I'm sure I managed to drive the complete Monaco Curcuit when I went a couple of years ago!

[Fiona]

Dave,

 

Yes, I know. But there is a new roundabout that directs you off to the left.

[Ladders]

Dave,

 

Yes, I know. But there is a new roundabout that directs you off to the left.

 

Killjoys!

 

Hope you both had a good time on hols btw!

[Ruxpin]

Sounds like a great trip, very jealous - i have to convince the other half and find the time to do something similar.

 

As above, the Mt Blanc tunnel really isn't very nice - if there is an alternative i would have a look at it.

 

I drove through the tunnel for skiing earlier in the year - 0C and snowing outside, 25C in the middle of the tunnel!! Had the aircon on and recirculation due to the fumes - it was pretty unpleasant in a normal car.

 

Looking forward to the pics

[JonS]

Useful info guys Thanks.

 

I have emailed Lambo & Pagani, see if they reply this time.

 

How long do the museums take to go round? As we are staying south of Lake Como so need to do tours in a day. (Saturday 2nd Aug)

 

As for MB Tunnel, we may not do this, as we are heading over the Grand St Bernard. It is just if we decide to go to Chamonix. Undecided as yet, cost (and lack of air con!) may make the decision for us.

 

Edit:

Just received an email immediately from Lambo - not good news! They are on holiday from 1st to 17th of August

[Steve J]

Museums don't take long to go round. They are cars with a few engines on display, not much else. You don't need to book Ferrari but you do need to book the tours for Lambo and Pagani.

Pagani was the most interesting tour as you go into the workshops where they are making the cars and can ask questions of the workers (via an interpreter/guide). Even less automated than Lotus, though a lot more carbon fibre everywhere.

 

I'd say put aside 1 day to do all of them together Ferrari (2hr), Lambo (2hr) and Pagani (1hr) including travelling to/from.

There is free parking in front of the Ferrari museum (if you can find a space).

If you've booked a tour of the factory with Lambo there are visitor spaces to the left in front of the buildings.

Pagani is a small industrial unit with no on-site parking. You'll have to find a space on the road outside. See if you can spot Gordon Murry's letter to Horatio on the wall (with his home address displayed).

[JonS]

Well, the car is sorted, the packing is coming long, itinerary sorrted, camera batteries charged, memory cards emptied, something is missing though - oh crap! Money!

 

Early trip to town to get some Euros lol!

 

See you when we get back