Road Trips: Routes, Photos and Videos!

[mjn]

Food location!

And beer!

Currywurst

Whilst eating, the weather got worse!

Pre-production car under wraps. Looked like the new Mercedes SLS AMG.

Hotel for the night

Driving from the hotel to opposite end of the Grossglockner.

Don't want to be making a mistake!

A bit clearer at the visitor's centre

Stuck in a traffic jam for 30 mins, whilst a small rock slide was made safe.

Weather gets even worse!

Reward for battling the fog

Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/food/etc) - 6.25 hours / 135 miles

 

[mjn]

Day 6 - Locating DPF Cleaner and heading back to Italy

Looking out from the hotel window, could see the weather wasn't much better than yesterday, but hey, who cares?

But before any passes. DPF cleaner was required and it appears in Austria, you can't pop into a supermarket and just buy it, like in the UK. Nor did any petrol stations stock it. After locating a Bosch Garage, luck! They had some. In the tank it went, hoping it would help. It didn't.

Now, Monte Zoncolan is one of my fav passes. There are 3 routes to the top, and the 3rd is by far, the most dangerous. Minimal passing points, very narrow road, potholes, gravel road in places. Will have to dig out some photos, can't find any as yet. Monte Zoncolan is extremely famous due to it's links with the Giro d'Italia.

But this is the way down, a much better quality road.

It's a tough drive which requires much concentration. However, once at the bottom.......beer time.

 

[mjn]

Due to spending time locating DPF cleaner, the route was amended slightly. Straight to Passo Giau. You can recognise the Dolomites anywhere!

Hotel for the night.

Pizzeria. It was a long walk, but i coped!

Finally, beer!!

Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/food/etc) - 6 hours / 221 miles

 

[mjn]

Day 7 - Slow journey back home

The view from the hotel wasn't much, but i could see blue sky!

No time wasted, on to Passo Valparola.

Then Passo Pordoi which was rammed! Never seen it so busy. The photos don't show it that well, but could hardly move.

Picked up myself a little souvenir.

 

[mjn]

Hotel for the night? Top of the Stelvio. But first, the road leading to the 47 hairpin road.

And so it starts!

The hotel.

View from the hotel room.

Old skool.

And from the beer garden.

Choices.

Mmmmmm, goulash.

Chocolate cake.

And the view.

Sunset.

Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/food/etc) - 6.75 hours / 180 miles

 

[mjn]

Day 8 - More DPF Cleaner and the autobahn

Something i've never seen before is honey served straight from the hive.

Sunrise

The descent.

More DPF Cleaner was located and put into the tank, but this time, only had a quarter tank of fuel and ran the car until the fuel reserve light came on. This seemed to do the trick......for a few hundred miles. But what really cleaned it out was doing 130mph on the autobahn! Once the blockage was gone, full power was returned to the car and i could do 155mph. The light hasn't been on since, but at 161k miles it'll be getting flushed soon.

Hotel for the night? The v8 hotel in Stuttgart.

The new v8 hotel.

The classic v8 hotel.

Classic Car showroom. No prices......you know what they say.....if you have to ask the price? You can't afford it.

Porsche......yours for only €54k.

Art behind the bed.

The view over Stuttgart.

Some pictures of the classic v8 hotel.

There is also a car museum attached to the hotel, but due to arriving a little later than planned, did not have time.

Beer!

Food.

Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/food/etc) - 6.5 hours / 254 miles

 

[mjn]

Day 9 - Heading For Home and German Petrol Stations

So, the last day. A few hundred miles from Stuttgart to Calais via Luxembourg.

But some of the more unusual items you can find at your German service station.....

Super strength beer. Not cheap at over €10 a tin.

Onto Luxembourg for refreshment and cheap diesel.

Of course, i've left plenty of stuff out, like taking the wrong turnings, going in the wrong direction, the closed roads, the awful traffic jams, etc, but it's part of the fun. Thanks for reading!!

Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/food/etc) - 13 hours / 631 miles

Total driving time over the 9 days (including stops/fuel ups/food/etc) - 73.75 hours / 2737 miles

 

[mjn]

Will there be a 2020 Euro Alpine Trip?

Not sure. Have done 5 years worth now. The £/€ exchange rate is killing us Brits. However, i do have a rough route planned out, taking in Lake Garda, Venice, Lamborghini factory tour, San Marino, etc, so who knows. Or maybe it'll be North Coast 500 in Scotland, or Norway.

 

[zeppelino]

Did a Wales road trip with a mate of mine. Mostly (fast) driving with few pictures. Couple of links below with our nominal routes - we did diverge now and then.

https://******/maps/GhhHLumr9Hbrg95RA

https://******/maps/QHoCctNHPzwPoy4n8

A couple of pics too. Mine is the Mini and his a MkV Golf GTI, remapped to 250bhp/280lb/feet. We swapped every now and then, which made things interesting!

We also ended up going across army land in the Brecons, deserted road and a nominal 30mph limit.

My average speed in Wales was 55mph with economy of 44mpg, down from 52mpg normally.

Definitely going to do this route or similar in October or November when roads will be emptier.

 

[IronGiant]

Looks like that maps site is blocked by the swear filter for some reason.

 

[zeppelino]

Oh! Pics attached of routes/nominal routes. We did venture off depending on traffic etc.

 

[=adrian=]

Coming up this weekend

Day1

Day2

Day 3

 

[mjn]

Snap, i’m also doing the NC500

 

[IronGiant]

Nice, we holidayed in the Gairloch area last summer Just near the Laide General Store and Filling Station (recommended). Laide Post Office and General Store, petrol, calor gas, Wester Ross

 

[=adrian=]

Nice, we holidayed in the Gairloch area last summer Just near the Laide General Store and Filling Station (recommended). Laide Post Office and General Store, petrol, calor gas, Wester Ross

Thanks IG. We will be spending a night there. I'm hoping to do the whole trip on one tank, but failing that I will probably fill up around there. Any good places to eat around?

 

[IronGiant]

That was the one thing we found surprising. So many eating places have closed down. We tried Inverewe Gardens which was a bit like a School Canteen,

ORAN NA MARA CAFE, Drumchork - Updated 2020 Restaurant Reviews, Photos & Phone Number - Tripadvisor

Oran Na Mara Cafe, Drumchork: See 112 unbiased reviews of Oran Na Mara Cafe, rated 4.5 of 5 on Tripadvisor.

www.tripadvisor.co.uk

Which is a long trek

and the Steading:

THE STEADING BISTRO, Gairloch - Restaurant Reviews, Photos & Phone Number - Tripadvisor

The Steading Bistro, Gairloch: See 294 unbiased reviews of The Steading Bistro, rated 4.5 of 5, and one of 15 Gairloch restaurants on Tripadvisor.

www.tripadvisor.co.uk

But it was all cafe style food.

 

[mjn]

That was the one thing we found surprising. So many eating places have closed down. We tried Inverewe Gardens which was a bit like a School Canteen,

ORAN NA MARA CAFE, Drumchork - Updated 2020 Restaurant Reviews, Photos & Phone Number - Tripadvisor

Oran Na Mara Cafe, Drumchork: See 112 unbiased reviews of Oran Na Mara Cafe, rated 4.5 of 5 on Tripadvisor.

www.tripadvisor.co.uk

Which is a long trek

and the Steading:

THE STEADING BISTRO, Gairloch - Restaurant Reviews, Photos & Phone Number - Tripadvisor

The Steading Bistro, Gairloch: See 294 unbiased reviews of The Steading Bistro, rated 4.5 of 5, and one of 15 Gairloch restaurants on Tripadvisor.

www.tripadvisor.co.uk

But it was all cafe style food.

That is my worry, finding somewhere to eat. A lot of the route looks remote with nothing close by. Of course, i’ll be taking rations just in case.

 

[=adrian=]

Thanks.

Yes, I'm worried about that too. I've been there a few years back and I know there are places to eat along, but not sure if they will be open due to the virus thing.

I'm not bothered if it is a cafe style food, as long as we can find somewhere we can eat

 

[mjn]

Long story short, i went home early. The condition of the road is awful. Quite clearly the route cannot cope with the level of traffic now using it. Inadequate signage, too many potholes, too much road damage, no places to pull over and take photos of the stunning scenery, lack of toilets, too many people who can’t drive, no etiquette on how to drive single pass / narrow roads.

A lot of work needs to be done on the route to bring it up to the standards seen abroad.

 

[IronGiant]

Sorry to hear that. @Adrian, you still doing it?

 

[mjn]

Sorry to hear that. @Adrian, you still doing it?

Didn’t help that on the first day, came down with a really bad cold. (Not COVID, checked temps and symptoms). Didn’t feel much better on the 2nd day but decided to carry on. Concentration wasn’t what it should have been, thus made a mistake and ran wide on a corner. Smashed corner of my bumper in and needed recovery.

 

[Delvey]

Went to Scotland recently. Definitely camper van country

 

[=adrian=]

Sorry to hear that. @Adrian, you still doing it?

Yes, mate. We went and had a fantastic time. The weather was gorgeous. Saturday was all sunshine and no wind, very unusual in Scotland. Sunday morning was beautiful too. Only afternoon it started clouding over, but we didn't care much by then because we were going back home.

I do agree that there were too many people. Traffic was quite bad. And yes, camper vans are part of the problem. There are so many and the roads are very tight. And yes, there was a problem with food. Pretty much no good restaurants. If you find any, there amount of people inside will put you off. Other than that, we couldn't wish for anything better. We have some fantastic photos and we were all sad that the road trip had to finish. I'm already planning to go back around Spring time.

 

[IronGiant]

We have some fantastic photos

...and Glad to hear it went well. When we went (was it only last year? ) it was astonishing how many campervans, mostly rentals, were there, I've only just remembered. I think at one point we were behind a tight convoy of four, so no chance of getting past. Ours was a simple trip to a cottage for two weeks so was Oxford to Stirling (overnight stay), then straight to the Gairloch region via Inverness. Then the reverse on the way back, except Mrs IG wanted to drive along Loch Ness (ie me to drive along Loch Ness) to get to Sterling.

 

[IronGiant]

my pics first

This was the view from the cottage