Petem95

Thinking of doing a bit of a roadtrip through Europe this summer - through France down to Monaco, then into Italy, onto Germany to Nurburg then home via Belgium.

Anyone done anything similar to this before? Are the roads all good through those countries? Are the Police hot on speeding?

STi-Frenchie

Check out the Stelvio Tour 2005 post in the International forum, it sounds like it is made for you!

Fuzz

Done from Crete to home in three days if that counts.

Flew out to see my old man building his house in Crete then I had to drive his Landrover home..
55mph all that way.
took in some wonderful country landscapes though, made it bearable.
Across from Athens to Patra on the north coast of greece,
From Greece mainland onto Ancona in northern Italy (was told to stay away from the Southern part as they are a little more unfriendly than the rest.
Bologna
Modena
Milano
Turino (round the Alps instead of over wrong time of year )
Into france
Lyon
Dijon
Reims
Arras
Calais.
Even slept in the landy.

Itching to do it again in the other direction and in something faster this time..

Andy

JackClark

You'll hate the roads when you arrive back in the UK. Noisy, bumpy and full of cars. Rather than drive straight down through France I'd be tempted to drive down through Spain and Portugal then along the coast. You can get down to Portugal in 24 hours if you're an idiot like me.

4X4BOB

Driven through Europe a lot.
Enjoy it, roads are good, service area's are loads better (fave ones for eating are the Rosenbeger ones in Austria ) found all fuel types readily available, and fuel cheaper 'spesh in Luxembourg where there's always a queue for fuel at the 2 motorway services I use.
Never been stopped for speeding, although I was lucky on the way back from Brussels to the Tunnel, was cruising at a steady 100 with 2 motorbikes following for ages, untill they finally overtook and I saw they were police bikes! They just looked in at me as they passed me and then turned off at the next junction. And I didn't even have the sense to slow down, it was only after they had turned off that the wife asked me why I hadn't slowed down when I saw they were police?

Anyways, enjoy the driving experience.


Bob

paul-s

all sounds quite appealing, altho if doing something like this in the scoob is there decent fuel to put in most of the way or is it likely i'd need some booster too ?

Fuzz

you get better fuel on the continent than here in the UK.



Andy

harvey

iTrader: (48)

France, Spain, Gibralta, Monacco, Italy, Albania(not recommended) Switzerland(The police can be strict) Lichenstein, Austria, Hungary, Germany, The Benelux, Denmark, Sweeden, Finland, Russia. The police will be very interested in your vehicle and are quite happy to take a bung. I was stopped at a military check by a couple of young squaddies with automatic weapons. They were totally confused by the steering wheel on the wrong side and gave my passenger a hard time. Oh and the former Yugoslavia, Bratislava, Prague etc. Be careful where you go.
Have plenty credit cards and a stash of money for emergencies.
Watch out for bandits in Italy and remember the further South you go the more lawless it becomes. Stop at a fuel station, lock the vehicle and expect four or five guys all trying to put fuel in the car. Fill it yourself or expect to be fleeced. That is how they live down there.
The further East you go the more street wise you need to be.
Spain, Portugal, France, Germany etc is just common sense.
Avoid France in August as 15 km jams are common at busy places.
Keep your wits about you on the Autobans and IF there are speed limits posted, obey them. Lots of speed traps on regulated sections with road works or bridges over valleys etc. Don,t mess with the German police, human rights have not got there yet.

harvey

iTrader: (48)

P.S. Once came from Szolnok, East of Budapest to Teesside, 1440mls, in one stint. Left on the Saturday morning and arrived 03:30 Sunday morning.

GCollier

I've driven quite a lot through Europe. Of the countries on your list France has the best quality roads. Belgium has - in my experience - both **** poor roads and **** poor drivers, and the sooner I'm through that country the better. It's possible to make excellent progress on the autobahns through Germany, but road surfaces are often so-so, and there are frequent variable or lower speed limit sections for anything from time of day to weather to quality of road surface. Lane discipline is generally much better in Germany thoyugh, but drivers often drive way too close for the speeds they're travelling. It's been a few years since I've driven through Italy, just remember generally poor and chaotic standards of driving, especially in Rome - but less congested than the UK.

I've never been pulled by the police in any of these countries, but then I've never gone daft speed wise.

Gary.

Petem95

Thanks for all the info - sounds like its definately a good move. That Stelvio trip certainly looks like fun too.

This surprises me a little however, I thought Italy would be one of the safer places?

camk

Agree on the speed traps in Germany however German police are absolutely fantastic to deal with. I speak from direct experience of being routinely stopped or having to go to the station(camera points) on at least 6 occassions of which 3 resulted in 3points and fines for me. Never a dodgy comment and always very well mannered. This is in stark contrast to some of the dodgy treatment I received back home.

R 14NS R

there was a really good feature in evo last year about the trip to le mans,

they took a tuscan and a morgan aero, seemed like they met loads of car fanatics, loads of supercars, and saw the racing, seemed like an awesome few days.

i have spoken to a few of my mates with nice cars, tvrs, s2000s, civic r s,evos and they said it would be good to do to, it s just the organisation.

Dave1980

are you planning to take the van on this one then pete?

STi-Frenchie

Petem95, if you haven't been tempted by the Stelvio run, you might want to check out some threads posted in this forum by Nevetas -- search by user name going back a few months and focusing on radar detectors. I remember there was a lot of advice given then about cops/spirited drving on the continent which may be of use to you.

I'm sorry but I must disagree with Harvey's comments on France in August as his comments really only apply to the A7 autoroute (both directions) and in particular on the weekends. Most (other) autoroutes in France during the holiday period of July-August are by and large, jam-free and certainly nothing like you experience in the UK. The radio station on 107.7 FM will give you the usual garbage French music but you will hear the traffic conditions in a both English and French so it's worth keeping your ear tuned.

Elmer Fudpucker

I totally agree,worst bluddy country in mainland Europe by far