Not much to see in the way of scenery for Saturday until the last 100 miles or so, and the time constraints meant that photo stops were few and far between. Coupled with a camera battery dying when things did get interesting, I only managed to get a handful of pics.

Waiting for the ferry. Which was 90 minutes late thanks to the industrial action earlier in the week. Al's shiny new Scoob eating Panzer.



Just off the boat, we regroup and decide who's doing the leading. Al's trusty German sat nav is given the job, and the decision is made to avoid the French toll roads, taking a route into Belgium and Luxembourg before entering back into France


Breakfast stop in Belgium. We had a bit of a chat to some chaps with vintage MGs, a Triumph Stag, and other old English motors who were setting off to the Sout of France for a 3000 mile historic rally.


Si takes the roof off the Bathtub, and Jade decides it looks like a good place to spend a couple of hours.


Final little rest stop for the day. Deciding that having over a 1/4 of a tank left was sufficient to cover the last 40 miles, we head straight for Les Rousses.


The Frostmeister from the front


...and behind


and the last pic before my battery died. A quaint French town with it's peace being shattered.

This is just before things became very interesting, and we found a little taster of what is (hopefully) in store. Mile after mile of twisty glass-smooth tarmac, with HUGE sheer cliffs on one side and massive tree-lined drops on the other, passing through tunnels carved from the mountain. The scenery is simply too stunning to try and describe.

Today's route is much less pressured, just 240 miles to Brienz, so hopefully there'll be plenty of photos to come later.

 

looking good, wish I was there

 

Nice pictures keep then coming...

 

Jealous ? Me ? N.............YES !

 

Looks great guys and girls...wish i was there..

 

What can I say!!

 

 

Err, day 2 pics Please

 

yeh yeh, neeeeed them.... want to see how there going, we should have a gps live tracking that would be ace...

 

Quick update..... they have been up the Shusten pass today. Road was closed due to snow and it's freezing. Snow knee deep, waterfalls everywhere. Been told there are some great pics for tonight. So fingers n all crossed someone will post up later. That's if they don't all fall asleep first

 

Come guys and girls, we need pictures

hope your all having fun, miss you loads x

 

Sorry no pics again, I did ask! But they were off to bed fairly early. Think this driving and having a good time is tiring them all out.

 

You will have to put some pressure on Alan the next time you talk/txt to keep us UK bound folk up to date

hope your well

 

Evening Mick, great minds think alike eh? 214 miles to cover tomorrow

 

They are in performance cars, right Or did they change the plan last minute and hire donkeys I once did Leeds to Newquay, door to door 399 miles in 4 hours dead in a single hit


PICS !!!!!

 

Not many Alps on that route tho' Dave !

LOL

DunxC

 

Yeah includes stops also and walks Sorry for no pics tinternet was down last night. Well just had a long text off Al, they are sat at a POLICE checkpoint on the motorway, waiting for INTERPOL to check with Swansea ref Sticky's reg doc which he forgot to take. They were stopped by the police who think they are on a Gumball Rally. They think they were racing . This has set the trip back somewhat. Will update you all as soon as I get more info

 

Thanks Mick for asking. No the last two days have been really bad unfortunately. Bless our Emma she has been really good. Updated on other thread.

 

Are they still in Switzerland by any chance The Swiss hate cars

 

Not too sure Dave he didn't say. Waiting for him to return my last text

 

ooooh crikey hope everything is ok

fancy sticky forgetting something...i mean really!!!

 

Morning peeps, yes Dave they were in Switzerland at the time of incident.

Everythings ok and sorted now just took me a while to find a fax machine to send copy of logbook he forgot.

They finished up in Italy as of last night.

Ella.x.

 

bless!!! glad everything is ok, got a bit worried there!!

i love italy!

 

Hi Ella, thanks for the update.

 

Been asked to say sorry, that no more pictures have been posted up.
They had no internet in the hotel.

 

As long as they're well and having fun.










Not jealous, no, not at all, really

 

Fancy, out of all the hotels, in all the Alps, we had to pick probably the only three with bugger all t'internet access.

Not that there was any time between driving, going "wow" a lot, and sampling the od local beverage of an evening.

Got a boatload of pics, just need to sort out the bestest and get them hosted.

 

Well.................. In readiness for the inevitable write-ups and pictures I'd like to simply add formally my thanks to Sticky (and the patience of Ella) for the route. Apart from the months of planning it took, every single day just got better and better, culminating in a simply awesome day that ended at the top of the Stelvio pass and a final proper driving rest day at the top of a stunning hotel at the top of the Bernina pass (2328 Mtrs - pic from Wikipedia but we have some from the window). Frosty and Sticky will no doubt recount their charge up what must have been a top 3 road.....



Not one day was repeated. Not one day was without glorious roads, sights, smells and memories to treasure for a life time. Even though the route had to be changed and altered, his prior planning meant we were never delayed and always heading down roads to die for. Even the final 800 mile drive back couldn't take away or even dent the perfection of the route that he chose.

Similar thanks to Si for all his hard work in selecting and prepping the hotels. The chasing up and altering to reflect passes opening daily meant he had to work tirelessly in emailing and contacting hotels for best prices and availability. In the end, being out of season meant we could drive and stop and pick a hotel of choice and barter the price down, but it wouldn't have been such a smooth trip without his efforts.

Thank you also to Frosty, Andy and Ellie, Jade & Sean for their company.

We spent every waking moment together and each minute was bliss. Driving from about 9am or through to 7pm every day, meant plenty of stops, picnics and sight seeing with a few hours at a local hostelry sampling beers and pizza... I have never laughed so much or felt so relaxed, at ease and happy on a trip or holiday with such friends before.

I nearly forgot 'Eric'. I'm sure pics of him will emerge, but how this little fella managed to follow us around will amaze me for years.

So, let the various write ups begin and once we've (well, not me.......) collated the many hundreds of photos and hours of HD DVD footage, I'm sure you'll be able to get a grasp of what an epic trip this was.

 

Hiya folks!!

Totally agree Al - The effort that went into organising this trip to make it all go smoothly so we could just enjoy it and not worry was amazing so thanks alot guys, its most appreciated

And we couldnt have asked for better company throughout, Andy commented when we got back that there was no pressure and everybody fit together like peas in a pod (no smutty comments please )

We are a bit worried coz we havent seen Eric for a while but im sure he'll make it back soon

Got to bed at 3:30 this morning then up at 10am to pick Dave up and go shopping (and a KFC)

Will put some pics up when i get the energy

Can't wait till next year.................

 

Eric's fine. He jumped in with us as we were leaving the ferry, and lay snoozing on the dash for most of the journey. He's just outside having a nibble (The dogs have been out )

Just copying the 2500+ pics from Jade's laptop.