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2016 Euro Roadtrip Write Up (Pics and Vids)

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2016 Euro Roadtrip (Pics and Vids)

Day 1 - Leaving home.

An early start as we leave the house at 5am, so catch the the 7.36am Eurotunnel train.  After a slight delay at checkin, we're on our way.....well, i am!

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The GF got directed to the Terminal, eventhough we were booked on the same train and checked in one after the other!

So i parked up at the services straight after the Eurotunnel exit and waited for the GF, about 30 mins.

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The drive to the hotel wasn't that pleasant.  A sunny day soon turned into a miserable day with rain and fog soon moving in, as we drove close to Mittlach in Eastern France.

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But the fog was very patchy.

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Finally arriving here :)

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Then it was time for food and beer after a long drive :)

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Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/etc) - 13 hours / 558 miles

Edited by mjn
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Day 2 - The German Alpine Road

An early start, complete with breakfast and a quick hello to the cat, sees us on the road at 9.30am.

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Our destination today?

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But before we start the German Alpine Road, we have the little matter of the Rhine Falls

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Then a quick ferry trip across Lake Bodonsee from Konstanz to Lindau

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We parked up in Lindau were we saw this lovely old Mercedes

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Wasn't long before we reached the hotel and had food.

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Arriving at the hotel, we discovered that owners spoke zero English, so it was Google Translate to the rescue.  Still managed to order beer though :)

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The view from the hotel balcony?

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A lot of trees!!

Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/etc) - 10 hours / 280 miles

Edited by mjn
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Day 3 - More German Alpine Road.....and the start of car problems :(

To start today we had quite possibly the best breakfast ever in a hotel!  Bearing in mind, it was just the two of us staying there....we ate as much as we could!

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Today's destination?

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After feasting we set off and were soon munching up the miles

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Once again having to avoid animals on the road (a reoccurring theme)

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Until..............

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Not only that, the GF was complaining of a "weird" noise when turning right.  So we quickly located a BMW Dealer in Bad Tolz

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And resolved both issues.  Mine was simple

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And we discovered the GF had managed to badly scuff one of her front tyres on a hairpin, lol, oops.  So after the unscheduled pitstop, we motored on.

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Wasn't long before we arrived at the next hotel

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Complete with pristine 70's decor!

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Still, nice view on the walk to the pub :)

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More food.  And obviously, more beer

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Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/etc) - 8.45 hours / 180 miles

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Day 4 - Bye Bye German Alpine Road, Hello Austria!

Woohoo, Austria.  Never been to Austria before, and wasn't sure what to expect, but it was our next destination.

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But before Austria, we had a few miles of Germany to finish off first.

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Needing to top up food supplies, we found a local Austrian supermarket....poshest i've ever been in!

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Then.....our first proper mountain pass!!  Solk Pass

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Then, the Turracherhohe Pass

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Then, the Nockhalm Pass

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And finally, our hotel.

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And the balcony view.

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More food.

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More beer

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Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/etc) - 9.45 hours / 271 miles

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Day 5 - Houston, we have a problem!

A lovely sunny day, and it appears my car attracted some local talent

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The suspects......

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Anyway, today's destination?

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Via......firstly, the Grossglockner Pass.  Any boy was this place busy, never seen a mountain pass so busy.  At the base of the pass, is a little town where we stopped for a short break.

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Then it was time to start the climb.

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At the top

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Disaster struck at the top.  The GF's car decided to throw an error light for low oil pressure.  So we sat around at the top of the Grossglockner for hours sorting out breakdown company.  Breakdown company phoned at 11.16am, tow truck arrived at 2.30pm!  The GF went with her car to the dealer, and i carried on.

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On to Monte Zoncolan

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Then Passo Falzarego

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And finally, Passo Valparola

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The hotel

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The pizza

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By this time it was 8pm, and the GF still hadn't arrived at the hotel.  We'd kept in contact and i knew what was going on, but she was supposed to be leaving the dealer by 6pm in a taxi.  Long story short, i had to drive back to Austria to collect her at the border, where she had been given a lift, via the tow company owner.  Didn't arrive back at hotel until 10.20pm!!!

Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/etc) - 9.45 hours / 338 miles, add in the extra trip back to Austria, and the figures are 12 hours / 438 miles.

 

 

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Day 6 - Only one car

With the GF's car out of action, we're down to one car, which halved the fuel costs, but put a downer on the rest of the trip really.  Anyway, our hotel for tonight.

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My memory is a little hazy about today, but i think the first pass of the day was the Jaufenpass / Passo Giovo, which was seriously foggy.  Yet it was mesmorising watching the fog roll up the side of the mountain above the road.

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The Jaufenpass led straight into the Timmelsjoch Pass, which was miserable as hell, probably due to all the building work going on there.

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More animals in the road!

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Onwards to the Fluela Pass

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Albula Pass

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Hotel

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And hotel = food and beer!!

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Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/etc) - 8.5 hours / 289 miles

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Day 7 - The Italian Job

Today saw us only drive 3 passes in total, the Spluga Pass, San Bernardino and Colle del Nivolet.  The Colle del Nivolet was an hours drive from base to peak alone.

Hydro Electric Damn on approach to the Spluga Pass

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More damn animals in the road!

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Spluga Pass

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Ooooo, am i in Italy or Switzerland?

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Hmmmmm, those safety barriers look erm....

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And more damn (geddit?) animals (beavers) in the road

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San Bernardino Pass

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Quick break in this Swiss/Italian town

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The beginning.....

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The top!!

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The accommodation

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The path

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The view

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And even more beer!!

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Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/etc) - 9 hours / 240 miles

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Day 8 - Home

Home was 750 miles away over the Alps!  A super early start saw us leave the refuge at 7.50am.

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Heading for the Great St. Bernard Pass

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At the peak

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Collecting a few bugs on the windscreen

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Final stats for the journey (but i forgot to reset the trip until 50 miles / 51 mins into the journey, so add 50 miles and 51 mins to the figures)

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Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/etc) - 15 hours / 751 miles

Edited by mjn
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Thanks for reading / looking :)

All photos are geotagged, so you can obtain their exact location and if you want any more of a particular place, let me know and i'll see what i have.

Videos to follow as well.

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Looks like a great trip! Should have signed up when I was thinking about it. I think I said before that the days looked a little long, giving you little time to see the areas, but you clearly made a lot of stops to enjoy.

Crazy you took 2 cars between you though, couldn't you have shared to save £££? Or is the point you could do your own thing?

Talked to a buddy today about doing something like this today, would love to get back out there.

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We both wanted to drive :)

Yeah, we missed a few passes out which is a shame, but sometimes it happens. This was due to roadworks / bad weather / traffic chaos.

Started to plan next year's trip already. 

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Well, i caned it on the Autobahn (125mph+), thrashed it up just about every mountain pass and didn't turn it off when stopped for photos, just left it running to aid cooling.

Yes, it won't be as many miles next time.

Topic will be started soon!

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In total, 2 cars, 2 people, 7 hotels, eating out every evening with beer, tolls, vignettes, etc

Rough total is €3000. But yes, i have a full breakdown of costs. Will post tomorrow evening.

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That's some good going, similar costs to 1 car when I done it previously, in the old Z 3.0.

I'm defiantly interested in a E46Zone tour next year, and you seem to be the man to plan it, thanks ;) Do we get stickered up like Le Mans visitors?!

Edited by Sam
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Lol. Is there much firm interest?

Loads of people show interest at the beginning, then gradually fall away.

But there are extra activites we can add to break up the driving. Still want to go up the Furka Pass Cog Railway, there is a rollercoaster at the Nockhalm pass

And plenty of other cool stuff.

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Awesome write up, looks like you ate plenty of Pizza, lol.

And whats the crack with sending the mrs in her own car, does she really have that bad a conversation??;) Still hope you got her car sorted ok and without too much bother.

I am very much looking forward to mine now in about 7 weeks. Expect we will do a lot of the same passes you have, some of which we did before. Might PM you soon to get my head round which countries need which taxes paid etc.

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Yeah, by the end of the trip, i was sick of pizza.  Don't get me wrong, it was lovely, but after 4 in 8 days, it was enough.  The GF took her own car as she wanted to do more driving this time, so we decided to take both cars.  Plus, as her car is a 10 plate with only 16k miles, it needed some running in, lol.

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22 hours ago, Sam said:

Cruising speed, surely ;)

Do you have a cost breakdown? Hotels etc? You seem like a man who'd have planned it all out!

 
Costs
Vignettes £40 x 2 cars
 
Eurotunnel
£140 x 2 cars; £280
 
Hotel
Day 1
 
Hotel; €67
Diesel; €49
Snacks; €9
Evening meal; €23
 
 
Day 2
 
Hotel; €95
Diesel; €38
Lunch / food; €19
Ferry; €12 x 2 cars; €24
Evening Meal; €35
 
Day 3
 
Hotel; €74
Diesel; €37
Lunch / food; €5
Evening Meal; €32
 
Day 4
 
Hotel; €79
Diesel; €38
Lunch / snacks €18
Evening meal; €35
 
Day 5
 
Hotel; €214
Diesel; €40
Lunch; €5
Grossglockner; €35 x 2 cars; €70
Evening Meal; €37
 
Day 6
 
Hotel; €75
Diesel; €65
Timmelsjoch; €16
Evening Meal; €35
 
Day 7
 
Hotel (inc. evening meal); €110
Diesel; €49
Austrian tolls; €11
 
Day 8
 
Austrian tolls; €12
Food; €26
Diesel; €128
French tolls; £50
 
Total; €1608
Total; £360
 
We used a prepaid debit card abroad so fixed our exchange rate at £1 / €1.267.
 
I'm not sure of the petrol costs, but i expect it to be around ~€300 for the first 4.5 days before it brokedown. We also both started with a full tank of fuel.
 
Hope that helps.
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