Silo art at Devinish.Victoria.Oz.
Where Have You Been In Your Van Today?
- Thread starter mhill
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I don't think this artist can do feet!
Yesterday was an epic 9 hr drive today from Murcia to France Perpignan. Feeling knackered but a swift cold lager followed by half a bottle of local wine and a Mojito to help relax me. Well that's what I'm saying and I'm sticking to it.
Saw some great views of the Pyranees but the clouds came in before I could get a good picture
Saw some great views of the Pyranees but the clouds came in before I could get a good picture
Day 2 of the return leg is done. Perpignan to Lapeyrouse (5 hrs) Just loving the French scenery.
Garabit Viaduct - constructed by Gustave Eiffel
Viaduc de Millau is just a spectacular piece of engineering with stunning views
Finally back at Château de Bruges in Lapeyrouse, absolutely love this place
Garabit Viaduct - constructed by Gustave Eiffel
Viaduc de Millau is just a spectacular piece of engineering with stunning views
Finally back at Château de Bruges in Lapeyrouse, absolutely love this place
Was that avoiding all peage routes, taking the smaller roads through the towns?
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I think both bridges are on the motorways but a lot of that route is free (millau is tolled). That road heading north it a great bit of tarmac if the traffic isn’t busy and stop start up the hills.
Yes we took the toll routes only because we were time restricted (2 kids and 2 dogs)
When we do it next time I'm going to do a mixture, some of the small towns and villages we passed looked amazing and would have loved to have stopped.
When we do it next time I'm going to do a mixture, some of the small towns and villages we passed looked amazing and would have loved to have stopped.
That's right the French roads were fantastic as far as quality and traffic. I think we have hit 1 traffic jam in France so far. The tolls add up I guess but it is what it is and I would recommend buying the tags as that makes life so much easier.
Nice, I'm most probably heading down that way in (checks calendar...) 5 weeks time. I've got 3 weeks off work - Calais Eurotunnel then heading south via a day in La Rochelle, then Biarritz for a day or 3, then the Pyrenees, a few days mountain biking in Ainsa, then the Catalonia coast between Barcelona and the French border for a few days, enjoying some sun and sea, then onwards towards the french riviera, then probably the Route Napoleon northwards before heading home...
Route/internery subject to change depending on weather! I won't be booking anywhere more than a few days in advance.
Probably trying to avoid peage roads aside from the first day and if I need to cover lots of miles!
Route/internery subject to change depending on weather! I won't be booking anywhere more than a few days in advance.
Probably trying to avoid peage roads aside from the first day and if I need to cover lots of miles!
That will be an amazing trip, when we were in Perpignan we had some great views of the Pyrenees and pictures just didn't do it justice.
We did air b&b on the way out which were good but some places parking was a bit of a mission and being so OCD about the van didn't help, so we have a couple of Nova hotels on the way back that seems to work for us as they are easy and dog friendly. We just had to stop at Château de Bruges again. Such a great young couple have set this up and wanted to drop by on the return leg.
Yeah I'll be trying to keep to a nice low budget, so park ups, free Aires, municipal Aires, Àrea d'autocaravanes, etc! I'll probably book a campsite if I'm staying in one area for a few days, maybe even a hotel for a night or 2 depending on prices.
Obviously fuel will be the main cost, probably looking at 2000+ miles.
I always used to go down there on the tolls over night, no traffic, it was a dream and door to door (Herts to Spanish border) in 13 hours.
We tried going off the tolls when we went across country but just ended up on crappy trunk roads, busy, badly maintained, roadworks etc. it was not the tree lined avenues I imagined. Maybe we should try again but I think the tolls were covered by the fuel saved and ground covered
I agree, I have marked a few areas I really liked the look of so next time I will just factor those into my stops rather then using service stations. Just have a slight detour and see some nice villages. Then back on the tolls.
What did you think of driving at night? None of the roads have lights. Just wondered what they were like?
Yeah I'll do a mix, Waze is great as it gives the toll cost on the route so you can see how much it'll be.
I'm probably going to aim for a late(ish) Eurotunnel on the Sunday evening, then putting in a few hours on the autoroute to an Aire just outside Sees, then onto La Rochelle the next day, trying to avoid peage roads.
I've not driven the van on the continent but I've done thousands of miles in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria on motorbikes over the years.
I rode from Switzerland to Kent in a single day at the end of a trip once! The autoroutes are great for that
Best driving over night perfect roads for it!
After 4,500 miles on our Norway/Scandi road-trip (updates here Norway Summer 2024) it was time for the oil change.
The warning had come up just before I set off - typical - but it gave me 30 days notice and what's 5,000 odd miles to a commercial vehicle?!
Also I had a niggling intermittent issue with ABS/ type pressure monitoring and ACC... suspected wheel sensor!
So off to JR Volkswagen Centre near Paisley (Glasgow area) who got it all sorted no bother.
Interestingly he said it was a common issue (T6s?) with it mostly being the driver side rear wheel sensor. Turned out my issue was passenger rear wheel sensor though!!
I would definitely recommend them for anyone with a van near Glasgow.
The warning had come up just before I set off - typical - but it gave me 30 days notice and what's 5,000 odd miles to a commercial vehicle?!
Also I had a niggling intermittent issue with ABS/ type pressure monitoring and ACC... suspected wheel sensor!
So off to JR Volkswagen Centre near Paisley (Glasgow area) who got it all sorted no bother.
Interestingly he said it was a common issue (T6s?) with it mostly being the driver side rear wheel sensor. Turned out my issue was passenger rear wheel sensor though!!
I would definitely recommend them for anyone with a van near Glasgow.
4500 @AeonMach ? Wow! Our Skye trip totalled 1400 miles, mostly in the rain!
We left Glencoe and ended up behind an obvious tourist on the A82, glorious sunny day up there. As we are approaching Inverarnan a dark blue Seat Cupra coming towards us, veers on to our side of the road and hits the nice blue ineffectual MG Phev head on, well offside light to offside light sending the Cupra spinning past us, shrapnel everywhere, dodge the flying wheel. Both new rental cars piloted by American tourists.
Florence Nightingale the 2nd (my Mrs) was out of the van in a flash making sure the people were in one piece. and amazingly there were no serious injuries, all airbags deployed and both cars absolutely totalled. Credit given to the car designers.
I've just watched the footage back on my front camera, scary. It could have been us.
That was a long 368 miles today...
We left Glencoe and ended up behind an obvious tourist on the A82, glorious sunny day up there. As we are approaching Inverarnan a dark blue Seat Cupra coming towards us, veers on to our side of the road and hits the nice blue ineffectual MG Phev head on, well offside light to offside light sending the Cupra spinning past us, shrapnel everywhere, dodge the flying wheel. Both new rental cars piloted by American tourists.
Florence Nightingale the 2nd (my Mrs) was out of the van in a flash making sure the people were in one piece. and amazingly there were no serious injuries, all airbags deployed and both cars absolutely totalled. Credit given to the car designers.
I've just watched the footage back on my front camera, scary. It could have been us.
That was a long 368 miles today...
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Glad you are all safe and that you had Florence on the scene straight away
