Another Epic Road Trip: Paris - Route Napoleon - Riviera - Stelvio - Nurburgring

[CrissyUK]

Hi All,

Arnie_O and I will be setting off for a repeat of my previous epic road trip back in 2009, only this time taking in all the scenic routes through France, Italy and Germany with plenty of stops along the way.

The plan is to drive down the Route Napoleon from Paris via Grenoble to the French Riviera (where there will be an impromptu Rotary Meet) then all along the Italian Riviera and if I don\'t get arrested and extraordinarily renditioned for :censored::censored::censored::censored:ing people off over there some 20 years ago (they still remember) we will then spend a few days stealing figs from my parents\' neighbours.

Assuming we won\'t be too fat for the N/A RX-8 we will be tackling the Stelvio Pass (sick bags: check) and finally, after all this practice up and down mountain roads we will be heading over to the Ring which at that point should be a doddle to drive for Aston. Apparently he is not letting me go round even if I have been there before and didn\'t get lost!

So, why am I telling ya\' all this?

Because it would be awesome to meet some of you continental rotary peeps along the way  :-)  This is what happened last time I drove to Italy...

Dates:

France: 5-8th September
Italy: 9-12th September
Germany: 12-14th September

Stay tuned for more updates, pics, selfies, videos, etc.  :WaveBye

[exiled-viking]

that would be a trip like like to be on sounds awesome :Thumbsup!

[rote8]

Hope you both have a good trip, sounds stunning.:WaveBye:WaveBye Trust Aston to be getting in some practice around the Ring in preparation for next years possible trip.

[CrissyUK]

He will be practicing for the practice round the ring on this at first:



and around this later (if they got the forecast of heavy snow wrong):



The Ring is going to be easy to navigate by comparison as it\'s a one way system and usually buses travel in the same direction as you...  

Group trip next year?

[clive]

Now I know why Aston wants some brakes on his car:rollin-------enjoy

[Casey]

Hoping Gwyn and I will meet up with you both at Monte Carlo, as it seems you will be arriving there on the same day as Gwyn & I are in the port off our P&O "Azura" Med cruise. It would be great to get some pics of us all (and the car) outside the Casino and Hotel de Paris

[Arnie_O]

Yes Clive I hope you now understand my urgency for renewed stopping power.

[CrissyUK]

Well, the epic trip is off to a good start. DFDS Seaways have been brilliant in handling the check-in and we discovered the reason for so many illegals entering the UK: customs people can\'t be bothered to check documents.



Despite extensive servicing and tuning efforts by Mr. Tadpole the car seems to be ok (no implosions or explosions) and made it onto the boat. Now the race with Malcolm to Monaco begins! Can anyone have his cruise ship arrested so we get there first?

:3gears-rh

[Mr Froggy]

Glad you got off with a good start. Hope you have a great trip
Post plenty of pics.

[Casey]

We are bang on schedule for the Top Gear style race to Monte Carlo! Just berthing at Ajaccio, Corsica, as I type this. Then Citavivecchia and Monte Carlo :wiggle

Weather on the cruise here from Southampton has been amazing. Never seen the Atlantic and Med so calm. Temps of 25+ all the way....

See u guys soon!

[clive]

We are bang on schedule for the Top Gear style race to Monte

I\'ll take a wild guess that your journey is just that little more relaxed :Giggle

Have fun out there

[Arnie_O]

We had more fun and while I must say we only just made it in time to spot Malcolm in his yacht. I will take the moral high round and claim the victory as it took us less time to get here.

[re japi]

lol Have a good time there!

[CrissyUK]

A little late with the updates but here it goes...

Day 2 of our epic road trip saw us taking in the sights in Paris. We stayed at a hotel in an area that looked a bit like Walthamstow so we had to take extra measures to ensure the car would stay safe...



With that bit sorted we hopped on a train and then le metro and got to the Champs Elysees, soon after we spotted this:



...and most interestingly this:



The walk up to L\' Arc de Triomphe was great: among the various expensive shops were the ateliers of a number of car marques including Mercedes and Renault. Neither of them had any F1 cars inside, however Renault had a Formula E car in the shop window and an elegant bar/restaurant outside where Aston enjoyed a bottle of Ve... ahem Vittel and other fine things.

It was good being tourists for a day and forget about driving... until the following day that is...

[CrissyUK]

Day 3 was the boring drive down to Grenoble which saw us spend several hours driving sensibly on the French motorways as well as this:

Video NSFW

We then bumped into this:



And then the epic balls up happened: Video definitely NSFW :-D luckily it was too early for the police so we got away with it!!

The long drive to Grenoble was rather uneventful but the roads were notably empty unlike the M25 or the M1:



...until we got to  this:



Which led us to this:



Where we finally found this:



It was then time for some dinner at a local popular French restaurant situated close to the local Bastille where Aston enjoyed some herbal beer and vegetarian food much to my amusement while I picked all the "man food" from the menu. With the car securely parked right in front of an angel we enjoyed a rest before our big day!