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

[CrissyUK]

Day 4 - Route Napoleon

We left Grenoble early and headed towards the Med via the historical route that Napoleon took on his way to Waterloo. Although very modern in places it has retained strong elements of epicness in places. It\'s generally well maintained and fairly easy to drive most of the way with the occasional stretch that I can only describe as terrifying because of the lack of proper barriers despite gi-enormous drops.

Thankfully Aston hooned sensibly and only raced everything from lorries to bikes to mountain goats to leaves 90% of the way, the rest of the time we were sat at traffic lights. ;-)

We have plenty of video evidence of just how awesome this road is but hardly any internet so YouTube links will go up next week. In the meantime here are some pictures I took while on the straights:



Hooning past the locals...



McPee-tstop...



Medieval village at Sisterion



Open, empty road. Let\'s do more hooning.



Rest area at high altitude with no barriers, just trees.



...until we finally gatecrashed the Yacht Club to wave at Malcolm on board his ship from the quai. We were unconsolable for about 5 minutes, then realized we were here:



If you look closely you can see Malcolm still waving a red blanket from a window towards the back, two decks from the top:

[rote8]

Looking good, :wave all that space on the roads reminds me of the M25. That doesn\'t look like a blanket but a pair of red underpants being waved. :evillaugh

Tell Aston that Clayton came good and did the business, also let him know there will be an e-mail to ER waiting for him when you get home.

Enjoy the rest of the trip :3gears-rh and keep the pictures coming.

[CrissyUK]

Day 5 - Monaco to Italy

We woke up in Monaco to another lovely day and despite tired feet from walking a lap of the F1 circuit the night before we set off for more sightseeing... of the F1 circuit of course!



Just a few hundred metres from our hotel we spotted this:



Then photographed this:



And had another drink ON the actual F1 circuit near a famous corner (hint: left bottom-ish corner):



You can actually see it better here:



It was then time for Aston to retrieve the car from the absolutely shockingly horrifying underground car parks in Monaco that caused much scrapage on the way down. Here he is emerging from the "bowels of Hell":



Sadly it was time to leave France and head over to Italy taking the scenic route. Here we have reached the France-Italy border (and no, that\'s not a UFO, it\'s a chip in the windscreen):



As we carried on driving down the Via Aurelia (originally built by the Romans around 109BC) behind the yellow Piaggio pick-up truck we came across this (Imperia, where they make pasta machines):



From then on the road was mostly like this (apologies for the blurring, phone was struggling with low lighting at dusk):



After a lot of hooning on the Autostrada dei Trafori (tunnels!) we finally arrived at my parents\' home for a couple of days rest:



:-)

[CrissyUK]

Days 6 - 7

After driving over 2500 Km in a few days it was lovely to wake up to a familiar view:



We didn\'t actually do much rotary related while over there apart from eating like pigs and taking a few pictures of Aston\'s car in scenic places:







Of course we had to pay a visit (get lost) to the "Tron motorway":



Soon after that pictures was taken we were stopped by the local police who pretended to check our documents while asking about the car. So I thought it was only fair that they told us where the nearest Pizzeria was.



One more sleep and then it was time to head for Switzerland. Achtung!

[CrissyUK]

Day 8 - San Bernardino Pass, CH

Our original plan was to get to Germany via the Stelvio Pass however it was snowing up there and decided that, since we are champions at travelling light (not!), it wasn\'t a good idea to even attempt it in sub freezing temperatures. So we decided to take the slightly shorter route via the San Bernardino pass in Switzerland.





As we were approaching the road to the pass we came across unusual obstacles:



Finally, we started the climb up towards the pass and what do we come across? A set of traffic lights and no tarmac through the first few twisties with flimsy barriers:



After much hoonage (Aston) and screaming in terror (me) we reached the Pass but as it started to rain we didn\'t stop to take pictures. We did that a little bit earlier where the views were stunning:



The descent from the top of the Pass was absolutely terrifying for me as a passenger as there are no barriers and it\'s hairpin after hairpin with massive gradients and what looked like dubious road surfaces which are actually made out of high grip tarmac. Still, not fun when you are not in control of the car and your other half tries to drift and then denies it.  :reallymad

After some more hoonage around Switzerland we decided to stop at a random cafe\' at the side of the road that had this in their back garden:



Mucho drop:



After this point we made the most of the remaining maps on the TomTom and headed straight for Lake Constance through Heidiland, with a quick hoon into Lichtenstein where we saw the only other RX-8 of our trip so far and then... just as it turned dark and super wet the maps stopped and 3 don\'t have a deal with the German telecoms so no Google maps either. Somehow with just a paper map (who else remembers those?) we managed to reach our destination where thanks to a foot in mouth moment the receptionist gave us a suite instead of a room. At the end of a rather enjoyable but also stressful day we really needed this:



:cheers

[CrissyUK]

Day 9 - Friedrichshafen to Nurburgring

We woke up this morning on the shore of Lake Constance - weather was essentially crap but we still managed to take a few pictures:





They even had a church with a road sign stuck to it!  :p



As we left Bavaria for our final destination on the Continent we found the autobahns but also more rain:



Eventually the surface dried up, speed limit disappeared and there was no racing involved past the HockenheimRing:



I think Aston eventually managed to reach 142mph in 4th gear with an Audi up his bumper itching to go past. The RX8 was so smooth and firmly planted on the road that I fell asleep despite the constant beeping. Amazingly the fuel consumption was really good even if we did 400Km at 9000 revs.

If you wonder what the German countryside looks like at that speed here it is:



As we arrived at our hotel in Nurburg (another suite) we couldn\'t help but wonder "how did they know"?



Little stroll before dinner to stretch our legs and take a couple of pictures of this:



and this:



And then this, which we also saw in Monaco near Rascasse:



Tomorrow morning, weather permitting, we will attempt a couple of laps of the Nurburgring provided the grizzly bear in the room doesn\'t eat Aston first... oh hang on, it\'s actually Aston snoring... oh well looks like I will have to survive one more terrifying experience as a passenger.

:WaveBye

[boosted]

Hoping for a vid of the \'ring with rotary sound track!

[CrissyUK]

Vid in due course, clear lap with hardly any traffic.  ;-)

[boosted]

Sweet!  Never done the ring on the bucket list though!

[boosted]

Still waiting on the vid! got a lonely nightshift to fill!

[Arnie_O]

It\'s still on the GoPro but no room on the Ipad to transfer and edit

[boosted]

:drivingwhere\'s this video of the ring!!!!please!