bbwales
|
| posted on 5/9/11 at 03:46 PM |
|
|
European Road Trip 3
Hi all,
Well we have enjoyed our road trip again this year and instead of the normal 2 weeks we had 3.5 weeks in which we did nearly 3000 miles and visiting
Belgium (2 campsites), Luxemburg, Germany (4 campsites) and France (4 campsites). In the party was the Locust and a trike and we met up with another
friend in Germany for 5 days, he was driving a Landrover.
We left on a Wednesday and for the first time ever didn't drive all the way to Dover from North Wales, instead we stopped in Benson for one
night and travelled there via the back roads. On this trip we tried to avoid all motorways. The break suited us and we did 160 miles.
On Thursday we drove to Dover taking our time but having to use the motorways as you all know there is no easy way to Dover from the north. We arrived
at Dover with 12 hours before our ferry but they let us catch an earlier one and we ended up in Dunkerque at 8:00pm, so we drove to Belgium and stayed
at a nice site on the coast for one night.
From here we set off south and stopped many times as we passed various war memorials to have a look and pay respects (being an ex-squaddie it comes a
part of life), we found a nice camp site called Le Bocq in southern Belgium in a hidden valley with brilliant roads for a 7, not so good with a
trailer so once we set up camp I left the trailer and went a drove the roads again. To find campsites I used the live facility on my TomTom and can
highly recommend it for those who do trips without prior planning. I hasten to add I had planned everything but threw the itinery away and just went
for it.
The next day we headed for Rudesheim am Rhein and drove through Luxemburg and then down the Mosel valley to the Rhein and headed south to Rudesheim,
where we stayed for 2 nights. From Rudesheim we headed into the Black forest and found a lovely campsite in Shiltach, very small and on a river with
lots of people fly fishing, the added bonus was the food in the restaurant was superb and by far the best we ate on the holiday. We stayed here for 2
nights and friends joined us for 1 night and the onward trip to Munich. The roads to Shiltach were again good fun and peed my mate off who was riding
the trike.
From Shiltach we headed to Munich, 4 nights, and stayed at Thalkirchen which is a big campsite with lots of coming and going, lots of busses with kids
doing the European tour from OZ, NZ Japan etc. Unfortunately we were close to the main loos and the noise of the excited kids was a tad too much but
to be fair the staff were quickly on the spot and told them to be quiet and then monitored them. Whilst here we did a trip to Garmisch Partenkirchen
and went by train. A big hint here is use the Bayern Ticket it costs 29 euros and can be used for train, tram, busses and underground anywhere in
Bavaria and is valued for a day and it is for 5 people. We also visited the Hofbrauhouse and yes the women still carry loads of beers in their hands.
We also visited Dachau a tad sobering but very interesting. The weather was changeable and on checking the forcast for further east and north we
decided to head for France and chase the sun. We had intended to go to Poland and then Berlin but the sun was more appealing.
We left Munich and headed for Freiburg, 1 night, and met some torrential rain and everything was soaked. We left Freiburg and headed towards Lyon and
decided to treat ourselves to a night in a hotel rather than dealing with wet tentage.
The following day we headed for Lac de Vassiviere,2 nights, south east of Limoges and in the Central Mastiff. A municipal Site on the beach and
superb, here we washed everything and our site looked like a chinese laundry but everyone was understanding as they saw us unload the trailer and saw
things dripping wet. The roads leading to the lake were great and again I left the trailer at the site and went on to enjoy them again. One day we
headed off to do some shopping and a 7 came towards us with lots of arm waving and flashing of lights. We didn’t stop and chat though, was it anyone
off here?
From the lake we headed into the Vendee, 2 nights, and stayed at a 5 star site with all the trimmings, the Moules were brilliant. But that is all that
can be said as it was far too posh for us. From here we headed to Chateaudun (south west of Paris) and another municipal site for 2 nights, you HAVE
to visit here, the caves (Grottes du Foulon) are spectacular and only one set of 3 in the world, the others being in Germany and the USA. These caves
are the only ones of the 3 that we can go in as the ones in Germany are purely for scientists and the ones in the USA are mined for the quartz and
there is a superb Asian restaurant here but be warned to get to the town centre there is a good climb from the campsite.
From here we headed to Pierrefonds and had the joy of driving around Paris' version of the M25 but we didn't stop moving and managed to do
the journey in a good time. Pierrefonds is north east of Paris, it is the 2nd time that we have been here as the municipal site is very good and the
village and its chateau are spectacular.
from here we headed for Calais and stayed another night in a hotel prior to catching the ferry but we did a run into Belgium again to get the tobacco
goods for friends.
We made our ferry and landed in Dover at 2:00pm and got to Wrexham at 10:15pm, various expletives were used as we had travelled some 2700 miles on the
continent and not 1 traffic jam, and the final 300 miles took 8 hours with the M25 being closed and the M40 likewise, 2 years running the worst part
of the trip was using good old British roads.
Regards
Bob
|
|
|
|
|
Humbug
|
| posted on 5/9/11 at 04:54 PM |
|
|
Sounds fascinating and you certainly did some miles there!
Just a couple of questions, tough:
1. What's the weight limit for a trailer on a 7?
2. I wasn't sure what you meant by "the caves (Grottes du Foulon) are spectacular and only one set of 3 in the world" - there are
more that 3 caves in the world, so I assume there is something special about these that there are only 3 of them?
Cheers,
Simon
|
|
|
bbwales
|
| posted on 5/9/11 at 05:20 PM |
|
|
Hi,
The recommended weight of trailer to towing vehicle is that the trailer should never exeed 85% of the weight of the towing vehicle, this is the
recommendation of the caravan club, this is the recommendatiopn with a caravan i.e. braked. I looked at the weight of my car and then had the trailer
weighed (fully laden) and the trailer is less than 50% of the car.
The caves are called the Grottes du Foulon and are special as they are one of 3 that have the 3 main layers of rock strata, i.e. strata from the
dinosaur times, then the smaller layer which was formed from the dust created by the asteroid hitting the earth and killing off the dinosaurs and then
the top layer which has formed since the demise of the dinosaurs. The caves are also special as they contain giodes (spelling which have in some
cases shells from sea creatures in them but the main thing is that they contain blue or white quartz ( you may have seen these in some jewlers shops).
The yanks mine them for the quartz to power watches etc.
Regards
Bob
|
|
|
coozer
|
| posted on 6/9/11 at 10:51 AM |
|
|
Well done Bob, nice to see you back in 1 piece. I've never thought of Europe as a very good place for a road trip but as you have demonstrated,
and, as some of my drinking buds have shown this summer its very worthwhile..
1972 V8 Jago
1980 Z750
|
|
|
adithorp
|
| posted on 6/9/11 at 11:16 AM |
|
|
Nice trip by the looks of that. I love touring in the Fury but I'd feel a bit limited with the trailer on. We tend to travel light and move on
each night, rather than set up camp for a few days before moving on. As a result we make the best of the roads as we go.
Did you declare a weight for "axle3" (trailer) when you went for IVA and is it listed on the V5? If not, I think you're not suposed
to tow anything.
"A witty saying proves nothing" Voltaire
http://jpsc.org.uk/forum/
|
|
|
|
