The plan is to drive to Barcelona, attend a conference for work, then drive back.
The Zero has spent a lot of time on the north south run with various events so the draw of a similar milage run except across Europe was too hard to resist.
Work is happy provided I turn up at the conference and of course fund the trip myself.
Overall around 1000 miles each way, with a nice pause in company paid for hotels in the middle while working.
Alternate routes selected for outbound and return, SatNav set to avoid motorways.
The intention is to stick to A roads (a.k.a. D roads in France) as much as possible, see villages towns etc, and the major attraction being a couple of days driving through the Pyrenees.
The major waypoints are marked in blue on the Drives page.
I will also start editing and posting video on the YouTube Channel.
I will also start editing and posting video on the YouTube Channel.
Out
Overnight stops, save those to meet the Ferry, selected as roughly 300 miles apart which on D roads is approx. 5-6 hours driving each day. I took a little care to find some especially winding/zig-zag roads thorugh the Pyrenees but really intended to wing the rest of the route - take a road that looked interesting or just rely on the satnav to keep me moving the right direction.
| Date | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 17/9/15 | Maidstone | Start |
| 18/9/15 | Beddingham | Overnight |
| Newhaven - Dieppe | Channel Ferry | |
| 19/9/15 | Anet | Overnight |
| 20/9/15 | Libourne | Overnight |
| Gan | ||
| Gourette | Interesting looking hairpins | |
| Luz-Saint-Sauveur | ||
| 21/9/15 | Arreau | Overnight |
| Bossost | Border Crossing via interesting hairpins | |
| Sort | ||
| Tremp | ||
| Gualter | ||
| Riu Negre | ||
| Barcelona | Destination |
Excursion
Originally unplanned, but midweek I also took a run with a colleague from Barcelona up to MontSerrat. Just an alternative to a city tour bus, and a chance to check the car was still in working order before the return trip.
Return
Less preparation on the route back with a couple of likely looking locations for overnight - again the optimal 300 miles/6 hours driving apart.
Happened to pass Millau (for a look at the bridge), some advice en-route from another RhoCar member to go through the gorges near St Enemie and a chance to drop in on Beauvais Cathederal (a personal favourite)
| Date | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 25/9/15 | Barcelona | Start |
| 26/9/15 | Verges | Overnight |
| Millau | The Bridge to view | |
| St Enemie | Tip from Ian (RhoCar) good Gorge Run | |
| 27/9/15 | Puy-en-Velay | Overnight |
| 28/9/15 | Vougrey | |
| Beauvais | Favourite Cathedral | |
| Dieppe - Newhaven | Channel Ferry | |
| Maidstone | Destination |
When starting out - I thought I could do it, i.e. two Scotland RhoCar runs behind me which clock up similar milage across a week (including the north/south runs), so why not... the pull of Pyrenees in the south & the unknown.
Lots of variables though; the car was running well, cooling issues all behind me, and a recent run with SKCC acted as a shake down. If something did fail I would have limited capability to fix it - worst case would be to ship the car back home on a breakdown van and carry on by train - whatever happened I DID have to arrive in Barcelona by 22nd September.
...more to follow...
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