Cruising down to the Med in a Mercedes

[shayes]

Not too sure which Camp site you are referring Malcolm(Television)? Thought I would reply to your question via a new thread to discover how many Members drive down to the Med in their Mercedes for their hols.

I've not driven to the site in Frejus where I live as "trailer trash" when I get the opportunity, but have spoken to one Caravan owner who has been driving down to the south of France to the site for over twenty five years.
He said he thoroughly enjoys it and did so even when taking the children as they grew up. Now thats eighteen hours on the road with Kids!!

Peronally for me the Stansted/Nice and pick up a pokey little hire car is the way I prefer, but I have thought about riding the journey on my Honda one day, before I need a white stick. Fact is, I hired a new Mondeo last year and found i was petrified of scratching the thing on some of the narrow mountainous roads and cruising around Monte Carlo! Getting out of the hire Car Car park can be frightening enough!

Cost wise, it is far cheaper to fly/drive. Ferry, Tolls, Petrol and mileage all add up. The A8 is however a cracker of a road to drive in either direction from Frejus.

I assume you may have had a look at my website and so to whet the appetite of all yearning for Summer here's the link to it http://www.south-of-france.info

 

[190e-nut]

I have done the drive to southern spain.. Malaga (from yorkshire ) about 1800 miles in my 190 was an awesome experience ...but very very tiring !!! for the return journey I got a spanish garage to tell a little lie and say the gearbox had failed so that Euro-Assistance would take it back home for me ...and I got a flight back ..

 

[shayes]

Do you and Mermonkey have feedback in common??

 

[190e-nut]

nope ..my feedback is 100%

 

[johnmc]

Hi,
I drive to Italy from Scotland every year, Siena, Florence,Pisa and this year to San Marino. To hire a car like mine abroad for 2 weeks costs limbs, and by the time I add up the costs I'm usually way better off after accounting for plane tickets for the five of us. Best part is returning with a roof box full of Brunello wine and dark, cloudy olive oil! Try that on a plane!

We stage it over 3 days using cheap hotels and enjoy ourselves on route. Only bad bit is driving through England to get to Calais. I don't know how you put up with the traffic in England folks!! Rosyth ferry costs a 1000 Quid versus 120 Quid for Dover. Good hotels are ETAP, Campanile and Holiday Inns if booked in advance can be very cheap, pools and all! It's neat to stay at different places on route, eat out and get ideas for future holidays. If you're not a hurry you can avoid paying road tolls and use the "N" roads.

For planning the trips, you can average 65-70mph including a couple of one hour stops and with your eyeballs still in your head..! Getting from Calais to Geneva takes about 8hours, Florence to Dijon about 10hours. Milano to Florence, 5hours. Going via Switzerland this year, fancy a nice drive through the alps.

If you're leaving from Southern England you can get into Tuscany in about 12-14hours from Calais. Some other Italian friends regularly drive back to their Italian homes to visit family, do the trip in 24hours, from Edinburgh to Florence non-stop via Dover!

John

 

[shayes]

Must admit my worst crime with cars iwas to feign ignorance when a hire car wouldn't start. Fact is, stupidly I thought the Transponder wouldn't mind going for a dip in the Sea along the Corniche at Marseille.
Thought I can't trust my son with it (who did not want to go swimming just Skateboarding) and instead of hiding it somewhere I folded it in a polythene bag and thought it would be OK in my trunks for a very brief dip.

Well the Car doors opened but absolutely S.. All else would work.
Expensive error. Don't go there. Mechie arrived, opened the key fob tutted in French and got the tow rope out.No replacement available or they weren't going to trust me with one! Three hours wait and treated to the Jacques Chirac of the Taxi world, doing 160kph weaving in and out of the lanes almost touching every Artic he came up to at speed, on the way back to Frejus arriving at 1.00am. Absolutely terrifying. Taxi Fare about 260Euros / Re-coding the Car etc all eventually taken from my C/C despite my protestations of innocence and that it must have been "condensation".
Told this story to a friend, who said he did something similar (perhaps not a transponder involved) and they took the car apart to bypass the system somehow. Took them three hours. Had the Console out and everything, on a seafront car park. Returned the car and said nothing!

 

[television]

I went to Frejus to recover a stolen Masserati, a long story, the local Police station was closed and as I had a spare key, we just drove it away, went to Italy then Geneve and, My friend was in love with this aupair girl and went back to Italy, I started to come home, arrested at gun point in Paris, they wanted papers, but sadly they were with my friend in Italy, British Embasy closed for Bank holiday, why is life never simple for me ?

Malcolm

Original thread, I will take the SL to the most northern tip of Sweden for the midnight sun and go into Finland, and drop down through Finland ,then the ferry to stockholm in June,

 

[shayes]

Great stories guys. Keep em coming!

By the way, whats happened to the end part of the Brian Sewell Italian jaunt thinking of Mercedes owners? I was rather enjoying that before Xmas when they axed the series.

 

[johnmc]

Malcolm,
I'd like to hear more about your run to Finland and Sweden. I travel there a lot on business and always fancied the run, with a lakeside cabin in Finland chucked in. Have a great trip!

John

 

[angus falconer]

I have done the trip in several Alfa's in the eighties and early 90's (Sprint, GTV and 33). Then in the late 90's I had two holidays in the Spanish Pyrenees in a Nissan 200SX. On the way back the second time I accidentally drove through the border control on the way into France. After a long "chase" (I didn't realise that the Clio on my bumper was actually pursuing me....I thought he was trying to overtake.....) I was pulled and made to drive the five miles back to the border post where the car and luggage were thoroughly searched - they thought we were drug smugglers as lots of people drive stuff up through Spain apparently). Two hours later we were back on our way but late so when I hit the autoroute I hit the loud pedal. Repeatedly. With an Alfa 164 on my tail goad me on I basically caned it until I ran out of fuel. Then I filled it up and did the same until I finished the next tank.....In three hours of driving we covered 369 miles........Still my all time record and I'm unlikey to beat in in the C43 as you need empty southern European motorways for that kind of progress. And the last time I fly/drove and they gave me Daewoo.......

 

[television]

Malcolm,
I'd like to hear more about your run to Finland and Sweden. I travel there a lot on business and always fancied the run, with a lakeside cabin in Finland chucked in. Have a great trip!

John

Having lived there, I speak the lingo, one of my pensions comes from there, and my ex still lives there, and we shall do it together (she still loves me) My thoughts are also one of safety, I do not fancy the eastern block with a soft top,Sweden is a very safe country. Yes the log cabins by the lakes are nice, and also prefer one on a camp sites or where there are many others,so that one can meet other people.Food is expensive in Finland, coffee was £3 a go three years ago, I don't drink much alchohol so that does not worry me. DFDS or Scandinavian seaways will take the car comadore class. The ferry Helsingfors/ Stockholm 24 hours is cheaper than parking the car for one night in Stocholm. I have never been further north than Gävle. As to when, June is the best month, July everwhere is closed for holidays, but hotels if needed are cheap at half price. I will let you know how it goes.

Malcolm

 

[shayes]

My thoughts are also one of safety, I do not fancy the eastern block with a soft top,Sweden is a very safe country. Yes the log cabins by the lakes are nice, and also prefer one on a camp sites or where there are many others,so that one can meet other people.

Malcolm

I have never been to either Country, but my Sister in Law is Finnish and she and my Brother used to travel extensively. Whilst in Finland for a holiday they ventured into Lappland to camp and had a nasty experience. Late one evening a drunken Lapp entered their Tent whilst they were asleep brandishing a large Knife and would have cut my Brothers throat. He assumed my Brother was German as he was blonde haired. Leena could not speak to explain that Michael was English, and stayed deep in her Sleeping bag. Fortunately, Michael had two bottles of Whisky in the Tent as well as some, shall we say, salacious magazine material (don't ask me why?) and with his efforts to communicate with this man he spent the night trying to converse AND STAY ALIVE. Michael managed to pursuade the Man he was not German and by the Morning (it must have been a long night) the Man treated him as though he were his own Brother and parted company.
The Lapps have long memories.

 

[Blobcat]

I've driven my E320cdi (W210) twice down to Slovenia (04 & 05) 3,700 miles first time - 10 countries in 3 weeks. My wife, son and mother in law all came along (wife's family is originally from Slovenia and had never been back). I said at the start that they can take along whatever they want, the only stipulation was that it all had to go in the boot. (Best rule ever). DVD player in the back for my 10yr old son and he was happy.
Driving through Europe in my opinion is so much nicer that driving over here (Wales has some of the least speed tolerant Police forces in the country). The roads appear to have fewer road works and a lot less traffic.
Last year 3 of us drove back and my sat-nav registered 145 thru southern Germany. The car was really at home on the Autobahns (kept pulling to the right when we went past Stuttgart though!)
Some recommendations for European Travel
Prepare well, routes, hotels, ferries etc.
Garmin 2610 GPS excellent and so good for marital harmony – even works in Slovenia even though no mapping available (base map sufficient)
Logis de France hotels - all individually run and some very eclectic
Shell V Power Diesel
Ensure you leave space to bring some wine back
Last year I organised a Bike trip around Europe starting at Bilbao over the Pyrenees across to the Alps then back up to Calais. Again Garmin 2610 is the best, only 2 of us didn’t get lost (out of 15) and that is because he was following me. Quite a few had sat navs but had not really spent the time on preparation. 3,200 miles covered in 8 days. 260 – 480 miles per day.
Writing this is whetting my appetite to travel again

 

[LNM]

And mine. Great thread !!

I want to drive the coupe to Sevilla, Cadiz, Vejer, Gib, Malaga and back (I tire of sunny Birkenhead at times)

Lets see what bonus I get this year, because it'll guzzle a bit !!

I can even now, feel myself bottling it though; slightest queue sends my o**** its overheating again alarm off.....

Whats it like driving a right hooker on the left ? (I've set you up for a suitable reply to that one Turnipsock ;-)

 

[television]

**** its overheating again alarm off.....

Whats it like driving a right hooker on the left ? ;-)[/QUOTE]

I have driven both ways round, hardest thing is overtaking so sit well back from the one in front,OK on a long right hand bend.
Its easy to drive off down the wrong side when there are no other cars on the road.
Be careful if you have an argument or heated moment, its then easy to do the wrong thing.
I have known people to stick a little piece of bright paper on the dash, so that you are reminded as soon as you get in the car

Malcolm