djgritt
Premium Member
Registered: 1st Nov 07
Location: Dorset Drives: Focus ST / Hyundai i20N
User status: Offline
|
And ended up in Italy. Like you do.
Spent a couple of weeks on Holiday, driving across some of Europe for a break in various Italian cities.
GF wanted to do the Culture thing (Art, Vatican City, Roman History etc), and I wanted to essentially repeat my Banger Rally tour across Switzerland and a few Passes, so plotted out a route that would give me a couple of days in the Alps to do so on our way to Venice.
Unfortunately, current House Saving stopped me from taking my Vectra, as it would have cost a fortune in Fuel, so I took my Mazda. Did well - ~3000 miles from 6 tanks of Petrol (would have likely been double that if I took the VXR). We weren't hanging around either as we drove almost every day.
Anyway, I took a lot of photos, most are from our City visits, so here is a small selection from the more interesting days of travelling that I wanted to do. 
Sarnen, Switzerland;
 IMG_7194 by djgritt, on Flickr
Grimselpass, Switzerland;
 IMG_7227 by djgritt, on Flickr
 IMG_7228 by djgritt, on Flickr
 IMG_7250 by djgritt, on Flickr
Wassen, Switzerland (our overnight stop, and somewhere we would pass again on our way back to the UK);
 IMG_7288 by djgritt, on Flickr
Sustenpass (Wassen), Switzerland;
 IMG_7299 by djgritt, on Flickr
Oberalppass, Switzerland;
 IMG_7315 by djgritt, on Flickr
Love this place...  , Switzerland;
 IMG_7350 by djgritt, on Flickr
Julierpass, Switzerland;
 IMG_7383 by djgritt, on Flickr
 IMG_7386 by djgritt, on Flickr
St. Mortiz, Switzerland;
 IMG_7408 by djgritt, on Flickr
Berninapass, Switzerland;
 IMG_7435 by djgritt, on Flickr
 IMG_7436 by djgritt, on Flickr
 IMG_7446 by djgritt, on Flickr
 IMG_7465 by djgritt, on Flickr
Somewhere on the way to Livigno, Italy;
 IMG_7485 by djgritt, on Flickr
Climbing up along to the Stelvio Pass, Italy;
 IMG_7502 by djgritt, on Flickr
 IMG_7504 by djgritt, on Flickr
Stelvio Pass, Italy;
 IMG_7533 by djgritt, on Flickr
 IMG_7537 by djgritt, on Flickr
 StelvioPassPanoramic by djgritt, on Flickr
The Dolomites, Italy;
 IMG_7599 by djgritt, on Flickr
 IMG_7606 by djgritt, on Flickr
(Returning)
Lake Como, Italy;
 IMG_8508 by djgritt, on Flickr
Queuing to get through the St Gotthard Tunnel, Switzerland;
 IMG_8579 by djgritt, on Flickr
Only ~17km of Tunnel to go through..., St Gotthard Tunnel, Switzerland;
 IMG_8591 by djgritt, on Flickr
 IMG_8595 by djgritt, on Flickr
Approaching Lucerne, Switzerland;
 IMG_8639 by djgritt, on Flickr
Was good fun, even in a slightly underpowered NA Petrol Estate Car. Determined to get to Switzerland for a weekend in the Vectra (or similar...) next time, that'll be more fun.
|
Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
|
Awesome! Love the SatNav picture .
I'd never do such a trip without taking the "fun" car in the household though 
[Edited on 29-08-2014 by Kyle T]
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
|
djgritt
Premium Member
Registered: 1st Nov 07
Location: Dorset Drives: Focus ST / Hyundai i20N
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by Kyle T
I'd never do such a trip without taking the "fun" car in the household though
I really, really wanted to.
I was over-ruled by both the GF and my brain.
|
nibnob21
Premium Member
Registered: 16th May 10
Location: South Derbyshire
User status: Offline
|
Some great pics. I'd love to do something similar in the MX5 at some point.
I've heard the Stelvio Pass is a bit of a let down because it is very narrow and you can't take the hair pins as you'd like due to obviously not knowing about potential oncoming traffic.
MX5 Project Thread
|
Dr.Corsa
Member
Registered: 19th Jan 12
Location: Germany
User status: Offline
|
Great pics, thanks! A perfect place for mtb driving  .
Greeting,
Micha
|
djgritt
Premium Member
Registered: 1st Nov 07
Location: Dorset Drives: Focus ST / Hyundai i20N
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by nibnob21
Some great pics. I'd love to do something similar in the MX5 at some point.
I've heard the Stelvio Pass is a bit of a let down because it is very narrow and you can't take the hair pins as you'd like due to obviously not knowing about potential oncoming traffic.
It is slow, I filmed us going down it. 30 minutes...
I sped the video up to 2x speed, and it looks much more like the speed I wish I could do.
There are buses/coaches/trucks/motorbikes/cyclists using it too, so it gets busy, and yeah, some sections are a bit narrow. The road going up to Stelvio from Bormio is better IMO (from my 2012 trip), but this time we came up through clouds and fog, so visibility was horrendous, which was a shame.
|
djgritt
Premium Member
Registered: 1st Nov 07
Location: Dorset Drives: Focus ST / Hyundai i20N
User status: Offline
|
Forgot these, buried in my Album.
We also made a stop at Imola for a bit of quiet time here;
 IMG_7664 by djgritt, on Flickr
 IMG_7665 by djgritt, on Flickr
 IMG_7666 by djgritt, on Flickr
 IMG_7669 by djgritt, on Flickr
 IMG_7670 by djgritt, on Flickr
 IMG_7673 by djgritt, on Flickr
 IMG_7667 by djgritt, on Flickr
 IMG_7675 by djgritt, on Flickr
|
Ian
Site Administrator
Registered: 28th Aug 99
Location: Liverpool
User status: Offline
|
Great trip.
I'd love to do that but I'd have to be solo, couldn't handle driving slow enough to not make my passengers ill.
|
Ben G
Member
Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
User status: Offline
|
Cunter and sat nav pic
I was a bit gutted to see you took the mazda. Scrolled down before reading the text
Incredible journey. Something I can currently only dream of doing.
|
Graham88
Member
Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
|
Looks like an awesome trip. It is a shame you had to do it in a boring car but I bet it was still fun! The Stelvio Pass looks crazy on the sat nav
|
corsadonk
Premium Member
Registered: 4th Jul 09
Location: Marlborough, Wiltshire
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by Ian
Great trip.
I'd love to do that but I'd have to be solo, couldn't handle driving slow enough to not make my passengers ill.
That's the same problem I had when went for a Euro road trip the other week.
Shame you couldn't take the Vectra.
|
djgritt
Premium Member
Registered: 1st Nov 07
Location: Dorset Drives: Focus ST / Hyundai i20N
User status: Offline
|
Cheers guys.
|
|
