Just booked a trip I have been looking forward to for ages. Catching the ferry from Dover to Dunkirk to see friends in Cologne. £100 saved each way by avoiding Calais!! Spend the night in Cologne then drive to Chamonix for the night then Tuscany for the week. On way back we have booked to stay at the St Bernards Hostel near Chamonix and which is attached to the monastery the dogs got their name from. Spend night then back home via Dunkirk. Absolutely cant wait for last week in August.

Now the serious stuff/questions. I am in no way mechanically minded so am getting European breakdown for my 58 plate 4.2sc 60,000 miles on the clock. It was serviced 2 months ago and has within that time had a new coolant bottle and brakes.

Got coolant warning light yesterday and coolant was quarter full, no signs of leak. Filled up and will check again but should I be worried?

I have LPG so no spare, but plenty of tyre weld canisters and besides I also have auto steps which means trying to get them off to even jack car up to put ridiculously heavy wheel/tyre on, so gas can will be used or breakdown if tyre non repairable, any recommendations for single trip European breakdown?

Got the French stay legal kit and rear entertainment recently fixed for less than £200 by local company so 4 year old princess can be kept amused if she gets bored. Never driven in Germany or Switzerland or Italy before so any tips greatly appreciated, driven in France many times so know to look out for numerous speed traps.

Just had to buy another adapter for the LPG as German/Swiss one different to French/Italian which I already have and just seen 41p a litre in Italy on the web .

Been told to avoid the Mont Blanc tunnel as queues can be very long and can be quicker as well as much much nicer to go over via Martigny to Aosta and vice versa.

All suggestions greatly received in advance.

All the best

Gary Current:
1999 SL500
2006 Mini One Chrome wrapped
2008 FFRR 4.2sc

just come back from a week in chamonix Gary....we took a trip to turin as well through the tunnel...

be aware the road to martigny is a nightmare with loads of bends and narrow roads and sheer drops but you do get lovely scenery and fantastic views ...

the queues on the chamonix side were pretty light going in the morning but bad when we came back around 5 pm and on the italian side coming back we waited about 5 minutes , showed our british passports and got waved straight by...

theres a really good italian service station just past the last tunnel which sells all kinds of pastas and very large bottles of wine and theres an outlet there as well, worth a stop..

driving in germany and switzerland is more or less the same as in france.. ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
.

Cheers Stan, its the difficult roads I'm looking forward to the most, love a challenge and at least there's no snow in August, or so I'm told. How was the drive back to blighty as you will have taken a route we are looking at? Current:
1999 SL500
2006 Mini One Chrome wrapped
2008 FFRR 4.2sc

i actually warped my newly fitted discs going down those roads so beware...

from chamonix we took the autoroute to reims, stayed the night and then the autoroute to calais ...not much to see on these roads but you can happily cruise at 130kph... ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
.

If you're travelling through Reims and have any interest in Motorsport, a vist to the old Pits and Control tower complex is interesting. This is where the French Grand Prix used to be held up until the 1960's,

There is not much there but some interesting placards on the pit walls.

http://www.amis-du-circuit-de-gueux.fr/1926-2016

The organisation held a 'Weekend d'Excellence' there which I went to while working out in Paris, one year they had Phil Read and Giacomo Agostini doing laps on their original bikes! Managed to get their autographs, also managed to get J.P Jabouille and Henri Pescarolo!!

Well worth a visit!

Thanks for the advice on the discs Stan. Just youtubed the Grand St Bernard route and can see why. Will be going slowly as don't want back of car to be filled with sick smell and will also be soaking up the views with the Italian Job tune in my head.

Nice tip Paul and would dearly love to see that, but we are travelling back from Tuscany so our overnight stop-off is in Chamonix before bolting for the ferry from Dunkirk at 10pm. Google maps suggests just over 8 hours drive, so 10 hours with a couple of stops, is that in any way accurate. Current:
1999 SL500
2006 Mini One Chrome wrapped
2008 FFRR 4.2sc

google map times are kinda accurate but you're on holiday so you might not want to rush....have you got the latest map disc? ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
.

I've got the 2010/11 Nav disc which I bought last year Current:
1999 SL500
2006 Mini One Chrome wrapped
2008 FFRR 4.2sc

pm me your address and i'll send you a 2014 disc..  ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
.

Many thanks Stan, pm sent.

Photos of the trip to follow and hopefully more interesting than an 8 hour wait on m20 to Dover. Current:
1999 SL500
2006 Mini One Chrome wrapped
2008 FFRR 4.2sc