Edinburgh to Barcelona.
I'm with Chopperver1.
Lisa and I drove Linlithgow to Barcelona before joining the Stelvio99 crew in Monaco.
We did Linlithgow - Portsmouth, stopped over with a friend, joined the ferry to Bilbao next evening, enjoyed a nice run to Barcelona as an easy daytrip. Albeit didn't do much mountain roads as we didn't know about 'em.
For Stelvio 2001, we joined the mad mob on the Edinburgh - Portsmouth leg (via Yorkshire Dales etc), joined the ferry at 8pm the same night, then blitzed Pyrennean roads upon arrival in Bilbao. However the route included an overnight stop at Jaca, then also Andorra, before reaching Barcelona some 2 days later.
But you could thread something together from that lot and still be able to consider it a relaxing honeymoon trip. The Portsmouth - Bilbao ferry is the bit that takes the sting out of it, lovely mini-cruise type crossing.
Milau Bridge is certainly something to behold, it's on our list too, but I suggest you visit it separately and make that part of a dedicated Alpine tour or similar. Just not worth hacking down all the autoroutes just for that, when Barcelona is your objective.
IMHO
Campbell
PS - Lisa can recommend an excellent out-of-the-way restaurant in Barcelona with a mild local tipple that will make your evening go with a swing
Lisa and I drove Linlithgow to Barcelona before joining the Stelvio99 crew in Monaco.
We did Linlithgow - Portsmouth, stopped over with a friend, joined the ferry to Bilbao next evening, enjoyed a nice run to Barcelona as an easy daytrip. Albeit didn't do much mountain roads as we didn't know about 'em.
For Stelvio 2001, we joined the mad mob on the Edinburgh - Portsmouth leg (via Yorkshire Dales etc), joined the ferry at 8pm the same night, then blitzed Pyrennean roads upon arrival in Bilbao. However the route included an overnight stop at Jaca, then also Andorra, before reaching Barcelona some 2 days later.
But you could thread something together from that lot and still be able to consider it a relaxing honeymoon trip. The Portsmouth - Bilbao ferry is the bit that takes the sting out of it, lovely mini-cruise type crossing.
Milau Bridge is certainly something to behold, it's on our list too, but I suggest you visit it separately and make that part of a dedicated Alpine tour or similar. Just not worth hacking down all the autoroutes just for that, when Barcelona is your objective.
IMHO
Campbell
PS - Lisa can recommend an excellent out-of-the-way restaurant in Barcelona with a mild local tipple that will make your evening go with a swing
http://www.rathmhor.com | Coaching, training, consultancy
campbell wrote:I'm with Chopperver1.
Lisa and I drove Linlithgow to Barcelona before joining the Stelvio99 crew in Monaco.
We did Linlithgow - Portsmouth, stopped over with a friend, joined the ferry to Bilbao next evening, enjoyed a nice run to Barcelona as an easy daytrip. Albeit didn't do much mountain roads as we didn't know about 'em.
For Stelvio 2001, we joined the mad mob on the Edinburgh - Portsmouth leg (via Yorkshire Dales etc), joined the ferry at 8pm the same night, then blitzed Pyrennean roads upon arrival in Bilbao. However the route included an overnight stop at Jaca, then also Andorra, before reaching Barcelona some 2 days later.
But you could thread something together from that lot and still be able to consider it a relaxing honeymoon trip. The Portsmouth - Bilbao ferry is the bit that takes the sting out of it, lovely mini-cruise type crossing.
Milau Bridge is certainly something to behold, it's on our list too, but I suggest you visit it separately and make that part of a dedicated Alpine tour or similar. Just not worth hacking down all the autoroutes just for that, when Barcelona is your objective.
IMHO
Campbell
PS - Lisa can recommend an excellent out-of-the-way restaurant in Barcelona with a mild local tipple that will make your evening go with a swing
I have looked into the Ferry, and its an idea but I need to be convinced its justified. They are wanting £1K for the crossing, and it takes over 24 hours I believe? Add on the 7 or 8 hour trip to the ferry terminal and the drive to barcelona, and surely I will end up with a 3 day trip?
What are the roads in france like with regards to speed limits etc? And can you get points on your license for speeding or just fines?.
Cheers,
Gary.
Gary,
Yes I realise the ferry isn't cheap, probably also when booked at such short notice, and also it isn't fast (but it's designed that way...leisurely "mini-cruise" style rather than frantic channel crossing!).
It just depends on the type of break you are after.
I would say that, if the missus is *at all* anxious about being railroaded into a petrolhead holiday, you'd be better to find a different compromise for now, and take the time to plan a different roadtrip holiday in the future. Believe me, you want her on-side in future
As for roads in France, autoroutes are absolutely excellent (though of course you pay the tolls for this privilege). They have lots of pleasant rest areas, more frequent than in UK, and usual speed limit is 130kph = 81mph but it drops if raining I believe. Believe the Gendarmes are pretty intolerant of speeding though.
Good luck.
Campbell
Yes I realise the ferry isn't cheap, probably also when booked at such short notice, and also it isn't fast (but it's designed that way...leisurely "mini-cruise" style rather than frantic channel crossing!).
It just depends on the type of break you are after.
I would say that, if the missus is *at all* anxious about being railroaded into a petrolhead holiday, you'd be better to find a different compromise for now, and take the time to plan a different roadtrip holiday in the future. Believe me, you want her on-side in future
As for roads in France, autoroutes are absolutely excellent (though of course you pay the tolls for this privilege). They have lots of pleasant rest areas, more frequent than in UK, and usual speed limit is 130kph = 81mph but it drops if raining I believe. Believe the Gendarmes are pretty intolerant of speeding though.
Good luck.
Campbell
http://www.rathmhor.com | Coaching, training, consultancy
The speed limits on the Autoroute are generally 130kph dry and 110 when wet. on the Toll roads I seen 1 speed camera on the way down to Nice (1200miles) and my TOMTOM alerted me too it, no police to be seen ! I did get flashed twice though once in France a non toll road front facing camera size of a fridge and grey no reflective sticker, the bar stewards (80kph in a 60kph I think ???)and once in Switzerland (similar to France)EliseR wrote:campbell wrote:I'm with Chopperver1.
Lisa and I drove Linlithgow to Barcelona before joining the Stelvio99 crew in Monaco.
We did Linlithgow - Portsmouth, stopped over with a friend, joined the ferry to Bilbao next evening, enjoyed a nice run to Barcelona as an easy daytrip. Albeit didn't do much mountain roads as we didn't know about 'em.
For Stelvio 2001, we joined the mad mob on the Edinburgh - Portsmouth leg (via Yorkshire Dales etc), joined the ferry at 8pm the same night, then blitzed Pyrennean roads upon arrival in Bilbao. However the route included an overnight stop at Jaca, then also Andorra, before reaching Barcelona some 2 days later.
But you could thread something together from that lot and still be able to consider it a relaxing honeymoon trip. The Portsmouth - Bilbao ferry is the bit that takes the sting out of it, lovely mini-cruise type crossing.
Milau Bridge is certainly something to behold, it's on our list too, but I suggest you visit it separately and make that part of a dedicated Alpine tour or similar. Just not worth hacking down all the autoroutes just for that, when Barcelona is your objective.
IMHO
Campbell
PS - Lisa can recommend an excellent out-of-the-way restaurant in Barcelona with a mild local tipple that will make your evening go with a swing
I have looked into the Ferry, and its an idea but I need to be convinced its justified. They are wanting £1K for the crossing, and it takes over 24 hours I believe? Add on the 7 or 8 hour trip to the ferry terminal and the drive to barcelona, and surely I will end up with a 3 day trip?
What are the roads in france like with regards to speed limits etc? And can you get points on your license for speeding or just fines?.
Cheers,
Gary.
You can't be issued points when caught speeding abroad but you can be fined, how much depends on how fast you were tavelling over the limit, I'll see what pops through my letter box
If you want to go to Barcelona and have quality time there with only 2 days to play with there's this new fangled thing called an airplane . . .
Getting there in 2 days by car is a hell of a driving trip but I would class it as pure pain driving an Elise down there and back on motorways . . . totally misses the point . . . and France is much bigger than you may think.
As others have suggested and I've done myself the best way to get all the way down there is by ferry . . . there's one to Bilbao and a slightly faster one to Santander, either takes a minimum of a day to get there . . . being boats and all . . . but at least for that day you can sup some vino and relax in the sun rather than trying to stay awake for hour after hour in a car totally unsuited to motorway driving . . .
I'm taking my Elise over this year again, We'll leave Stirling on Saturday morning and be in Blibao on Monday morning, fresh and relaxed . . .
I only paid 700 quid for the ferry but booked in advance . . . the money vs time/hassle/danger factor makes it a no brainer for me.
We're away for 3 weeks and even with that amount of time there's no way I'd waste painfull days driving there . . .
I'm pretty sure you must have a full UK licence to drive on the continent.
Fd
Getting there in 2 days by car is a hell of a driving trip but I would class it as pure pain driving an Elise down there and back on motorways . . . totally misses the point . . . and France is much bigger than you may think.
As others have suggested and I've done myself the best way to get all the way down there is by ferry . . . there's one to Bilbao and a slightly faster one to Santander, either takes a minimum of a day to get there . . . being boats and all . . . but at least for that day you can sup some vino and relax in the sun rather than trying to stay awake for hour after hour in a car totally unsuited to motorway driving . . .
I'm taking my Elise over this year again, We'll leave Stirling on Saturday morning and be in Blibao on Monday morning, fresh and relaxed . . .
I only paid 700 quid for the ferry but booked in advance . . . the money vs time/hassle/danger factor makes it a no brainer for me.
We're away for 3 weeks and even with that amount of time there's no way I'd waste painfull days driving there . . .
I'm pretty sure you must have a full UK licence to drive on the continent.
Fd
I'm with those who suggest the Ferry to Spain, we went down to the south of Spain a few years ago in the Elise, Plymouth to Santander, it left at noon and arrived in Spain at 11:00am the next morning, perfect timing, lunch drink, bar drink, dinner drink, bar drink, cabin sleep, breakfast, ready to go. The driving in Spain is really good.
If you drive through France the Autoroutes are usually pretty good, but some will clog up very badly at certain times of the year, the A6 heading south from Paris in August is a nightmare, it's called the Autoroute to the Sun, Frenchies all like having their hols in August. If you are caught speeding at 30kph over the speed limit, they can (and will) take your licence off you on the spot. As campbell mentioned the speed limit changes from 130kph to 110kph when it's wet, and that will be the Frenchie plod's opinium of whether it is wet or not.
Have fun
Giles
If you drive through France the Autoroutes are usually pretty good, but some will clog up very badly at certain times of the year, the A6 heading south from Paris in August is a nightmare, it's called the Autoroute to the Sun, Frenchies all like having their hols in August. If you are caught speeding at 30kph over the speed limit, they can (and will) take your licence off you on the spot. As campbell mentioned the speed limit changes from 130kph to 110kph when it's wet, and that will be the Frenchie plod's opinium of whether it is wet or not.
Have fun
Giles
You certainly can't be accused of not being up for a challenge , however I would think carefully about your proposed trip. At best you will have passed your test and have about a months 'real' driving experience.
It is a long drive and probably not the most enjoyable drive if your on a mission to get there quick so end up on motorways most of the time. You will be driving on the wrong side of the road, for a sizeable part of the journey, London, Paris etc are busy cities and not the easiest places to drive around and travelling is going to take a lot of time out of your honeymoon just to get to your destination - I can think of better things for newly weds to be doing .
My advise would be to save the road trip for another time
It is a long drive and probably not the most enjoyable drive if your on a mission to get there quick so end up on motorways most of the time. You will be driving on the wrong side of the road, for a sizeable part of the journey, London, Paris etc are busy cities and not the easiest places to drive around and travelling is going to take a lot of time out of your honeymoon just to get to your destination - I can think of better things for newly weds to be doing
.My advise would be to save the road trip for another time
2015 Lotus Evora
2022 Polestar 2 LRSM Plus
2023 Skoda Kodiaq Sportline
2022 Polestar 2 LRSM Plus
2023 Skoda Kodiaq Sportline
I am slightly worried about the road trip, being perfectly honest. The plane for me however, is a completely different Kettle of fish in terms of fear.j2 lot wrote:You certainly can't be accused of not being up for a challenge , however I would think carefully about your proposed trip. At best you will have passed your test and have about a months 'real' driving experience.
It is a long drive and probably not the most enjoyable drive if your on a mission to get there quick so end up on motorways most of the time. You will be driving on the wrong side of the road, for a sizeable part of the journey, London, Paris etc are busy cities and not the easiest places to drive around and travelling is going to take a lot of time out of your honeymoon just to get to your destination - I can think of better things for newly weds to be doing
My advise would be to save the road trip for another time
We will have the Jag very soon, so maybe I could drive it down instead. Not really sure.
Current plans if I do drive will roughly be:
Leave Edinburgh sunday aftenoon.
Arrive in London around midnight.
Have breaky on London.
Drive onto EUROSTAR and get off in either Calais, or Paris (preferred).
Have lunch in Paris, spend a few hours shopping for girly crap (read:perfume).
Depending on what time we finish in Paris, either attempt to make Barcelona in time for bed, or concede defeat and get half way there, sleep in a B and B and continue on in the morning.
All dpendent on me passing my test!
<skitzo>
The other alternative is to bite the bullet, and come down with a bang somewhere over the English channel. No ta.
</skitzo>