3,500 Miles in 3 weeks...

[mgamark]

Back safe and sound after a tad over 3,500 miles in 3 weeks in the F, with 2 adults (allegedly), a boot rack and a tent, around France, Switzerland and Italy, taking in Reims, Col de Faucille, Col Grand St Bernard (cue Matt Munro on Days like These), Passo Gavia, the Stelvio, Maranello, Passo di Futa and Raticosa, Monaco, Monthlery....and that was the motorsport bits of the trip....

Bless her, she behaved impeccably (the missus did too....), even on the day that we did 3 major Alpine passes in one go, with a total vertical climb on the day of over 15,000 feet (5 Snowdons..) and equal footage of descent, with no overheating or other dramas of any sort for the whole trip, except when she succumbed to one "incident", with a rising temperature gauge at the Monaco hairpin, caused by a blown radiator fan fuse. Otherwise no dramas, other than a growing juddering under braking from over 30mph, which we nursed home and is probably a ball joint on the way out.

The immense amount of kit that can be packed into the boot, the bonnet and on to the boot rack enabled us to live comfortably, camping for three weeks. We had a great time, in awesome scenery, on true driver's roads, many of them with 24-carat motorsport connections. Just how did SM and DSJ average nigh on 100mph on the Mille Miglia in '55? How did anyone average 60mph up the Stelvio?

A bit of knowledge of our F's foibles, a service before we went, and European Breakdown cover provided peace of mind. Red wine provided additional relaxation. This is all really just to say that, despite the many frustrations of our glorious cars, don't be put off - do a Grand Tour at least once!

MGA Mark

[puds121]

Congrats on your adventure.....Kempenrit next year for me!!

[Yigit]

That sounds great. Any pics? I assume you must have great ones.

[colintf]

what a great way to spend 3 weeks!

[mgamark]

The weather was kind enough that all of the motoring, bar about a couple of hundred miles, was done with the hood down too, even on the longer days, some of which stretched to 8 hours of driving!

Pictures aplenty, with some impressive views particualrly of the Stelvio, some if the F in suitable locations and a video of the Monaco GP circuit through the windscreen. Back at work now, so separated from the home computer and the pictures until the weekend but I'll post a few when I get a bit of spare time.

MGA Mark

[patrick]

Comfort and camping - two words you don't often see in the same sentence!

[mgamark]

patrick said:

Comfort and camping - two words you don't often see in the same sentence!

O Ye of little faith

We took a 3-man tent (a Khyam, chosen for its low weight and volume when packed, and that it has plenty of room for two plus kit in the sleeping bit and a separate living area), a tarp sheet with poles to provide a shaded/dry sitting out area, 2 cooker burners + crockery, cutlery, pans etc, lights, cool box, 2 fold up armchairs, a fold up table, individual air beds and sleeping bags. Each of us took clothes for a week (which meant doing two laundry trips in the 3 weeks) to cope with everything from swimming to walking around town, occasional eating out and hillwalking. Sundry other bits and pieces. Plus room for a few bottles of wine and presents for the kids on the way back.

Seats stayed fully back, nothing sitting on the passengers lap. Everything fitted in the boot, bonnet, on the boot rack or under the tonneau with the hood down. It really is astonishing how much kit you can get in an F ;D

MGA Mark

[Graham Parker]

Sounds like a great trip - definitely want to do something similar, although it may have to wait until the Kids are old enough to be left (currently 18 months and 1 due next Feb!) so that could be quite a while!

On the how much can you get in an F, could this make a good competition for the next MGFest I am sure with a bit of imagination some ingenious storage will appear!

[TimM]

There's a group of us covering similar territory in a couple of weeks time for the Natter that Matters - this is whetting our appetites now Mark !

Won't be camping but I agree that the F is a bit of a tardis - when I do the F register shows I manage to get a huge amount of stuff in the F as can be seen in this picture where most of that set up fits in the car.

[mgamark]

I'll try and whet it a bit more with some more words and pictures if I can over the weekend, although time will be a bit limited as I am fettling the MGA tomorrow before heading off in the evening to spend all day Sunday hurling it round a track.

MGA Mark

[mgamark]

Right then, as promised, here's some more words setting out the route we took, what was on the way, items of motoring/motorsport/tourist interest, and then I'll attempt to upload some piccies....

Day 1 - Huntingdon to Troyes in France, about 100 miles shy of Dijon. Reims GP circuit enroute. Through the champagne region. Good municipal campsite, nice medieval city centre
Day 2 - Troyes to Bourg St Pierre in Switzerland, via Dijon, Potigny, Col de Faucille, Geneve and Martigny. Long day's drive, but a great mixture of motorways, winding roads, mountains and the start of the Col Grand St Bernard route used by the Lamborghini in the opening sequence of The Italian Job. Campsite at around 8,000ft above sea level, in the field used by Napoleon + 20,000 of his troops enroute to Italy.
Day 3 - Up and over the Col Grand St Bernard (more of the Lamborghini route), down into Aosta and then on the autostrada past Milan, via Monza to Brescia (start of the Mille Miglia) and Lake Garda.
Days 4-6 - Around Lake Garda, Verona, and then a grand day out (about 12 hours), doing a route that took in the Col di Zeno, Passo di Gavia and then the mighty Stelvio Pass. "Camping Romantica" campsite (good site) on the shores of Lake Garda.
Day 7 - Lake Garda to Mugello just north of Firenze via Maranello. Visit Ferrari factory, shop, museum and test track (well it has to be done...). Glorious sight and sound of an F1 Ferrari on the test track, set against the backdrop of a small rural town. Discretion better part of valour in not suggesting that we also took in the nearby Lamborghini, Pagani, Maserati and Ducati factories/museums... Carry on to Bologna then find the old road to Firenze taking you over the famed Passo di Futa and Raticosa - Moss averaged a shade under 60 mph on this section - - it;'s 60 miles, and we managed 30mph....
Days 8-10 - Camped at a nice site, "Mugello Verde", 5km from the Mugello race track, mixture of days driving out in the Mugello mountains and visiting Firenze (the Duomo, Uffizi and other touristy bits, plus an excellent little-known Science museum), and driving some glorious sweeping A roads in Northern Tuscany
Day 11 - Drive to Volterra (walled medieval hilltop town in Tuscany) and stay over, municipal site OK, gorgeous town, fantastic driving roads.
Day 12 - Drive from Volterra via Pisa and then the coast road to Monaco. Fantastic scenery, mountains, and multiple tunnels (wished we hadn't got a standard exhaust...). Drive over La Turbie and Col d'Eze (Monte Carlo rally stage) to reveal view of Monaco from the ridge, down into Monaco, head for the seafront and find the start/finish straight. Drive GP circuit. Camp at Les Romarins at the top of the Col d'Eze - drop dead gorgeous view from all the pitches of Cap Ferrat (even more exclusive than Monaco).
Days 13-15 Drive the coast road from Monaco to St Tropez via Nice and Cannes. Great and varied scenery and eye candy, with an absolutely superb long scenic section between Frejus and St Maxime. Visit to superb car museum just north of Cannes. Into Monaco early Sunday morning (8am), no cars, drive GP circuit again with video running....
Day 16 - from Monaco, supopsed to be as far as Dijon, but stopped at Tain L'Hermitage, due to huge volumes of traffic. Ideal municipal campsite on the banks of the Rhone. Wine country.
Day 17 - Tain L'Hermitage to Paris, to the campsite at the Bois de Boulougne. Great site (been there before) 20 minutes by bus and tube to the Louvre, or a 10 minute drive into the centre.
Day 18-19 - Paris touristy bits, plus Monthlery circuite and taking the MGF along the Rendezvous film route from Porte Dauphine to Montmatre, via the Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysee, Concorde, Louvre, Opera up to the Scare Coeur steps atop Montmartre.
Day 20 - Paris back home to Huntingdon.

All in all, 3,543 miles driven, all bar a couple of hundred miles with the roof down. No oil consumed, and tiny amount of coolant topped up. No idea what mpg we achieved.

Happy to provide any further route details, if anyone needs them

MGA Mark

[mgamark]

Right, lets try some piccies. First couple up are the F at our first campsite, and then the F at the top of the Col Grand St Bernard (and yes, it is where the pure bred St Bernard dogs are!) and the





MGA Mark

[mgamark]

Good that worked nicely! Next few up are:

The F near the top of the Passo di Gavia. This drive up this from the sout-east towards Bormio was awesome, starting in a narrow steep valley, rising up through the woods and breaking out about halfway up, as the road narrowed and narrowed, until it was a single track road with passing places (!!!) clinging to the side of the mountain, with a few bits of wood, virtually no Armco and a few concrete marker posts.



and this is road down to Bormio - sweeping high altitude curves



followed by the view back towards Bormio when about three-quarters of the way up the Stelvio Pass - after that it all got a bit murky and cloudy!



If you ever, ever, get half a chance to do these two passes, they really are just breathtaking

MGA Mark

[mgamark]

Then the start line at Monaco



the missus and the F parked outside the gucci shop on part of the Monaco circuit, just before the Casino Square



And not an F, but this was one real bad-boy, spangly new Ferrari parked outside the Hotel de Paris next to the Casino......



That should do for now!

MGA Mark

[mgamark]

Oh, and the growing juddering under braking above 30mph turned out not to be a ball joint, but one warped front brake disc.

Now, to start the plans for next year - there's always Spa, the Nurburgring, Mulhouse, the Klausen pass (plus many other Alpine passes) to do, and we missed out on Imola......

MGA Mark