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        General >> Off Topic Subjects >> 2300miles later... i'm home!!
        
(Message started by: mazzy_j on Aug 15^th, 2006, 11:05am)

Title: 2300miles later... i'm home!!
Post by mazzy_j on Aug 15^th, 2006, 11:05am

Hi everyone, just got back from my continental 'roadtrip' in the Scorp, and boy is it good to be back in the good ole England ;D Visited a grand total of 9 countries which included (England of course), france, belgium, luxembourg, switzerland, lichtenstein (just to say we had been there), austria (innsbruck), italy (lake gada and verona), and germany - all in 2 weeks!

I'm just pleased the car made it round all there considering the clutch release bearing was making re-assuring grinding screeching noises when pulling away (started doing it the day before we left) :-/ it also made it past the 222,222mile mark.

Unfortunately, whilst me and the g/f were in austria, my parents, little bro and sis were driving back from where we had been staying in the Jura mountains (lac de chalain) back to luxembourg on a b sized road, only to be confronted by a large artic HGV jacknifing around a bend :o My mum who was driving managed to avoid the worst of it by going into a ditch but were still side swiped by the trailer big time. They tried to phone the police but they couldn't understand what services they wanted, so everything in the emergancy service book was sent to the scene and the road was closed off.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d94/mazzy_j/th_IMG_1915.jpg (http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d94/mazzy_j/IMG_1915.jpg)
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d94/mazzy_j/th_IMG_1916.jpg (http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d94/mazzy_j/IMG_1916.jpg)
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d94/mazzy_j/th_IMG_1917.jpg (http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d94/mazzy_j/IMG_1917.jpg)

Other than the above incident our trip was very much enjoyable. Just got a few pointers to make...

BM 3 series drivers are still w***ers wherever you are in the world

French toll roads are a pleasure to drive along and don't cost too much.

Diesel in Luxembourg is about 90 E cents (about 60p)

How the italians are still alive judging by the way drive is anyones guess. They also seem to prefer sitting on the centre line on duel carriageways trying to decide which lane to go in for about 5 miles.

The german autobahns are fun ;)

Instead of re-surfacing them they simply build the new road next to the old one = no queues :)

Not everyone does 400mph along them, i went with the flow and 90mph cruising and 110 down hills most people seemed to do.

The Scorpio is an amazingly comfortable cross country cruiser, drove from geneva to innsbruck in one day, no problem at all.

Channel tunnel signposting from the big hypermarket next door is very poor indeed. Actually, the signposting in pretty much all of the countries visited was on the poor side.

There aren't many Scorps on the continent, counted about 6 in all. All were low spec models with hub caps.

With the girlfriends luggage removed from the car it now goes like a ferrari :P ;) ;D

Thats most of what i can think of for now. Hope everyone else is having a good summer hol if you're off anywhere, drive safely :)

Matt

Title: Re: 2300miles later... i'm home!!
Post by Geoff_W on Aug 15^th, 2006, 11:28am

Welcome back, looks like a close call and a bit of neat driving to get out of the way of the worst of that, must have been quite shaken up, hope it sorts itself out OK

Title: Re: 2300miles later... i'm home!!
Post by Baz on Aug 16^th, 2006, 8:08am

Pity you never drove past a Ford dealers in Paris, you would have seen my car in there and added another to your list!!