Ferry Crossings
Crossing via www.norfolkline.co.uk.
Route: from DOVER to DUNKERQUE
Trip type ROUND TRIP
Departure: 8-Jun-06 18:00
Return: 17-Jun-06 16:01 (Vix returns 21-Jun-06 18:00)
Cost: £58 return
Day 1 - Dover to Mons - 08 June 2006
Approx Mileage: 96 Travel Time: 1h 30mins Road Type: Main
Well I am hoping to head to Plans for a couple of things before we depart so I will be heading off from Bristol relatively early. Catching the late afternoon ferry giving people a chance to get to Dover from where ever they are starting.
Once cleared out of the port (doesn’t take anytime at all from my experience!) we start our journey towards Nurburgring! The crossing is 2 hours so we will get to Dunkerque about 8ish. Head to Mons to get us well on our way so that it is a nice easy drive to Nurburg so we can relax and get prepared for the momentous Ring adventure. Mons is about 1 1/2 hours. Rough route below:
I have booked the Mons Ibis for the following:
Chazuwe +1 (Double Room)
VIX + 1 (Double Room)
Chuno + 1 (Double Room)
Ad172 + 1 (Double Room)
ms69/Niklas (Triple Room)
Cost a shade under £50 for a room.
Day 2 - Mons to Nurburgring - 09 June 2006
Approx Mileage: 175 Travel Time: 3h 15mins Road Type: Mixture
From here it’s about a 3 hour drive to The Nurburgring. We can have a bit of a lie in as plenty of time the next day (recover from our very long previous day!) and then head to the next hotel we are going to stay at after The Ring. Relax and dump all our luggage before heading off to have a blast round the famous track itself! Spend the evening public session pootling around the Ring!
Thanks to a recommendation from 2GOOD (Steve) I have managed to book a Hotel right next to the Ring. I have booked at the Ringhaus. Rooms booked as below:
Chazuwe +1 (Double Room)
VIX + 1 (Double Room)
Chuno + 1 (Double Room)
Ad172 + 1 (Double Room)
ms69/Niklas (Triple Room)
Cost about £50 per room/ Slightly more for the Triple unless we get another person along.
Day 3 - Nurburgring to Interlaken - 10 June 2006
Approx Mileage: 370 Travel Time: 5h 15mins Road Type: Main
Relatively early start the next day and try and get down to our base in the Swiss Alps. Interlaken is a fair drive, probably about 5 hours in total but we have all day to do it so not so bad. This is where the Hostels can save us some money. I have made reservations at:
http://www.happy-inn.com/index.php?mod=h&kat=rooms
Chazuwe +1 (Double Room)
VIX + 1 (Not Booked, Sorting seperate accomodation)
Chuno + 1 (Double Room)
Ad172 + 1 (Double Room)
ms69/Niklas (Triple Room)
Cost approx £30 per double per night. We have got 3 nights in Interlaken.
Day 4 – Relax Day - 11 June 2006
Approx Mileage: ? Travel Time: ? Road Type: ?
As we will have covered a considerable mileage over the previous 3 days and will probably have been on the go constantly I thought it would be good to have a rest. It is a Sunday after all! Not saying we don’t do any driving but would be nice to have a lie in , maybe have a few drinks the night before and have a day with no specific plans !
Day 5 – Swiss Passes - 12 June 2006
Approx Mileage: 262.6 Travel Time: 5h 40mins Road Type: Alpine Passes
Day 5 will be the main day of pure exploration in the Swiss Alps. Taking in some of the famous and breathtaking passes in the Alps. Including the Susten Pass, Klausen Pass and Oberal Pass. For a more detailed Route see below:
At point 5 on this map I will have to pop over Austrian boarder to drop the girlfriend off at Feldkirch station. I can either catch up with the rest of you a little later or meet you all back at base.
Day 6 – Interlaken to Cuneo - 13 June 2006
Approx Mileage: 312 Travel Time: 6h 30mins Road Type Alpine/Main
Starting our journey towards Monte Carlo the first leg involves some more magnificent Swiss passes including the Grimsel, Furka and the Grand San Bernard. These are some of the passes you can see in my previous picture postings. Fantastic driving roads ;
Looking at the timings and distances involved this might realistically be the best place for Le Mans goers to depart. Really depends how much driving they want to do on the Thursday/Friday. Ad if you continue on to Monaco you are just travelling further away from Le Mans and will be leaving yourself some very long drives on the following days….
Booked Hotel:
http://www.classhotel.com/itstories/story&...=5&data=stories
Chazuwe +1 (Double Room)
VIX + 1 (Double Room)
Chuno + 1 (Double Room)
Ad172 + 1 (Double Room)
ms69/Niklas (Twin/triple Room)
Slightly more expensive i'm afraid £65 for doubles and £75 for twin/triple
Day 7 - Cuneo to Menton - 14 June 2006
Approx Mileage: 189 Travel Time: 4h 30mins Road Type: Main/Minor
Cuneo to Menton is not very far at all but I thought I would add in part of the route PaulCP recommended from the GTR trip last year (see earlier in this post). We could make up some time here and skip this section if we wanted, or wanted to reduce the amount of driving. But I quite fancy it if everyone else is up for it??
Booked Hotel:
http://www.napoleon-menton.com/uk/
Chazuwe +1 (Double Room)
VIX + 1 (Double Room)
Chuno + 1 (Double Room)
Ad172 + 1 (Not Booked as assuming you might head off towards Le Mans from Cuneo?)
ms69/Niklas (Twin/triple Room)
Again as it's the coast near Monaco rooms are slightly more expensive approx £75 per room. But it looks quite nice to be fair
Day 8 – Menton to Gap (via Route Napoleon N85) - 15 June 2006
Approx Mileage: 165 Travel Time: 3h 30mins Road Type: Route Napoleon!
Not a huge distance to cover on this day, although I assume all will want to drive through Monte Carlo and maybe stop for a drink somewhere!
Also I like the sound of the Verdon Gorge VIX was talking about:
Verdon Gorge
As it’s only a small detour from the N85 (see yellow circle) I wouldn’t mind having a bit of a drive around. If it’s used by the Top Gear team it’s got to be some good roads
Booked Hotel:
Kyriad Gap
Cost approx £45
Chazuwe (Double Room)
VIX + 1 (Not Booked, assume you will be staying further south to explore the Verdon region??)
Probably staying in the Gorges or near Castellane on Route Napolean
Chuno + 1 (Double Room) (Chuno whats your full name for the booking?)
ms69/Niklas (Twin/triple Room)
From: Menton,France
Via: Castellane,France
Via: Millau,France
To: Dunkerque,France | Reverse this route
Distance: 920.1 miles | View in kilometres
Time: 15 hr 54 min
HOTEL RESTAURANT ** - DU GRAND CANYON DU VERDON
Hotel Booking Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur Region of France
Day 9 - X to X - 16 June 2006 NIGHT 2 IN GAP?
Day 10 - X to X - 17 June 2006 NIGHT 1 IN MILLAU? -- IBIS?
Day 11 - X to X - 18 June 2006 NIGHT 2 IN MILLAU? -- IBIS??
Day 12 - X to Dunkerque - 19 June 2006
Day 9 – Gap to Dijon - 16 June 2006
Approx Mileage: 250 Travel Time: 4h 15mins Road Type: Main
Pretty much the last leg home now. I guess we would be travelling on the more
normal commuting routes to head back. Might be a good evening to have a few
drinks and a bit of a social. Dijon was an a pretty cool City from what I
gathered when me and Iceman where there last year!
Hotel Booked
Dijon Ibis
Chazuwe (Double Room)
Chuno + 1 (Double Room)
ms69/Niklas (Twin/triple Room)
Day 10 – Dijon to Dunkerque - 17 June 2006
Approx Mileage: 358 Travel Time: 5h Road Type: Motorway
My plan has always been that everyone can do what they want. The route below
provides an outline for the people coming and anyone else who cars to come along
for all or part of the journey!
If any of our European friends also fancy joining us for any parts of the trip
or even just for a day if you are local to where we are stopping that would be
great also