The boot was full ( 2weeks worth)
Overnight crossing from Hull to Zeebrugge went almost without a hitch. Zed’s battery was flat upon arrival in Zeebrugge due to the alarm going off all night. I even read the manual before we set off so I could disable the internal sensors; fortunately I was parked at the top of the ramp so rolled forward and bumped it.
Boring drive down to Strasbourg and stayed a couple of nights.
On to Lake Constance, home of the Zeppelin museum where there is a reconstruction of the Hindenburg. We stayed in Friedrichshafen which was ok but nothing special, so we used the ferry to visit other towns which were much more interesting.
Drive to Landeck in Austria meandering through the black forest. The best drive so far scenery wise, but not very challenging. The girls loved it.
We stayed for 3 nights in Landeck which is in the heart of the Austrian Tyrol a great base for mountain driving. We received a road book from the hotel (Enzian) with 23 tours of the surrounding mountains Austria -Italy - Switzerland - Germany and Lichtenstein. It’s a great guide including recommended stops and graded black, red and blue for levels of difficulty, similar to ski runs.
This was the start of some spirited driving and showed up the Audi’s lack of grunt. He was trying to keep the turbo on the boil all the time which meant changing down to first in some of the tighter bends.
The TT encountered its first problems here; we could smell burning rubber after every steep climb. I thought it was a belt; maybe due to the water pump seizing or something similar.
It turned out to be the tyres not liking the tight hairpins and they were getting extremely hot.
On the way to Kaunertal glacier
Getting higher
At the top 2750 metres the weather could have been better. theres a cable car to 3100 metres but it disappeared into the clouds.
Stopped to fill up with water on the way back down
Next on to Lake Garda and Sirmione, with it’s beautiful grey sky’s and rain lashed shores. This 35km. peninsula jutting out into the southern shores of the lake would have been idyllic if only it had stopped raining.
The route to Garda involved a run over Stelvio; at the base we passed a tractor then another and another, too much of a coincidence I thought…. I was right.
We passed about another 200 on the way to the top!
It was a tractor race and we were in the middle of it. Oh what fun passing 10 tractors at a time flat out in second gear between bends, but the smoke! Phew
The little one did'nt half shift
Tractors at the top
And a London cab
Back down to Bormio
Great fun racing the bikes on the twisty bits. Had to stop and reverse back halfway through a tunnel to let a truck pass!
When we reached Bormio the road was closed so I punched in “avoid road block” into Sally and for some strange reason I clicked avoid toll roads too, so ended up going over the Gavia pass via the S300 one of the best mistakes I could have made, it was awe inspiring.
After Garda we did the long drive down to Monaco and a sample of the Grand Prix circuit before heading off to Nice for an overnight stay.
monaco of course
Lots of these here
Next day was the turn of the route Napoleon from Cannes to Grenoble. Some fantastic long twisty’s here where the TT could keep up. Every sort of corner you could wish for, from mountain hairpins to very fast sweepers, all on superb clean, smooth tarmac.
An absolute must if you find yourself in this part of France.
We stayed for lunch in the beautiful village of Castellane and another stop in Corps before heading off to Annecy for 2 nights.
Annecy is like a little Venice. The medieval town centre built around a 14th Century Chateau and is dissected by small canals and streams running out of Lac Annecy, a wonderful azure colour, but very cold.
Annecy
Lac Annecy
Nancy was only supposed to be a way station on the trip from Annecy to Zeebrugge, no more than a geographically desirable place to break up the drive. It has an impossibly beautiful town square which hosts a sound and light show like nothing I have ever seen. I can highly recommend it as an alternative to Reims
Beer
The visit to Nancy was soured a little by the fact I curbed two alloys entering an underground car park. £150 to restore them to their former glory.
Back to Zeebrugge and home.
...........No Mods...... I like him just the way he is 
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- The most powerful letter in the world.
