OV9

Just back from a lovely two weeks in France, and thought it might be worth sharing the experience

Basically, we had two weeks, one week with my family in a lovely house that we've stayed in a few times before in a little place called St Geniez d'Olt, then a second week just Helen and me, doing a long loop back to Dieppe via Lyon, Colmar, and Rouen

The reason it's worth mentioning, is that by coincidence, Harry's recent video featured the Gorges du Tarn road, which wasn't far from St Geniez, so we took that route on our way to Lyon (including stopping for lunch Florac as they did

The GdT road truly was an experience - 1.5 hours of twisting, turning, rock walls/arches, amazing scenery, hardly any traffic etc

We didn't blitz it (as we were fully loaded with luggage) and also, it was just so pleasurable to drive at 6/10ths, roof down etc - truly one of the best drives I've ever had

All in all, an amazing two weeks, a holiday of two halves (relatively lazy first week with my family) then a lovely long road trip with my wife

I love France, and every time I'm there, I start wondering about living there...

This was the route for the second week (the last leg - Colmar to Rouen was a long one - c7 hours' driving that day):

We’re just driving through the Dolomites in Italy for a trip to Paganella bike parks. we’ve driven through the night with a 21:25 tunnel crossing (was supposed to be 22:25 but they put us on the earlier one). 1300km done so far with 3 drivers - i did to Reims, then a mate did to the Austrian border, then my bro is doing the last leg. It’s been ok really - spent a fortune on tolls, but i’d rather do that and get there with less hassle.

3 of us, 4 bikes (1 spare) plus 2 spare wheels, plenty of space!



Pretty scenery everywhere, tricky to get a decent photo though!



we’re somehow about 3 hours ahead of when we expected - which is useful!

Very efficient (or heavy-footed?) driving.

I've found that driving in France (ignoring Paris) you tend to make faster progress than expected.

Funnily enough, I tend to drive relatively slowly on French motorways, tending to cruise at about 70mph

After a long stretch and a fill up, the car indicated an expected range of 515 miles!

And that was after about 60 miles of driving

Not bad for an 11 year old, 3.4 litre flat six

I tend to use cruise control at 75mph on the Autoroutes in France - then kick back and relax.

Couple of other observations from my Rome trip. On the way in, my other half and son were diverted in to a separate line at Passport Control - as expected post Brexit. Travelling on an Irish Passport, I was diverted to the EU line. EU Line had no self scanners and 3 people working so it too me 50 mins to get through control. Non EU line has scanners so my other half and son were through in 2 mins. Kinda the opposite of what I was expecting post Brexit.

My son bought a load of clothes and trainers and, as non EU residents, we claimed the tax back - 22% - sorted at the Airport. which was nice. Have a photo of your Passport on your phone. I'm guessing this is a EU thing ( and not just Italy) so worth doing.

dinny_g wrote: Mon Sep 08, 2025 1:55 pm Couple of other observations from my Rome trip. On the way in, my other half and son were diverted in to a separate line at Passport Control - as expected post Brexit. Travelling on an Irish Passport, I was diverted to the EU line. EU Line had no self scanners and 3 people working so it too me 50 mins to get through control. Non EU line has scanners so my other half and son were through in 2 mins. Kinda the opposite of what I was expecting post Brexit.

The opposite to my experiences every time I land in Italy. It’s at least an hour wait each time and a proper PITA when you just want to get on your way.

My ex is Italian and was very smug about being able to waltz through ‘her’ line quickly. And then I pointed out it didn’t matter how quickly she got through, she’d still have to wait for me.

This side of the tunnel was very efficient because we were given the earlier crossing - we didn’t even get a chance go into the terminal, then it was cruise control set to 130kph and let it do its thing. There were a couple of 150kph or so on the autobahn, but other than that we didn’t really stop other than a couple of toilet breaks and a refuel.

we’ve just done the return leg today, and despite sitting in traffic in germany for about an hour we left at 6am and got back home (first drop in Weybridge) at 10pm. My brother did most of the french leg this time and he definitely has a heavy foot! The van was perfect the whole week and racked up 1800 miles.

Great holiday overall too - we had 3 days (well, 2 for me because i had and off and smashed my ribs) riding exploring Fai della paganella, Andolo and Molveno downhill trails - which were superb and super quiet. We drove down to Lake Garda for a day and also an afternoon in Trento. It’s a lovely place to be and the weather was always far better than all the forecasts told us it would be. interestingly, we didn’t see a single other British registered car anywhere beyond northern france for the whole time.

Just got back from a long weekend in Ghent with my mate. Love a bit of Eurostar. Ghent was awesome, I highly recommend it for a weekend.