Having holed up in the Soca Valley in Slovenia, and blasted so many great local roads I lost count, it was time to head back up to Northern France late last week. For anybody that's intrigued by Slovenia, I can't recommend it enough. Ace place and people.
On Sunday, early evening, I headed up to the North West corner and up into the Juliana Alps, so basically I've got Italy to the left of me and Austria dead ahead. Both over mountain passes. Not having my passport on me, I went up to the Italian border and took a picture. Then came back down the pass and saw a left hand turn signposted 'Mangert'... Sounds comedy so I go for a drive.
The single lane road turned into a washed out rocky track that crossed a valley. The Volvo grounded out once or twice, but I figured I'd see where it went when it entered the tree line again. What do you know it turns back into a tarmac single track again? Still thinking I was headed for some sort of tourist spot, I head up and up, through cut stone tunnels and round hairpin after hairpin. 10ks later, I pop out here...
The end of the road, that's a tunnel on the left blocked by snow. The view was incredible, so of course I harnessed up and realising I was on a deserted mountain pass, thrapped it back down again...
Picked up the Slovenian national ID sticker too, thought it was quite apt.
Having realised I was going to miss Woerthersee by a week, I figured I'd head back across the top of Italy, then kind of curve round the South of France and back up the west coast. My only problem being the Volvo was loaded with a couple of grands worth of kit and it's about as secure as a bucket. Soo, the quickest route beckoned. I aimed north for Austria with the intention of hitting at least one more mountain pass on the way out of Northern Slovenia and then into Austria, Germany and Northern France. Not being too sure of a time scale I reckoned on getting in at least one motor museum on the way, either Porsche, BMW, Mercedes or maybe the excellent Reims museum.
After a great afternoon in Slovenia, I hit Austria early evening in good weather. Passing the Porsche museum too late for entry and too early to stop for the night, so Germany and Munich seemed a likely possibility. Except when i turned up at the BMW museum the following morning, it turns out they're building a new one... And the present one is just a thrown up effort on top of a car park. Just a few cars, but a lovely bike I had to show you...
I think the new museum is open next February, so don't bother until then. I did get a shot I like of the Volvo in the car park though, it rained for the whole 24hrs I was in Germany, which made the Volvo look pretty presentable... Nice.
Then I'm faced with a decision, well sort of, I'm 800 miles from my destination and it's midday. So I headed out to see what the roads would offer... Stuttgart by mid afternoon, into France, round Paris mid evening with a great low sunlit Eiffel Tower, and back in Normandy by midnight.
In short the Volvo has been a legend, especially true after I confess the following. One front tyre had sidewall issues that meant by the end of the trip both inner and outer edges were bald and it wouldn't hold pressure properly. The bonnet had given up wanting to open (probably wary of what I'd do to the engine), the screen is cracked in two places due to bodyshell abuse, a brake light has packed up, the brake pads are wafer thin and it's crying out for a full service plus cambelt change. It's done 3200 hard miles since I left the UK (that's on top of the 240K it had already done), with little love, but it refuses to fail me ;D
So I've decided to show it some love while I've got the chance, two new front tyres, an interior repaint, some fettling here and there and I ripped half the loom out... Err. Here's the new front to back.
Here's where I've been sat looking at Europe from, mainly with earplugs, always with snacks and supplies sometimes with a passenger but always with a grin... ;D
*I've left out the bits about the Austrian undercover Police searching me, meeting car nuts in a French service station and loads of other stuff. You'll just have to get out there and do it yourself
On Sunday, early evening, I headed up to the North West corner and up into the Juliana Alps, so basically I've got Italy to the left of me and Austria dead ahead. Both over mountain passes. Not having my passport on me, I went up to the Italian border and took a picture. Then came back down the pass and saw a left hand turn signposted 'Mangert'... Sounds comedy so I go for a drive.
The single lane road turned into a washed out rocky track that crossed a valley. The Volvo grounded out once or twice, but I figured I'd see where it went when it entered the tree line again. What do you know it turns back into a tarmac single track again? Still thinking I was headed for some sort of tourist spot, I head up and up, through cut stone tunnels and round hairpin after hairpin. 10ks later, I pop out here...
The end of the road, that's a tunnel on the left blocked by snow. The view was incredible, so of course I harnessed up and realising I was on a deserted mountain pass, thrapped it back down again...
Picked up the Slovenian national ID sticker too, thought it was quite apt.
Having realised I was going to miss Woerthersee by a week, I figured I'd head back across the top of Italy, then kind of curve round the South of France and back up the west coast. My only problem being the Volvo was loaded with a couple of grands worth of kit and it's about as secure as a bucket. Soo, the quickest route beckoned. I aimed north for Austria with the intention of hitting at least one more mountain pass on the way out of Northern Slovenia and then into Austria, Germany and Northern France. Not being too sure of a time scale I reckoned on getting in at least one motor museum on the way, either Porsche, BMW, Mercedes or maybe the excellent Reims museum.
After a great afternoon in Slovenia, I hit Austria early evening in good weather. Passing the Porsche museum too late for entry and too early to stop for the night, so Germany and Munich seemed a likely possibility. Except when i turned up at the BMW museum the following morning, it turns out they're building a new one... And the present one is just a thrown up effort on top of a car park. Just a few cars, but a lovely bike I had to show you...
I think the new museum is open next February, so don't bother until then. I did get a shot I like of the Volvo in the car park though, it rained for the whole 24hrs I was in Germany, which made the Volvo look pretty presentable... Nice.
Then I'm faced with a decision, well sort of, I'm 800 miles from my destination and it's midday. So I headed out to see what the roads would offer... Stuttgart by mid afternoon, into France, round Paris mid evening with a great low sunlit Eiffel Tower, and back in Normandy by midnight.
In short the Volvo has been a legend, especially true after I confess the following. One front tyre had sidewall issues that meant by the end of the trip both inner and outer edges were bald and it wouldn't hold pressure properly. The bonnet had given up wanting to open (probably wary of what I'd do to the engine), the screen is cracked in two places due to bodyshell abuse, a brake light has packed up, the brake pads are wafer thin and it's crying out for a full service plus cambelt change. It's done 3200 hard miles since I left the UK (that's on top of the 240K it had already done), with little love, but it refuses to fail me ;D
So I've decided to show it some love while I've got the chance, two new front tyres, an interior repaint, some fettling here and there and I ripped half the loom out... Err. Here's the new front to back.
Here's where I've been sat looking at Europe from, mainly with earplugs, always with snacks and supplies sometimes with a passenger but always with a grin... ;D
*I've left out the bits about the Austrian undercover Police searching me, meeting car nuts in a French service station and loads of other stuff. You'll just have to get out there and do it yourself
I wanna do something like this.
