ROAD TRIP TO TUSCANY WITH SEVERAL OF OUR FRIENDS
Here are the participants of this years outing
Les & Anne (in La Slapa)
Davy & Caroline
Nic
Russ & Viv
Jack & Anne
Dick
Jason & Diana
Heath Michaela & Lauren
Erick & Kevin
Romain (Sorry Romain it is the only picture I have)
Jean-Loup & Amanda (Sorry JL it is the only picture I have)
Wednesday 6th August
The obligatory setting off photograph
Our route from home to Dover via Blyth services
......and so it begins!
Woke to a very rainy day so set off 11am with the roof up. Not for long, 5 minutes into journey dropped roof. 12:30pm arrive Blyth Services and meet up with Jack & Anne, Caroline & Davey, Nic and Dick. So now 5 MR2 Roadsters in convoy.
1:30pm.... off again once more in the rain but the top comes down on the way as soon as the deluge stops. After an uneventful drive we arrive about 6:30 at the Premier Inn Dover and met up with Jason & Diana, Heath Michaela & Lauren. Had a pleasant evening meal together and so to bed at 9:45pm ready for our early drive to the ferry.
Woke to a very rainy day so set off 11am with the roof up. Not for long, 5 minutes into journey dropped roof. 12:30pm arrive Blyth Services and meet up with Jack & Anne, Caroline & Davey, Nic and Dick. So now 5 MR2 Roadsters in convoy.
1:30pm.... off again once more in the rain but the top comes down on the way as soon as the deluge stops. After an uneventful drive we arrive about 6:30 at the Premier Inn Dover and met up with Jason & Diana, Heath Michaela & Lauren. Had a pleasant evening meal together and so to bed at 9:45pm ready for our early drive to the ferry.
Thursday 7th August
Awake at 5:30am excited for day ahead. 6:30am and we set off for Dover ferry, it is nice weather and the tops are down, once we get to the booking in gates everyone gets separated, it is here we meet up with Russ & Viv. As we are well scattered when boarding the ferry, we all get together for a hearty breakfast where we plan to meet up in the Auchan hypermarket car park which is about 10 minutes from the Dunkirk terminal.
Not many of the others in sight.........
We all leave Auchan at about 12:45 and set of for a nostalgia trip to the old F1 pits at Reims for a couple of pictures........and a few words of advice from the gendarmes about not walking across the road and going into the buildings........Woops!... too late.
A couple of pictures were taken here by everbody
Ah.....The good old B&B Metz
I must have shares in the place because of the times I have been here, then it was on to the Crocodile for our pre booked 7:30 pm meal (Just made it-ish)
Still great food and passable bottomless wine
A leisurely stroll to the Crocodile
Friday 8th August
Setting off top down in the sun for our drive to Austria via Lake Bodensee............
Don't know who the black car belongs to but wish it was mine
Don't know who the black car belongs to but wish it was mine
Some pictures of the drive and stops on the way
Austria hotel
6.50pm we arrive at Zams ooops should be Tarrenz, my bad, so slight detour having really enjoyed our long run in breathtaking scenery with lovely weather. So 7.10pm we arrive at the hotel......Gasthof Sonne . We all have an excellent evening meal, traditional wiener schnitzel and apple strudel for us.
Set on the main street in Tarrenz this hotel is fairly deceptive, driving through to the back you are met with stunning views and despite the "Trip advisor" comments it is a really good place to stay
Some of the views (plus the cars of course)
Saturday 9th August
Couldn't sleep because of excitement (again), up at 5:00am for a 7:am start for the drive to our villa in Tuscany via..............THE STELVIO PASS!!!!!!
Nic, Jack & Anne, Russ & Viv decided they would take a more direct route and meet us there, in the end they arrived after us because they couldn't resist the fabulous scenery and took their time, making a few stops on the way.
8:50 am we arrive in Switzerland, 9:30 am we get to the Stelvio pass, the video shows our run up to the top which was great fun, I did shoot footage going down into Italy but there was a low cloud and lots of traffic making it a bit uninteresting.....
Nic, Jack & Anne, Russ & Viv decided they would take a more direct route and meet us there, in the end they arrived after us because they couldn't resist the fabulous scenery and took their time, making a few stops on the way.
8:50 am we arrive in Switzerland, 9:30 am we get to the Stelvio pass, the video shows our run up to the top which was great fun, I did shoot footage going down into Italy but there was a low cloud and lots of traffic making it a bit uninteresting.....
After the Stelvio it was a loooong six hours plus drive to our villa in Tuscany, we could have gone direct in half the time but to miss the Stelvio..............No chance!
Arriving at the villa
We were well tired after our long journey but pretty damned hungry too, so once we met our French friends Jean-Loup & Amanda, Erick, his cousin Kevin and Romain we unpacked showered, changed and drove the short distance to San Gimignano for something to eat, this was to be something of a challenge as the place was absolutely rammed and finding somewhere to park was a nightmare (as it was each time we went). Find somewhere we did, just inside the main entrance to the town, I would post a couple of pictures here but we were so hungry and a bit shattered I never took any, so it was back to the villas to crash ready for the next day
Sunday 10th August
A few pictures of our fantastic villas (and our cars)
After a good nights sleep and there being no food in at all, we decided to drive to Certaldo to find something open. After circumnavigating the town a couple of times looking for the Co-op we remembered from 2011 we eventually found the brand new supermarket........by following the Co-op signs (DOH!!!), then back to the villa's with our supplies for some food followed by a chill out in the pool
Evening brought us a stunning sunset and full moon
Monday 11th August
Breakfast, then we're off to Siena.......we visited here in 2011 and had to go again, such a beautiful place. We were hoping to find the same car park as before but ended up in the stadium, a huge place to park and not far from the city walls, after leaving the cars we had two choices to turn left or right where we could enter the walled city, turning right we walked what seemed like a hundred miles in the heat before finding a way in, it was only when we returned we found out there was an entrance to the left just round the corner........
Having a coffee break on the looong walk round
A bit crowded but such an amazing place
The 15-20 minutes it took to get back to the cars made up for the hour or so to get in, then it was back to the villa's to prepare for our trip to the pizza restaurant Davy had booked for us the night before
Pizza by the lake
Tuesday 12th August
We are planning a big bbq tonight. First we chilled by the pool then went shopping to the Coop. We visited San Gimignano, took a wrong turning and ended up driving in the very centre, much to the amusement of tourists......not so much the locals though.....Whoops! after negotiating a few back streets we managed to find our way out and park up. Walking back to the centre we then had coffee and a spritzer in a small cafe. Then we walked through the town to the Greatest Ice Cream Parlour in the World where we got many flavoured ices....mmmmmm. Here we bought some souvenirs. Then back to the villa for drinks by the pool. In the evening we had a bbq with all attending.......it was a very good night.
Pedestrians and locals only ...... Whoops!!!!
Don't panic ........... Take pictures lol
A spot of liquid refreshment before our ice cream, Heath ordered a small beer.........I have seen bigger thimbles
ICE CREAM!!!!
A few pictures before heading back to our villa's
BBQ Time! Done by Jason, Di & Romain (I was on holiday)
Wednesday 13th August
Yet again we chilled by the pool (Because everybody had gone out and abandoned us). Later about 4.00pm we went to Villa il Pozzo to taste and purchase the wine....we went there last time we were in Tuscany, and also bought some more olive oil. We tried to book the same restaurant as last time but couldn’t. We swapped cars with Jason and Diana to give them some top down driving and we tried the GT84 for a change...interesting.
In the evening we went to the Truck Stop restaurant which was nice last time......it was terrible. Bad service, undercooked food, overly salted – in fact a really awful experience...so we all went back to the villa and drowned our sorrows. |
Thursday 14th August
Today was Jack and Anne’s 49th wedding anniversary xxxx.
We drove out to taste some more wines; the first stop was closed ........ bummer.
The second however was not. Mmmmmmm having tried a few we bought a few........well .......a lot.
The third stop – well it was excellent. We had a marvellous lunch consisting of starters, three courses, AND wines with every course and then desert wine and coffee, all for 22 euros. Then we tasted and bought more wines. We then went back to the villa via the coop where we bought more supplies for an evening bbq.
2nd time lucky for a winery (A bit off the beaten track)
Third winery.......and the best
Evening BBQ done by the boys (Not me.....still on holiday)
A few evening shots (Check out the first picture....I'm sure it says "DAD" above the clouds)
This is when we said goodbye to Erick & Kevin as they would be leaving early the next morning
Friday 15th August
A day of chilling round the pool with a little packing for the homewards journey. In the evening the French guys showed us the way to Certaldo Old Town. It was impressive. After looking around we found a lovely restaurant and had a great last evening meal with our French buddies. Les, Russ and Jean Loup shared a T Bone steak of massive proportions burp. Altogether a very good way to round off our holiday.
Our last evening together......A trip to the old town of Certaldo
This steak warrants a picture of its own (Yes Amanda is vegetarian.....)
Returning back to the villa's we said a fond farewell to Jean-Loup, Amanda and Romain as us Brit's would be leaving early for Austria the next day
Saturday 16th August
Setting off at 8.30am homeward bound........... The weather is saying goodbye also with occasional rain showers, some of us take the direct route while others opt for the scenic drive back to Tarrenz, although ours wasn't exactly a bland journey.
12.30pm the tops are down and we have hit very slow traffic but can see mountains ahead. 1.00pm we are surrounded by them and it is lovely scenery. 1.30pm we are passing through the Dolomites. 3.20pm we pay 33 euro toll and by 3.30pm we are in Austria passing along the Brenner at 3.35pm.
5.00pm arrive Tarenz again and 5.30pm we have beers and yummy ice creams. Our room is very nice with a balcony and views. 7.30pm we all eat an evening meal. We had fish this time.......VERY fresh and tasty.
12.30pm the tops are down and we have hit very slow traffic but can see mountains ahead. 1.00pm we are surrounded by them and it is lovely scenery. 1.30pm we are passing through the Dolomites. 3.20pm we pay 33 euro toll and by 3.30pm we are in Austria passing along the Brenner at 3.35pm.
5.00pm arrive Tarenz again and 5.30pm we have beers and yummy ice creams. Our room is very nice with a balcony and views. 7.30pm we all eat an evening meal. We had fish this time.......VERY fresh and tasty.
Back to the Gasthhof Sonne to a great room, great food and excellent company
Sunday 17th August
Breakfast 8:00am and 9:00am we are off again. Through stunning scenery once more and 10:20am we have some Autoban fun.....reaching speeds of 130mph. 1:00pm stop for lunch.
3:20pm France. 4:30pm B&B Metz. And relax........7:00pm had excellent evening meal at 3 Brasseries sampling some of their beers. 10:30pm bed.
3:20pm France. 4:30pm B&B Metz. And relax........7:00pm had excellent evening meal at 3 Brasseries sampling some of their beers. 10:30pm bed.
Monday 18th August
Breakfast at 8:15am and 8:45am off on last leg of journey. Dullish morning so tops up. 9:35 we reach Belgium and 11:00am drop the top.
Coffee/pee stop at 12noon and tops back up. 2:00pm Auchan to do last wine shop. 2:30pm at ferry dock..3:40pm boarding ferry....bye bye continent. Back to English time, 5:10pm we disembark. Must remember to drive right side!
Coffee/pee stop at 12noon and tops back up. 2:00pm Auchan to do last wine shop. 2:30pm at ferry dock..3:40pm boarding ferry....bye bye continent. Back to English time, 5:10pm we disembark. Must remember to drive right side!
My thoughts
Having missed last years road trip due to Anne's unfortunate illness, our planned stay in Tuscany this year was a complete success and made up for the previous years disappointment.
I love organising these holidays for fellow road trip junkies, old and new and when things go well it makes it all worth while, there are of course the occasional pitfalls on the way when things go wrong, such as cancellations etc. but these are just another challenge to make it as good a holiday as possible for all those brave soles joining me.
Meeting our French friends is always a pleasure and I would still like to learn the language, who knows I may be able to after using an app that Jean-Loup suggested, lol
As I said to all who joined us on this road trip, the holiday would have been nothing without your great company...........and reliable cars
Anne's thoughts
To sum it all up:
Had a cracking time with very good friends, wish we could do it all over again now xxxxxxx
Next years plans.......................Austria then France
I love organising these holidays for fellow road trip junkies, old and new and when things go well it makes it all worth while, there are of course the occasional pitfalls on the way when things go wrong, such as cancellations etc. but these are just another challenge to make it as good a holiday as possible for all those brave soles joining me.
Meeting our French friends is always a pleasure and I would still like to learn the language, who knows I may be able to after using an app that Jean-Loup suggested, lol
As I said to all who joined us on this road trip, the holiday would have been nothing without your great company...........and reliable cars
Anne's thoughts
To sum it all up:
Had a cracking time with very good friends, wish we could do it all over again now xxxxxxx
Next years plans.......................Austria then France