Apart from the whine and the headlight switch the van was amazing. The front and rear seats (multivan bench) were really comfortable, loads of legroom and with fridge facilities on board, refreshments were plentiful too.
The 2.1 litre wbx was fantastic. It purrs along at 60-70 mph with hardly any sound, it used no oil and a cupful of coolant (which I know drips from the water pump housing whether running or not). It was about 1500 km there (940 miles) and I can honestly say it was too much in one go. I can't even say one day as it was over 24 hours! Still, we made it and got skiing.
Chris and Rob on the piste:
Launch of a ski/paraglider tandem:
I rarely take piste pictures as they are generally crap and I don't carry a proper camera (camera phone only) as falling on a large lump often hurts! Four solid days of skiing with relaxing lunches in the van, eber heater on if a bit damp/chilly, bacon and mushroom baguettes and fresh coffee for pennies not 15 euros! My Mum, (who's 60 this year) decided it was time she learned to ski, she's great!
During the week I got out the Bentley's and checked the wiring diagrams and fixed a wire in place so that the working sidelight switch also put on the headlights with the bonus that the main beam switch locked on as normal.
We discussed the return journey and decided to split it in two to make the 1700 ferry back from Boulogne. The last day was wet so we left at midday Friday. As we climbed up out of the valley past Briancon the rain turned to sleet, then snow. Then we saw a sign stating that one of the two cols out of the Apls to the west was closed but ours was ok... apparently!
I then started to see all the cars coming the other way plastered in snow and ice and running snow chains. One by one the cars going our way stopped to chain up as the snow on the road thickened. Decoupler was coupled and the windscreen started to ice up. With max heat on the screen alone the ice would melt but the wiper rubbers were solid. I was following a chained up Belgian Mercedes A class at a distance of about 20 metres when it just vanished
, then the road side poles went too
! Proper blizzard this... Eventually, after judicious use of the rear diff lock we began to descend. I managed to prise my hands off the wheel and start breathing again.
The main beam driving lamps had 1 cm of solid ice and the snow on the grill wasn't, it too was solid ice!
The driving got easier and the scenery epic so here's a few pictures heading down the mountains:
Down on the valley bottom near Grenoble there was this view of some amazing rock formations:
So another fill at the cheap but infamous headlight failure fuel station and onwards to Troyes for the night.
Across France is a range of cheap and cheerful motel types places. Formula 1, Etap and B&B to name a few. B&B came recommended so we just turned up at one at 2100 in the industrial area on the outskirts of Troyes where a family room was 60 euros with an extra 24 euros for breakfast. There was a Harvester type restaurant across the road, which was relatively cheap but still 70 odd euros for 4 dinners and beers! You can see why we went self catering. The room itself had a double bed and two singles on a mezzanine level above the bathroom. Perfectly adequate for four adults and pretty cheap too. The breakfast was bacon, eggs, toast, cereal, juice and coffee etc and eat as much as you could get down, so I did! Kept me going to Boulogne that breakfast did
We had the time to loaf around Reims for an hour and a half, which was nice...
Then there was LD Lines again
The 1700 ferry was delayed to 1930. 1.5 hours across then an hour to get from outside the harbour wall at Dover to getting off the damned thing. Then on to Basildon to drop Rob off via the A2, which was closed. Shame they didn't tell you this until 10 minutes outside Dover and committed to the route, hence the winding route along the picturesque north Kent coast!
Then to Wiltshire down the roadworks infested M4 then home at 0500
