Message came through Tuesday morning.
Mate of mine has got us 2 tickets to the rugby world cup semi final.
Spent the next 4 hours looking at all the travel options.
Booked a plane. Message back later saying plane operator cancelled. Rebook at 150% price increase. No thanks.
Eurostar and Ferry researched. No go for time and money.
Left field. Drive and use the channel tunnel.
Even more bonkers choice. Leave the Ioniq5 (EV) in the driveway and squeeze into the MX5 for the 700 mile trip.
Watch the game, sink some beers, get 40 winks then do it all again the next day.
CritAir email you a temporary version you can put in the windscreen, seems to have worked for me in the summer going through Paris.
Bournemouth to Paris is mere bagatelle, we did Dordogne to Romsey in 13hours including the two and half hours waiting for euro tunnel to get their derrière or rather trains in order. In an ND with 2weeks luggage!
No to the car you won’t enjoy driving all that way it will be totally unreliable. Oh hang on that’s other cars. Just do it what will you remember in years to come the rugby game or the time you drove your Mazda to France.
sounds like fun. French motorways are far superior than ours and if you want to get there then they will be your best bet. Staying off them is nice but takes forever to make any real progress. So factor in there are going to be tolls between tunnel and Paris and prepare your passenger for dealing with those which can be a challenge in a low MX-5. (toll tag is the answer if you have time, wonderful things!)
Check insurance covers you for France, check breakdown cover as well (even with an MX-5), take all your documents, V5, insurance, MOT, stick a warning triangle in the car and hi viz jackets which I think have to be in passenger compartment in case you have to get out on a motorway. Don’t forget if travelling at night you mustn’t dazzle, so turn your headlights down, (beam deflectors if you feel the need and they work on your lights) ,
Having a Crit air doesn’t necessarily mean you can drive in their ulezs, as there are various levels, so just check that for your location, i suspect Paris is the strictest, but as above you get one emailed to you before the copy arrives in the post.
And enjoy the drive…
Not necessarily, the machines are situated at “normal” or SUV driver height, which means they can be difficult to reach for the passenger and from down low the screen is hard to read. If your passenger is not that tall, he/she may have to stand on the seat.
I speak from experience
