Yorkshire - South of France //Mazda MX-5//

Events Great Driving Roads
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It has always been on the bucket list for me, ever since the long hours I spent, sat in the back of my parents Ford Mondeo with my brother holding my bladder until the next service station. As a family, we would make the trip most years, catching the ferry from Dover, and with my parents taking it in turns to do a stint as the other one slept. Nothing apart from the end destination was planned, and it never failed to be a huge adventure.

Recently, I got sign off from the girlfriend that this year we could have our own adventure. We have stayed in the same apartment for the last 2 years in Southern France, just on the out skirts of Cannes, right on the coast and have loved it, and we decided that this year, we would take a few extra days either side and drive it.

I am very different to my parents, in the sense that everything has to be planned to a tee. The route, the hotels, the service stops. But first, we needed a suitable vehicle.

I have a BMW 120d as a daily, that is in warranty, full BMW breakdown cover and European satnav, but we really wanted something we could drop the roof down. We settled on a MK3 Mazda MX-5 2.0 Sport. Cheap, reliable, and just enough luggage space for a few changes of clothes (the drone may not be able to come through!).

Two examples were viewed at the weekend, and were not to my liking, each one had something that let it down. An early start, however on Sunday proved to be successful and after money exchanged, we were soon our way back to York with a stunning, low mileage 2006 car.

There is a lot of planning to be done, but we are set on not using any toll roads (which increases journey time massively according to Google Maps). Hopefully this will provide us with plenty of scenic routes and allow us to see small towns / villages you wouldn’t normally get to see. As well as the journey down, I am keen to drive Route Napoleon and other alpine routes.

This thread will be updated with routes and information as I get the car prepared in readiness for the trip, which may prove of interest to some. We travel mid August, so we are still some way off, but I will also be updating the trip throughout the trip on the driving routes.

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Look forward to reading more of your French adventure George 

 

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Yes me too. My wife and I have talked about driving down to Lake Garda via France next year so It’ll be interesting to see how you fare avoiding those toll roads.

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Welcome to the addiction. You have chosen the perfect car.

We are doing a 2 week European Road Trip in August.

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A  couple of us are putting the cars on the auto train from Paris to Nice area. Then taking a week to get to Andorra into Spain bbefore catching the ferry home. 

CCan’t wait

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After a thorough clean inside and out, we decided to have a good run out early this morning, which saw a fairly early start (7am) and a trip to Humanly Gap, Filey. From here it was along the coast through Scarborough and onto Whitby.

From Whitby it was then heading back in land along the A169, through Sleights and Flyingdales to Goathland.



A bacon sandwich in Pickering before heading back to York. All in all a great morning out, and the car performed exceptionally. Just enough power to make it fun and a joy to drive through the corners.

I need to get it booked in for a service before the trip, and purchase some new number plates (and number plate mounts) as the current ones are a bit scruffy, but there is still plenty of time left for this.

 

I have decided the only thing missing is a proper exhaust note, so any suggestions for a stainless steel system would be great. Cobra?

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I should also mention, a pleasant surprise.

Claimed mpg is circa 35mpg, and over the last week which has been the second week with the car, including long and short journeys, it has averaged 43 mpg on the good stuff (97+ RON) which will help make up for the small tank when crossing the continent.

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When I took my 2.0ltr to Corsica, we returned 39mpg over 3000 miles. That included pretty much all types of everyday road journeys including the fun bit! (2000mls fully loaded).

Enjoy your trip although I think you will find the RN’s a tad slow in towns and villages. Between towns and villages you will enjoy!

As for the exhaust, I enjoy a Cobalt from Moss Europe.

Richard

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Outbound Route, York - Cannes (Proposed)

Below is a summary of mileage and estimated journey time for the outbound route including a hop over the channel courtesy of P&O ferries. Toll roads to be avoided at all times, which increases journey times massively, but then again, we wouldn’t have got an Mx-5 if we wanted a motorway muncher.

Day 1, York to Arras

The route starts in York and follows the A1, M25, M20 down to Dover Ferry Port. Once across the channel and past the wine warehouses of Calais, its then on to the first over night stop in Arras. Not sure if anything goes on here but, it seems a nice convenience stop off point. Okay, we are cheating today and using the British Motorway, but there are alpine roads to be in search of.

Day 2, Arras to Lyon

Arras through Soissons to Troyes along various D roads to Dijon and finally to Lyon. The longest day by a couple of hours! Early bed, ready for some alpine roads in the morning.

Day 3, Lyon to Cannes

The final day sees us take the A48 through to Grenoble then Grasse before finally dropping down onto the Med Coast. I need to look at various passes, but I also planning on driving this route as a day trip during the course of the week we are down here.

If anyone has any suggestions on routes / places to stop then please let me know as it would be much appreciated.

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Re the Exhaust note.  Try a Racing beat silencer as demonstrated in the video clip here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM3afuR-BV0

It’s richer and subtly deeper in tone compared to standard, but without the booming or resonating that can ruin a long journey at higher revs.  It’s beautifully made too, a very nice piece of kit.

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We’ve only just returned from a four week trip through France, Italy and Greece on our Honda ST1300 Pan European motorcycle, a trip that we’ve repeated by various routes for the last 5 years. This year we incorporated the Route Napoleon into our return leg, as many will already know it’s a beautiful area with great roads and some stunning views. We stopped overnight at the Hotel Tivoli in Sisteron, about halfway through the route. The town itself is charming and the hotel clean, comfortable and has secure underground parking, thoroughly recommended. 

We’re currently in the process of purchasing a mk3.5 Coupe Powershift to replace the bike, so next year will, I suspect, be a lot more comfortable…

 

Have fun on your trip!

 

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Watching with interest and awe - trips like this are on my bucket list too - just never have the courage or motivation to actually do it.

The 5 is a great car for this and looks like you got a nice one.

 

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We did a trip to Monte Carlo a couple of years ago which was fantastic with a few real highlights, try to incorporate the Col du Galibier in your route as you pass Grenoble, just a beautiful road that is a MUST!

 

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We did the Lake Garda trip a few years ago but stuck to the toll roads as they are quiet and have plenty of stopping places. We did an overnight stop near Metz somewhere but retrospectively I would go further before stopping as the roads through France are much better than those in Switzerland. 

 

The second day was hard work even though the mileage was similar.

 

Expect a long queue through the Gotthard tunnel in Switzerland as well. They break the traffic up to avoid bunching in case of fires etc.

 

All in all though it was a great trip that I would do again. We did it in a Saab 95 with two young teenage girls.

Our next one is through France to Spain the back from Santader to Pompey stopping at with some friends for a few days in France on the way. Probably next year.

 

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Our road trip starts in 3 weeks, first night France, second night Germany, third night Austria then 7 nights in Italy at Lake Majore before heading home via a night in Switzerland, a night in Luxembourg and a night in France.

No ‘cast in stone’ plans for the route, just winging it and going off piste where it looks nice.