Topic

As the title says, me and my boy 'Sam' 21, did 1600 miles around europe in 4 days. I only drove about 200 of those miles, preferring to be chaffeured for a change now the lad's grown up. It cost £145 to insure him for a week. But it was a 'one off'.

Apart from one hiccup, where I saw a couple of litres of coolant flowing onto the ground at a service station on the motorway en route to Luxembourg, everything went fine. Hiccup is perhaps putting it mildly.

Now, you have to appreciate that we had never even so much as looked at the engine, since buying the car. But, after receiving superb advice from this forum on what tools to carry we managed to get to the engine, found the leak, and re-positioned a split hose between us (an overtight jubilee clip had cut through it creating a bad leak. We managed to slide the clip down avoiding the split being in the coolant loop). Then carried on for another 1000 miles without issue. Roof down.. always.




Here's a few pics and euro camping tips. I'll put the bad news first. I think you'd like that better than just touring pics.

Fixing the split hose -





Tightly packed. The 80 litre lpg tank didn't help. Removing the spare wheel, and taking tyre foam, did.







Blaarmeersen campsite, Ghent, Belgium.







Ghent, Belgium -







This stuff was awful. Raw meat. But it took a nice pic.









Brussels (loads of amazing long subways go under the city there). We went there by mistake after taking a wrong turn. We were tourists so we happily sat in the traffic and enjoyed the great views in this city. I made a flask of coffee, with the 'car kettle', as we drove through.



















Back on the motorway..









Downloaded all the UK & Europe camping areas and sites onto the euro tomtom (about 31000 sites, free small download). Set it up to make a cuckoo sound everytime we came within 500 metres of a campsite. Damn thing never shut up.







Bastogne, Belgium 05/09/11. Great town, friendly people. Lots of respect shown for the American servicemen who fought in WW2 there.
















Frogs legs and birds nest soup.





Pure garlic taste and definately frogs.. I saw the previous owners of the legs going past in wheelchairs as we ate.


































Mosel river, Cochem, Germany bound.

























































































































Smoking still allowed in bars in Germany. Not that I'd ever endorse it































Accomodation is no problem when you're drunk.




Heading to Trier (the oldest German city founded 16BC). Then on to Luxembourg.

















Luxembourg

















Irish bars get everywhere don't they.






We met the Fockers.


















On the way to Ypres, Belgium.


















































1200 miles for around £120. No complaints, LPG is everywhere in europe.



Paschendale, Belgium. - Tyne cote WW1 military cemetery and museum.











































Heading back home.











Back in England...



















Home sweet home & final thoughts.
It was the best of times. The MG is a great touring car if you travel light. Two adults with a small circular tent that dried off the radiator heat up front during the day, 2 sleeping bags, a couple of blankets and mats and a bag of clothes each. The 80 litre lpg tank in the boot reduced space a fair bit. The storage hangers behind the seats were really useful for holding coffee, electronic wires, usb camera battery chargers, packs of soup and other small things. I had a travel kettle that hung off the passenger door when in use. Really useful for coffee and soup on the go. A good flask came in handy too.

The camping was real easy, inexpensive and comfortable. We used it purely as a sleeping base near a town to eat, drink and be merry. Breakdown cover gives peace of mind, even in europe. I recommend use of a tomtom or other satnav device. Ours was set up to make a cuckoo sound whenever we came within 500 metres of a campsite. A very handy tool. We never even took a map (but the route was pre-planned and photo-copied). I put all the likely 'stopovers' on the satnav 'favourites' for expedience. It saved us when we had the leak as we were heading 200 miles down to Luxembourg at the time and deviated to Bastogne 12 miles away instead. Devine intervention perhaps. Bastogne was great and Luxembourg city could bore a glass eye to sleep.

As a tourist, I would recommend Ypres, Ghent and Bastogne, Belgium. Also Cochem, Mosel valley, Germany. The people are very nice towards you there and the towns are great. I would not recommend Luxembourg. It's quite dull there. Of course, opinions may differ. These are just my own thoughts. If you do something like this it pays to have a plan of places to go. Our plan was rough and we swapped it around to follow the weather a little bit. My sons internet phone was great for doing this (All european McDonalds have free wifi. A laptop or netbook would do the same job). It was something We should have done this a long time ago. Hope you enjoyed the pics. All the best.. Leigh and Sam.

Fantastic tour, and glad your hiccup was resolved successfully.
Now where's the rest of the photos?

Well, seeing as you asked.

Didn't need the spare at all then
Great set of pics.

Out of interest, what was your total 'fuel' cost?

Around 250 miles worth of lpg still in the tank but 1200 miles for around £120. No complaints, LPG is everywhere in europe. There's a pic of me filling it up near the bottom of the main topic.

I've been keeping a tally of my fuel costs here - Fuelly. Clickety click here.

We never went much below 85-90 mph on the autobahns.

Although, I did say to my lad one time "WTF you doing?"
He said "90 why?"
I said "It's kilometres over here you ****! That's 55mph!"

lol you had to be there.

Great photos Leigh - looks like a wonderful trip

Hoping to do something similar culminating in next year's Italy run, but going through the north of the Netherlands to visit relatives.

Thanks. I'm looking forward to the feedback on the Italy run already. It sounds fantastic. Although, having just experienced some steep gradients in the Mosel region, it would be too traumatic for me.

Our satnav hit the twilight zone a couple of times in the mosel valley and took us up some steep, cobblestone hills. I thought we would fall off the world.

Great photos, Leigh!

Wow! Looks like a fantastic trip! Brilliant photos, very jealous!

That's the one thing about Australia, no matter how far you drive you can never enter another country, though some states feel like different countries....

That's where I live in Canada is different. I am only 1/2 hour from another country but 9 hours from the next province!
And yes, both of those feel like you are in another country!
It sure would be nice to be able to drive to France for the weekend!

I'm only 15 minutes from another country.

Full of Scotsmen though!

All I have to say is FABULOUS


and so very jealous