On the Road Again!

One of the places I had planned to pass through on the way to Nice. The Vercors. At least I have the map to look at and plan for another time.

With the UK Government looking to contain and delay the coronavirus outbreak into the summer I have decided to cancel the Road Trip now. We have not paid anything, unlike the Easter trip to Spain, and so it makes sense to kill it now.

Cuneo- Nice A relatively short day today. MyRouteApp calculates it at 88 miles door to door. The standard route is to head down the main route to the coast and then along past Monaco.  And looking at the map book I saw the Col de Tende . Even with that the estimate is a little over 3 hours. So no rush in the morning to get going. Then when I took a look at it on Google I decided against it. If I had an SUV I would be up for it, but not in a road car. So. It will be the tunnel instead. We can have a leisurely breakfast and a walk around Cuneo to see the wonders of the city before we set off.

Well, that's it for now. Planning the overall route at least.  I have hotels booked on booking.com with the "free cancellation" and "no prepayment" option.   I have roughly mapped out a complete route but this doesn't take into account the waypoints that each days route has coded in to ensure we go the way we want! As far a Point 3 I have left toll roads switched on and so it will add to the trip cost it will mean we get the first long day over reasonably quickly between 1 and 2. From there it is no tolls from 3 to 6. Points 6 to 7 are currently set to no toll.  The road seems to parallel the toll motorway for the entire 225 miles. The Insignia currently has a range of about 650 miles in my day to day running.  With the first few days being motorway I hope to extend that when I can set the cruise control! Later in the year I will start to scope out the cost of a crossing to France. I expect we will take the Shuttle option simply as it is quicker. Well, quick...

The reshuffle means that the shorter route through Switzerland means that the motorway vignette won't be needed. I'll have to see though.  To take in the passes will be a reversed S through the mountains. There are so many passes and too few days to fit them all in. This route (above) takes in the Nufenenpass (2 above). This is the highest paved pass in Switzerland.

The ideas are still bubbling away.  With an Old SOCs weekend planned in the English Lake District for the middle of August this trip needs to be done from late July. I had the idea of fulfilling one of my bucket list points and heading for Poland.  Auschwitz has been a pilgrimage for me for many years and I have never made it. Once in the 90's when I worked in Zastávka u Brna I did get as far as the Czech/Polish border at  Český Těšín  and got no further. The bridge over the river was closed to traffic although I did walk across to the halfway point to say I had stepped foot in Poland. I have no idea whether this was just that day or (semi) permanent. I watched Richard Ayoade's " Travel Man - 48 hours in Krakow " recently and the lure of a salt mine was almost too great.  But the lure of a scenic railway tops that! The railway in question is Train des Merveilles and runs between Nice and Tende.  It winds its way through the mount...