Up to this point I hadn’t mentioned much about what we are currently going through. Lockdown, curfew, quarantine – words that I’ve never had to use before – it’s taken a toll on our lives and norms. At least what we used to consider as a norm, was being able to go out, drive down to Cornwall, fly over to Ibiza to get drunk or attend something like Coachella with thousands of people exchanging body fluids. We take all this freedom for granted and now we appreciate what we could do before. I’m positive and I’m sure we’ll get half of our lives back sooner or later. I said positive, ironic that. Perhaps we will be happier in a post-apocalyptic Britain, where roads will be quieter and we can make more noise. Nonetheless, we have memories to look back at and in the final instalment of ‘Roadtrip 19’ I will be sharing the last day from that epic journey.
Let’s have a quick re-cap of the situation here. It’s been 5 days of me driving through France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany with Belgium to follow. If you told me a few years ago that I would’ve achieved this, all planned by myself, I would’ve laughed at you. Insert self-appreciation smirk here. And who do we say thanks to, well, the cars. They get us from place to place capturing memories, something otherwise you would be only able to do by taking those blurry photos out of the airplane window.
My overnight stay in, what seemed like an untouched communist hotel in Bad Herrenalb was delightful. They even had a fridge at reception with soft drinks and a little plastic box to leave money in, pretty amusing. The morning of 20th July 2019 was chilly, partly because I decided to leave as early as 6:30am. This meant a nice cold start from the Megane, featuring some pops from the exhaust, which sounded like someone’s had too much curry last night, but I love it. Ahead of me, I had almost 7 hours of drive to the Channel Tunnel at Calais.. I admit, I wasn’t looking forward to it as it’s just endless motorway miles with no excitement apart from some quick Autobahn runs, but you get bored of this, so does your bank account. Hence, a lightbulb moment in my head suggested a diversion to Bruges, to eat some truffles mainly, what else would you do in Belgium? My drive across Germany turned out to be uneventful, with a few pit stops for ice-cream and a stretch. The trusty French baguette kept on powering through, I felt I bonded even more with this machine. It was comfortable enough, okay, creature comforts weren’t great thanks to the non-working aircon (still need to fix this). But German radio stations were decent and more importantly it didn’t breakdown!
As soon as I saw the Belgium sign, as if by magic Hitler decided he’s had enough of building motorways and road surface became appalling or at least compared to what I got used to during the trip. To add to my distress it started raining, not just raining, it was chucking it down. It was really coming to the end of my trip. Bruges bound, I’m proud of myself for choosing this as a pin on the map as it just delivered what I really needed that day – frustration of finding where to park in the town centre. That done, I loved it, Belgians know how to make a façade of a building look fascinating, that’s as much as I will say about their architecture. Truffles were spectacular, but it was too busy, full of tourists thinking they’ve hit the jackpot grabbing a seat at one of the many price inflated restaurants at the main plaza. Couple of hours later, I was on the road to Calais and my mind started to rewind what had just happened throughout those 6 days.
I can’t stress enough how much I recommend this to anyone who likes spending time on the road. Even if you’re not a petrolhead, chasing mountain roads and thrills, it’s worth it. I never imagined I’ll get to see Monaco, let’s face it, it’s not on top of my list for summer holiday destinations, due to many reasons. But I experienced it and I’m grateful I had this opportunity. Wouldn’t go back though, unless it’s for the F1. Where I would go back is Portofino, you just don’t get enough of this place. Let’s see what the future holds for us, but another Euro road trip is definitely on the cards. I believe the Megane still has some life left in it. Or could it be in something crazier?
Chao
PetrolAddiction 