Well folks, I've just got back from a 3,000mile jaunt around Europe and I have a few observations I would like to share.
Belgians IMO are by far the worse drivers and that includes the Italians.
The best roads are in France and that includes the autobahns in Germany, but they are very expensive .
The prettiest part was crossing the Alps, Austrian out and French in.
Petrol isn't any cheaper than UK, unless you take detours off the Auto-routes and hunt down the town garages, except for the Balkans that is, where fuel is about a 3rd cheaper.
Overall, the nicest place we stayed was Lyon. Friendly people, great restaurants and cafes, relatively cheap and very pretty.
The usual speed limit is 130kph (80mph) on nearly all Autoroutes with no speed cameras. The driver awareness seems to be a little better than UK (ie. no hoggers of the overtaking lanes), and more use of indicators.
The services are excellent, not just Burger Kings and overpriced garages.
Believe it or not, I didn't see any road works without workman working on it??
As soon as I got back to UK I was tailgated by a youth with his spotlights on, nearly taken out by a BMW driver who swerved from the outside lane to his turn off point, cutting up another driver and myself, forcing sharp braking and got held up on road works..... Welcome back to UK.:
: ...Oh, and it was raining!
D
Belgians IMO are by far the worse drivers and that includes the Italians.
The best roads are in France and that includes the autobahns in Germany, but they are very expensive .
The prettiest part was crossing the Alps, Austrian out and French in.
Petrol isn't any cheaper than UK, unless you take detours off the Auto-routes and hunt down the town garages, except for the Balkans that is, where fuel is about a 3rd cheaper.
Overall, the nicest place we stayed was Lyon. Friendly people, great restaurants and cafes, relatively cheap and very pretty.
The usual speed limit is 130kph (80mph) on nearly all Autoroutes with no speed cameras. The driver awareness seems to be a little better than UK (ie. no hoggers of the overtaking lanes), and more use of indicators.
The services are excellent, not just Burger Kings and overpriced garages.
Believe it or not, I didn't see any road works without workman working on it??
As soon as I got back to UK I was tailgated by a youth with his spotlights on, nearly taken out by a BMW driver who swerved from the outside lane to his turn off point, cutting up another driver and myself, forcing sharp braking and got held up on road works..... Welcome back to UK.:
: ...Oh, and it was raining!D