InvictaMoto's Family Travels

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.

Day 9 has changed. It was formerly the day we drove up from Lucca to Como.  I wanted to squeeze in a trip to Bologna. So I did. The journey is only around 85 miles toll-free. The hotel is walking distance to the centre and the station. This means that I had to shuffle the proceeding stops on a day. As I found out previously, the booking assistant at booking.com couldn't do a change of date for Como. So to add a day meant cancelling all the stays and rebooking them a day later! I was able to sort out Como. Although on the booking site there were only two rooms left. Booked. Day 10 will be the drive up from Bologna to Como. I had planned to squeeze in a visit to the Moto Guzzi museum but it is closed all off August from the 3rd onwards!  Instead there is Modena.  The Enzo Ferrari Casa and Museum The Panini car museum The Stanguellini car museum The Maserati Show Room And a little further away, Lamborghini. So many supercars! W...

It's fatal. Planning and then seeing another "must see" or "must visit" place on a website or in this case, a book. Once I turned to trip 1 and 2 in the Andermatt area and saw even more passes I haven't bagged previously. I had to include the Susten Pass in my route. This may mean that the 40CHF vignette becomes an option or more like a necessity.  I know the purists will scoff at the thought of using the motorway for any part of a journey. Even though it's in the car and not the bike I can still hear them. Yep. Ignore the knobheads. So this looks like a four pass session. In MyRouteApp I have changed Part One to two bits. The first part as far as Airolo from Como will tolls turned to on. The second part will go non-toll through the passes: St Gotthard  - 2106m Furka  - 2429m Grimsel  - 2164m Susten  - 2260m On the map and in the book they all look like a lot of hairpin bends .. Fun. With 7 months to go bef...

So the options seem to be between: A long day in the "saddle" as it were arriving later than usual at the hotel in Lenzkirch in the Black Forest Cutting Lenzkirch for a shorter day and booking a hotel further south Reverting to Plan A and miss out the Furka and Grimsel passes Cut one day from Como and have a stop in Switzerland nearer the passes! Buy the bloody motorway vignette In the end after checking hotel booking sites options 2 to 4 seemed to fade away.   Switzerland is more expensive than I want to pay for hotels.  After coming this far missing out the passes simply isn't on. Como to the passes is only 81 miles. So it looks like it will be the long day. I haven't ruled out the vignette for the motorways though.   I'll make an alternative Day 10 in MyRouteApp to see how that pans out. It adds expense but with Option 2 looking like £50 a night more for a hotel with the same level of comfort, inclusive breakfast and free parking as L...

Planning continues. Recently there was "discussion" on a biking Facebook page about planning a trip to France.  The original poster was merely asking whether it was wiser to plan ahead for a visit in August 2020.  Once the observer had discounted all the "I wouldn't go to France" posts, then the "just go" posts it seemed from the sensible brigade, planning was a little over 75% of the responses. I tend to over plan. Especially in peak holiday/vacation periods. I have "been there done it" when it comes to parking up and trying hotel or B&B's to get a room for the night. It becomes the driving force to the afternoon. Gotta get to Xxxxx to get a room! The worst was arriving in Seville, it was mid-afternoon. The temperature was over 40°C. We tried several hotels and received the "no room at the inn" signs. It was mid-August.  We were hot and fed up. We ended up in a four star hotel that had air-conditioning an...

A change of plan. I have added a second night in the Albergo in Como. It had to be done.  According to the font of all knowledge, Google, there is much to see in and around Como.  It will give us a chance to take in the lakeside town and maybe even a boat trip. The lake seems to have an abundance of  ferries that criss-cross it. And it has a funicular! Oo-er missus! It was a bit of a palaver as through the booking assistant on booking.com it wouldn't let me change dates. Instead I had to book a room for two nights and then cancel the one night stay! Hopefully the hotel will have picked up on my request for a reserved and free parking space... From Como the plan will be to head home. It's about 800 miles! Switzerland lies directly in the way. The Swiss have an extremely expensive vignette scheme for anyone using their highways of 40CHF for the year.  There's no discount for when you buy it. Whether on January 1st or 31st December it's ...

A little more planning under my belt.  From Part One where we ended up in Nice, I thought our long planned and cancelled trip to Tuscany could be revived and included.  So. After two nights in Nice we head along the Med back into Italy and the Ligurian coast to Tuscany. It's only 200 miles with things to see en-route. The next destination is  Lucca . I have booked three nights here. The car can have a rest whilst we use the trains to get to Pisa and Florence.  Then where? I do like the idea of Bologna and shoehorning this in might be hard work as I have an overnight already booked in Como.  The original hotel had a problem with my MasterCard and cancelled the booking. They didn't give me much chance and so I decided to take care of it and book another one. This seemed a stroke of luck as it is better and has free parking. So then where?