Road trip - day 1 Rotterdam - Berlin.

[GARETH]

Drove from Manchester to Hull, caught the P&O to Rotterdam. Lots of Porsches and a nice blue V8 Coupe on the boat.

Drove from Rotterdam to Berlin. Long drive, a bit slow through Holland, but once in Germany the autobahn was excellent. A few slowdowns for roadworks, but it was very satisfying to be able to give the Jag its legs, and cruise comfortably at a decent speed! With stops for fuel, and coffee took us 9 hours. 470 miles. Average mpg 31.5.

Driving right into the centre of Berlin was ok. I was a bit nervous about it, but it was easy. Thankfully not busy. Found the Airbnb in Mitte, it has its own underground parking lot, 4 levels down! So the car is safely parked up until Saturday, whilst we enjoy Berlin!

[DavidP]

Enjoy your trip, watch out for Holland as they have a lot of average speed checks.
Berlin is great, excellent Rum bar there.

[GARETH]

Left the Jag parked up for 4 days, and enjoyed Berlin. Lovely city, well worth a visit.







Yesterday drove from Berlin down to Eichstatt. Very different here, proper Bavarian Germany. Lovely countryside.

The drive was fast but uneventful. I have to be honest, it gets a bit tiring driving at high speed for so long. It was a relief to slow down from time to time! Jag was almost faultless and really showed us how it is a long distance cruiser amongst its many talents.

What have I learned today? It’s always best to get your wheels balanced before a trip to Germany. In UK the car never gets much above 70, and is perfectly smooth, however get north of 100 and it’s getting pretty shaky. One of the fronts is slightly out of balance and it makes it uncomfortable over the ton. So this factor is ultimately limiting our speed.

Never mind, still loving it. Into Austria tomorrow so will get some pictures of the car in the Alps!

[jonm]

How long are you in Bavaria for? I'm heading to saltzberg in 2 weeks!
Know what you mean about high speed autobahn driving, I find it takes a huge amount of concentration always reading ahead trying to predict the actions of other road users, I too grow tired of it pretty quickly! Much prefer to sit at a constant speed in cruise control.
I'm sure any german tyre shop will be happy to balance your tyres for you, they like payment in cash

[GARETH]

Only in Austria / Germany for another week, then home. I haven’t got time for that. I’ll just moderate my speeds and get it done when home. It’s going to need front tyres soon anyway.

[GARETH]

Rain came as soon as we crossed into Austria. Very heavy rain made for some slow progress. Now in Murau and it’s starting to brighten up. Promised a decent day tomorrow by the locals, so .

Rain stopped for long enough for a look around town and a quick blast up the Solkpass, which is a little gem. Nothing else on it and good climb up to nearly 1800 metres.