Classic Car Wife

Leaving Vienne, the RN7 follows the eastern bank of the Rhone river. There's a lot of heavy industry and we made slow progress. After Roussillon, the route becomes more scenic and many beautiful old chateaux and vineyards can be seen as the road hugs the edge of the river. Despite the Romanesque straight road it took us two hours to reach Valence via the N7. According to Apple maps, the same journey would have taken us only 30 minutes on the motorway. This really does go to s

On Day 2 of our journey on the RN7 we left Moulins and headed for Lapalisse. The route is now very rural with many farmers desperately trying to water their crops in the extreme heatwave. We have now learned that this a very ancient route, probably going back to the Gauls and definitely reconstructed and improved by the Romans as a major route from Rome to Paris. You can see how the small villages dotted along the route must have provided food and shelter to many travellers.

Usually when we take MoneyPenny to the south of France we zoom down the Route de Soleil Autoroute but this year we are trying 'slow travel' and retracing the Route Nacionale 7 (RN7). This was the original route that people took from Paris to the Mediterranean from the 1930s. It's been described as the French equivalent of Route 66, so we are trying to find and follow this historic route to the best of our ability. We've had a few days in Paris, staying as Hotel Des Artes in M

Leaving Glasgow, the weather improved as we drove south. The oil pressure stayed steady but the brake noise persisted. We stopped off to see Tim Stamper in Penrith http://www.stamper-astonmartin.com where the brake issue was fixed (it was the handbrake after all). As the sun peeped out from behind the clouds the beautiful green countryside of the Lake District unfolded and we arrived at our hotel in Ambleside. We had treated ourselves to two nights at Rothay Manor Hotel...