Classic Car Wife

For those who are interested, these are the stats on our recently completed French road trip. We travelled 2550 miles or 4103 kms. We spent 1082 pounds on fuel (1265 euros) We purchased 128 gallons (582 Litres) of fuel. Our highway consumption was 22 miles per gallon (12.83 litres per 100kms) Overall we did 19 miles per gallon We started our journey on 31st July and finished on 31st August 2023. We estimate that we spent approximately 250 euros on tolls. Parking fees were 30

With our coast-to-coast Odyssey completed, and a week spent relaxing in the sunshine of St Tropez, we needed to get MoneyPenny back to base in the UK. There are a number of routes we could take but this time we decided to return via Dijon and Paris. St Tropez to Dijon looked 'do-able' from the comfort of our kitchen when planning this journey. A bit over six hours was going to be a decent day of driving (mainly on motorways). However, it would be a new destination for us and

We made it to our Mediterranean destination and spent a week based in an AirBnB apartment in the Old Town of St Tropez. MoneyPenny was in very good company with a lot of beautiful prestige cars in town. Mostly these were new Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Porsches driven by young rich dudes but there was much respect and many thumbs up, smiles and nods of approvals for our dear DB7 girl who was unique in town. She was a great match for the glamour of the super-yachts! If you are

We ended up staying four nights in Toulouse - two more than we had planned - and forfeited our two-night stay in Marseilles. After Tuesday's Assumption of Mary public holiday we woke on Wednesday with high hopes that we would find an alternator somewhere in Toulouse. After all, it's the fourth largest city in France and is home to about half a million people. Well it seems that many of the good people of Toulouse have shut up shop and gone on holidays (after all it IS August)

Ah, the joys of holidaying in a classic car. This morning, MoneyPenny's battery started discharging and the warning light came on as we were heading out for the day to see 'not a car museum but an aircraft museum' called Aeroscopia by Airbus. The contents of our car's boot have been emptied onto the ground so many times today to access the battery that I gave up taking photos. See some of the highlights below. The brain cogs of my dear husband have been whirring away in overd

We are just finishing four nights in an apartment called Le Porche de Sarlat in Sarlat-de-Canada. It's been a great base for the region. The apartment is right next door to the cathedral and we have enjoyed the bells and the live music in the square outside our apartment. There is a lovely little courtyard to sit in, we have enjoyed making a coffee in the mornings and fresh croissants from the boulangerie around the corner and sharing a baguette for lunch. The town is very pi

Our Atlantic base was Bordeaux and we drove to Arcachon to swim and partake of the coastal delights. We were there a week before the famous Fete de Mer and as was to be expected in August, the traffic was bad, but the sun was shining and the roof was down...Happy days! We ate delicious seafood, swam on the beach and ventured to the Dune de Pilat (highest sand dune in Europe). Unfortunately we could not find any photo opportunities of MoneyPenny by the Atlantic! They keep the

Our few days in Amboise were unseasonably chilly and windy but we still put the roof down and enjoyed driving the countryside and seeing 'les chateaux'. Unfortunately there were no photo opportunities of MoneyPenny in front of Chambord - they keep the public parking well away from the main attractions. I did however, manage to purchase a very nice Imari-style vase for 20 Euros at a market in Montrichard. MoneyPenny's luggage capacity is going to be stretched by the end of thi

MoneyPenny had a rest day at the hotel today. We have walked to all the sights today! It's just as well because we need to walk off some of the calories we have consumed. Restaurant recommendation: Last night we had an amazing meal at Le Choiseul Amboise at the 36 restaurant https://www.lechoiseulamboise.com/restaurant/ Amazing food and service!!!! The Chateaux Amboise which towers over our hotel, was the home of Francois1 and his establishment of the Knights of the the Orde

We've driven just over three hours today and have arrived in the beautiful town of Amboise in the Loire Valley. One of the highlights of this drive for me was listening on the radio to the late and great Jacqueline du Pres and her husband Daniel Barenboim play Cesar Franck's Cello Sonata in A Major while the burgeoning cornfields of France rolled by and MoneyPenny purred down the motorway. Life doesn't get much better than that! Rouen was a good stopover last night and the Ho

We're back and reunited with our dear MoneyPenny! She's had a number of things done to her while we've been back in Australia, but more on that tomorrow! Today, we put her on Le Shuttle again (more than 2 hours delay!!) and we are on an overnight stop in Rouen. It's good to be back in the car and back in France. Had a great meal and good wine tonight and will be on the road tomorrow....stay tuned for updates! We're back!