Classic Car Wife

After three glorious and restorative nights in Varenna on Lake Como, we set out for Brescia. It's a short distance to travel so we stopped off at Bergamo. We would recommend a visit to this town if you are ever in the vicinity. The old town on the hilltop was easily accessible in MoneyPenny and had an underground parking station leading through to the old town district. Alternatively, you could park at the bottom of the hill and catch the funicular up to the old town. There w

This is a museum dedicated to the early years of the famous Mille Miglia or 'Red Arrow' race between 1927 and 1957 https://www.museomillemiglia.it/en/index.php The museum has been set up in a beautiful old building complex and opened in 1996. Before the tragic accident that killed 11 people in 1957, this was a speed race that was like no other in the world. Drivers started in Brescia and drove to Rome and back in crazy average times of over 130- 150km/h over several days. The

Driving into Varenna is both beautiful and stressful. The road winds down to the village yet the scenery is truly magnificent. I had booked the cheapest room in the most lovely hotel in Varenna and we arrived to find that we had been upgraded to a lake view room with balcony. Thank you SO much to the Royal Hotel Victoria. https://www.royalvictoria.com/ (Did George and Amal put in a good word for us?) MoneyPenny rested up in the nearby public parking station. The pool at the h

This year's continental touring adventure in MoneyPenny focusses on Northern Italy. We're balancing a pilgrimage to classic car 'must-sees' with some art and culture, good food and sunshine. It's been a year since our Andalusian Adventure and there were some residual mechanical problems with MoneyPenny that needed attention before we set off. So, whilst Mr F was attending to those, I spent a couple of days with a friend, walking in the English countryside and reading novels.

Leaving Seville we endured a very hot 40 degree drive to Madrid, stopping at Merida en route to see some amazing Roman ruins there. At this time of year they have nightly performances in the Teatro - currently it's Medusa. Madrid reminded us a little of Paris, but smaller. The buildings are very grand, there are beautiful fountains, art galleries. lots of parkland and wide boulevards. We stayed at the 'Only YOU Boutique Hotel' https://www.onlyyouhotels.com/en/hotels/only-you-

Next we headed for the mountainous heart of Andalusia driving through the Grazalema National Park to Ronda. MoneyPenny did well on the tight turns and hill climbs, despite the extreme heat. The landscape is spectacular with rugged rocky peaks rising up and graceful kestrels and eagles riding the warm currents above. We took a leisurely pace and there wasn't much traffic (no-one else would be crazy enough to be out on these roads at this time of year) so it took us around 3-4

We left Malaga and drove along the coast road of the Cost del Sol. There were miles and miles and miles of apartment developments across the beachfront. It seemed to stretch on forever and ever. We headed to Tarifa - the southern-most point in Spain. As you leave the Costa del Sol, it is like a breath of fresh air driving through the National Park and then arriving on the Atlantic Coast. MoneyPenny cruised into Tarifa with views of Morocco and we enjoyed the kitesurfing, surf

After leaving Granada, we drove through an impressive mountain range and down to the coast. Mr F had read a guide in our hotel and thought we should try a beach called 'Cantarrijan' on the eastern end of the Costa del Sol. There was free parking at the top and a bus for only a few Euros took you down to a beautiful cove for swimming and snorkelling. There were mostly locals on the beach which was a little stoney but we rented two sun-beds with comfy mattresses for only 12 Eur

We started our real Andalusian Adventure in Granada - a beautiful town nestled in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada and home to one of the most beautifully preserved and restored palaces from the times when the Moors ruled that part of Spain, dating back to 1238. It's now quite rightly a UNESCO World Heritage site. The drive from Alicante took us through some very arid countryside with magnificent rocky mountainous outcrops and ranges. I had booked us into the Hotel Casa Mor

After the roadside repairs, we made it to Valencia. The Hotel Palacio Santa Clara https://www.marriott.com/es/hotels/vlcak-palacio-santa-clara-autograph-collection/overview/ has the most beautiful rooftop pool and bar - just perfect after a long, hot drive. MoneyPenny was happily taken care of by the valet parking guy - they always love her :) We had a delicious meal of grilled octopus followed by the best-ever paella. What a great stopover! With our mission to reach Andalu

We arrived in beautiful Girona after the long drive from Saint Tropez. We had visited Girona in 2019 BCCW (Before Classic Car Wife) and really loved it. This is a stunning city with magnificent buildings, art, museums and culture. I had booked us into the Hotel Historic in the old town - a beautiful conversion of on old building and our room was stunning! It's a family owned and run hotel and very friendly. Being an old town there was no parking but we lucked it with a free s

We are about to start an amazing road trip around Spain over the next few weeks. We've already been on the road for a few weeks. I've been to a conference in Lausanne and we've had some time in the south of France relaxing and working remotely. While I was at the conference, Mr F stopped off at Mulhouse to view the Schlumpf Collection. https://www.musee-automobile.fr/en/ . What a shame that I missed out on that (not!). He says the best thing was seeing over 130 Bugattis in th

Sorry readers for the silence. While we were in Ireland, my mother-in-law took ill back in Australia and we had to cut short our journey and head back early. She has recovered well since. We managed to spend a great night in Derry then a couple of castle stops in County Galway which were fantastic. We will just have to return! My Irish heritage beckons!

After leaving Dublin, we took a very comfortable drive up the motorway to Belfast and spent the afternoon at the Titanic Quarter. This was a really great experience and we also stayed at the Titanic Hotel in the refurbished offices of Harland and Wolf. Highly recommended. I wish we had more time on this trip as it would have been good to explore Belfast more. We set out along the Causeway Coastal Route with the aim of getting to Derry by the end of the day. Unfortunately the

PG is taking her first road trip, which is around Ireland. We drove from her homebase near Gatwick for an overnight stop in Manchester. I have never been to Manchester and had a GGG grandmother who worked in the cotton mills and stole some clothes resulting in her being sent to Australia as a convict. Manchester was a bit underwhelming for us. The city is quite grubby but we had a GREAT stay at the Hotel Gotham - complete with valet parking. The rooftop bar and the hotel rest

We have had so much fun in MoneyPenny and have been planning some UK road trips. Mr F sold his business and decided to congratulate...

Since we put MoneyPenny into our garage last August she has had a wheel-balance and some new oil in the supercharger and is back on the road driving beautifully from Amiens to Ypres following the ANZAC Remembrance Trail and the journeys of my great uncles who volunteered in WW1 on the Western Front. This blog will be mainly about Remembrance and not the car. MoneyPenny will make cameo appearances only. I have six great uncles who volunteered in WW1 from Australia - two fought

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