Left Pompey on a wet monday evening after work for the overnight crossimg to Caen - arrived 6am in Caen to an equally wet overcast morning
Treated myself to a Garmin GPS, from Amazon, - just the basic one with a small screen - fitted great onto the 356 dash and worked fine on the 6 volt system.
Set the GPS for Capestang,(South of France, almost at the Med) the little village where my parents were on their canal boat, and went for it.
Car running well, opened the rear quarterlights at at about 200 miles at last warming up a bit.
Front quarters at about 300 miles, weather looking good, wound the windows down at 400 - beautiful warm weather now - ready for our Millau Viaduct crossing -
Car running like a top - stopped for fuel, coffee (lots) and topped up with oil (didnt need a lot but filled it up to the top of the dipstick every time to be on the safe side).
We went via the toll roads all the way down, cost about £50 but enabled us to sit at a steady 80 mph (3650 rpm) the whole way - worth it if you want to get South quickly.
Pulled up in Capestang at about 4.30pm to a beautiful warm day - great to see the weather and landscape changing through the course of the day.
The car ran like a (slightly noisy) dream, must fit that carpet kit sometime, the whole way which was 606 miles - not bad for a days driving in a 47 year old car.
Dad in the background with his boat!
Had a few well deserved beers that evening then left the boys on the boat and took off with Ingrid my mrs for a few days of touring in the South of France.
August is a busy month on the coast but we managed to find hotels without to much difficulty, believe it or not but the hotel option on the GPS actually worked!
The best driving though was away from the coast in the mountains, superb twisty, quiet roads - 356 heaven
Beautiful sunny days, those roads - Matt Munro, (On Days Like These), playing - happy days!
(Got a bit nervous driving into the tunnels in case of hidden JCB's at the exit!!)
Four days away from the boat and another 400 + miles car still running great!
Returned back to the boat to rejoin the crew and managed to find a lovely little flat in the village centre for the last two nights - £50.00 a night with garaging! (Have details if anyone is interested)
Had a great couple of days in the sun then made out for the return journey - another superb 600 + mile trip in a day hardly dropping below 80 mph - only really needed to stop for fuel - the roads and conditions were superb.
Total mileage for the week long trip 1648 -
breakdowns nil!
(Despite taking a HUGE amount of tools and spares)
The car ran superbly - great at motorway speeds and even better in the mountains!!
To anyone thinking of a trip - pack up your tools and parts and do it - your car will love you for it!
Steve
(pleased to report the gearbox internals remained internals throught the journey, despite gloomy predictions
!!)
