MadaboutKitcars

Hi All,

I would like to take a long weekend road trip somewhere away from the UK, warm and dry at the end of Feb or March. 4-5 days maybe...

I drive a westfield and I am based in Shropshire ...

Any ideas/suggestions on routes to go?

Somewhere warm and dry in February a Westfield's drive away from the West Midlands you say? Hmm, that's a big ask. How far are you expecting to drive?

From where you are I'd get myself kitted up with some proper winter clothing, pack light and try one of the following (drive times assume you live around Coventry):

Head to Fishguard (about 4hrs drive) and take the ferry to Rosslare in Ireland. Book a B&B or two for overnight stops and take advantage of the ROI's fabulous driving roads, stunning countryside and legendary welcoming people.

Or make the journey to Harwich (about 3hrs) and take the ferry to Esbjerg in Denmark. The trip to Copenhagen takes about 3hrs and is well worth the journey as it's one of the most cosmopolitan cities I've ever been to. Another beautiful country with fabulous people.

Finally, my choice would be to drive to Newcastle (about 3hrs 20) and board the ferry to Stavanger in Norway. Take a good digital camera and get loads of pictures of your car as you drive around the fjords nearby, which are unbelievably stunning. (designed by Slartibardfast if you're a Douglas Adams fan, of course).

http://www.stavangertravel.co.uk/fjords-mountains-stavanger-norway.htm

I found the Norwegian people to be the second frendliest on Earth (after the Fijians) and loved every visit I made there. One word of caution though, if you like a drink, it's not exactly cheap...

Oh, and you'll need to check the ferry companies as they don't all do year round crossings.

Good luck and I hope you find a road trip you'll thoroughly enjoy.

There are not many places that are warm and dry at the time of year you are looking at, even in southern spain its not going to be too warm.

As Mr T has suggested already, Norway is stunning and well worth a visit. I would wait until summer and take a scenic drive from Stavanger upto the lofoten islands which is one of the prettiest places that Ive ever been to. Infact I cant think of a single place on earth that I would rather drive around.

I agree absolutely about Northern Norway. I did a month near Lofoten back in the early nineties, staying in a hotel in Harstad and working out of the flystasjonen at Evenes. It's about 50km inside the Arctic Circle, but we didn't get much sightseeing done as it was -40 and everything was totally iced up.

During a drinking session in the Hotel bar one night, some of the locals invited me to their favourite music bar in Harstad. We waited nearly an hour for a taxi, which then took us about 100 metres to the bar. It was just too dangerous to walk that far after having a drink.

When I did try to walk back to the hotel that night I had visions of Tony Robinson chipping me out of the ice on 'Time Team' AD 5000, and wondering at why this primitave ape man had chosen to die by walking out into the Arctic tundra wearing but a few items from the John Rocha spring collection.

Beautiful though it is, one slight fly in the ointment for this road trip is the distance (and I had got it on my list of 'must visits' in my Sammio when it's finished). We went in by 'fat albert' (C130 Hercules) and the trip took about four hours. You do realise that it's two thousand kilometres from Stavanger to Lofoten though. Hmm, a two and a half thousand mile round trip in a Westfield at -40. Yeah! Lets do it!