As per the title we are driving down to Italy in the SWB , first day Mon 7th
Chester to Dover staying at the Premier Inn (Central Dover) approx 295 miles averaged 34mpg .
The owner of the Jaguar XK150 I parked next to has owned the car for 30 years it was brought from Africa .He had carried out a full restoration apart from the paint some time ago and it has gained a wonderful patina .
He was driving down through France to watch the Historic Monaco Grand Prix .
Next morning after breakfast we queued up for the 8am ferry to Dunkirk sailing time approx 2 hrs plus the extra hour so got away from Dunkirk at about 11:15 .
Our next overnight was an IBIS just south of Luxembourg at Thionville this was 265 miles from Dunkirk , the route we took was Lille/Charleroi/Namur/Luxembourg .
The next overnight was an Agritourismo in Camorino/Switzerland this was 350 miles from Thionville , the route we took was Metz/Strasbourg/Basel/Lucerne .
We had to stop at the Swiss border to buy the Vignette .
We were making good time until the queue for the Gotthard tunnel , the queue probably started about 5 miles before the tunnel , crawling along in first gear up the side of the Alps for what seemed like a couple of hours (probably closer to an hour) was not fun .
We are staying in Cervia/Italy approx 265 miles from Camorino, the route we took was Lugano/Milan/Piacenza/Parma/Modena/Bologna/Cesena , we have a 3 bed apartment from the 10th to the 20th .
The main reason for booking the apartment in Cervia was because this is the location for the overnight halt after the first day of the Mille .
We took the opportunity to visit the Republic of San Marino and ended up parked in the darkest tightest car park ever , I don’t really know what I was expecting from San Marino but it is incredibly touristy but saying that the views are to die for .
The Mille Miglia would end day 1 in Cervia in the main car park and for a couple of days before-hand there were signs up everywhere stating that the car park would be closed at 14:00 on the afternoon on the day the Mille Miglia cars were due to arrive , of course not everyone takes any notice and this is what happens (oops).
The first cars were due to arrive at 21:30 and were still arriving at Mid-night , it was packed and the atmosphere was brilliant , after clocking in the cars then drove about a mile away to Milano Maritima where the crews were staying overnight , where else would you have expensive classic (racing) cars left on the street overnight.
Next morning I drove down to Milano Maritima and was able to park up about 400 yards from the start and ended up next to the waiting Mille cars .
We drove back over the same roads as on the way down but stayed at a different hotel in (expensive) Switzerland , this hotel was at the foot of the Gotthard pass which I was hoping would have been opened , but no and there was police making sure you didn`t try .
The next day on the section from Switzerland to France we were driving close to Mulhouse so took the opportunity to call in to the Schlumpf Museum ,16€ entry more classic/vintage/racing cars you could ever wish to see well worth it .
In total we covered approx 2,800 miles and used 1.5 litres of oil , with no mechanical problems at all .
We took in case of problems the following.
I had read up about the Mille Miglia and it doesn`t matter how it is described it is better , my best car experience ever , Geoff .
Great write up. Mille Miglia is on my bucket list (as a tourist)