Meanwhile in the real world…
“in the real world.”… we dashed home for an important appointment with the Infirmiers…
3.5 hours non-stop on terrible roads… which has resulted in OH being crippled for the last couple of weeks.
In normal circs we would stop every 1.5 or 2 hours… didn’t need the Gendarmes telling us “it makes sense”… as we’ve known it through years of international driving, when we were both fit and healthy.
Pretty sure it was '65 or '66, but just checked and I later got to Sydney during the 6 day war, so '67.
@Stella Shades of Hell Drivers, a film about tipper drivers on such a system from quarries. A bit of harmless fun, they speeded the film up to make it look as if the lorries went faster.
Don’t know about France but such a system of payment is illegal in the UK, but not in the USA where payment by mile is frequent.
It’s not harmless when we’re stuck in a 50kph and they’re practically in the boot, flashing and hooting… trying to egg us on…
Certainly, our car can do a good speed… when it’s right to do so… and we leave 'em behind at the first opportunity. However, on slowing for another reduced limit… we watch the wagon come roaring up behind us again… I wish we had Gendarmes patrolling those roads.
Ah, you were ahead of me by ten years. I was mid seventies out of Wyndham. Some great memories…
I once spent an unscheduled week in Kassel after an unscheduled car breakdown. There’s a great Schloß, the world’s only wallpaper museum, one dedicated to the Brothers Grimm and a rather fine park.
It’s also where I learned what Zylinderkopfdichtung means, and that as the Renault 14’s engine is mounted sideways and tilted over, replacement of same requires removal of wheels, gearbox and engine to do the 15 minute job of replacing the gasket. So if you need a recommendation for a garage, please ask!
If it’s that bad is it not safer to just pull over, stop and get out of the idiot’s way?
I never actually made it to Wyndham, through Kununurra to the station where we loaded up, and then back to Katherine. Did Noel have a base in Wyndham at that time then?
Back in about 1970 on a camping holiday with a pal. Costa Brava to Halifax in one. About 25 hours or so with the only break on the Dover to Calais ferry. We were to share the driving but after 10 minutes I took over again as he was hopeless.
Believe me… if we could, we would.
there’s a sign to placate impatient motorists… it states that there is a 90kph overtaking-stretch in a few kilometres… and we almost hold our breath waiting for that happy moment when the lorry can sail past us in safety…
then we watch as it tries to bully its way past other vehicles and finally sits in the boot of another victim, just as the road returns to its slower, bendy-bendy no-overtaking mode.
Yes, he bought out East Kimberley Transport and made that his depot. Made sense as Wyndham was a huge destination point for him.
You then must have known Kununurra in its early life digging out Argyle? I was there at the tail end when Dravo had finished, drove all the excavation machines to the bottom and waited for the first rain. I had some brilliant photos but all lost now
I really don’t want to divert this thread further but my only memory of K was being forced to park on the by-pass to walk a mile to the pub, only to find it closed.
I stayed on a barge sort of thing in Nantes in 2021 on my way somewhere. The only resto was on the other side of the Erdre river over this viaduct. As I was going to have a glass or two of wine me and my poor heart slogged up the steps over the river and down the other side. I staggered up to the resto and realised I’d left my credit cards in the car. So a repeat journey was required. A well earned dinner that night.
We do Somerset to Pyrennees just me driving over three days using Péage whenever possible. They feel like long days usually around 7 to 8 hours with stops. Stopover in Ibis Budget is comfy and reasonable.
Might be a guide for you.
Audio books are your friend.
Not necessarily. Returning home late one night and very tired I was listening to Stephen Fry reading Harry Potter and I was so absorbed I missed my turning on the M25!!!
Another plus for in car sat nav, it interrupts what ever you are listening to with important jumction information.