Once into Italy, then out, the in again skipping back and forth across the border the Auto route to Lake Garda was good fun, especially when Italians are so easy to bait into a drag challenge.
The weather had not been great for us (even snow on the pass) but on Wednesday and Thursday it came good...
Our hotel in the lakes...
and the view of Lake Garda form our rooms...
A sunny 25 degrees on Thursday morning and we set out North again (yes we were all vain enough to wash our cars on the Wednesday night when arriving at Lake Garda),
set to go to the San Bernardino Pass, that idea was parked when we came across the miles of tunnels along the Eastern shore of Lake Como that lead to the Splugenpass which was simply breathtaking
Some 40 hairpins combined between the up hill climb and down hill descent and sheer drops make it as challenging as Stelvio. By the time we had done that route it was time to head to our last hotel just outside Lucerne.
with an unusual swimming pool / sauna...
Our last stop before heading home the next morning
I was gutted when my RNS-E went psycho on me and split me from the others before it was suposed to but managed to get my ferry with 10 minutes to spare. 540 miles in 6.5 hours including another v.expensive 90 Euro top up stop in Germany and the last 30 miles in an hour, I can't believe how sh**e the Dutch are at driving!
So in conclusion, a fantastic tour, great company, the Swiss have the best roads and tunnels (The Italians would be on a par but their road surfaces are sometimes as bad as the UK) and well worth doing. If anyone wants details of the routes we took or hotesl we stayed at feel free to PM me.
And not stopped once by the law apart from outside my house when I got home by some jumped up prat in a BMW 530d touring area car who has subsequently put me on a verbal warning. Only one of 2 downsides to an otherwise excellent trip. Just wish KR had his car to enjoy it all.
One last comment, the RS4 is a simply awesome car to do this trip in. Never put a foot wrong, on track, in snow at sea level or at 9000+ feet, took everything in its stride and still delivered 23.7mpg on the trip and hit 300kph on the speed on the derestricted sections of German Autobahn. If anything seeing Mac's car has made me appreciate how beautiful a car it is and how versatile it is and appreciate it as a super wagon even more. I won't be getting rid for a long time yet.
pad125's car sounded awesome, mac was right the Tubi exaust does make ears bleed, so I know I have to get my back boxes done to complete the package. I'm sure there were a few bleeding ears in Lucerne when we were doing drive by's on Thursday evening; all the locals were gesticulating for us to give it the beans in pad125's car / nominated evening taxi.
