Pyrenees 2024. 3 week 4000Mile road trip

We bought the R8 to do road trips as well as trackdays. I know these posts can be a bit repetitive, but I like re-reading them in a few years, so I don’t necessarily expect people to look at everything and will skim through a lot of it.

I’m not going to post the whole trip at once, mostly because I haven’t finished typing it up yet  I will try and make a post every day or 2 over the next week.

Day 1
Put together a simple spares pack, coilpacks, oil, brake pads and a few tools. Only for something I could fix myself, anything else and I have European recovery.

The rear shelf is surprisingly roomy for storage, the netting really helps keep everything secure too. Highly recommended if you have an R8.

On our way to the tunnel we called at GSM in Nottingham to try out seats to replace standard ones in the car. Settled on the Cobra Nogaro, it’s the most suitable for comfort and access for us.

Next was a straightforward motorway drive to the tunnel, it recognised the car was low and automatically sent us on the tall vehicle section.

We shared the compartment with a load of Scots on their way to the 80year anniversary of the D day landing. They’d been drinking most of the drive down and were stood around the car chatting with cans of beer in hand, occasionally leaning over it to have a closer look. They were a Nice group , it certainly made the crossing go quickly!

As we were exiting the eurotunnel complex, a large group of young people were gesticulating for me to rev it. I’ve seen videos where people try showing off and end up in the kerb or with a police car pulling out behind so I just revved it. Guy found me online and sent me the link before we’d arrived at the B&B

The B&B is a French couple who have rooms available.

The evening meal choice was “meat or Fish”  turned out to be a really nice meal actually and not something we’d have chosen otherwise.

A walk through the village alongside the stream was a good opportunity to stretch our legs after sitting in the car all day.

The next parts of the trip are much shorter distances with almost no motorway driving. There are some awesome roads on the route and we are looking forward to driving them next week.

Phone footage doesn’t capture just how good the exhaust sounded when I dropped it to 2nd and nailed it in the long tunnel we passed through. I will try again

Look forward to the exciting “this is how many bags you can fit in an R8” post coming soon. I know, you can hardly contain yourself in anticipation.

Day 2

This was the last big motorway drive for some time . The rest of the trip will be A roads or smaller.
We filled up what I suspect will be the first of many fuel stops in the trip “well if you stopped accelerating away from every junction it wouldn’t use so much. ” I have no idea what she’s on about

It rained. Bah. Then the sun came out. Yaay

Arrived at Le Mans where they are well on with preparation for the 24hr next week. The museum was interesting, I quite liked the effort taken to make models of the winners and finishers from 1923. Lou and I both preferred cars from the 80’s and 90’s. I think that’s what we remember seeing on TV from our younger days…

I wanted a photo of the sign so pulled to the side so Lou could take photos.
Security guard came over. “No! Don’t park there! park in the middle of the roundabout at the entrance.” er ok! Lou started taking a few photos “you both get in, I’ll take the pictures!”. what a nice guy.

A few other people wanted photos of the car whilst it was parked there. I’ve never experienced that before This turned out to be a common occurence on this trip, I have never had a car that people stopped and looked at before. It’s not something I really expected.

We then loaded one of the apps I’ve downloaded to plan drives along a scenic route (MyrouteApp). It worked really well, took us along some fabulous roads and apart from random French van drivers coming around blind corners in the middle of the road, it was fine.Tomorrow we’ll plan the route manually to compare, but it was a good test to see if it worked but it’s so clunky I found it frustrating.

My sons Girlfriend said we just HAD to call at Roche Bobois where she works as they had a branch in Tours.

I’m not particularly impressed with the Goldfish bowl  I guess I’m not cool enough to appreciate it.

Hotel tonight is pretty good, we’ve just had a nice meal and beer.

Several people commented on luggage capacity before we left and how poor the R8 is for space. We each have a hard backed medium sized case on rollers that go in the frunk (front trunk) a small rucksack each and finally a rucksack that goes behind the seats. That’s before the laptop bag, spares and tools whilst still keeping the area we sit in empty

Trips like this are a great way to get to really know a car. We both found things we liked (large cabin and decent ride) and things we didn’t (stupidly placed drinks holder). Lou has decided she prefers the exhaust engine noise in a high gear and me flooring it from 3000rpm. Me, rev it to 8700 and let it scream  It’s as economical as I expected, 24.6mpg so far. 6th feels like it could be taller as its doing 3000rpm at 75mph, but that’s only because the X5 is diesel and 8speed.

A warning popped up on the Dash

Plugged in VCDS (VW Diagnostic software). Said oil level was 0mm. I know that’s a lie as the dipstick is showing full. This fault kept clearing and reappearing throughout the trip.

I had an annoying squeak from the dashboard, found it! So I’ll fix that before we set off in the morning

Left the motorway for the rest of the trip and found some deserted quiet stretches of road, excellent sight lines and 2nd gear hairpins. No screeching tyres, just swift progress on some superb roads.

It would appear my driving caused the rear of the car to get a bit hot…. It started melting the vinyl on the R8 sticker.

The direct route to our destination was 2 hours, it took us 4 and didn’t seem too long at all. Windows down the entire trip and we both agreed this is exactly what we hoped it would be like.

For lunch we buy the pre-made salad packs from Lidle or a similar local supermarket.

Navigate to a picnic site or if you can`t find one, stop at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. It’s pretty healthy, you get to sit outside and is cheaper than eating in a cafe every lunchtime.

Stayed with Dave and Justine at their house in rural France. I’ve known them for over 15 years after meeting them at the Ring. We’ve kept in touch and they now live in France, this was a perfect opportunity to call and see them. Dave cooked Pizza, we stayed up chatting until 11pm then carried on this morning until we left at 11:30.

Day 3

We didn’t leave Dave and Justine until 1130, good thing today was under 3 hours on the main roads. We didn’t take the main road, but the option was there if we wanted to.
If you’ve ever driven a Manual R8 there is a good chance you’ll have found the clutch footrest too intrusive. It’s discussed a lot on the R8 forum. As you press the clutch, the left side of your fiit catches on the footrest

Removed it to see if it helped, just left the aluminium base behind. Way better and whilst it may not look as neat, I catch it with my foot far less now.

Lou had her first drive, she was somewhat apprehensive at first but hopefully after a few more goes she’ll be fine.

The roads today were good in places but others were quite dull, even though we were on the road for 4 hours, it still went quickly. Cafe stop late afternoon broke up the journey nicely, we simply stop at the nearest town when we fancy a break.

It’s been in the mid 20’s and for the second day in a row we’ve had the car windows down since setting off in the morning until parking up at the end of the drive. Average mpg has dropped significantly after yesterday and today.

The room tonight is a guesthouse at the bottom of the garden.

Lovely hostess and the evening meal at a local restaurant was delicious.

Day 4
Saturday already! Drove the the vineyards around Bordeaux, there are loads of them but we weren’t bothered about doing a tour / tasting. 

The last few days avoiding major roads and motorways has reduced the distance we cover during the day but we’re seeing some really nice towns and villages which is the point of this part of the trip.
Then we started driving through an area where we both commented looked a little desolate.

This went on for miles and miles, then we noticed the stacks of wood at the side of the road were of burned trees.

Lou looked online and found it was from a huge year long fire in 2022 that covered a massive area   you read about these things but only when you are driving at speed and the devastation goes on and on do you get an appreciation of just how bad it was.

Arriving in Mimizan and had an ice cream.

Followed by a walk on the beach

Parked out of the way in the carpark and nobody had parked next to me when we came back!  

Nice hotel, room looked OK. Clean and functional

Had a beer and nibbles on the balcony before dinner.

Then we saw the bathroom.   I’m sure when it was installed in the 1970’s it was very modern. 50 years later, less so…..

Another huge thunderstorm and lightning last night for over an hour made for a great spectacle from the balcony.

Day 5
We’ve made it to Spain   but the forecast is to start improving from the morning onwards.

Oh, this looks interesting !

I’ve finally added some video, admittedly not the best, but it gives a good idea of what the conditions are like and just how good that engine sounds   Even in these conditions, the car gives loads of feedback and inspires great confidence. It wasn’t that quick, but it was enough to be able to get full throttle in 2nd which with greasy tarmac is saying something.

The weather wasn’t great at all, the higher we went, the mistier it became

Had the intermittent sensor error again, it’s a known weakness in these, oil level sensor gets hot and breaks down. The actual oil level is fine and the error comes and goes so I’ll continue to check the oil, which seems unnecessary as it hasn’t used a drop but it takes seconds so I’ll carry on. New sensor will be ordered to be waiting when I get home.

Checked into the Hotel in San Sebastian, carpark underground and he asked if I had a wide car, and gave me a large parking bay when I replied I had. The doors are massive and it really does make getting out tricky in a narrow carpark space, especially if the car next to you is quite close.

After yesterday we both checked out the bathroom decor.

Found a nice bar with a really good vibe. Decided a Mohito was the drink for the evening, but why do I look so tired ! Apparently “it’s because you are getting old”. Er, thanks…..

I had prawns in Garlic, Lou had Teriyaki Tuna, both superb dishes. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be one of those posts where I photograph every plate of food

Back to the room and watched the F1  

Tomorrow we meet up with Ian, Jude, Chris, Jemma and Mike when their ferry arrives at Santander for the next chapter of the trip into the Pyrenees.

Day 6

Spent the morning in San Sebastian, still a bit chilly but we had a walk on the beach and then lunch.

It’s been a while since we’ve hit our 10,000 steps. But we weren’t climbing all those stairs and used the free lift instead

The underground car park was very secure, quite tight to manoeuvre and the splitter just scraped on the ramp.

Headed across to Santander to meet the rest of the group who had taken the ferry.

Walkie talkies were handed out, these allow the lead car to let the ones behind know if it’s clear or not when driving on a road with unsighted corners. I led at first out of the city and into the hills towards Logroño, a few 2nd gear hairpins but no fast roads. Last minute confirmation of the route we were taking before setting off.

We switched the order and Ian led for a while through some quick twists sections of the N232.

Driving through the tunnels and hearing the Cayman who both have loud switchable exhausts, then Mike in the V8 and finally us in the V10. They all sound very different. This will be the part of the trip where the Quicksilver exhaust that came with the car would have been absolutely unbelievable. Living with it for the rest of the trip meant that was never going to happen

Mike has already used the “you’ve got newer tyres and more power than me” excuse.

Windows were down but it started to get a bit chilly, heated seats and cabin fan on full hot fixed that.

Another tight underground carpark then we walked into town for a meal.

There was a huge festival going on in the town which made finding a restaurant tricky, but we managed.

Well I thought yesterday was good but today was quite simply the most fun I’ve ever had driving a car on the road . I turned to Lou at one point and said “This is why I came on this roadtrip“.

Long flowing sections of road, no need for 3 figure speeds but wow, what a thrill!

We stopped a few times for photos of the cars and the 3 hour journey ended up being double as we made a detour off the main road and onto the fun ones.

Tried to get a photo of the cars when Mike wandered into the frame and stood there talking, completely oblivious to the fact I was trying to take a picture

Called into Navarra circuit as we were driving and I had a feeling we were close, looked on the map and we literally passed the circuit so we called in to see the Circuit Days guys who were running a trackday there, said Hi Tom, Steve and Chris. A very quiet day, perfect conditions and what looked like a good track.

Driving up through a series of switchback hairpins gave me the opportunity to floor it in 1st all the way to the redline, into 2nd then brake and do it again. And again. That feeling of hard acceleration, V10 howling behind simply doesn’t get boring.

I wondered if it would but nope, even after doing it so much today I’d happily do it all again tomorrow and the rest of the group felt exactly the same

Glorious weather and empty roads for most of the morning

At home you occasionally get chance to put your foot down for a few moments, but with the growing number of cameras even on quieter roads, you simply don’t get opportunities like this. The oil actually went up to 110 degrees, when it has sat solidly at 100 the entire trip should help explain how much we were using the cars, but not at silly speeds and that’s what was so good about it.The sensor warning from the other day seems to have cleared itself as it hasn’t come back but I’ll replace it when we get home anyway.

It’s the first time I can recall getting the tyres up to 40+ degrees on the road

Thick fog as we passed into France

Coming round a corner and we found horses roaming freein the middle of road, we  slowed everything down to 20kph for quite a while.

The worst YMCA impression you’ll ever see

When you see a tunnel several miles long, you’d think lowering the windows, slowing right down then flooring it would get old. It doesn’t. At all

Out for Tapas and a drink, back to the hotel where a random Finnish hockey player who was absolutely smashed started talking to Jude. We all found it hilarious and carried on talking leaving her stuck with him

I said Tuesday was the best driving on the public roads I’ve ever done.

I was wrong.

Wednesday was better. These were just the sort of roads you expect in the Pyrenees, barrier on one side, left / right / left sequences for mile after mile with the odd straight, some hairpins and tunnels for good measure. Absolutely brilliant and we were all buzzing about it last night. The N260a is definitely worth a drive

Engine oil was almost as hot as when I was on track at Cadwell the other week we were pushing the engines so much.

I’m starting to understand the car a lot more now, yesterday saw a lot of rain and gentle, progressive throttle, steering and brake inputs were needed. Coming out of hairpins, the challenge was to accelerate as hard as possible without triggering the traction control. The steering is extremely direct and responsive, adding just enough lock, without having to then remove it as the car responded so quickly is something that’s taken a little bit of time to get just right.

I’m much smoother with throttle on and off than I was a week ago, the pedal is so sensitive and the engine is so responsive that it’s easy to make it uncomfortable for the passenger and not only that, the shift in weight upsets the car.

The PS4S were absolutely the right tyre, in the rain we tackled a sequence of hairpins and all of us said we genuinely doubted we’d have gone any faster in the dry.

Not once have I regretted this choice, it’s doing absolutely everything I hoped with no drama.

Nice hotel but the food was average at best.

If I say Thursday was the best driving day so far, you’re going to start thinking I say it every day regardless of what it was actually like

Instead I’ll say if you ever drive the N-260 Collada de Toses, you’ll understand.  I couldn’t stop grinning at the end of it.

For those who drive on track, you’ll know that increasing your tyre pressures from 38 to 48.5psi in under 15 minutes means you are driving reasonably quickly . I did that on the road, mostly in second gear.

It was an absolutely superb section of road, especially with the walkie talkies as the passenger in the lead car was calling out if it was clear ahead or not.

I could tell the tyres were getting warm, I’m definitely at the point now where I have a much better understanding of what the car is doing and how it’s behaving. The steering is superbly balanced and it’s a very different experience to either fwd or rwd when you lean on it. Traction simply isn’t a problem unless you stamp on the throttle exiting a 180 degree hairpin, then the rear does slide…

I tried left foot braking I’m not sure if it’s the seating position, but my left leg starts cramping up fairly quickly, even if it’s not on a fast bit of road. Hmm.

A large bird of prey flew overhead with a snake in its claws, you can see it on the rear dashcam screenshot

We started off the day in Spain and drove across into Andorra, I’ve never seen so many petrol stations in such a short stretch of road! It’s €1.49 (£1.25) a litre of 98ron so we obviously brimmed the cars.

There are some extremely scenic views and we stopped to take some photos then drove a series of switchbacks before stopping in a ski town for a walk and to pickup food for lunch.

A short detour into France before heading back into Spain made it 3 countries in a day.

The N-260 drive followed before we headed past Girona and down to the villa where we’re based for the next 4 nights. It’s stunning and a great base.

If you’d have told me I’d be driving for over 6 hours a day I’d have said no thank you, not for me. That’s because I’m comparing it to either a long motorway drive or just driving in the UK. The roads here are so much quieter and have sections where anyone interested in cars can experience roads like these, non of us thought it felt that long, we’re obviously tired at the end of the day.

The dash flashed up check oil level, the V10 is known to burn some oil so I checked the dipstick, it’s exactly where it should be. More lies from the failing sensor

So far we’d driven every day. The point of the villa was a base for 4 days, an opporunity to relax, chill by the pool and have a breather. Whilst this is a driving holiday, we don`t need to drive all the time. So we had very lazy one. Zero driving, just chilling in the villa and pool.  We’d bought 2kg of prawns and has several comments of “we aren’t going to eat all those!” we did

I wanted to check the R8 over, ensure nothing was amiss and see how worn the brake pads are. My plan is to replace the calipers, discs and pads before the Ring next month, so it seemed daft fitting new pads at over £300 when they are getting replaced after the trip. I have a spare set of front and rear pads that I’ll be returning unopened after the trip, if necessary I will fit them but as it turns out the existing ones are OK.

Gave it a quick wash afterwards, all the cars were all absolutely filthy.

Had a play with Chris’s drone, hopefully we’ll be able to get some driving footage on Saturday.

Then we just sat and chilled.

 

The roads are as good as the others in Spain, but, it appears Saturday is when cyclists go for a ride. It means progress was slow, but having them shouting at us when they were coming round a corner on our side of the road and they had to go back to theirs was a bit much

The coastal road was stunning and sections were clear and enjoyable. I’m getting to the point where I am picking up things from the car I wasn’t before. Initial turn in is a bit lazy on these very quick left /right /left sections. That’s partly down to Audi setting it up with understeer and the dampers that are now 15 years old.

The dampers will be replaced next month, Geo will help and the tyres are PS4S which I keep raving about but ultimately, in hot dry weather like this start to show their soft sidewall and the tyre is taking a moment to catch up with what I want it to do.

This is all very minor, I’m only noticing it as I drive it more, get comfortable with the car and really try and concentrate on understanding what’s going on dynamically underneath me.

Something like a Caterham would be epic on the narrower, twister road like these, but not for the rest of the trip.

We were all chatting last night, all of us are pleased with our cars, Lou and I have discussed it quite a lot this trip and we’re still absolutely delighted with our choice

Had mixed Paella for lunch and a walk along the beach before heading back to the villa, watching the start of the Le Mans 24.

Walked into town and had some fantastic cocktails, one of the nicest Mojito’s I can recall having.

The recommended Italian restaurant was packed, no reservations so we made sure we arrived as they opened. Everyone enjoyed it.

Walked through the town on the way back, it felt odd to be back in such big crowds after being mostly by ourselves for so long.

Day 12

Sunday was a day out in Barcelona.

The drive down is an hour and a half and I realised along the way Chris and Ian are losing their Petrolhead status. Every single tunnel, I blipped the throttle, it’s just what you do isn’t it , I’m sad to say they didn’t

The centre of the city was busy but Ian had found a decent car park. Apart from the huge kerb to get in, the splitter made a lovely crunching noise as I drove up it, yes it was diagonally before someone asks. You know it`s loud when people walking along the pavement stop and turn around to look.

Walked around for a while, took touristy photos and had a nice lunch. Walked to the marina and had an ice cream before strolling along the beach.

I like spending a day on the beach but this was absolutely packed, not my idea of fun at all. It still gave us lots to look at and comment on though.

Took a taxi back to the carpark, it was an hour away and none of us fancied walking it, we’d already got our step count in for the day.

We drove back along the coast road and the GI-682 which was a lot quieter than yesterday. We still drove sensibly and stopped halfway to have a breather and let Chris and Ian get some drone footage.

A father and young son pulled up in their camper for a walk and they started taking photos in front of each car, he seemed to like the R8 so I asked if he wanted to sit in it. His grin said yes.

After they walked back to the van he came back to show me his favourite matchbox toy car. An R8 ! I could tell by his and his dad’s reaction it had made his day

It really wasn`t a hardship for me but it was a really nice feeling to be able to let someone so obviously excited sit in the car.

Second  gear is ideal for these roads, it’s very tall geared but the engine has so much torque I don’t need to change gear unless it’s a really tight hairpin.

For me, this pace allows me to really focus on car positioning, steering and throttle inputs. Being smooth, light grip on the steering wheel and progressive on the pedals whilst feeling what the suspension and tyres are doing underneath you. When I first bought the R8, the performance on the road was so much it was a bit of a sensory overload, but like anything, once you’ve driven it for a while you start filter out the big stuff to be able to pickup the little details.

This driving is brisk but certainly not too fast, everyone is happy and the roads mean it would be criminal to just sit in 3rd and drive slowly

We stopped off in town for the evening meal, Lou, Jem and Jude shared Sangria. Afterwards we headed back to the villa for a beer and to enjoy our last night here before we head off tomorrow.

It’s been a lovely pause in the middle of the holiday and we all agreed having a stay of at least 2 nights in one place every 4 days of driving is a good idea and something we’ll incorporate into future trips.

Monday morning we left the villa and headed back to Vielha. It’s a good 5 hour drive, before you start avoiding motorways. More like 7 on the roads we take. I won’t say it’s not a long time in the car, it is a full day but we stop and have a cuppa or just stretch our legs. The driving is so different, it’s not the same as sitting on the motorway all day. If you ever go out for a drive and after a section of road think “I really enjoyed that” imagine that over most of the trip. That’s what it’s like and why the days whilst obviously tiring aren’t a chore.

It’s the hottest since we arrived, peaking at 32 degrees at 18:00. Lou and I had the drivers window down pretty much the entire drive, apart from when she was recording some footage. My right arm is getting a nice tan!

You’ll be pleased to hear Chris and Ian have corrected their “not blipping in the tunnel”

Called at a supermarket to buy lunch, lemon crisps? Huh, what’s that about. No I didn’t try them

I found us a nice layby for lunch with shade on a quiet road, Chris wanted a better view. It shows how spectacular it has been when this is simply ‘meh’

Parked partway along the N260 where Ian was able to get some drone footage of the R8. We’d hoped to be able to get some driveby clips but we haven’t found anywhere suitable yet. It does offer a different view and perspective of the car and scenery and I have a greater appreciation for those who film using them!

Then we were back on the road, it really is a joy to drive. Lou recorded some great clips, I talk in this one. You can decide if that’s a good or bad thing

On roads like this, more track focused brake pads would need choosing with care, something with very high initial bite would be too much, this is all about smooth driving on a public road and it would be easy to spoil the car for this sort of trip.

It’s something I’m very conscious of with my plans for the car and this trip has reaffirmed that decision. I must keep it suitable for these trips as well as taking it on circuit.

We made a short detour back into Andorra, the fuel is so much cheaper it would be daft not to. Saying that, with the amount of fuel we’re burning through, I’m not sure it’ll make much difference in the scheme of things

The R8 still gets more attention than I ever expected. It’s just not something I really thought of. What it has done is convinced me something like a bright Red Ferrari is certainly not for me

Then we came across a set of switchbacks up the side of the mountain. Not high speed, but empty so we could really enjoy them. The sort of roads you see videos or photos of and think “one day, I’ll drive those in something I can enjoy them on” today was that day

Waiting at the top having watched our progress was a very unhappy looking policeman.

“I need your licence and your passport” then he walked off. Oh dear. I don’t think he was as impressed with our skills as we were.

I don’t care what you say, you get to the top of a drive like that find you’ve been watched the entire time and see the a police roadblock, your heart sinks. We were all very sheepish and were told off by both of them individually. They disappeared with the passports, we saw them calling in the details, took photos of each car and registration.

The following 15 minutes seemed to take hours

“if you are stopped in Spain driving like that again, not only will you be punished for that offence, but also for this one. This is your one and only warning. I could fine you all €200 right now but I won’t“

As we rounded a corner it was obvious why they were unhappy, a load of bikers were parked up and one of the bikes was being loaded onto a recovery truck after a crash. They were in the middle of dealing with the aftermath of that, the road was closed because of it and they heard us coming all the way up the hill.

It was simply bad timing.

Message received and it was a subdued drive to the hotel.

Day 14

Tuesday was a bit of an odd one. We all woke having had a poor night’s sleep due to the rooms being far too hot.

Instead of paying €12 each for breakfast in the hotel we went 100yards down the road to a very nice cafe for coffee and croissants.

We drove part of the Tour de France route today.

We then drove to the top of the col de Peyresourde. Lots of cyclists on the road and it’s part of the Tour de France.

Driving these roads definitely gives me a better appreciation for the riders in the tour. Sure, you see them on TV but when you drive the never ending climb you really start to understand just how physical it is.

The set of switchbacks on the way up gave Chris and Ian a chance to try and get some drone footage of the cars climbing the hill. I drove up a few times which was no real hardship.

The driving today was much slower, there were simply too many cyclists.

Back into France and the satnav tried sending us down a closed road. Hmmm, that’s odd.

We used the opportunity to stop at a lovely French cafe for lunch and try and replan the route.

This is where it went wrong. I didn’t get through a set of traffic lights, but this happens a lot. Turned right, then turned left onto a great road. Couldn’t see them so just carried on assuming they were enjoying the drive like I was.

A while later Ian rang. Er where are you?

Seems their route hadn’t turned left…

Our route took us down some lovely and some not great roads, it was an hour by the time our routes converged again.

We all had satnav issues where roads are closed for the tour but it doesn’t show up on the map. It’s hard to be too upset when you have views like this out of the window

Eventually found a nice restaurant where Lou and I had one of our favourites, baked camembert . We didn’t start eating until 8:45 before we set off on the last leg of the day to the hotel where we arrived at 23:00 and went straight to our rooms.

What should have been a chilled day with some epic scenery became a bit of a slog.

We were only 34 miles from the hotel at the end of the day.

The fact the drive to get to it was 3 hours due to the closures tells you everything

Wednesday marked a significant milestone in my ownership of the R8. The mileage has now reached 30,760 miles, up from 27,720 when I started this trip.

That means in less than 2 weeks, I’ve driven more than 10% of the total distance the car has covered in the 15 years since it was built. !

I bought this car to use and this trip is exactly what the R8 is designed for. It’s reliable, fast and comfortable. Luggage space is adequate but with sensible planning you can certainly pack enough for a decent length road trip.

The plan today was drive to San Sebastian, walk around the old town, have a few beers tapas and stroll on the beach. We headed off and detoured alongside a large lake where once again the satnav gremlins struck.

At one point showing us in the middle of a field on all 3 cars running different systems

After we arrived, parked up and checked in we caught the bus into the old town.

Seeing as we’d missed lunch, our first stop was a tapas bar for a drink and food. It was delicious and we all agreed we’d have tapas for the evening meal rather than a typical menu.

Walked up to the bar at the top of the mountain. Ok, maybe not a mountain but the big hill at the harbour entrance

Had more beers. Walked back into town and ventured onto the beach and paddled in the sea. Had more tapas then went to another bar for even more food where Chris said he fancied a plate of Iberico ham. We ordered 2 to share between us and demolished the lot!

A final walk around the seafront before Ian found a superb ice-cream shop. The smoothest and tastiest we’ve had this trip. Jem said it was the best mango she’d ever had. It was our last day together before Chris, Ian, Jem and Jude head off for the Santander ferry whilst Lou and I continue our trip.

I can’t believe it was 10 days ago since we met them all at the start of this leg of the tour.

We’ve had some epic drives and the roads are superb. Better than I expected in places if I’m honest. I hoped we may find the occasional road that we all enjoyed but there were loads. People have said in the past that I had to visit the Pyrenees for the roads and scenery, now I understand why.

We have several days ahead of us and were going to call at Biarritz, but it was raining constantly so we gave it a miss instead calling at Moliets et maa an hour up the coast where it was starting to clear up. After a lovely Panini for lunch we had a walk on the beach which was deserted. Probably because it had started drizzling again

The plan was to avoid motorways on the drive North as we’d done on the way down, but as it was raining we decided to jump onto the non-toll A road to cover some miles instead.

Ended up 50 miles North of Bordeaux. Deciding to change our planned visit to the city due to the weather.

Went online, searched for accommodation nearby on Booking.com and found a quiet hotel / restaurant 10 minutes away. Booked online and turned drove there, it’s not like us, we both plan and decided we’d see how it went on the way back, I’m glad we did or we’d have stayed close to Bordeaux and missed out on the evening meal and beers sitting outside on a lovely summers evening.

The forecast has improved for Friday so we’ll head North and stop wherever looks nice.

We don’t plan on using any toll roads from now on, it means the journey will take longer but so what, we’re not in a rush. As a friend was saying to me, just because you are heading home doesn’t mean this type of holiday has to be over.

Another day of driving and avoiding motorways where possible, we listened to several podcasts and it’s surprising just how quickly the journey can pass when doing that on a long drive and it’s mostly why we didn’t take any photos.

After lunch we headed further north and as usual as soon as either of us fancied a break, we stopped this time for crepes and a drink.

Arrived nice and early and booked a guest house. £46 bed and breakfast, the owners were out so we let ourselves in.

We’d picked up salad for dinner at a local supermarket and sat in their garden with a couple of beers and finished with fresh strawberries.

Saturday was a history day. First stop was the Bayeux tapestry. Lou and I had obviously heard of it in school but had never been.

It was actually quite interesting, it’s much bigger than I expected, the narration as you walked along it did a good job of explaining not only why it was made, but the story it told.

There is also a Normandy World War 2 museum so we had a walk around that.

It seemed poetic that as we drove out to the city we passed a huge field of poppies.

Our next stop was the British Normandy Memorial. There is a field of 1475 silhouettes called the standing with Giants which is part of the 80th D-day commemorations. It’s quite moving, especially as you read the personal dedication plaques and see the thousands of names of soldiers who gave their lives engraved on the pillars.

Our drive through the countryside and quiet villages continued until the road just ended with a queue of cars. I climbed out and asked the guy behind in broken French what was happening. A ferry. How much? Free. Oh that’ll do. Well that’s a first! I’ve never been on one of these back and forth drive on drive off taxis before. The ramp is not made for a low car, driving on very slowly and at an angle still resulted in a familiar crunch, luckily the front of the splitter is flexible or it would have been torn off during the first week

Yet another night in an unfamiliar bedroom, it does make getting up to go to the loo in the middle of the night interesting. Was it left out of the bed? No, that’s the wardrobe. Right it is then

A short drive up the coast we parked in the carpark before heading off for a walk.

The parking spaces weren’t exactly huge, but managed to find a spot to reverse into on the seafront.

After a ice-cream and a very pleasant few hours on the beach we headed back to the car and sat on the wall.

I mentioned it earlier in the holiday, but I still can’t quite get my head around people’s reaction to the car. I obviously like it, it’s why I bought one , but I’ve honestly never experienced the positive reaction to a car this generates.

Lou and I were chatting about it and I think it’s because we go to the Ring so often and see so many stunning cars that you become a little blasé about them. “oh, I like the new GT3RS, but I prefer it with the wheels off that one and in this colour” it’s not a discussion most people have, but at the Ring it’s surprisingly common  and a 15 year old R8 wouldn’t get a second glance there.

The guesthouse is a decent size and the restaurant served very nice food. One of the guests was by himself, but obviously didn’t want to be. You know the sort of person I’m talking about… Made conversation with everyone as they came in, which is fine. But then turned his chair and kept talking to the tables either side even whilst they were eating.

We sat across the restaurant, but I can tell you he’s Belgian, speaks English, French and German fluently, has a caravan, likes travelling and on and on….

That’s it, we’re home. 3 weeks has absolutely flown. I guess that’s the sign of a great holiday.

The tunnel was on time

Decided to refuel in Dover so we could drive  home without stopping. Why is motorway lane discipline so bad in the UK!

On the way back we reflected on the trip. I’ve shared most of our thoughts about it each day. I don’t think it’s a surprise to hear we thoroughly enjoyed it, a different holiday to what we’ve done before  but that was always the plan for retirement  which is for us to still have relaxing beach holidays but to also do something we hadn’t really done before.

I also found and fixed an annoying little squeak from the dashboard, temporary fix was a bit of cardboard to stop the binnacle running on the dash, I’ll make a more permanent fix later.

A few stats.

In 3 weeks we drove

4021miles / 6471km

Averaged 22.1mpg, that’s 12.8litres / 100km.

Average speed of 36mph

Oh and lots of stonechips

I’ve said it several times already but this car has been just what I hoped it would be when I first started looking at them as a Golf replacement several years ago. The only concern I had from speaking to people was luggage space, but there is loads more room than I expected, we didn’t wear all the clothes we took with us.

Now to crack on with the upgrades to make it a bit better on circuit , this trip has convinced me my decision to keep it as a Clubsport rather than a pure track car is 100% the correct route and despite knowing it will be compromised on track as a result, I won`t change my mind on this and go too far.