Trollstigen might be Norway’s most famous road but its eleven hairpins surely cannot compete with Lysevegen’s twenty seven.

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Fv 500 Lysevegen Road. Photo via RedBull.com. More photos and map below.

Lysevegen Road just misses out on being included in Norway’s eighteen official National Tourist Routes.

The 183km ‘Ryfylke’ comes closest, running up the west end of Lysefjord as it winds its way through the south west of the country.

Meanwhile, Lysevegen – Fylkesveg 500 (Fv 500), country road 500 – connects to Lysebotn, the town at the other end of the fjord, around 90km due east of Stavanger.

Red Bull thought it would be a jolly jape to have rally driver Andreas Mikkelson race downhill skier Aksel Lund Svindal from the top to the bottom of Lysevegen (see the film here).

Mikkelsen reached 160kmh in his WRC VW Polo, a velocity not normally associated with a very tight – almost single lane – cascade of twenty seven hairpins like Lysevegen, very reminiscent of France’s Lacets de Montvernier.

At the bottom is an unusual 1km tunnel loop entirely inside the mountain.

The pair were in a hurry, apparently, to catch the last ferry of the day back along Lysefjord, towards Stavanger, which takes between one hour and two and a half, depending, surrounded by cliffs up to 1100m high (and needs to be booked in advance during high season).

Lysefjord is also known for Preikestolen – Pulpit Rock – the flat square rock which towers 604m over the north shore and Kjeragbolten, a massive boulder stuck between the mountains, 500m higher, on the other side.

Some ferries stop just below Preikestolen though it’s a two hour hike up to the rock. There are plenty of camp sites in the area however (though few toilets apparently).

See here for more information on Norway’s National Tourist Routes.

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Calais strike, illegals, freight queues, farmer blockades, wild fires and this weekend’s Black Saturday threaten to ruin the start of the holidays. But, don’t panic!

Also, a major row is brewing about the M20 Operation Stack. Exactly how many illegals invaded Eurotunnel last night?! Romania’s Transalpina mountain road opens officially in August. Nurburgring drivers seem to love Porsche 911s.

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A BRUTAL TIME TO DRIVE IN FRANCE

Drivers face a string of challenges ahead of the summer’s great holiday getaway.

French farmers empty an Italian tanker onto the D910 near Metz. Photo via @NRCP_Poitiers

A lone British truck driver heading north on the N10 from Bordeaux on Monday was anxious to know why traffic had come to a sudden halt.

It is perfectly understandable in a week when angry mobs of French farmers have spoiled loads and threatened drivers.

Fortunately on this occasion the problem was a run-of-the-mill traffic incident. Within half an hour he was on his way.

But it is not only truck drivers bearing the brunt of France’s ‘Summer of Discontent’.

Thanks to the blockades, Patricia Stoughton said she had a ‘dreadful’ drive across Brittany last week.

Hundreds of drivers were stuck for hours on end today on the A31 between Thionville and Metz, and the A4 and A4 towards Strasbourg at Phalsbourg.

However, while the farmers show no sign of calling off their protests completely the intensity has certainly lessened.

Different parts of the country are targeted each day and there is plenty of notice about where the next blocks will strike.

If last weekend is anything to go by, it seems likely the blocks will be lifted completely for this week’s Black Saturday, the busiest day of the year on the roads.

Meanwhile, despite Eurotunnel’s well-publicised and now long-running struggle with illegal migrants – see below – things do seem to be looking up in Calais.

All the parties are now fully engaged in talks to end the strike.

Also, P&O says the recent security upgrades in Calais have done the trick.

Commercial Director Janette Bell said today, ‘Traffic on the slip roads can access the port freely cars and lorries queue safey and efficiently in a secure area, and there is no point at which illegal migranst come into contact with our passengers.’

One thing it seems drivers will not have to worry about is wild fires.

More than 1,000 campers were evacuated from a site near Frejus in the South of France yesterday but, while the areas around Bordeaux and Frejus remain on high alert, the authorities say the situation for now is under control.

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Porsche 911s queue into the Nurburgring at the weekend. Photo Nuerburgring.de

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roundup: FREIGHT. The argument over the M20 freight queue Operation Stack is – unsurprisingly – turning into a real humdinger. Last week Kent County Council held a meeting with all those involved which decided a contraflow system on the M20 would be the best solution. However, Highways England yesterday poured cold water on the idea saying it would be a ‘significant and unacceptable risk to road users and road workers’. The Freight Transport Association called the decision ‘extremely frustrating’. Local MP Damian Green called Highways England ‘a shower’. ROMANIA. Around 500 drivers use it each day already – and double that at weekends – despite Transalpina being closed for repairs. However, Romania’s second most famous road – after Jeremy Clarkson favourite Transfagarasan – officially reopens next month. ‘We are currently working on installing the safety guardrails, the markings, signs, and everything else that is necessary for this road to be ready in early-August,’ the local CNADNR roads manager tells Romania-Insider.com. See here about how to get there. CALAIS ILLEGALS. The BBC’s Polly Evans said this afternoon, ‘Eurotunnel have told us that they’re dealing with hundreds of migrants a night trying to access the French terminal, but didn’t confirm 2000.’ Very quickly however her BBC colleagues – and other national and international media – seized on the 2000 figure and ran with it (to be fair, politico.eu said ‘almost 2000’). By this evening, the number had swollen to 2700 according to The Times’ Sean O’Neill. Update 29 July: by this morning reason had returned. BBC Radio 4 Today reporter Peter Whittlesea, in Calais, said the numbers had been exaggerated by the same illegals returning to the terminal ‘again and again’ after being removed by the police.

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The French government will help out with repairs to the vital Alp’s Grenoble-Briancon road though no reopening date has been announced.

Also, DFDS confirms Dover-Calais services suspended after a flares fired in Calais over the weekend as strike talks in Paris called ‘positive’. More reports of violence and intimidation against truck drivers emerge during the France farmer blockades, as evidence mounts that hauliers are avoiding Calais over the migrant crisis, strike and Operation Stack. More than five hundred drivers fined over new French earpiece rules.

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STATE HELP FOR GRENOBLE-BRIANCON ROAD

PM promises govt money for repairs but no timetable announced.

D1091 at the west end of Lake Chambon. There were fears further rock fall could breach the dam. Photo @Wikipedia

The government will help to rebuild the vital trans-Alp D1091 Grenoble-Briancon road but a timetable for repairs is still to be announced.

The road closed at Lake Chambon in April after a landslide. Repairs have been held up by the threat of further landslips.

On a visit to the site on Friday, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said, ‘The State stands alongside residents ready to provide a solution. National solidarity plays, and will play, its part.’

The work is estimated to cost up to €15m. Alternative plans include a new road around the southern shore of the lake.

This video from the Interior Ministry – in French – gives a good overview of the scale of the problem.

A temporary ferry service for residents was suspended earlier this month amid fears a further 800,000 cubic meters of rock could fall into the lake.

A rock fall of that size could breach the dam on the west shore though that possibility is now downplayed.

However, around a quarter of the overhanging rock did slide down the mountain last night according to reports with geologists eyeing the remainder very keenly.

In the meantime, the detours add at least another 70km to the 110km drive between Grenoble and Briancon.

The shortest by 10km, and cheapest, is the N85/N94 via Gap.

Meanwhile, the total toll for the A41-A43 via Modane into Italy – and back across the Col de Montgenevre (1850m) – comes to €59.10 including the Frejus Tunnel (the 2083m Col de Mont Cenis saves the €43.50 tunnel toll).

Most thrilling is the Col de Glandon route off RD1091, then the Col de Galibier back to Briancon from Saint Michel de Maurienne along the A43. The passes top 1924m and 2645m respectively. See them on PassFinder.

Also: 507 drivers have been fined €135 for wearing earpieces at the wheel since it was made illegal in France at the beginning of July says Securite Routiere. Drivers can still use phones via hands-free Bluetooth connections. The earpiece ban is one of a number of new rules introduced this month, including eating or applying makeup while driving. See more.

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Tour de France winner Chris Froome toasts victory yesterday on the Champs Elysee. Photo @Jaguar

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roundup: CHANNEL. DFDS has confirmed it suspended its services between Calais and Dover yesterday after its Malo Seaways was hit by a distress flare apparently fired by striking SCOP sailors in Calais overnight Saturday-Sunday according to AFP. All passengers are being transferred to the operator’s Dover-Dunkirk service until at least tomorrow (Tuesday). La Voix du Nord says the flares were intended to be ‘non offensive’. Roundtable talks are reportedly due to be held in Paris this afternoon between all the players in the on-going Calais strike. It’s not clear yet what impact the incident at the weekend will have on the negotiations. Update: a statement from the French Minister of Transport this afternoon says DFDS services will resume tomorrow (Tuesday). A further roundtable meeting is planned for Thursday after all the parties have considered proposals made today. DFDS later called the talks ‘positive’. FRANCE STRIKES. On top of allegations from the IRU and Spanish hauliers that French police stood and watched as French farmers trashed loads and threatened drivers – and worse – the Daily Mail reports how a convoy of seven Scottish trucks were stopped in Brittany last week and had diesel poured over their combined 140 tonne load of fish. At the same time, Luke Vernon from Virginia International said on twitter, ‘One of our drivers was threatened with having his throat cut by these criminals.’ Meanwhile, another haulier is to withdraw from Dover-Calais. Adam Robinson, owner of A J Road Haulage which makes 70-100 crossings each week, told us over twitter, ‘I have got to the point of refusing any French loads and from September will not use Dover-Calais anymore. My drivers and load safety comes first.’ His comments come a few days after Kevin Hopper, managing director of Brian Yeardley Continental, said, ‘Steps taken, shipping routes and plans in place, Operation Stack you are a thing of the past. Shipping Dover-Calais no ta!’

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British pair die in incident on Austria’s highest mountain pass.

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Grossglockner. Fuscher Torl is centre left. Photo Grossglockner.at

The two British men killed on Grossglockner early this morning were not racing say Austrian police.

The pair have now been named as Danny Hall, 22, and Josh Robinson, 25, both from Kent.

They were taking part in The Great Rally to Budapest which left Brussels on Saturday 18 July.

Initial reports said they died while taking part in an ‘illegal race’.

However, a statement issued by Salzburg police gives a different version of events.

It says a second driver, also on The Great Rally, lost sight of Hall and Robinson at the toll booth in Ferleiten.

When the pair failed to turn up at a meeting point he searched for them then ultimately phoned police himself before reporting to the station in Sankt Johann im Pongau.

According to the police information, Hall was driving as they headed south along Grossglockner at 07:30 this morning.

The accident happened at the Fuscher Torl pass, the almost sheer sided loop at 2450m (8038ft), 6km before Grossglockner’s highest point at Hochtor (2504m).

Fuscher Torl is marked by a square stone building, ironically a memorial to those who died while building the pass road in the 1930s.

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Harsh words from the International Road Transport Union as drivers caught in the continuing farmer blockades in France are threatened and have loads trashed, plus a roundup of the day’s events.

Also, a quick look at driving to Rome. Encouraging news on Calais strike. Bus stuck on Trollstigen. Fuel tourism falling in Luxembourg? Migrant deaths settle into uneasy pattern in Calais.

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FRANCE FARMER BLOCKADES

Farmers blockade Lyon as truck union blames ‘total French incompetence’.

Farmer blockade in Lyon this morning. Photo @JKU_Jeep

Farmers made good on their promise to blockade Lyon last night. They have maintained the action on the A6 to the north of the city centre – completely closed both ways to the A46 ring road in both directions – all day, and the inbound section of the A42 to the north east of the city centre.

It seems they are also making good on their promise to call off the strike in Lyon this evening though there are few concrete signs yet. Even when they do leave the roads will take some time to clean up.

The early block on the A7 northbound into Lyon did started to give way from mid-afternoon however even now it should be avoided. Drivers can divert around the city on the A46 and A432 (but not the N346).

Thankfully threatened blocks around Clermont Ferrand failed to materialise, so far, though there was a determined effort on the A75 just south of Issoire, and another smaller scale block remains on the A75 just south of the city.

In general the action has continued to shift south today. The N814 Caen ring road was freed last night as was the A84 at Avranches, along with the D117 up to St Malo. Both the A29 Pont de Normandie and A131 Pont de Tarcanville in Normandy were back in use just after lunch.

The stubborn blocks around Brest, Quimper and Morlaix in Brittany remain, to the best of our knowledge, as does the road block to Mont Saint Michel.

Meanwhile, the International Road Transport Union (IRU) has issued a very strong statement calling for immediate action to ’guarantee freedom of movement in France’ after many reported instances of truck driver intimidation and wrecked loads.

Marc Billiet, the IRU’s Head of Goods Transport for the EU says, ‘It is absolutely unacceptable that the haulage industry is on the receiving end of total French incompetence or unwillingness to uphold the rule of law, again. We cannot have drivers being threatened, tyres being slashed and loads being destroyed.’ 

CETM, the Spanish Confederation of Goods Transport, also ‘denounced’ the ‘passivity’ of the French government today after a succession of incidents.

As well as one milk tanker which had its contents sprayed over the road in Brittany, and another vehicle carrying pork ‘attacked’ by a group of farmers in Normandy, a driver was assaulted near Poitiers in the past few days for refusing to open his truck, apparently while police stood by.

Recap: farmers mounted the first road blockades around Caen on Sunday night. Since then the actions spread around Normandy then down into central France. The strikes continue despite a new €600m emergency aid package for farmers announced yesterday.

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Meanwhile, it seems a deal is in the offing between SCOP – who previously operated the MyFerryLink ships – Eurotunnel and DFDS to end the month-old Calais strike. Brokered by French minister for Transport Alain Vidalies, the nine point plan includes DFDS – slightly – upping its job offer to former MyFerryLink employees, while the single ferry retained by Eurotunnel will be operated by a new SCOP. None of the parties have exactly welcomed the deal but none have rejected it outright according to La Voix du Nord. If the deal is signed at a meeting early Monday afternoon, the two ships currently occupied by MyFerryLink strikers will be released to DFDS.

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Throw back Thursday, Rome April 2010. Rome is 1050 miles from Calais the direct route, via Dijon, Mont Blanc and Milan. We headed via Maastricht and Innsbruck for an extra 100 miles, and back through Lugano, southern Switzerland, and Brussels (actually 1049 miles). Photo @DriveEurope.

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roundup: NORWAY. Trollstigen shut for three hours at lunchtime today after a coach got stuck on the way down. The smart tri-axle Byberg & Nordin Neoplan Starliner from Nordingra in eastern Sweden was wedged on one of the eleven hairpins. No doubt the road inspectors will have their measuring sticks at the ready; vehicles longer than 13.1m long are banned (though a special 12.9m version of the now discontinued Starliner was available. Apparently). Probably Norway’s best known road, Trollstigen is to be found on National Road 63 between Andalsnes and Valldal in the south west. EUROTUNNEL. A sad pattern is emerging at Eurotunnel’s terminal in France. If the trains are disrupted first thing in the morning – as they most often are – it is down to a migrant break-in. If the disruption carries on much after 07:00BST it means someone has died. After overnight migrant activity described by Eurotunnel as ‘intense’, the body of a man ’believed to be in his teens’, according to Kent police, was discovered in Folkestone earlier today after crossing from France. Along with an Eritrean woman killed on the A16 at Calais overnight Thursday-Friday, it brings the total number of migrant deaths to seven since the start of the month. LUXEMBOURG. As fuel prices yo-yo around Europe is the Grand Duchy losing its reputation as the Western European capital of fuel tourism? It’s too early to tell said the finance minister today – via Wort.lu – as he unveiled fuel sales down by around seven percent, and falling tobacco duty. In general Luxembourg has maintained its price advantage to neighbouring countries, see this week’s fuel report. Diesel discounts for trucks in Belgium, and a shift to public transport and car-sharing, are said to be behind the falls.

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An impressive number of towns and cities sign up for European Mobility Week’s Car-Free Day in September though the vast majority are in Hungary.

Also, a Dutch driver takes the scenic route straight off the motorway. Eurotunnel recovers in the cross-Channel truck market, and finishes ahead again with cars too. P&O brings new Dover-Calais freight ferry into service early. Concerns about the number of migrants across the Belgian border from Dunkirk.

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CAR BANS MARK MOBILITY WEEK

Stockholm, Lisbon and Budapest join Paris and Brussels in holding Car-Free Days.

The Paris Car-Free Zone on Sunday 27 September, 11-18:00.

It might sound strange to ban cars as a way to highlight mobility but that is exactly what 172 towns and cities across Europe will do.

European Mobility Week takes place from 16-22 September, culminating in a ‘Car-Free Day’.

The aim is to ‘improve the uptake of sustainable and multimodal mobility’.

According to the website, the places taking part commit to: organising a week of activities; implementing one or more new permanent measures ‘which contribute to modal transfer from private car to environmentally sound means of transport (where possible, at least one of these measures should be a permanent reallocation of road space in favour of walking, cycling or public transport)’; and, organising a ‘Car-Free Day’ on 22 September ‘by closing one or more streets to traffic, and instead opening it to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport’.

Actually the headline figure isn’t quite as impressive as it sounds. More than 140 of the car-free places are in Hungary.

However, one of those is capital Budapest. Meanwhile Stockholm and Lisbon have signed up too.

Aside from Hungary the biggest take up has been in Spain where eight out of fourteen places will hold car free days followed by Sweden with six out of twelve.

Participation has been less enthusiastic in the major Western European countries.

Only Lambeth and Aberdeen have registered in the UK. No towns or cities in the Netherlands or Germany will take part.

Paris is involved though it will hold its Car-Free Day on the following Sunday 27 September.

The mother of all Car-Free Days is the now traditional Car Free Sunday in Brussels.

Held every September since 1973, it started off as a reaction to the fuel crisis but subsequently evolved to include the entire Brussels Capital Region – inside the R0 ring road – with errant drivers subject to fines.

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Random: a driver heading towards Goes on the A58 in the south west Netherlands yesterday had a lucky escape after apparently mounting the guardrail and ending up in the field beside the motorway. Occupants shaken but suffered no injuries according to Rijkswaterstaat road inspector @WIS_Jacco

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roundup: EUROTUNNEL. The Channel Tunnel operator has recovered growth in the cross-Channel truck market according to its financial results released today. During the whole of 2014 the number of trucks carried grew by 6% as the market expanded by 8%. But for the first half of 2015, Eurotunnel kept pace with both growing by a healthy 8%. Market share remains at a ‘relatively stable’ 37.5%. Meanwhile the number of vehicles carried on Eurotunnel’s passenger shuttles continues to outperform the market. Last year numbers grew by 4% compared to an overall increase of 1.5%. For the first half of 2015, passenger shuttle numbers grew by 4% compared to overall market growth of 3%. Again, market share remains at a ‘relatively stable’ 54.8%. P&O. European Seaway has joined the operator’s Dover-Calais fleet today, ten days early. The dedicated freight ship can carry 120 units at a time. On its scheduled eight daily crossings the new ship represents a 12% increase in P&O’s freight capacity at 6,000 units per day overall. European Seaway was expected to join the route at the beginning of August. BELGIUM. As security improves in Calais, police in Veurne – just across the French border from Dunkirk – are concerned about the number of migrants in the area. ‘We’re worried refugees will be heading for our area for some time to come and that refugee camps will pop up here like in Calais and Dunkirk,’ local police chief Nico Paelinck tells Deredactie.be.

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Major disruption from various strikes in France, all affecting drivers in one way or another.

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A16 Eurotunnel approach this morning. Photo Rachel Brunton, @RachBrunt

France is awash with strikes at the moment, especially in the north.

By our reckoning there are four different disputes, all of which hit drivers and tourists one way or another. 

In a rare bit of good news, the former-MyFerryLink workers finally agreed to let DFDS back into Calais today.

Services quickly resumed.

However, the strikers immediately went to the A16 motorway outside Eurotunnel and blocked exits and entrances with piles of burning tyres.

Eurotunnel quickly advised day-trip passengers to postpone journeys for another day but an early diversion into the terminal off the A16 eastbound, from Boulogne, was soon closed too. Fortunately the blockade was lifted at around one o’clock local time.

After repairs to the carriageway, access to the terminal was restored soon after though passengers face inevitable catch-up delays for the rest of the day.

Meanwhile, farmers angry at the low prices paid by supermarkets continue their blockade on the N814 Caen ring road for a second day.

Other road blocks have been set up on the road into Mont Saint Michel, the A84 northbound into Avranches, access roads to Evreux, on the A29 Pont de Normandie and A171 Pont de Tancarville bridges between Le Havre and Rouen, the D137 into St Malo and latterly the A29 at Amiens (see above for the current list, or this map made at 18:30BST).

President Hollande announced an ’emergency plan’ today to address farmers’ concerns. That brings some hope of relief in Normandy though if anything the blockades have increased since.

In this context the relatively small scale march to disrupt the Tour de France rest day in Gap today – by locals upset over the continued closure of the Chambon Tunnel on the vital Gap-Briancon road – seems trivial.

Finally, French hauliers upset with the MyFerryLink strike in Calais say they will hold their own protest.

It remains to be seen whether it will go ahead now DFDS is back in the port. Otherwise, be prepared for traffic disruption in Arras – at the junction of the A1 and A26 motorways – from 10:30 tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.

Update: thankfully, according to La Voix Calais, the truckers have now called off their Arras go-slow.

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British drivers should certainly wait until France before filling up this month, but the petrol-powered should brim tanks before heading to the Netherlands. Everyone should holdout for Luxembourg – and Austria – if they can.

Also, a quick look at Austria’s Tauplitzalm Alpenstrasse, star of last week’s Ennstal Classic. Super-heavy traffic in France again on Saturday points – again – to a bumper August Black Saturday. The shocking carnage on Turkey’s roads after Ramadan continues, but improves on last year. Ferry passengers shaken after tanker crash into Gothenburg – but the route is still highly recommended. Spectacular arrivals it seems are guaranteed.

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UK STILL DEAREST DIESEL

Big savings on cross-Channel diesel. Austria vies with Luxembourg for cheapest fuel overall.

All the usual suspects top the fuel price charts this month but the UK is really consolidating its position as having Europe’s dearest diesel.

We first reported back in April that UK derv was the most expensive, at €1.638/l according to Fuel Prices Europe.

Thanks mainly to a volatile exchange rate since then it has increased to €1.704.

It means the saving on the average 50 litre diesel tank for cross Channel travellers has increased considerably since May, to €25.85 in France, €23.05 in Belgium and €18.85 in the Netherlands.

The savings are less marked for petrol powered drivers – €11.85 in France and €8.50 in Belgium – while a fifty litre tank full will actually cost €2.50 more in the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale, Austria is proving a consistent competitor for Luxembourg on cheap fuel.

At €1.054 for diesel and €1.219 for petrol Austria is neatly undercutting Luxembourg on unleaded and rivalling on diesel (€1.050 and €1.246)

More relevant for most drivers in that neck of the woods are the savings compared to Germany (€1.229, €1.529), Switzerland (€1.439, €1.458) and – particularly – Italy (€1.519, €1.711).

Diesel:

Five most expensive: UK, Norway, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden.

Five cheapest: Andorra, Estonia, Luxembourg, Austria, Poland.

Petrol:

Five most expensive: Norway, Netherlands, Italy, UK, Denmark.

Five cheapest: Estonia, Andorra, Bulgaria, Latvia, Poland.

All prices taken from Fuel Prices Europe on 20 July 2015, per litre. Indicative only; mainly averages except nationally regulated Belgium and Luxembourg.

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It’s not that high in the scheme of things at 1586m (5203ft), nor that steep at 9%. It really doesn’t look all that great from the photos either but Tauplitzalm Alpenstrasse must have something going for it since it was a feature road on this year’s monied and storied Ennstal Classic. With most of Austria’s famous mountain roads within easy reach of the event’s base in Grobming, there must have been good reason to come here. Tauplitz is a toll road – €9.80 for a car, €5 for a motorbike – and open all year round, at the Liezen end of the B145, 95km from Salzburg, running in a loop between Bad Mittendorf and Tauplitz village. Find it on PassFinder or see more at Alpenstrasse.at

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roundup: FRANCE. The super heavy holiday traffic continues. Cumulative traffic jams around the country peaked at 658km on Saturday lunchtime compared to just 343km on the same day last year (figures via @VID). It follows last weekend when jams reached 630km versus 530km in 2014. Undoubtedly the fine weather played a part but the biggest delays were on the long range routes, Paris-Bordeaux and Paris-Avignon. Hopefully drivers are spreading themselves out this summer rather than the traditional heavy concentration of holidaymakers in August. Otherwise, as we said last week, a bumper Black Saturday on 1 August lies awaits. See more. TURKEY. The problem during the annual four day holiday following Ramadan – Eid al Fitr – is carnage rather than queues but early figures suggest this year was better than last. In 2014 a shocking 109 people were killed in traffic accidents and 852 seriously injured. This year that figure has been reduced to 69 deaths and 386 serious injuries according to Anadolu News Agency. Bridge and road tolls are suspended over the long weekend. Another Eid festival comes in October; last year 131 people died on the roads. For comparison, in one of Europe’s safest countries, Spain, between 15:00 Friday and Sunday night twelve people died and nine were injured according to roads directorate @DGTes. SWEDEN. A Stena Line ferry on its way from Frederikshavn in Denmark collided with a tanker at 02:30 on Sunday morning near the Gothenburg archipelago. Passengers were left shaken but no injuries were reported according to Sveriges Radio and the ship docked safely. Photos show a deep gash in the side of the ferry. ‘It was the tanker that hit us, not the other way around,’ said Niclas Mårtensson, deputy CEO of Stena Line, via thelocal.se. Despite this incident, the Frederikshavn-Gothenburg ferry is recommended as a way to cross between northern Denmark and south west Sweden, particularly as the Gothenburg terminal being right in the city centre makes for a spectacular arrival, under the Alvsborg Bridge. The crossing takes 3.5 hours with fares from €50 2+car, about the same as the Copenhagen-Malmo Oresund Link. See more.

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It must be the clear mountain air in Austria because the colours of the cars on this year’s Ennstal Classic really pop in these fantastic photos from the in-house photographers. More later.

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Groebming, Steiermark, Oesterreich (Austria): 23. Ennstal-Classic, Geolyth-Prolog, Mauterndorf im Lungau.
(c) Ennstal-Classic / Werner Luidolt

16.07.2015, Groebming, Steiermark, Oesterreich (Austria): 23. Ennstal-Classic, Geolyth-Prolog, Mauterndorf im Lungau.
(c) Ennstal-Classic / Werner Luidolt

Ennstal Classic 2015, day two: 1961 Ferrari 250 GT Competizione driven by Werner Kummer-Tameling and Gian-Pietro Rossetti from Switzerland along the L711 at Ramsau am Dachstein central Austria against the backdrop of the Dachstein Mountains. Photo © Martin Huber/Ennstal-Classic. See more.

ENNSTAL-CLASSIC 2015,
16.7.2015, Groebming, Styria, Austria

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Good news on the UK-Norway ferry, plus a look at Norwegian cruise ferries. 

Also, a quick look at Austria’s Ennstal Classic. P&O brings another ship to Dover-Calais as Brittany Ferries opens bookings for next year. Very near miss in a Norwegian tunnel this morning. Eyebrows raised as former F1 driver Gerhard Berger is recruited in a road safety campaign. 

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Tesla owners off on Hurtigruten’s Nordkapp cruise ferry. Photo @TeslaMotors

The UK-Norway ferry project is still on. Or, at least, not off.

CEO of BritishScandinavian @PaulDWoodbury said yesterday, ‘Be assured, when there’s NO prospect of a UK/Norway ferry, I will say. Legal sensitivities preside right now. But take no news as good news.’

His comments come a week after the Norwegian Minister of Transport said a ferry to the UK was not a priority.

Also, a mid-June do-or-die deadline for the project came and went without an announcement.

By last week, even close supporters had started to lose faith though Woodbury did say last month he was ‘encouraged by supporting research from our partners for our approach to relaunching the UK/Norway ferry.’

In the meantime, thanks to a new Tesla road trip, attention turns to existing ferry services in Norway.

A group of owners are off on a cruise ferry on Hurtigruten’s Nordkapp.

Hurtigruten’s services run right around the Norwegian coast, from Bergen in the south west to Kirkenes on the Russian border via Europe’s most northerly point Nordkapp (and many other places in between).

The up-to-seven day full-board trip is not cheap however. A couple plus car – in an inside cabin – should expect to pay around €3,000, one-way.

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With Porsche and Chopard as sponsors, the Austrian Alps as a backdrop and an oversubscribed entry list for pre-1973 cars ‘with an interesting curriculum and sporty past’ – plus a few priceless specimens from the Porsche Museum – all the ingredients are there to make this week’s Ennstal Classic an enviable event. There are two parts to the four-day, 800km proceedings: a timed regularity marathon and an all-out Racecar Trophy on closed roads. Today the cars leave Grobming in central Austria heading east via Nockalmstrasse and Solkpass to the Red Bull Ring. The photos are updated almost in real time and, needless to say, are well worth a look. Photo @PorscheNewsroom.

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roundup: CHANNEL. P&O will add an extra ship to Dover-Calais from August bringing the total to six reports Port of Dover. European Seaway previous served the route and will be dedicated to freight, freeing up space on other ferries for passengers. In total the firm will then make 58 crossings on the Channel each day, eight more than currently and more than any other ferry company it says. Meanwhile, Brittany Ferries has released bookings for next year. Timetables are now available for right through until November 2016. NORWAY. A tanker trailer carrying 16,500 litres of petrol detached from the tractor unit as it was being pulled through the underwater Skatestraum Tunnel on route 616 on the west coast this morning. The resulting explosion saw six people injured, none seriously reports RT.com. The tunnel however is closed indefinitely. Fortunately, early fears it would collapse proved unfounded. The detour involves two ferries, from Isane on the 614 and Maloy on route 15. ROAD SAFETY. Former Formula One driver and team owner Gerhard Berger is the latest public figure to support the European Transport Safety Council’s (ETSC) Let’s Go campaign to have the EU reinstate its serious injury target. Berger very narrowly avoided crashing into Damon Hill during the latter’s championship winning race in Japan in 1996 and was known for his spirited practical jokes. In May the European Commission quietly backtracked on an earlier promise to set a target for serious injury reduction this year. More than 70 well-known faces have since joined ETSC to push for its reinstatement. Last year serious injuries rose by 3% in the EU even as road deaths are in long term decline.

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