Hybrid Drive: mountain roads and motorway down the Adriatic Coast from Trieste to Split.

300 miles. See map below.

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Also see Driving across Bosnia, Livno-Sarajevo-Zvornik.

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Last updated 18:00BST.

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TODAY: major flooding France and Italy, see below. Belgium ‘speed blitz’, 24 hour anti-speeding campaign, nationwide, though police strike action means may not be strictly enforced (update: ‘damp squib’). Weekend road closure and long diversion coastbound A2 at Canterbury, recommended to take M20 to Dover.

NEWS: New immigration rules mean longer waits and higher fares say cross-Channel operators. Austria‘s heavy vehicle road tolls rise with inflation generally next year apart from one important exception. Belgium is next to raise diesel duty. Construction starts next year on two major projects in Denmark to complete the direct fixed link between Copenhagen and Hamburg. Audi demonstrates a self-driving racing car next weekend. ‘Curve Magazin’ focuses on Austria.

Calais Migrant Crisis: Calais ‘Day of Action’ Monday 13 October.

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CHANNEL DELAYS: P&O Dover-Calais delay 50mins.

WEATHER ALERT: RED alert heavy rain/flooding South of France (see more). Amber alert heavy rain Portugal, Spain, Italy (see more + more), Switzerland.

WEATHER: rain across West. Unsettled Iberia. Fine + dry central, East.

GOTTHARD TUNNEL: now no queue.

MONT BLANC TUNNEL: ‘traffic is fluent’.

MAJOR TRAFFIC DELAYS: A75 southbound from Clermont, on/off delays road works, currently 45mins.

A12 eastbound from Berlin, breakdown/road works at Furstenwalde delay 1h45. A5 northbound Basel-Freiburg, road works, breakdown Mullheim delay still 60mins. A96 southbound to Bregenz, road works at Leutkirch delay still 45mins.

A22 northbound from Bolzano, road works, delay 45mins. A1 southbound from Florence, breakdown/fire at Montevarchi, delay 1h30.

Earlier: now no delay A36 westbound at Mulhouse, A20 eastbound to Rostock, . E314 eastbound at Leuven, earlier accident, delay down to 10mins. A7 northbound at Wurzburg, road works at Kitzingen and Schweinfurt, total delay down to 30mins.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

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The making of Curve Magazin 5 – Austria, via Porsche. In German only but quite self-explanatory. A series of five magazines, so far, on adventure driving, mainly in the mountains. Has previously covered the Pyrenees, Switzerland, Routes des Grand Alpes and northern Italy. Top, top quality, includes proper heli-cam/art shots, 200+ pages, soft cover, €15. See curves-magazine.de, website includes regular blog photofeatures.

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Audi will demonstrate a self-driving RS 7 – at speeds of up to 149.1mph – at the DTM finale at Hockenheim circuit on Sunday 19 October. The hot lap will be streamed on the internet at 11:45BST. More info next week.

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roundup: CROSSING THE CHANNEL. New exit checks will mean longer queues and higher prices cross-Channel industry insiders tell the Dover Express. The Immigration Act 2014, coming into force next April, means more stringent checks on people leaving the country. The onus is on operators to collect much of the information and current IT systems will not be able to cope. New clean-fuel rules mean ferry passengers are already facing higher fares from 1 January. AUSTRIA. Tolls for 3.5t+ campers, buses and trucks will increase inline with inflation by 1.6% from 1 January road operator ASFINAG, announced yesterday. Meanwhile, the surcharge for the A12 from the German border to Innsbruck will increase by up to 20% to pay for the Brenner Base Tunnel railway line. Rates currently range from €13.94-€37.59 for the 75km stretch using the GO Toll electronic on-board unit. BELGIUM‘s incoming government will follow the emerging trend to increase diesel duty says FlanderNews.be. France recently announced a similar move. Regulated diesel price currently €1.398/l – Europe’s 14th most expensive – compared to €1.614 for unleaded 95, 6th most expensive. No word yet on the size of the rise, or on the proposed road charging scheme, a final decision on which was postponed until after the election.

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Denmark: construction starts next year on the new 4km Storstrom Bridge between Zealand and Falster islands, on the direct route between Copenhagen and Hamburg says the Copenhagen Post today. Mega-building corps Vinci from France and Hyundai from South Korea, among others, are vying for the business in the capital this week. The new Storstrom replaces the existing bridge, just to the west, and opens in 2021. Meanwhile, building also starts next year on the Fehmarn Tunnel, to finally connect Falster with the German mainland. It will be the world’s longest combined rail and road tunnel at 17.6km and will also open in 2021.

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Last updated 18:00BST.

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TODAY: winds down to Force 8 Dover Strait, still long delays Dover-Calais ferry services. 

The French Ecotaxe truck toll system has been suspended indefinitely, and with it – presumably – the highway go-slows planned for next week. German police find a huge haul of heroin in a pickle truck. Otto returns to Berlin after a 900,000km global road trip.

Road works and long diversion coastbound A2 at Canterbury for nine weeks, recommended to take M20 to Dover. Fine-free week in Belgium, minor traffic offences to be let off with a warning (might have now finished..).

Calais Migrant Crisis: Calais ‘Day of Action’ Monday 13 October.

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CHANNEL DELAYS: P&O Dover-Calais delay 2h00. DFDS Dover-Calais/Dunkirk delays 2h00. MyFerryLink Dover-Calais, expected delay down to 20mins. Condor Ferries Weymouth-Channel Islands-Weymouth cancelled, weather.

WEATHER ALERT: Amber alert heavy rain Portugal + north west Italy coast.

WEATHER: settled central + East. Fine Mediterranean. Rain France, Spain.

GOTTHARD TUNNEL: now no queues.

MONT BLANC TUNNEL: ‘traffic is fluent’.

MAJOR TRAFFIC DELAYS: A1 northbound from Paris, road works Senlis delay 45mins. A15 westbound from Paris, accident at Cergy delay 1h10.

A2 northbound s’Hertogenbosch, earlier accident, delay 60mins.

A81 northbound Heilbronn, road works, delay down to 50mins. A92 eastbound from Munich, road works at Landshut delay 1h40.

A1 southbound from Geneva, road works, accident, delay down to 45mins

A10 eastbound to Genoa, road works at Arenzano, accident, closed, delay up to 2h00.

Earlier: A5 southbound Karlsruhe-Basel, lane closed Baden Baden, delay down to 20mins. A96 northbound to Memmingen, road works Leutkirch delay down to 10mins.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

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German adventurer Gunther Holtorf returns to Berlin after a 26 year, 900,000km journey through all the world’s 215 countries, in Otto, a Mercedes-Benz 300 GD, using the original engine. The car will now go on display at the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart. See ottosreise.de

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roundup: GERMANY. A massive 330kg of heroin has been found in a truck otherwise loaded with pickled garlic and cucumbers. The vehicle was stopped in Essen on 22 September after driving from Iran. In the whole of 2013 just 270kg of the drug was discovered. BULGARIA. The deputy PM of the caretaker government has called for a road toll system though it is not clear if she means just for trucks, or all vehicles. Foreign drivers currently have to buy a vignette costing €5 per week for cars or from €7 per day for trucks.

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‘Manufacturer commercial CGI reaching new levels of idiocy. I suppose the red car’s reversing in this impossible image?’ complains EVO magazine photographer @evoDeanSmith.

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Last updated 18:00BST.

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TODAY: Truck unions issue an ultimatum to the French govt: cancel the Ecotaxe truck toll by 15 October or by 17 October drivers will be out on strike.

Fuel prices fall in Luxembourg, again, and Cyprus. Moscow’s new parking zone expands again. Moldova celebrates National Wine Day. Bosnia opens another new stretch of motorway. Turkey introduces a disinfection fee at land borders.

Fine-free week in Belgium, minor traffic offences to be let off with a warning.

Calais Migrant Crisis: Calais ‘Day of Action’ Monday 13 October.

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CHANNEL DELAYS: P&O Dover-Calais delay 50mins, weather. DFDS Dover-Dunkirk delays 40mins, Dover-Calais delay 30mins. Stena Line Harwich-Hook delayed by high freight volume.

Condor Ferries Weymouth-Channel Islands-Weymouth cancelled today and tomorrow, weather.

WEATHER ALERT: Amber alert heavy rain Portugal.

WEATHER: fair South. Rain North.

GOTTHARD TUNNEL: northbound queue down to 1km, delay 10mins.

MONT BLANC TUNNEL: ‘traffic is fluent’.

MAJOR TRAFFIC DELAYS: no major delays.

Earlier: now no delay A9 southbound from Leipzig. R1 ring south west Antwerp, shed load, clockwise, down to 10min delay from A1. A81 northbound from Heilbronn, road works delay down to 30mins.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

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‘Silent Outlooks’: motorway ‘noise-reduction walls’ protect but also isolate Switzerland thinks photographer Gregory Collavini. ‘These devices are built due to a positive political intention notably to protect people from annoying noises caused by highway traffic. They have nevertheless an opposite effect which is to delimit and to contain the landscape, transforming it – using the terminology of Deleuze and Guattari – from a smooth into a striated space. On a more metaphorical level these constructions could be seen as signs of a country shutting itself in,’ he says. See more in the series at gregorycollavini.com

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LUXEMBOURG. The nationally-regulated price of diesel falls 2c to €1.153 per litre and unleaded 95 0.5c to €1.316 today reports wort.lu. Super 98 drops just 0.4c to €1.361. It’s the second cut for diesel in as many weeks. Meanwhile, prices have fallen in CYPRUS too, by around 2.5c/l says Cyprus Mail. Unleaded95 is down to €1.389 and diesel to €1.390. Catch up with daily fuel prices in Europe at Fuel Prices Europe. RUSSIA. Another 454 streets will be added to Moscow’s paid parking zone on 25 December – Happy Christmas! – between the Garden Ring and the Third Transport Ring. The parking zone has steadily increased since it was first introduced at the end of 2012 and now encompasses the entire area inside the Green Ring. See the official Moscow Parking site for more info. BOSNIA. A new stretch of the A1 motorway opens tomorrow. It’s only 20km, from Sarajevo to Tarcin, but it means fast road finally extends south past the capital. Apparently it came in under budget too. Tolls kick in at the end of the year. TURKEY. Cars entering from Bulgaria and Greece must pay a €1.50 fee to be disinfected for Bluetongue disease (trucks €4.50) says novinite.com.

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It’s National Wine Day in Moldova to celebrate the new wine finishing fermentation. ‘Wine City’ 15km north of Chisinau featured on last year’s Porsche Performance Drive. The fleet of Cayennes took to the 120km of underground roadways (as did Vladimir Putin for his 50th birthday). Wine is one of Moldova’s most important industries. They’ve been making it for 1,500 years.

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The upcoming Istanbul-Izmir Highway will drastically reduce journey times across western Turkey and features one of the world’s longest suspension bridges.

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ISTANBUL TO IZMIR IN 3.5 HOURS

New highway opens up western Turkey to business and tourism.

The Izmit Bay Bridge. Artist’s impression from Otoyolas.com.tr.

The Istanbul-Izmir Highway will cut the current nine hour journey to just three and a half.

Dubbed Otoyol 33 (0-33) the new road will stretch 427km through western Turkey linking the important regional centres of Orhangazi, Bursa and Balikesir.

It opens in stages from next year, starting at the Istanbul end, through to 2020.

Izmir is the most westerly city in Turkey, on the Aegean coast. Just 100 miles from Balikesir (the ‘Anatolian Tiger’) are the excavated ruins of Troy, the former playgrounds of Byzantine kings.

Saving one hour of the current journey in itself will be the Izmit Bay Suspension Bridge south east of Istanbul.

Currently drivers have to drive around the Gulf, or catch a ferry from Yalova (albeit across the Sea of Marmara into Istanbul, operated by a company part-owned by UK firm Stagecoach).

With a central span of 1550m, and a total length of 2682m, it will be the fourth longest suspension bridge in the world.

Like all major roads in Turkey, the Istanbul-Izmir Highway will be tolled. Rates are yet to be set for the road though a charge of €27 ($35) has been mentioned for the bridge.

Read about our attempt to drive to Istanbul, and about Consulate-General Leigh Turner’s drive from Istanbul to Izmir.

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That’s how we load ferries in Greece says YouTube user Alek M. It wasn’t how they loaded us onto a ferry when we were there but, hey:

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Trojsky Most opens to the public, a milestone in the torturous construction of Prague’s record-breaking Blanka Tunnel Complex.

Also, new clean-ferry fuel rules next year raise the spectre of fare surcharges. Belgium’s marathon ‘speed blitz’ is in doubt. Italy’s A1 Autostrada del Sole celebrates its fiftieth birthday. Rally spectators in Italy have a super-close shave.

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‘TROJSKY MOST’ PREVIEWS EUROPE’S LONGEST CITY TUNNEL

Prague’s Blanka Tunnel Complex: difficult construction starting to bear fruit.

Trojsky Most, Trojan Bridge, Prague. Photo via Metrostav.cz

After a long and difficult gestation, the Blanka Tunnel Complex took a significant step forward today when the Trojsky Most (Trojan Bridge) opened to the public.

The 250m bridge crosses the Vltava in the north west of Prague, at the eastern portal of the three consecutive Blanka tunnels. Trams run through the middle with two lanes for cars each side.

The 6.4km series of tunnels will vie with Madrid’s M30 ring for the title of Europe’s longest city tunnel and certainly surpasses the next longest, the 4.7km Sodra Lanken in Stockholm, 4.5km Dublin Port Tunnel and 3.2km Lefortovo Tunnel in Moscow.

Blanka completes the lion’s share of the Prague inner city ring road, designed to bypass the historic city centre, which should be finished in its entirety by 2020.

A pet project of Mount Everest-climbing, controversial former mayor Pavel Bem, the Blanka Tunnel project started in 2007 and has been beset with every problem since including three major leaks, massive time and cost overruns – especially of Trojan Bridge – unauthorised construction, uncovered archaeology, undermined buildings, invalid contracts, and a police investigation into the finances.

Last week the final dispute between the city council and construction company Metrostav was settled in arbitration.

Building is reportedly now finished with just final safety checks remaining. Trials should start 2 December ahead of a full public opening in April 2015.

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ITALY. Saturday was the fiftieth anniversary of the A1 ‘Autostrada del Sole’, the road that, as of 4 August 1964 cut the travelling time from Milan to Naples from two days to eight hours. Built to mark the A1’s opening (on the Feast of St Francis, patron saint of Italy) was the Chiesa dell’Autostrada – Church of the Motorway – at the Firenze-Nord junction of the A1 and A11 north of Florence, halfway between Milan and Naples. It was designed by Giovanni Michelucci who was also responsible for Florence’s rigorously modernist main SMN railway station, 1934, fashioned from above in the shape of the fascio littorio, (bundle of bound twigs) the Facist symbol. The difference between the two buildings is vast save for their façades of rough-hewn blocks. The Church was considered revolutionary at the time, an ‘organic’ form twisted into various spaces in which different-sized groups of people could meet. It is cited – recognisably so – as a major influence on modern starchitect Frank Gehry.

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CROSSING THE CHANNEL. Freight customers face fare hikes when new low-sulphur fuel regulations come in on 1 January – by 15% Stena has said – but it hasn’t been clear what will happen to regular passenger tickets. Now Lloyd’s Loading List says operators will levy fuel surcharges as, for example, the more expensive clean fuel increases P&O’s costs by £30m each year. How much fares will rise by is still not clear however. More announcements are expected as the deadline looms says LLL. Meanwhile, Denmark says it will take a zero-tolerance approach to the new rules. BELGIUM’s ‘speed blitz’ on Friday 10 October is in doubt. Like in neighbouring Germany last month, the plan had been to put all hands on deck for 24 hours in a crackdown on speeding drivers but the on-going dispute about police pensions and retirement age means many officers will boycott the event says FlandersNews.be. This week is already a ‘fine-free week’ with police reportedly issuing just warnings for low-level traffic offences.

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An unbelievably lucky escape for spectators at this weekend’s Jolly Rally Valle d’Aosta, nw Italy:

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The real Sweden – brutal, bleak, still icy in June, endless E4 – but not actively boring until the final stretch into Stockholm.

640 miles. For map see below.

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Also see Race around the Baltic P1 and Driving across Finland.

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A gentle ascent from the mountains to the hills and finally the plains across France, south east to the capital.

350 miles. For map see below.

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Also see A Nice Drive Along N5, Geneva-Dole-Dijon. 

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Last updated 18:00BST.

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TODAY: 

Road works and long diversion coastbound A2 at Canterbury for nine weeks, recommended to take M20 to Dover. Fine-free week in Belgium, minor traffic offences to be let off with a warning. Heavy traffic due to national holiday Germany (rush now completely be over – return traffic Sunday).

Calais Migrant Crisis: Govt wants to actually raise fines for stowaways.

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CHANNEL DELAYS: P&O Dover-Calais 21:20 + Calais-Dover 19:55 delay 40mins, port road works. DFDS Dover-Calais 19:15 + 21:15 delay 30mins.

Half service Stena Harwich-Hook until 7 October, dry dock Stena Britannica.

WEATHER ALERT: Amber alert high wind Norway, storm Italy.

WEATHER: dry Central. Thunder central Mediterranean. Hot Portugal.

GOTTHARD TUNNEL: southbound queue still 3km, delay 30mins; no northbound delay.

MONT BLANC TUNNEL: ‘traffic is fluent’.

MAJOR TRAFFIC DELAYS: A16 westbound Dunkirk road works delay increased to 35mins. A630 ring south Bordeaux anticlock, accident road works delay 1h15.

R0 ring east Brussels, accident E40 coastbound, anticlock delay from A3 currently 1h30.

A31/A3 northbound Thionville-Luxembourg City, heavy traffic, road works, total delay down to 45mins; up to 25mins southbound. 

A51 southbound Milan, road works, delay 60mins.

Earlier: now no delay E411 Namur direction Brussels. A10 northbound into Paris, earlier accident Wissous delay down to 30mins.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

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Pukka-supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley launches the Land Rover Discovery Sport on a barge on the Seine in Paris ahead of the Motor Show earlier this week. LR’s second attempt to connect with the fashion industry also went hideously awry when – gasp! – RHW was heard to refer to the Discovery Sport as a Range Rover.

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Last updated 18:00BST.

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TODAY: Be on the look out for wild animals this month during mating season.

Also, diesel tax to rise in France.

Fine-free week in Belgium, minor traffic offences to be let off with a warning. Aftermath severe floods Montpellier region, South of France.

Calais Migrant Crisis: Govt wants to actually raise fines for stowaways.

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CHANNEL DELAYS: DFDS Dover-Dunkirk 18:00 delay 60mins. Eurotunnel freight France, busy, transit time 2h00.

WEATHER ALERT: Amber alert heavy rain Spain.

WEATHER: fair Central. Showers Mediterranean + North West.

GOTTHARD TUNNEL: no queues.

MONT BLANC TUNNEL: ‘traffic is fluent’.

MAJOR TRAFFIC DELAYS: A16 westbound at Dunkirk road works delay increased to 35mins.

A20 eastbound from Rotterdam, vehicle fire at Gouda delay 60mins.

A1 northbound Hamburg, road works, delay still 50mins. A1 southbound to Cologne, accident at Burscheid delay 1h30. A67 northbound to Frankfurt, lane blocked, accident at Lorsch delay 50mins. A8 westbound to Karlsruhe, road works delay 55mins. A93 northbound Regensburg, earlier accident, delay still 50mins. A3 southbound from Passau, holdup at border, delay 50mins.

Earlier: now no delay A5 northbound Karlsruhe, . R0 ring north Brussels anticlock, earlier accident, delay from A3 down to 10mins. A8 westbound at Stuttgart, road works, delay down to 25mins. A92 northbound from Munich, road works, delay down to 25mins. A3 eastbound Frankfurt-Wurzburg, road works Aschaffenburg delay down to 35mins.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

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WATCH OUT WILD OCTOBER

Wild animals on the loose, at dusk and dawn.

On the E4 Umea-Sundsvall, Sweden. Photo @DriveEurope.

Reindeer in Rovaniemi on the Finland/Sweden border will have their antlers daubed in fluorescent paint this winter after a successful trial earlier this year while ruminant colleagues over in Norway have been found to contain record levels of radioactive Caesium.

However, drivers elsewhere on the Continent will need to keep an extra sharp eye out for wild animals this month.

The rutting season for deer, and local migrations, mean herds will be out in force, especially near forest and field edges, and particularly at dawn and dusk.

There are 3,000 serious road accidents each year in Germany involving wild animals says the ADAC.

More research from Norway says most drivers ignore wild animal warning signs, and even those that do see them fail to slow down.

In the event of an inevitable collision the advice is do not attempt to swerve. Road conditions are unpredictable at this time of year and drivers can easily lose control.

Where animals have been injured, even if they have run away, notify police on 112.

With a group of animals stood in the road, drivers should sound the horn but keep headlights dipped – full beam can make them freeze. Also, be ready for stragglers when a herd has passed by.

Meanwhile, in France, mating season – la brame du cerf – is a tourist attraction. Events organised by the Office National des Forêts take place across the country, particularly Chambord and Rambouillet in the north west and Moselle in the east. See more at The Connexion.

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Modern city driving demo courtesy of the new 896bhp plug-in hybrid Lamborghini Asterion featuring electric-only drive mode. See that Zona Traffico Limitato sign and sail serenely by:

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roundup: FRANCE. Diesel tax will rise by 2c per litre next year as the government makes good on its promise (after the Paris Pollution Crisis) to narrow the fiscal gap to petrol. The hike will also regain revenue lost to the radically downsized upcoming Ecotaxe truck toll system (due to start 1 January in Paris but postponed in the rest of the country). The average diesel price in September was 105.81p/l according to the AA compared to 115.92p for unleaded 95.

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