Author Archives: driveeuropenews

Random Passes: Pyrenees, Alps, Spain and Italy

Catching up with this week’s random pictures, from a quiet mountain pass in Andorra to an easy high in Switzerland, a once-in-a-lifetime adrenalin-fuelled ascent in Spain and, a great diversion on the way between Milan and Rome (or Florence and Bologna).

All photos by @DriveEurope.

.

Oh so quiet. In the days before we realised just how busy they can get, we took this tranquil mountain pass – the D25 Port (or Col) de Pailhères above Ax-les-Thermes in the French Pyrenees – entirely for granted. Squiggly roads miles away from anywhere will automatically be quiet, right? Unfortunately not. However, apart from the big name roads, the one thing the Pyrenees really lacks beside the Alps is catchment area. Fewer people live within striking distance. Even if that doesn’t guarantee a clear run at the height of summer, going just out of season - June/September – means you are likely to have the place to yourself.

Oh so quiet. In the days before we realised just how busy they can get, we took this tranquil mountain pass – the D25 Port (or Col) de Pailhères above Ax-les-Thermes in the French Pyrenees – entirely for granted. Squiggly roads miles away from anywhere will automatically be quiet, right? Unfortunately not. However, apart from the big name roads, the one thing the Pyrenees really lacks beside the Alps is catchment area. Fewer people live within striking distance. Even if that doesn’t guarantee a clear run at the height of summer, going just out of season, June/September, means it is not impossible to have the place to yourself.

It hasn’t exactly been neutered but a large scale overhaul in 2009 did remove many of the cascading curves the Julier Pass was previously well known for. However, it still tops out at 2284m – 7,493ft – so your head is still in the clouds, on a level with some of the surrounding peaks. There’s no better way to get high without scaring yourself half to death. What Julier really is these days is a proper working road, 27 glorious miles on H3 from Tiefencastel to Silvapana, between the storied Engadine Valley – see James Bond’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – St Moritz, and the rest of Graubunden in east Switzerland. It also neatly strings together with the H19 Oberalp and H29 Bernina passes for fabulous mountain roads between the Gotthard Tunnel in south central Switzerland and the Valtellina Valley in northern Italy.

It hasn’t exactly been neutered but a large scale overhaul in 2009 did remove many of the cascading curves the Julier Pass was previously well known for. However, it still tops out at 2284m – 7,493ft – so heads are still in the clouds, on a level with some of the surrounding peaks. There’s no better way to get high without scaring yourself half to death. What Julier really is these days is a proper working road, 27 glorious miles on H3 from Tiefencastel to Silvapana, between the storied Engadine Valley – see James Bond’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – St Moritz, and the rest of Graubunden in east Switzerland. It also neatly strings together with the H19 Oberalp and H29 Bernina passes for fabulous mountain roads between the Gotthard Tunnel in south central Switzerland and the Valtellina Valley in northern Italy.

Fly with the Maltese – peregrine – falcons at the top of Mont Caro with the lush Ebro Delta at your feet and the craggy massif of the Els Ports national park behind. Incredible views, and cool whatever the weather below, but getting there can be a trial. Head east from Tortosa on Carrer Diego de Leon, right from the centre of town. After 5km the initial ascent begins, so steep it’s an effort to lift your head off the seat back but you must, else you cannot see the road. It’s only 1447m (4,747ft) high but the drops are sheer, barriers are few and far between and if anything comes the other way you are forced to drive closer to the edge than you would ever dare walk. But it’s strangely addictive too as in once you start you just cannot stop, it’s far too narrow to turn around. If there’s a scarier road in Europe we’ve yet to find it.

Fly with the Maltese – peregrine – falcons at the top of Mont Caro with the lush Ebro Delta at your feet and the craggy massif of the Els Ports national park behind. Incredible views, and cool whatever the weather below, but getting there can be a trial. Head east from Tortosa on Carrer Diego de Leon, right from the centre of town. After 5km the initial ascent begins, so steep it’s an effort to lift your head off the seat back but you must else you cannot see the road. Caro is only 1447m (4,747ft) high but the drops are sheer and barriers rare and random. If anything comes the other way you have to drive closer to the edge than you would ever dare walk. But it’s strangely addictive too as in, once you start you just cannot stop, it’s far too narrow to turn round. If there’s a scarier road in Europe we’ve yet to find it.

Not traditional passes in the sense of being vertiginous natural passages between mountains – the Tuscan Apennines top out at less than 1,000m (3,300ft) – but the views over lush green steeply rolling countryside are idyllic if you can bear to stop and look. What was once the main road between Bologna and Florence – SS65 still closely shadows the A1 Autostrade del Sole a few miles to the east - is now a playground, mainly for bikers. Over sixty miles of corners linked by short straights with a top speed of around sixty miles per hour. Raticosa and Futa, one after the other, are frantic but fantastic. The challenge is not to lose it but the consequences if you do are likely to be minimal. SS65 is the greatest way to break up a drive from Milan to Rome (and free). Even better, when we were there one late spring sunny weekday afternoon, it was empty.

Not traditional passes in the sense of being vertiginous natural passages between mountains – the Tuscan Apennines top out at less than 1,000m (3,300ft) – but the views over lush green steeply rolling countryside are idyllic if you can bear to stop and look. What was once the main road between Bologna and Florence – SS65 still closely shadows the A1 Autostrade del Sole a few miles to the east – is now a playground, mainly for bikers. Over sixty miles of corners linked by short straights with a top speed of around sixty miles per hour. Raticosa and Futa, one after the other, are frantic but fantastic. The challenge is not to lose it but the consequences if you do are likely to be minimal. SS65 is the greatest way to break up a drive from Milan to Rome (and free). Even better, when we were there one late spring sunny weekday afternoon, it was empty.

.

No Delay Crimea Fixed Link – Putin’s New Limo

It’s puzzling that the Kremlin doggedly pursues the Kerch Link as the possibility of a land route between Russia and Crimea opens up. Meanwhile, the first pictures of Putin’s new limousine are published, Madrid and Paris ponder new vehicle restrictions, Spain brings in new driving rules, and Gibraltar considers joining the borderless Schengen Zone…

.

GIBRALTAR QUEUE WATCH: after a relatively quiet morning, delays at the Spanish frontier reached 1h30 in the early evening. Also, in a shock move, Gibraltar is reportedly to hold a consultation on joining the EU border-free Schengen Area shortly. Chief Minister Fabian Picardo made the announcement in the presence of UK Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander. Reaction has so far been muted but the idea is sure to be – surely – controversial in the true blue British Overseas Territory.

Note: rejigged driving laws start today in Spain, from raised motorway speed limits to harsher penalties for speeding. See more here.

.

NO DELAY FOR CRIMEA FIXED LINK

Pressing ahead despite land route possibility through south and east Ukraine.

The Kerch ferry, due to replaced by a fixed link, and soon.

The Kerch ferry, due to replaced by a fixed link, and soon.

As Eurotunnel celebrates its twentieth anniversary this week another ambitious fixed link is planned between Russia and Crimea.

A bridge and/or tunnel – with or without a rail line – across the short Kerch Strait between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, is not on the same scale as the Channel Tunnel but shifting sands make it a significant technical challenge.

Such a project has been discussed for decades, particularly the last ten years, but really started to gather momentum as former Ukraine president Yanukovych looked set to sign the Association Agreement with the EU last November.

In early March, two weeks before Crimea officially joined Russia, prime minster Dmitry Medvedev announced a new subsidiary of state road builder Avtodor to oversee the project with tenders due in November 2014.

Now, even as the security situation in south east Ukraine deteriorates further – with the government admitting it has lost control of the region and pro-Russian groups threatening to break away – the Kerch Link has developed a sense of urgency.

According to reports this week, the massive China Railway Construction Corporation looks set to build the 4.5km link with contracts signed by President Putin on a visit to China at the end of May.

The cost is pegged at £3.2bn with a build time of five years.

As western diplomats accuse Putin of deliberately fomenting tensions in the east Ukraine regions – which, if they did separate, would allow a land route from Russia to Crimea – the question is, why are the Russians still so intent on building the Kerch Link?

Meanwhile, all freight services have been suspended on the existing ferry service in favour of passenger cars for the summer. A new freight route has been opened between Feodosia and Novorossiysk as queues from Ukraine to Crimea increase to ‘at least’ ten hours for trucks, and five hours for cars.

UPDATE 5 June: the China Summit came and went without any specific mention of the Kerch Link though many other infrastructure project contracts were signed. However, according to the Moscow Times, Avtodor has settled on a combined road and rail bridge as the preferred design – 11.7km long with an additional 25km of connecting highway, and 83km of railway – for a total price of, wait for it, $8.1bn. South Korean and Chinese investors are apparently still interested in financing the construction.

.

The final design of President Putin's new official limousine has finally been unveiled, and with it a new family of vehicles to be bult on the same platform. More later.

As Moscow prepares for its annual Victory Day Parade today, after several fits and starts – and at least one full scale return to the drawing board – the first pictures of Vladimir Putin’s new official limousine have finally emerged. With it will eventually come an entire range of vehicles, all built on the same platform, for economies of scale, to put domestic manufacturers on a par with Western competitors. Porsche, along with state owned research institute NAMI, have both had input into the project, dubbed Cortege.

.

roundup: SPAIN. On the day a new law allows Low Emission Zones for the first time, Madrid announces new plans to limit vehicles: price hikes and new restrictions on parking, more pedestrianisation, bus lanes, resident only streets and day time truck bans, among other things, all due 2014-2020. ‘Madrid is for people, not vehicles,’ says the document seen by El Pais. Meanwhile a digger driver has been arrested on suspicion of DUI after a collision with a team bus near Castuera last night in which five young footballers were killed. FRANCE. In the wake March’s damp squib ‘pollution crisis’, and the election of new mayor Anne Hidalgo, Paris will also present new plans to influence driver behaviour according to thelocal.fr: a year’s free public transport for those switching from diesel to petrol; local authorities encouraged to stop using diesel buses; low emission zones; and free public transport and residential parking whenever particle concentrations rise above a new lower limit of 50 microgrammes (from 80ug). No word yet on any ways to tackle the galloping popularity of unabated log-burning stoves.

.

‘Most Countries’ Record Stands – Open for Business

Three Norwegian men are attempting to beat the ‘most countries visited in one day’ world record. Meanwhile, Grossglockner and Trollstigen are definitely now open, work restarts on the Elbtunnel, a haulier escapes a massive ‘stowaways’ fine and the new UK User Levy brings in more than £1m a week.

.

GIBRALTAR QUEUE WATCH: after peaking at a normal two hours yesterday, delays have reached a paltry 1h15 so far today as it’s revealed 500 complaints about queues at the Spanish frontier have been sent to the EU in the last six months from people living and working in Gibraltar. The maximum queue since November has been four hours, or 90 minutes for pedestrians.

.

MOST COUNTRIES VISITED RECORD STILL STANDS

The needle sticks on seventeen

20 n 24 attempt: (l-r) Tay-young Pak, Gunnar Garfors and Oystein Djupvik. Photo via garfors.com

20 in 24 attempt: (l-r) Tay-young Pak, Gunnar Garfors and Oystein Djupvik. Photo via garfors.com

The world record of visiting 17 countries in one day still stands.

Three Norwegian men – Gunnar Garfors, Oystein Djupvik and Tay-young Pak – attempted to beat the record yesterday, driving around Europe, but ultimately equalled it.

Garfors – who in 2012 was the first person to visit five continents in one day – said, ‘We aimed high, missed a flight and lost three hours. When we also ran into a closed road, we were a few minutes short of improving the current world record.’

The record attempt started in Holland at 00:01 today, initially by Jaguar XF then by BMW 5-series. The precise route is not available yet but included Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and Bulgaria. See more here.

The original record was set by @17in24, a four strong team from Sweden, Holland and Australia. In June 2012 they covered 2,640km in 24 hours, starting and finishing in Belgrade. See more here.

Meanwhile, in October last year @alelean covered 1896km in 24 hours and visited thirteen countries.

.

As we reported last week, Austria's Grossglockner blue riband mountain pass is open and apparently it's all thanks to @MercedesBenz: 'Despite spring storms and over 3m of snow, Unimog handled business. Pass now open for business.' Also, today, Norway's most famous road Trollstigen

As we reported last week, Austria’s Grossglockner blue riband mountain pass is open. Apparently it’s all thanks to @MercedesBenz: ‘Despite spring storms and over 3m of snow, Unimog handled business. Pass now open for business.’ Also open – today actually – is Norway’s most famous road, Trollstigen – east of Alesund, south of Kristiansund in the south west – it’s earliest opening in 23 years says @Presserom.

.

roundup: HAMBURG. Road works on the A7 Elbtunnel restart today after the Easter break. Delays previously were typically less than an hour, during rush hours. STOWAWAYS. A Polish haulier escaped a £12,000 fine for carrying stowaways today after solicitor Anton Balkitis @KeepMeOnTheRoad persuaded UK Border Force that proper systems had been in place. Meanwhile, the UK’s HGV USER LEVY – a daily charge for foreign-registered trucks 12t+ – has raised £7.6m in its first five weeks says the UK DfT.

.

Driving Across Poland

A one-day, all-day dash across northern Poland, from Szczecin on the German border in the west, to Suwalki on the Lithuanian border in the east.

It might not be many people’s idea of a great holiday destination, yet, but with its countless lakes, forests, rolling countryside, mediaeval old towns and proximity to the Baltic Sea, northern Poland has a lot going for it.

Szczecin – Pila – Bydgoszcz – Grudziadz – Olsztyn – Suwalki, 412 miles (663km).

Day three of Race around the Baltic.

.

Saying goodbye to Szczecin (Stettin), the former Port of Berlin wearing its industry proudly on the skyline.

Saying goodbye to Szczecin, the former Port of Berlin wearing its industry proudly on the skyline.

Lovely, smooth fresh tarmac dual carriageway all too soon giving way to...

S10 eastbound: lovely, smooth fresh tarmac but it only lasts for ten miles. Poland has spent $60bn on its roads since 2007 but there is still much more to do.

Here's what we have to do this morning, 217km to Bydgoszcz

Our task this morning, 217km to Bydgoszcz

Tree lined roads, always a good sign.

Promising.

Sorry, we have a thing about tree-lined roads.

Sorry, we have a thing about tree-lined roads.

Every town and even tiny village has a speed camera, sometimes planted up with flowers.

Every town and tiny village has a speed camera, sometimes planted up with flowers. Interestingly, the speed limit in built up areas increases from 50kmh to 60kmh between 23:00 and 05:00.

Logging trucks and lots of them. Not as slow as you might think.

Logging trucks and lots of them. Not as slow as first feared.

Characteristically eastern European, air and road temperature.

Characteristically east European, air and road temperature.

Wielgoszcz: an entirely typical (northern) Polish village from what we saw, neat and well kept. Note the elaborate church.

Wielgoszcz: an entirely typical (northern) Polish village from what we saw, neat and tidy. Note the elaborate church steeple.

Shabby chic in Miroslawiec

Shabby chic in Miroslawiec, one of the few towns around here not on, or near, a lake or lakes.

Lakes, and lots of them. Because the landscape is, at best, gently rolling there aren't the epic lake-filled vistas you get in Switzerland, for instance, but there are hundreds of lakes around here (thousands in the east).

Because the landscape is gently rolling there aren’t the epic lake-filled vistas you get in Switzerland, for instance – this is the best we could do – but there are hundreds of lakes in the west and thousands in the east.

Pila celebrating its 500th anniversary.

Pila celebrating its 500th anniversary. Formerly Schneidermuhl in German Prussia. Both names derived from wood cutting.

Disheartening

Disheartening, but only 77km now to Bydgoszcz

We all spent 40 minutes stuck behind a little black Toyota

We all spent 40 minutes stuck behind a little black Toyota

No drive in eastern Europe is complete without a box girder bridge

No drive in eastern Europe is complete without a box girder bridge. This one notably crosses the Vistula, Poland’s longest river, at Grudziadz.

Bydgoszcz: an interesting mix. Will be lovely when its finished.

Grudziadz, interesting mix. The towns slow us down but, though they were extensively damaged in WW2, the historic centres survived, or have been restored. The mediaeval centre of Torun, 40km south, also on the Vistula, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This is a main road, S16 Grudziadz-Ostroda, but as bad as the surface gets all day. No potholes at all.

Main road, S16 Grudziadz-Ostroda, but as bad as the surface gets all day. No potholes anywhere, but note the fresh stone chip on the windscreen. We get another before the day is out.

Stop means stop. Every single truck, vana nd car - even in this queue we're in - stops to check if a train is coming, and so do we.

Stop means stop. Every single truck, van and car – even in this queue – stops to check if a train is coming, so we do too.

Olsztyn, pop. 175k, right in the middle of the Masurian Lake District in north east Poland with 15 lakes in the city boundary. Of more interest for us right at this moment is that, as you can see, it’s within striking distance – 50 miles – of the Russian enclave, Kaliningrad (formerly Konigsberg).

Olsztyn, pop. 175k, right in the middle of the Masurian Lake District in north east Poland with 15 lakes in the city boundary. Of more interest for us right at this moment is that, as you can see, it’s within striking distance – 50 miles – of the Russian enclave, Kaliningrad (formerly Konigsberg).

Ryn: Hotel Zamek., tempting.

Hotel Zamek looming over Ryn, tempting.

The sun's out and it looks like we're going to make it.

After Olsztyn the roads were virtually empty. Then the sun came out.

Bakalarzewo: just 20 miles from Suwalki, the big border town, itself just 25km from the Lithuanian border.

Bakalarzewo: just 20km from border town Suwalki, itself just 25km from Lithuania.

.

All EU Drivers Liable at Home – Happy Birthday Eurotunnel

A European Court of Justice ruling means all EU drivers can be prosecuted at home for traffic offences committed in other EU countries. Eurotunnel celebrates its twentieth anniversary.

.

ALL EU DRIVERS TO BE PROSECUTED AT HOME

UK, Ireland and Denmark to lose opt-out on EU traffic laws. UK ‘considering implications’.

TISPOL Speed Week. Police across Europe will be on the look out for speeding drivers this week, so watch out.

British, Irish and Danish drivers may find themselves being prosecuted at home for traffic offences committed in other European countries after all.

Today, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that last year’s Directive 2011/82/EU ‘Facilitating the cross-border exchange of information on road safety related traffic offences’ had been incorrectly implemented.

Instead of a police co-operation measure – which the UK, Ireland and Denmark can/did opt out of – the ECJ said 2011/82/EU should have been implemented as a road safety/transport law which automatically applies to all EU member states.

A spokesman for the European Commission has confirmed to @DriveEurope that the UK, Ireland and Denmark do not have opt outs from EU transport laws.

The ECJ said the existing rules will apply for the next twelve months until a new directive can be drawn up.

From 7 November 2013 drivers from most member states can be prosecuted at home for the following eight offences committed in other EU countries: speeding; not using a seatbelt; running a red light or other stop signal; drink driving; driving under the influence of drugs; not wearing a helmet (motorcyclists); using a forbidden lane (bus lane, emergency lane, etc); and using a mobile phone while driving.

EU member states can access each other’s national vehicle registration data in order to determine the person liable for the offence.

Update: A spokesman for the UK Department for Transport told @DriveEurope Wednesday afternoon the government was still ‘considering the implications’ of the judgement. He declined to give a timeframe saying a decision would be made ‘in due course’.

Many thanks to Andrew Thompson @AGTLaw for bringing this to our attention.

.

Happy Birthday Eurotunnel: the fixed rail link between the UK and France was inaugurated twenty years ago today. Passengers travelling today get a certificate and a gift to mark the occasion. Its latest financial results show the Chunnel continues to go from strength to strength. The only cloud on the horizon – the Competition Commission investigation into the SeaFrance/MyFerryLink ‘merger’ deal will be a blip – is the emerging/on-going dispute with UK Border Control over lengthy passport queues, particularly at the busiest times. Some of the ferry operators are getting in on the act too. Look out for delays ‘before check-in’, and have your documents at the ready.

Happy Birthday Eurotunnel: the fixed rail link between the UK and France was inaugurated exactly twenty years ago. Passengers travelling today get a certificate and a gift to mark the occasion. Its latest financial results show the Chunnel continues to go from strength to strength. The only cloud on the horizon – the Competition Commission investigation into the SeaFrance/MyFerryLink ‘merger’ deal will be a blip – is the emerging/on-going dispute with UK Border Control over lengthy passport queues, particularly at the busiest times. Some of the ferry operators are getting in on the act too. Look out for delays ‘before check-in’, and have your documents at the ready.

.

E40 Brussels Truck Tragedy – RR Midland Hotel

Updated 18:00BST:

.

CHANNEL DELAYS: P&O delays of under 30 minutes Calais-Dover 18:50 Dover-Calais 18:35.

WEATHER ALERT: Amber alert forest fire south Norway.

WEATHER: fine for much of Europe. Hot across Iberia. Showers South East.

ROADS: E40 road works both ways at Gent, J11-13 lane closed. 20mins delay to Brussels + truck fire, queue J19a-21 delay still 1h30, traffic diverted. Read more here.

MAJOR TRAFFIC DELAYS: A3 northbound from Mainz/Frankfurt, to road works, queue J48-46 delay increased to 3h10.

Earlier: N92 from Namur, and N20 Puymorens Tunnel>Ax-les-Thermes, on/off road works, currently both clear. Now no delay A4 to Reims.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

.

TRAGIC TRUCK CRASH ON E40 BRUSSELS

British truck driver killed. Road closed for ten hours.

An as-yet unidentified British truck driver was tragically killed in the accident which closed the E40 into Brussels for nearly ten hours today.

According to local reports, the British vehicle was second in a line of three trucks all involved in the incident. The first truck was Romanian-registered, the third Belgian.

Photographs of the scene show the vehicles came to rest right on the entrance to the Texaco garage at Groot Bijgaarden on the A10/E40 towards Brussels.

The Romanian truck was carrying PVC granules which caught fire causing a smoke plume which could be seen for miles around. The Bristish truck was reportedly carrying aircraft/automotive parts.

One other driver was slightly injured, the third escaped unharmed.

Accident investigators will attend the scene tomorrow.

Update 7 May: the British driver is still to be named, described just as a 52 year old man. According to local reports, initial findings say the accident was caused by the Belgian truck failing to slow in time for a queue on the E40.

.

Rolls Royce at the Midland Hotel, Manchester.

Rolls Royce at the Midland Hotel, Manchester, yesterday to mark 110 years since the first meeting of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce.

.

Mapping the Alps: Solk Pass Austria

Tag along with the Audi Alpen Tour as it tackles the 1,790m (5,870ft) Solk Pass.

.

You might wonder what you have let yourself in for. A narrow road way and barriers in only the most vital places. Solk Pass is certainly no blue riband mountain pass of national importance, polished to Alpine perfection. It doesn’t have its own website, there aren’t massive hostelries jammed with bikers, cyclists, hikers, motorhomers or, of course, other drivers and it’s not cleared in winter, only opening in mid-May. Consequently, unlike Grossglockner for instance, there isn’t a road toll.

You might wonder what you have let yourself in for. A narrow road way and barriers in only the most vital places. Solk Pass is certainly no blue riband mountain pass of national importance, polished to Alpine perfection. It doesn’t have its own website, there aren’t massive hostelries jammed with bikers, cyclists, hikers, motorhomers or, of course, other drivers and it’s not cleared in winter, only opening in mid-May. Consequently, unlike Grossglockner for instance, there isn’t a road toll.

Solk is less a destination drive than a quiet diversion between Villach/Klagenfurt and Salzburg, say, right in the epicentre of Austria. The YouTube video, below, shows plenty of switchbacks and stunning long valley views while the steepest parts reach 15%. More than anything it illustrates better than most exactly what a pass is: a natural passage between the mountains. The road tops out at 5,840ft (1,570m) right between the Schladming Tauern in the west and the Wolz Tauern in the east, both part of the Low Tauern range of the Central Eastern Alps.

Solk is less a destination drive than a quiet diversion between Villach/Klagenfurt and Salzburg, say, right in the epicentre of Austria. The YouTube video, below, shows plenty of switchbacks and stunning long valley views while the steepest parts reach 15%. More than anything it illustrates better than most exactly what a pass is: a natural passage between the mountains. The road tops out at 5,840ft (1,570m) right between the Schladming Tauern in the west and the Wolz Tauern in the east, both part of the Low Tauern range of the Central Eastern Alps.

Solk stretches 25 miles between Stein an der Enns (Schladming) and Schoder (Murau) along the L704 Erzherzog Strasse. What started out as a mule track 6,000 years ago - taking salt north to the Enns Valley and bringing back wine and cereals to the Mur Valley – was made useable for carts in the late 16th century, paved in 1954 and finally fully asphalted in 1986. Its economic significance is long lost but farming still goes on today. The regular cattle grids should alert you to the possibility of cows on the road.

Solk stretches 25 miles between Stein an der Enns (Schladming) and Schoder (Murau) along the L704 Erzherzog Strasse. What started out as a mule track 6,000 years ago – taking salt north to the Enns Valley and bringing back wine and cereals to the Mur Valley – was made useable for carts in the late 16th century, paved in 1954 and finally fully asphalted in 1986. Its economic significance is long lost but farming still goes on today. The regular cattle grids should alert you to the possibility of cows on the road.

Audi drove Solk at the end of day one of its Alpen Tour last year - right after Nockalm and Turracher Heights – part of its 22 mountain pass tour starting in Klagenfurt and ending in Monaco. Also, about 30km either side of Solk Pass is Radstadler Tauern Pass in the west (aka B99 Katschbergstrasse) and Triebner Tauern Pass (B114 Triebnerstrasse) to the east. Our ‘Mapping the Alps’ series tackles all of these roads one by one. See the bottom of the page for more.

Audi drove Solk at the end of day one of its Alpen Tour last year – right after Nockalm and Turracher Heights – part of its 22 mountain pass tour starting in Klagenfurt and ending in Monaco. Also, about 30km either side of Solk Pass is Radstadler Tauern Pass in the west (aka B99 Katschbergstrasse) and Triebner Tauern Pass (B114 Triebnerstrasse) to the east. Our ‘Mapping the Alps’ series tackles all of these roads one by one. See the bottom of the page for more.

.

.

.

MAPPING THE ALPS: see Nockalm + Turracher Heights. Next Grossglockner, Falzarego and Thun.

.

The Week’s Random Photos: Rome, Lake Lucern, Auvergne, Zadar

Catching up with this week’s random photos, from central Rome, the A2 at Lake Lucerne, the A1 along the Adriatic coast in Croatia and ‘Lost in the Auvergne’.

All photos by @DriveEurope.

.

You can pick your way right down Croatia’s Adriatic coast and with all the time in the world it would be a wonderful thing to do. Heading for Split though, our only option was to take to the A1. With the Dinaric Alps as the backdrop in the north, smooth tarmac and a speed limit of 130kmh it was no hardship. It was busier in the south but swooping down to the sea, as here into Zadar, more than compensated. The toll for (almost) its full 290 mile length from Zagreb was £19 (€23). Keep up to date with current traffic conditions, border queues, etc, at hak.hr.

You can pick your way right down Croatia’s Adriatic coast and with all the time in the world it would be a wonderful thing to do. To make progress however the only option is the A1 though, with the Dinaric Alps as the backdrop in the north, smooth tarmac and a speed limit of 130kmh, there is no hardship involved. It’s busier in the south but regularly swooping down to the sea, as here into Zadar, more than compensates. The toll for the A1’s full 290 mile length from Zagreb is £19 (€23). Keep up to date with current Croatian traffic conditions, border queues, weather, etc, at hak.hr.

Hugely controversial throughout its relatively short life, Via dei Fori Imperiali stretches in a straight line from Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum in central Rome. Opened by Mussolini in 1932 it obliterated 40,000 square yards of ancient, mediaeval and Renaissance structures. Latterly, the recently elected mayor Ignazio Marino (Mayorino), a bike-mad former heart surgeon, has closed off the southern portion to private traffic. This view is no longer possible unless from a bus or taxi, and then probably not for much longer.

Hugely controversial throughout its relatively short life, Via dei Fori Imperiali stretches in a straight line from Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum in central Rome. Built by Mussolini and opened in 1932 it obliterated 40,000 square yards of ancient, mediaeval and Renaissance structures. Latterly, the recently elected mayor Ignazio Marino (Mayorino), a bike-mad former heart surgeon, has closed off the southern portion to private traffic. This view is no longer possible unless from a bus or taxi, and then probably not for much longer.

Everybody takes this picture and you can’t blame them, as the A2 southbound sweeps down beside Lake Lucerne in central Switzerland. The bogeyman is that 45 miles further down this road is the Gotthard Tunnel where, on high days and holidays, delays can easily reach two hours. Two lanes of traffic on one of Europe’s busiest north-south transit routes squeezes into the single track tunnel. Never mind. In good weather take the spectacular Gotthard Pass instead from J40 Goschenen (or wherever you can depending on the queues). The upside is that the A2 south of Gotthard is great too, downhill for 50 miles to Bellinzona along the Leventina Valley.

Everybody takes this picture and you can’t blame them, as the A2 southbound sweeps down beside Lake Lucerne in central Switzerland. The bogeyman is that 45 miles further along is the Gotthard Tunnel where, on high days and holidays, delays can easily reach two hours. Two lanes of traffic on one of Europe’s busiest north-south transit routes squeezes into the single track tunnel. Never mind. In good weather take the spectacular but safe Gotthard Pass instead from J40 Goschenen (or wherever you can depending on the queues). The upside is that the A2 south of Gotthard is great too, downhill for 50 miles to Bellinzona along the Leventina Valley.

If your idea of the perfect road trip involves an open top sports car and the twisty roads of rural France look no further than Auvergne. It lacks jagged Alps peaks – the drops are hundreds rather than thousands of feet - but the 360 degree views from the high hills and plateaux are truly epic. It’s quiet too, sparsely populated with small, unspoilt towns and villages. You can’t go wrong. Where’s this picture taken? Can’t remember, sorry, but it’s very close to the Mont Mouchet Maquis memorial, ten miles south of Brioude, five east of Saint Flour.

If your idea of the perfect road trip involves an open top sports car and the twisty roads of rural France look no further than Auvergne. It lacks jagged Alps peaks – the drops are hundreds rather than thousands of feet – but the 360 degree views from the high hills and plateaux are truly epic. It’s quiet too, sparsely populated with small, unspoilt towns and villages. You can’t go wrong. Where’s this picture taken? Can’t remember, sorry, but it’s very close to the Mont Mouchet Maquis memorial, ten miles south of Brioude, five east of Saint Flour.

.

Spate of Ferry Fires – Back To Our Rootes

There have been three separate fire incidents on ferries this week. The massive Rootes Group photo archive will be made available online. Russians get down in their latest road safety ad. The future of the French Ecotax truck toll system will be decided at the end of May (meanwhile weekly rest inside vehicles is banned). Dover maintains its positive momentum, D-Day road closures have been published online while the tragic incident on the M20 overnight has a mysterious link to Formula One.

.

GIBRALTAR QUEUE WATCH: delays peaked at two hours at lunchtime, settled down to less than an hour by late afternoon then topped 2h30 by late evening.

.

A SPATE OF FERRY FIRES.

Three incidents this week.

Ferry fire spate: Ten people – three firefighters and seven crew members – were injured, none seriously, in a fire aboard DFDS Dieppe Seaways at Dover yesterday afternoon. All 316 passengers were safely evacuated. Fire crews eventually stood down at 2am Wednesday. DFDS Dover-Calais services will be disrupted until at least 16:45 this afternoon said the company. At the same time yesterday, a failed fuel pump on a classic car caused a fire aboard Condor Ferries Vitesse in Weymouth. No injuries or damage was sustained and no services were affected. Another DFDS boat suffered an incident at sea on Sunday evening. According to the Copenhagen Post, there was an engine failure and explosion on Crown Seaways as it sailed between Copenhagen and Oslo. Again, no injuries were sustained and the boat arrived on time the next morning. Photo via DFDS Seaways.

Dover Eastern Docks. Photo via DFDS Seaways.

Ten people – three firefighters and seven crew members – were injured, none seriously, in a fire aboard DFDS Dieppe Seaways yesterday afternoon.

Fortunately the ship was approaching Dover Eastern Docks, at 14:12, when the blaze started, in the boiler room. All 316 passengers safely disembarked.

The fire was initially said to be small and controlled however it was still burning at 22:30. Fire fighters eventually left the scene at 02:03 this morning.

DFDS hopes to have Dieppe Seaways back in service at 05:15 on Monday 5 May. Until then all its services have been cancelled though the other ships on the route continue to operate as normal.

Also yesterday afternoon, a failed fuel pump on a classic car sprayed fuel which then ignited aboard Condor Ferries Vitesse. The ship was alongside at Weymouth at the time. No injuries or damage was sustained and services were unaffected.

It has been a bad week for DFDS. As well as announcing that it will pull out of the Harwich-Esbjerg route in September, there was another incident on one of its ships at sea.

According to reports in The Copenhagen Post, there was an engine failure and explosion on DFDS Crown Seaways as it sailed between Copenhagen and Oslo on Sunday evening. There were no injuries and the boat arrived on time the next morning.

.

Hundreds of thousands of images from The Rootes Group archive will be made available on line later this year to coincide with the beginning of a major redevelopment of the Coventry Transport Museum. At the end of WW2 Rootes reputedly employed 1% of all UK citizens and owned brands such as Hillman, Humber, Singer, Sunbeam, Talbot, Commer and Karrier. The collection focuses on the period 1930-1980. Meanwhile, Coventry ring road will be closed off at the end of this month for the inaugural Coventry Motofest. Over 100 vehicles, all with a connection to the city, will parade around the 2.3 mile circuit on Sunday 1 June, the culmination of three days of festivities. See coventrymotofest.com for more. Photo, Belgium 1952. Stirling Moss beside the Sunbeam-Talbot 90 in which he came second in that year’s Monte Carlo Rally. See transport-museum.com for more.

Hundreds of thousands of images from The Rootes Group archive will be made available on line later this year to coincide with the start of a major redevelopment of the Coventry Transport Museum. At the end of WW2 Rootes reputedly employed 1% of all UK citizens and owned brands such as Hillman, Humber, Singer, Sunbeam, Talbot, Commer and Karrier. The collection focuses on the period 1930-1980. Meanwhile, Coventry ring road will be closed off at the end of this month for the inaugural Coventry Motofest. Over 100 vehicles, all with a connection to the city, will parade around the 2.3 mile circuit on Sunday 1 June, the culmination of three days of festivities. See coventrymotofest.com for more. Photo, Belgium 1952. Stirling Moss beside the Sunbeam-Talbot 90 in which he came second in that year’s Monte Carlo Rally. See transport-museum.com for more.

.

ROAD SAFETY RUSSIA: Check out this new Russian road safety ad which, to our geeky, old eyes, is actually quite cool. It’s the latest in a recent series of big budget productions aiming to embed road safety as a ‘Russian value’. This one tackles pedestrian visibility at night. More than 27,000 people died on Russian roads last year, approximately 190 fatalities per million population, over twice the worst result in the EU. Road Safety Russia takes heart that the rate has dropped by a fifth in the last decade. Interestingly, apart from safer cars and better roads, one of the driving forces has apparently been Russians driving abroad.

.

roundup: FRANCE. A final decision on the Ecotax main road truck tolls will be made after the European elections on 22 May. Suggestions include making it applicable to foreign trucks only, as in the UK, cancelling the system entirely in favour of a new tax on road operators, or increasing fuel duty. Ecotax was suspended last October after widespread protests. Meanwhile, in an effort to tackle ‘social dumping’ from eastern European drivers, from June it will be illegal for truckers to take weekly rests inside a vehicle. DOVER. More good news for the UK’s biggest ferry port – the number of cars grew by 5%, coaches by 2.3% and freight by almost 10% this Easter compared to last. D-DAY ANNIVERSARY. Traffic and access for vehicles will be tightly restricted during the ceremonies on 5-6 June. The British Embassy has published details here, or see the official D-Day website. M20. The incident that kept the M20 London-bound closed J11-10 until late morning today involved the ‘Spygate’ former Ferrari chief mechanic Nigel Stepney. According to the police report he parked his silver VW Caddy on the hard shoulder at 01:28 and was then in collision with a truck on the carriageway. The complete circumstances are unexplained.

.

Still Hope UK-Norway Ferry – Jaguar Mille

NEWS: After DFDS pulled out of the sole UK-Scandinavia route earlier this week it emerges there is still a glimmer of hope for Norwegian Seaway’s UK-Norway ferry. Plus, Jaguar’s upcoming celeb-studded Mille Miglia.

.

STILL HOPE FOR UK-NORWAY FERRY

Norwegian Seaways: ‘Efforts are continuing’.

Updated 7 May with new comments from Norwegian Seaways, see below.

Update: on 21 January 2015, Norwegian Seaways announced it will launch a UK-Norway ferry service in March 2016. See more here.

Bergen, Norway. Photo via www.VisitBergen.com

Bergen, Norway. Photo via www.VisitBergen.com

On Monday this week we asked DFDS Seaways whether it would consider re-starting its ferry route between the UK and Norway.

Ironically, a day later the company announced it was pulling out of its Harwich-Esbjerg, Denmark route in September – the last remaining scheduled ferry between the UK and Scandinavia – blaming, among other things, new EU emission rules.

Late last year, news that a new company, Norwegian Seaways, was gearing up to run a ferry between Newcastle, Bergen and Stavanger drew a strong and consistent response from readers – it is still one of the most popular stories on @DriveEurope – and huge disappointment when it seemed the plans were coming to nothing, at least for summer 2014.

However, intriguing tweets this week from Paul Woodbury, operations director at Norwegian Seaways, show that the company has certainly not given up on the idea.

After tweeting on Tuesday that, ‘Esbjerg cancellation further fuels the argument for UK/Norway ferry. There is demand. It’s about effective marketing & tight control on cost,’ Woodbury told an industry colleague this morning that, while there was no news at the moment, ‘Efforts are continuing.’

It is understood that Norwegian Seaways’ original plan was not sufficiently supported by local authorities in Norway. Meanwhile, a UK-Norway ferry route was identified as an ‘immediate priority’ in a recent review by Lord Adonis and has the full backing of the UK’s North East Local Enterprise Partnership.

After the Harwich-Esbjerg route finishes in September, to reach Scandinavia UK drivers must either bag one of the limited spaces on board DFDS freight routes to Gothenburg/Brevik, or drive via the Low Countries and Germany.

While hopes of the Norwegian Seaways route must still be regarded as slim, there seems to be more chance of it happening than any new DFDS ferries between the UK and Scandinavia.

UPDATE 7 MAY 2014: In a tweet sent from the ‘north east’ (UK) last night (6 May 2014), Norwegian Seaways’ operations director Paul Woodbury said, ‘Norwegian Seaways took a cautious step closer to reality today. A way still to go, but market confidence is clearly changing for the better.’

.

Jaguar has roped in a load of celebrities to run a range of its classic cars at this month's Mille Miglia, Brescia-Rome-Brescia rally. As well as former model Jodie Kidd, above, Martin Brundle, Jay Leno and Bruno Senna among others will drive D-TYPE

Jaguar fields a group of celebrities at this month’s 1,000 mile Mille Miglia, Brescia-Rome-Brescia rally. As well as former model Jodie Kidd, above, Martin Brundle, Jay Leno and Bruno Senna among others will drive ‘historically significant’ XKs, C-TYPEs and D-TYPEs, from 15-18 May. See #JaguarMille.

.