Not a collection, a repatriation of man and machine.

[Sir Chocolate Teapot]

What a nightmare of a year.

Finally i am moving back to uk.

After a year dealing with separation, house selling, setting up kids and ex in house, covid, red tape and bureaucracy i have booked a ferry.

Wednesday 21 july 20.15 ferry calais dover.

Covid test here in italy booked,  pre booked uk tests, 10 day quarantine to look forward too.

Changed headlights to uk speck lights ( pleased i kept them in the garage). This was originally a uk reg car.

Hmrc transfer of residency forms filled in, including importing the car i hope !

Route plan worked out, 1450kms near genova to basingstoke via switzerland and france.

My route is north with only 2 left turns to rember, left at selestat and left at london.

Checked car over, top up oil and put a bit of extra air in tyres, 25psi instead of normal 22psi for extra speed !

Spare points and  condenser packed. 

Watching gov.uk website for any changes to rules on coming from france.

Plan to set of early Tuesday morning.

In a 35 year old 997 cc suzuki sj 410

Best cruising speed is 78 km/h. (48mph!)

If i am lucky will average 70 km/h.

21 hrs actual driving if everthing goes well. Two 11hr days of driving plus ferry.

My ears, spine and will to live might fail. Knobbly tyres , no sound insulation and 30 degree heat this week in italy.

Wish me luck please.

Last pics before we set of Tuesday morning.

[catsinthewelder]

Best of luck to you, nothing like making an adventure of it.

[lesapandre]

Yea good luck.  Getting back into UK sounds a big thing...it was going to be test-free until a last minute change of mind. 

Carry evidence of your vacs and masks etc. 

My only other advice is to load Twitter on yr device - you can get live port updates and ferry info - very useful if there are problems developing.  All clear at moment.

[dozeydustman]

Good luck with your travels. If you’re passing through chichester and you need to stop for a wee ping me and I’ll make a pot of tea

[320touring]

Have a safe trip!

Sure you'll be grand - it's a good route, hope you enjoy it as much as possible

[Twiggy]

Hope it all goes well.

[barrett]

Jesus, don't do it! It's a shithole and you'll miss everything about Italy as soon as you land. Seriously.

[dome]

Good luck!

[Snake Charmer]

I wish you well.

 

[bicycle repairman]

best off british 

[timolloyd]

Good luck. I’ll be following this with interest.

[High Jetter]

I'm not sure if that's brave or just stupid, but it's very much AS. I hope we get a live 'delivery' thread. Very best of luck to you and Suzi.

[eddyramrod]

Oh it's definitely a Brave trip!  I reckon it even qualifies as Heroic!  WCPGW?  It's  UK car, which I'm assuming you took over there in the first place, so I guess you have enough confidence in it to make the return run.  I wish you nothing but good luck on the way!

[Mrs6C]

Safe journey! Go steady and it'll be fine. The weather is great here this week, so not too much of a difference there. You'll be here in time to come up to the Field of Dreams on July 31st if you like. Come over and meet some of the AS crew in person to welcome you back to Blighty.

[Crackers]

Chodspeed! That's a hell of a journey. Fair play chuck.

[sutty2006]

Best of luck! 
 

we’ve done a similar journey in a 518 shark nose BMW we bought for £100 but started in Rimini. Great drive. Keep the hammer down! 

[anonymous user]

You are a very brave man, I had a 413 and changed it for the more refined S1 Land Rover.

[HMC]

It will also be one in the uk that’s rust free, for 10 minutes at least. 

Have a safe trip, sounds like a lovely road trip in the making.

[Bitzer]

8 hours ago, Sir Chocolate Teapot said:

Two 11hr days of driving

Brave man. I am facing 10 hrs of driving a black car with non-functioning A/C in 30+ centigrades next week.

I think I have a heatstroke even before I actually started.

Good luck.

[lesapandre]

Mind the weather - it's pretty odd in Europe at the moment - more may happen.

[Spurious]

Absolute hero. We need more smol Suzukis here. Best of luck! 

[High Jetter]

4 hours ago, Bitzer said:

Brave man. I am facing 10 hrs of driving a black car with non-functioning A/C in 30+ centigrades next week.

I think I have a heatstroke even before I actually started.

Good luck.

Taxi?

[Bitzer]

Focus Mk1, a car notorious for insufficient capacity of ventilation system.

[jamescarruthers]

Wow, this sounds fantastic. Best of luck. Even if there are troubles on the way, when you do make it home under your own power it will feel like a wonderful achievement. 

[ProgRocker]

A little late and I don't the phrase for it in Italian but instead I'll say 'Bon Voyage!'

[somewhatfoolish]

Eeep. Take plenty of water and salt tablets/electrolyte goo as you're going to lose your bodyweight in sweat. With those tyres driving in rain's not a great idea either, but perhaps that won't be a problem. If I'm going more than 30 mins in the land rover I wear earplugs, it makes it much less tiring. 

[Blake's Den]

Hope the journey goes well, or as well as can be in a SJ410. I think that you deserve a medal!

[goosey]

Good luck with the journey👍🏻
those SJ410s are pretty tough, I remember seeing one go round Coney Green off road site all day with zero coolant in it and the temp gauge in the red and still run ok, so I think you’ll do just fine 👌

[Sir Chocolate Teapot]

Update time.

Little sleep last night as at midnight i remembered i had not filled in uk govv locator form, finally probably went to sleep at 1 am.

Alarm at 5am.

Breakfast ideal for long distance masocists

Plus 2 bits toast

Set of for uk 6am.

My old village, not my old house!

Switzerland achieved after 4 hrs thx to traffic around milano and como.

Not many about on swiss roads.

Road side lunch of healthy champs, saving the burger king for evening meal.

250 miles completed, nothing coming out the top or bottom, running well , but slow !

So far average speed including 1 fuel stop and 1 lunch stop.  39 mph average !

This is going to take some time..

Eventually made it to overnight stop near Nancy france, 450 miles in 10.5 hrs . Average speed creeping up.

So far about 35mpg and on the flat french bits cruising at a gps 53 mph.

The sj has got a gpl installation, but i don't use it for constant high rev motorway stuff.

With Earplugs in it is surprising comfortable (all relative) on the smooth motorways.

The sj has used no oil or water so far, it is fully loaded inside, probably equal to 3 up.  I am sweating inside but the sj soldiers on.

And now the cock ups. I only have 2 left turns on whole trip, and i turned left to early on the first one, ended up going smaller scenic roads for about 80kms, a lot of time in 3rd gear up steep hills.

Never book a cheap hotel without seeing pics of the outside, i am now sitting in 2nd hotel ! With onsite parking and clean sheets and aircon in the room.

I need some sleep. Belly full of burger king.

Tomorrow the boring french slog to calais.

[stuboy]

12 hours ago, Sir Chocolate Teapot said:

Never book a cheap hotel without seeing pics of the outside

do we get a picture?