Tenerife to England Road Trip; The Last Leg Through France and the Full Cost (Part 3)
Good morning from san esteban de la sierra it's monday morning 11 a.m and our aim is to get at the very least into france i don't care how far we get in but we must get into france so if by the end of today we haven't it's a failure thank you for your comments on the illegality of the trailer in the last video noted acted upon tyre has now gone to a scrap yard so that's disappeared that won't be killing monaco and if we get into a head-on crash and empty empty half empty and about a quarter empty so we should be about five kilos below the legal weight so there'll be no law breaking today i think we've got maybe 400 miles or so to cover today so we've had a look at the forecast i almost can't believe it because it's so pleasant it's about 21 22 degrees here it says it cook it up to about 35 degrees in mid spain so it'd be interesting to see what it's really like but we've got no time to waste so so that was a risk we found well monica found a really good looking restaurant kind of on the way just with a five minute detour off the motorway we're right in northern spain now in burgos but the restaurants in the absolute capital of the town and when you come into one of these multi-story car parks you have no idea how tight the turns are going to be so that was a complete lottery luckily it was very easy and this is city center parking and of course you don't need to worry about having to pay twice because you only need one ticket to get in so that's a brilliant result we're going to go for lunch now i think 3 30. we're fairly on track actually grab a right to eat and then probably what do we think two or three hours driving after that yeah three more hours probably three more driving three hours driving after that but everything holding up beautifully well it breaks up the journey so well when you just come off the motorway and go to an actual village because usually if it were just me i would be driving along as fast as i could pull over the service station have a disgusting sandwich that i don't actually enjoy and then back on the road but because of monica and she likes travelling in a little bit more luxury she finds the nice places to eat so we stop off we get to stretch the legs find beautiful places like this and if monica's found the right spot we actually get a tasty bite to eat so it just makes the journey more enjoyable doesn't it absolutely it's really nice and all of these towns in spain they're so beautiful it's actually about three o'clock and it's so quiet as well isn't it so well that feels great completely full now we're heading off to the south of france we've just booked accommodation which is about 15 minutes across the border into france we've had a message from the accommodation and they said last check-in is 7pm i mean they said it in french and my french is fairly useless but i think they said last check in 7 p.m it's now 4 30 and it's 2 hours 45 minutes to get to france meaning that we will get there about 20 minutes after the last check-in so it'll be interesting to see what happens i'm sure they'll be fine with it they usually are um one other thing to mention we've now gone the whole way from the southernmost point of spain up to very nearly now the northernmost point we haven't had one pair we haven't had one toll road we haven't paid one cent to use these very very good spanish roads but that i'm sure is all about to change with the notoriously expensive french motorways so we need to make the most of the last bit of this free motoring i don't know if there's a mongol rally or something about start with renault force but this is now the third fully kitted out expedition ready renault four that we've seen bombing along the motorway here all have been very slightly different this is a an estate version but they all look like they're set to travel across the world i'll just see if i can set you up quite quickly i'll see if i can catch up there look at them what an amazing sight incredible and they're french they're all french oh my god wow i'd love to know if anyone knows if there's a big event for those you want yeah get the fiat involved stumbling home feeling free for a minute airways a stone in your shoe doesn't bother you anyway it's just like all the other places if i gave you time would you come back home mary mary i know the world keeps getting scary scary a town in the south west of france just on the edge of the pyrenees we've got this one-bedroom kind of studio apartment with kitchenette 72 pounds it is in the most beautiful little french town ascane population 4000 right over there this is on the edge and it is just everything that you'd want in a beautiful french village you've got a little blue lingerie there you've got immaculately kept houses and buildings but i'll get to that in a bit this is the property very nice beautifully decorated juliet balcony there kitchenette area here monica gone just show you a bit of the bathroom there oh and you can i don't know if you can uh hear that breeze in the microphone you need that through breeze coming through yesterday it's i think it's it's about 10 30 it feels like it's about 30 degrees already and have a look out if you can squeeze through there monica that juliet balcony there leading out into the hills seating area downstairs and i think i think monica did a bit of b-roll just coming in last night because the actual building itself is just it's stunning isn't it it's a really beautiful building so we're going to go downstairs now grab a coffee and then hit the road but before we do i think we're going to enjoy the local area because it's so beautiful it's not much better than a beautiful french village so make the most of it oh no it's not a taste only the best i only drink physics says oh france is so damn classy this is the town of san jean de luz and we didn't really aim for this town it just happened to be the town near where our accommodation is and this is the north atlantic or the bay of biscay actually monica did dip her feet in it not the warmest but i don't think the atlantic's famous for warm sea but everything about it the town itself immaculate so classy all of the people there the market is bustling you've got vespers whizzing around the place classy old vintage bicycles beautiful white sand beach lovely bay here and look at the buildings around that just surround this bay here everywhere around just for some green around the edges the whole place is it's really nice in fact so nice moniker has started looking at properties to rent out here it is that nice stunning place we're gonna have to head off because we've got such a long drive but we could easily stay here for a week or so um uh do good morning from mid france right little update the fiat and trailer have been completely spot on not a hiccup just easy as you like it feels like that fiat could just do this for an eternity with no issues apologies for the sweating it is stinking hot here it's 10 30 we're in mid france we're two and a half hours south of paris and we are importantly five and a half hours south of calais and that's 420 kilometers aim for the day we have to get to calais then get the ferry from calais to dover in england and then drive the final two and a half hours from dover in england up to ipswich we stayed the night last night here and i wanted to say the name but i cannot remember it and my french pronunciation is not good enough so so what so i will include all the details in the written description but this was i think about 74 pounds a night it's exactly west of nantes to give you an idea on the map the building may only be 19 years old however it was built on the site of a french chateau from the 18th century that was destroyed during world war ii and it has well would you expect any less from the grounds of a french chateau or next fence chateau it's got beautiful just endless space with the grounds and once you leave the uk you really do realize that you know space is very much at a premium in the uk land costs a huge amount because there isn't much of it and there's a huge population relative to the space get into france and spain and suddenly there's so much on abundance of open space it almost feels limitless just everywhere you look beautiful rolling hills and scenery birds singing everywhere this is the property right here that's our balcony i'll take you upstairs to show you and probably we've got about 15 minutes left here until we need to check out hit the road so i'll take you inside and show you it's a really really nice place in stunning french countryside it's a lovely part of the country here and here is the apartment we're staying in fact i'll go in there in a second number five but just to give you an idea what it's like inside that's the lounge area free teas and coffees things like that communal seating area and a spa through there views out onto the garden i probably should say the land and then we come right let's start with the left-hand side because it is big this apartment so storage on the left-hand side lamp there i mean antiques everywhere and they've clearly put in some effort and been to a lot of little french antiques markets to pick up all of these things so you got a single bed here rugs throughout old paintings everywhere little chair here beautiful little antique storage there and as is the case with every room here view out to the garden coming through here this seems to be a common theme for french properties separate lurum or separate toilet room exactly the same with this one as the last one then you come through here to the main bathroom twin sinks shah and big window out looking onto the garden the grounds with that's how we had coffee this morning beautiful and monica just down there enjoying the last few minutes here but such a stunning view and look at that weather okay come through here little touches everywhere into the bedroom which is gigantic so i'll come into the corner as much as i can just to show you the size of this room it gives an incredible feeling of luxury having it oversized tv in the corner that's a proper smart tv that works with importantly and that's a rarity working wi-fi proper wi-fi here that's a big deal lovely paintings area everywhere gigantic bed and the thing that makes it these huge open doors we had our breakfast here in the morning looking out onto that view there's monica again right let's go down and pay for the night with the 10.
where are they with a tank we've made it you can see in the distance the white cliffs of dover so whatever happens now the fiat will have made it it will have done its job even if it breaks down two meters after getting off the ferry it's got us back to the uk it's got over 190 000 miles on the clock it's done one and a half thousand miles to get us here and it hasn't spluttered hasn't given us any hiccup any cause for concern it's powered along the motorway at any speed i ask of it it has been a phenomenal i trust it going around the world honestly right because we're going to get in when it's pitch black i wanted to do the most or the main bit of the wrap up right now and just go through a few of the costs how much does it cost to get a car with a trailer and that's key the trailer how much does it cost to get from tennery to the uk before i get to that we've been driving around on the bonneville and the fiat with uk plates for eight months now to tenerife in tenerife and all the way back again and not once have we ever been pulled over by any police i know sometimes you know maybe the french police have a reputation of some people think targeting uk drivers i really don't think that's the case we've never had any issues at all so before i get on to the exact costings i almost threw up while driving because i asked monica to check the ferry prices for the fiat and the trailer to get onto a ferry only a 90-minute ferry crossing back to dover monica checked the prices and honestly i almost crashed into the central reservation while throwing up over myself the cost of this 90-minute trip 300 pounds 300 pounds 300 pounds i mean it's a lovely throw but that is complete madness i i had to check to get some relativity without the trailer it would have cost us 150 pounds so it's double the price to book you have to bear that in mind if you buy a trailer and you do what we've done you will pay 150 pounds extra or double to get onto this ferry so that's worth thinking about right how much did it cost from our apartment in tenerife to back in the uk hotels four different hotels interestingly the spanish ones were cheaper 46 pounds and 52 pounds the french ones were closer to 77 pounds the total for hotels over four nights 232 pounds that's very good very good value isn't it fairies the tenerife to mainland spain ferry which i thought was ridiculously expensive 530 pounds i now think that's the bargain of the century after getting on this one-hour ferry this one 300 pounds that is 800 830 pounds in ferries again for us brits who live on an island if we want to do journeys like this that's a huge cost that means that we have spent monarch and i to get and this is purely on ferries only to get to tenerife and back eight months ago and now over one and a half thousand pounds on ferries that is not an insignificant amount of money so bear that in mind tolls southern spain to northern spain 17 pounds southern france to northern france 87 pounds petrol now petrol costs 171 pounds to get back here to the uk the last fill up i did in tenerife cost 28 pounds and the last fill up i did in france cost for the exact same amount of petrol 58 pounds a little bit over double the cost so the total if i add up the hotels the ferries the tolls and the fuel one thousand three hundred and thirty pounds in total that is not including food and bear in mind you'll be spending a notice without extra on food because you're going to be on the road all the time eating at service stations but 1 330 pounds including the four nights stay in the accommodation so it's effectively turn this into a holiday it's not bad is it i'm i'm pleasantly surprised that considering the heart attack i just had for this very so that's it 1330 total cost we made it but was there really any doubt at all the fiat's now on 190 600 miles we've done 1698 miles from our old apartment in tenerife everything was spot on perfect it was a breeze to do we traveled now i think we're just eight hours from having traveled for six days solid of course we spread it out massively which if you've got the time i hugely recommend because it actually turned the whole thing into a holiday it was incredibly fun hugely recommended thank you so much to everyone for coming along with us on this adventure we hugely appreciate it we're about to get back i think monica's mum has cooked us a lithuanian dish that we can gorge before we go to bed and i will end it with a fun fact the average mpg for the bonneville is 45 45 mpg this fiat for the entire 1 600 mile journey averaged 44 mpg one mpg less than the bonneville and it's had to tow all of this when all the bonneville has to do is tow or is to carry its 200 kilo weight that's it we'll end it there thanks so much for coming along and we'll see in the next one you
2022-05-25 11:08
