Well have completed the pre trip maintenance for the 1300 mile trip to Dayton Ohio next week. Drove to the cabin about 130 mile trip to insure that the old girl is ready. 350 acres of prime hunting, log cabin on a 5 acre pond, fishing pole in one hand and a cocktail in the other. The wife , kids and grandson are at home! Life is good. Tried to post pics well have to love smart phones, they do bring out the dumb me it some of us. Jim

 

Went to an off-road course with the UK Russian Military Trucks club (Russian Military Trucks).








My progressive engineering vehicles aren't well at the moment: the UAZ is laid up with brake problems and the Trabant has eaten one of its main bearings. So I had to take the decadent bourgeois capitalist symbol of Western oppression for a run out instead.

Best wishes, Colin

 

The cabin

 

I've been off the forum for three weeks because we were holidaying in Spain and had no internet connection.



We left home in Durham at 6:00pm, covering the 353 miles to Eurotunnel Terminal at Folkestone in 5 hours. Those of you in the UK will appreciate that's a very good average for our congested roads and it can only be done after the commuter traffic has cleared.

We were straight through Check-In and onto the Shuttle within 20 minutes for the 35 minute crossing to France.

Watches forward 1 Hour for the time difference and onto the A16 Autoroute south at 02:00am. Empty roads and we rarely saw another vehicle before 04:00am.

Thanks to Frog for his advice on the Sanef AutoToll tag which meant I could drive straight though the Payages without stopping and the tolls being charged automatically to my bank account.

The route took us down the A28 to Rouen and Le Mans before turning onto the A10 to Bordeaux. From there it was the A63 to Bayonne and the Spanish border at Irun.

By this stage we were enjoying the benefits of the newly recharged AirCon which was to stay on permanently until our return to England.

Arrived at our hotel in Burgos 820 Miles from the English Channel for an overnight stop just before 04:00pm. Taking the 1 Hour time difference into account, this was 21 Hours time elapsed of which breaks and the Channel Crossing totalled 2 Hours.



The XK8 ran faultlessly and was still remarkably clean at the end of the first day. DAY TWO would take us across Spain to the south coast.

Graham

 

Good to hear from you, Graham. I was wondering if you had fallen off the grid....

Sounds like a lovely holiday. Glad to know that your XK8 behaved properly during the journey....

 

wow what an awesome mid-day excursion - mostly cloudy skies but dropped the top and travelled scenic Hwy 61 in charleston SC on the way to the dealership's F-type event. Got to test drive an F-Type V8S - (holy freaking WOWWWWWWW). Here are some pics along the way including an exquisite work of art in the 1947 Jaguar MK IV!!!! Even had the original tool box with all pieces plus every maintenance record inclusive of all the restoration work

 

Dayton Ohio US Air Force Museum, 1,560 miles round trip without a hitch, the old girl just purred along. We averaged 25.9 mpg average speed was 69 mph.

 

Well, not today, but just this weekend...

A lovely drive through the hills of Malibu on Mulholland Highway.

 

I've wanted to do all of Mulholland Drive for forty years now....

Maybe one day....

 

Great weekend. That looks my kind of drive.

Graham

 

Mulholland drive is very nice, with great views of Hollywood and the valley. Mulholland HIGHWAY is out to the west in the hills around Malibu and just spectacular. If you ever come to LA be sure to drive both.

 

Will do. I've known about Mulholland Drive since my college days in the early-to-mid 70s. I did not know there was also a Mulholland Highway. Thanks for the explanation....

 

Some various Jag shots from our road trip in Italy. Only a third of the trip done so far, but me, my wife and our "two babies" are having a lot of fun in the rolling italian hills!

Big thanks to my wife, who must be the first ever pregnant car girl in these shots.

 

Great pics, lovely car girl and congratulations.

 

Thanks

Picture #6 scared me a bit, some Italian backstreets are made for a Fiat 500, not a fat jag with wheel spacers. Managed a few tight passages with 1cm clearance per side!

 

You found another Jaguar in Italy and have the pic to prove it! We spent 15 days touring between the Swiss border and Rome in 2011 and never saw another one.

Enjoy the rest of your trip.

Graham

 

Not only that one, right behind me in the picture was an XF! Looked like the Italian Jaguar club meeting.

Just when leaving this Autostrada-stop there was a new XJ as well. Otherwise really Jag-empty as you say. No XKs to be seen.

 

Great pics. Your wife is a good sport. One thing to look out for - do NOT speed on the Italian freeways. They got radars clocking cars every 100 meters (perhaps I'm exaggerating a bit, but it sure seems that way.) Last summer we went through Italy, and I am still receiving speeding tickets in the mail up to this date. Otherwise, enjoy the drive and keep the pictures coming of both of your girls

 

Good to know about the speeding tickets. I don't know if they have any cooperation with our little principality, but I prepared well by downloading all up-to-date speed camera POI's to the Garmin before leaving.

 

We have just completed 1,200 miles from home (Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk) to Dinan in Brittany, calling in at the D Day beaches on the way home. We averaged 27.5 mpg, which included fast motorways (not this side of the channel!) and twisting coast roads.

We crossed the channel on the Euro-Tunnel, which was well organised and quick.


Our accommodation was above a shop in a medieval cobbled street connecting the port to the old walled town up a steep hill. It is closed to traffic, but we were allowed up to unload and load. I was not the only person to photograph the Jag, it appeared to be quite an attraction.



If you are ever in the area, the D Day beaches and museums are well worth the visit.