Write Up THE ITALIAN JOB

I usually drive the M35i on a weekly basis. Maybe once or twice a week. This trip is the first time that we have really driven the G29 for any length of time apart from @Stevo7682 runs in Scotland. The M35i has idrive 9 whilst the G29 is idrive 7. Idrive 7 doesn't have the apps such as audible, YouTube, TuneIn etc, but in my view the sat nav is far better. For example it is quicker in anticipating what your next move should be after an instruction. I find it really frustrating with idrive 9 that you are on a roundabout for example and the sat nav has not caught up with you.
When we first looked at the G29 We were concerned about the boot space, but those concerns are now alleviated as we will have done nearly 30 days by the time we are home and we have added things since we left and we fitted everything that you would expect for a month's road trip in without a problem.
 
Been hanging on every word following this, such an epic trip. You mention composites for aircraft production, when they strive for fire suppressant materials within the cabin the actual structure of the aircraft seem to burn with enormous ferocity and dense black smoke. I was under the impression the fuselage is made basically from a plastic material?I can't see many passengers surviving?
Ref wishing to fly on a 747, I follow Sam Chui an aviation geek who always seems to achieve his goals including flying on a 747 just because he wanted to - there are ways!
Check out his video 'Gold Flight - flying the presidential 747 BBJ' - it's a hoot when he asks the captain if he is really a pilot!
@GazHyde , please relocate if this messes up the main thread.
 
Synclare said:
Been hanging on every word following this, such an epic trip. You mention composites for aircraft production, when they strive for fire suppressant materials within the cabin the actual structure of the aircraft seem to burn with enormous ferocity and dense black smoke. I was under the impression the fuselage is made basically from a plastic material?I can't see many passengers surviving?
Ref wishing to fly on a 747, I follow Sam Chui an aviation geek who always seems to achieve his goals including flying on a 747 just because he wanted to - there are ways!
Check out his video 'Gold Flight - flying the presidential 747 BBJ' - it's a hoot when he asks the captain if he is really a pilot!
@GazHyde , please relocate if this messes up the main thread.
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@GazHyde no need to relocate it. All good.
I get what you say about the fire suppression on the materials. We got the National engineering laboratory in East Kilbride to run some tests, and the results were not great. Working with Boeing meant that we were not looking at European standards, but US standards which equals to not giving a toss. The main client was McDonald's as we were building their restaurants.
I will check out Sam Chui, and thanks for the heads up.
 
Day 20
We had a superb dinner at the hotel last night. Mandy had rack of lamb and I had a steak, both excellent. A very civilised way to spend our last night on the Continent before returning to the land of motorway services and Greggs.

We left the hotel this morning and were back into Spain within about 40 minutes.

There was one essential stop before heading for the ferry — Mercadona supermarket, by far and away better than any UK supermarket.

We picked up a few of the things we normally bring home, but only small things because we’ll be back in Spain again in a month or so. There seemed little point in emptying the place when we can come back and do it properly next time.

We arrived at Santander port at about 1.30pm, checked in and joined the queue.

One thing Santander does really well is that, once you’ve checked in, you can actually leave the port and walk into town. Your cabin key card gets you through the barrier in both directions, so rather than sit in the car for hours contemplating the back of somebody’s motorhome, we wandered into Santander for lunch.

Back at the port, however, things improved when we spotted two Zeds in the queue.

One was a Z4 that somebody had converted into what can only be described as a budget Batmobile. I’m not entirely sure Bruce Wayne would have approved, but you certainly wouldn’t lose it in a Tesco car park.

The other was a Z4 E86 Coupé in beautiful condition.

Then it was our turn for the new EU EES treatment.
Passport scanned.
Photograph taken.
Fingerprints taken.
All that was missing was a height chart and somebody asking us to hold a number under our chin.

Despite all the extra processing, though, we sailed bang on time at 6.15pm, so whatever they’re doing seems to work.

For this crossing we managed to get a Commodore cabin, helped considerably by the Brittany Ferries Club Voyage membership I mentioned at the start of this thread.

And compared with a normal ferry cabin, this is definitely travelling at the posh end.

We have TV on demand, a balcony, fridge, sofa, two beds, table and chairs inside and another set outside.

Naturally, within minutes of arriving, the Fire Stick was plugged in.

You can take us out of the house, but apparently you cannot take the house out of us.

And here’s a little Wi-Fi trick…
If you buy your Brittany Ferries Wi-Fi before boarding, you can get a 24-hour pass for around half price.
But whether you buy it before boarding or onboard, only buy one connection.
Connect your phone to the ferry Wi-Fi, turn on the phone hotspot, then connect everything else to that.
We currently have two tablets, two phones and a Fire Stick all running through one Wi-Fi connection.
Five devices.
One ticket.
I’m sure Brittany Ferries will be absolutely delighted that I’ve shared that.

Dinner onboard started with a buffet, followed by lamb chops and beef en croûte, then dessert. We also had a beer each. After our Club Voyage discount it came to about £30, which we thought was pretty reasonable .

We will arrive in Plymouth at around 3.00pm and we’re staying in a tiny hotel with just six rooms. However the room looks great
Tomorrow we’re back in Britain, and we start the final leg home, but still a week to go.
 
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Day 21
The crossing from Santander to Plymouth was surprisingly calm, even across the Bay of Biscay.

We’d pre-ordered breakfast, which was delivered to our cabin — a very civilised way to start the day.

As we’re travelling back down to Santander on the same ferry next month, we had a proper wander around to see what else was on board.

And discovered a swimming pool on the top deck.

On a car ferry.

Because apparently taking your vehicle across the Bay of Biscay is no longer enough entertainment.

There are also three bars and four restaurants, so this is less “ferry crossing” and more “mini cruise with a very large car park underneath”.

We disembarked fairly quickly and, while queuing for passport control, found ourselves alongside something rather more exotic than the usual collection of family hatchbacks and motorhomes.

A Gordon Murray Automotive T.50.

Essentially Gordon Murray’s modern successor to the McLaren F1, this particular car carried the PP4 marking, identifying it as Prototype No. 4. Its Andorran registration and appearance at Plymouth suggest it is now out and about as a road car rather than spending its life hidden away in development.

The price? Around £2.36 million before tax.

Dario Franchitti was one of the T.50’s test drivers, although I couldn’t confirm whether it was actually him behind the wheel.

Either way, after parking beside a £2.36 million Gordon Murray, the poor Z suddenly looked less like a BMW Z4 and more like a Mk3 Cortina with ambitions.

Tonight’s stop is The New Inn at Coleford, near Crediton in Devon — a lovely room in a 16th-century inn tucked away in a tiny hamlet.

Dinner was bangers and mash for Mandy, while I had a Barnsley chop with all the normal steak trimmings.

So, from a £2.36 million supercar to sausage and mash in rural Devon.

Quite a well-balanced day, really.

Tomorrow we’re heading across country to Buckinghamshire.
 
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Swimming pool on a car ferry!!!
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Day 22
After dinner we plugged in the Fire Stick and watched some TV. After weeks of travelling, apparently this now qualifies as an exciting evening.

In the morning we had a full English breakfast and headed off towards Buckinghamshire — a drive of around 200 miles.

We made a couple of pit stops along the way, if only to remind ourselves just how rubbish British motorway services are compared with those in Europe.

We’ve gone from proper food, decent coffee and spotless facilities to somewhere selling a sad sandwich for the price of a small mortgage.

We arrived at our first destination just after 2.00pm — a care home out in the Buckinghamshire countryside where Mandy’s mum lives.

When the decision was made in 2021 that she needed to move into a care home, we tried to persuade her to come nearer to us. She was having absolutely none of it.

She’s happy enough where she is, though, has made friends and is well looked after.

At the best part of £80,000 a year, you’d certainly hope so.

It is what it is.

The important thing is that she’s safe and being cared for by people considerably more qualified than the two of us.

Tonight we’re staying in Milton Keynes — not right in the centre, but out in the countryside.

Milton Keynes is actually a big part of my history. I left Glasgow when I was 16 and ended up here. Three years later, while I was an apprentice joiner/carpenter, Mandy and I met — and we’ve been together ever since.

If you had told me that nearly 40 years later I would retire as a senior project director at 58, with many overseas projects under my belt I would have laughed my face off. But that's what happened.

At 58 I had decided that I had enough of fighting and arguing with people. Swung my legs off the bed and set off for a better life. i was my own boss, gave my company over to a good successor and walked away.

Both our kids were born here, and we stayed in Milton Keynes until 1996, when work took us north to the Highlands, where we lived until 2001.

So coming back always feels slightly strange. Familiar roads, familiar places…and considerably more roundabouts than any town has a reasonable excuse for.

One thing Milton Keynes certainly isn’t short of is hand car washes, so I took the opportunity to get the Z properly cleaned.

It was her first decent wash since Monaco, and to be fair the guys did a cracking job. Somewhere underneath several countries’ worth of flies, dust and motorway grime, there was still a shiny BMW.

It also gave us the first opportunity in a while for a proper Z photo.

Tomorrow we’ve got a museum visit planned in Bletchley, followed by a tour around a few old haunts, and then dinner with my wee sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew.

Then we head north to visit immediate family.
 
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Overall Paul looks like you guys have had a fantastic 3 weeks.

Just in case your feeling homesick i will send you a picture of your bit when we're passing on Friday taking scenic route to Inverness with a lunch stop at Falls planned.

Stephen.
 
Please do Stephen. The rest and be thankful is manky again apparently.
 
In all of our travels we have mostly seen G29,s. Is it because there was a rush before production finished.
 
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