a french marlin owner needs your help

[mark westbrookwhite]

Re: a french marlin owner needs your help

Perhaps I am being a little ambitious for my cars first full year since its total rebuild................ although we wouldn't have to do it all in one day!!! and as for the return journey there is always the AA................ LOL

[bryannewell]

Re: a french marlin owner needs your help

Have been thinking about the motorail myself as maybe going back to northern Spain again this year.
As Steve says you can pick up in Paris to several locations along the Med coast or places like Toulouse and Biaritz
The thing with this is you have to leave your pride and joy for someone to drive on to the train then make your own way to destination and pick it up from a car park!!
Also you can pick up a different option in Germany(Dusseldorf I think) which is only about 3hrs from the Channel Ferries where you drive your own car onto the train then board another train which couples to this one and you arrive at destination together(sounds safer to me!)
Bryan

[Robert in Cumbria]

Re: a french marlin owner needs your help

I would like to go to Valencia, I had at one time planned to ferry to one of the northern Spanish ports then ride down on my 1972 BMW R75 but I didn't fancy riding best part of 1,000 miles across Spain, never having ridden on the wrong side of the road before, on my own, maybe not too bad in a group, but on my own I didn't fancy it. Too many unknowns. But in the Marlin it might be a better proposition.

If I were taking the Marlin the whole point would be to drive it. I see little point in putting it on a train, I would want to take the back roads and make the trip an adventure. Otherwise I might as well fly.

Another idea I had was to ferry from Poole to St Marlo then drive from there.

[stevejgreen]

Re: a french marlin owner needs your help

There are several options. An idea I looked at was to get to France from the South coast (not Dover) head to LeMans and then south to Bordeaux for a forced stop to sample the vino, then on to Toulouse, through Andorra stopping for a ski and on to Barcelona and the rest of spain. It has the advantage if much lower tolls, so it compensates for the slower journey as it could take 20hrs driving.
Using a South Coast port saves the miles travelling east to Dover only having to drive back west. But the crossings are a bit more expensive and not so frequent.

If you do decide to do it in a Marlin I suggest you check your breakdown cover very carefully.

[mark westbrookwhite]

Re: a french marlin owner needs your help

I think I will give the car a year of reliability testing before I venture across the channel but I defiantly intend to give it a go in 2014. I will however have to get my timing right as my wife won't go further than the next village in the Marlin and my son who will defiantly be up for the adventure is a teacher so limited to school holidays.
Come the late summer I will start planning!!!!

[Darcphil34]

Re: a french marlin owner needs your help

A lot of beautiful projects early this year
Just let me remerber you that in France we drive in the "GOOD" side of the road ….hihihi
And if a French can do it safely, it will be easy for you…..
The precedent owner of the Marlin told me he had a ride in France and italy (the clip on the rear bumper was for a small trailer)
If you need any help in France, this time, it will be a pleasure for me to help you

[bryannewell]

Re: a french marlin owner needs your help

Hi Robert
Point taken about the driving but the for us is to do the majority in Spain and as holiday time is limited we would like to get there relatively
quickly and fresh
As much as we love France and have been many times,driving one way is plenty on this type of trip
Last year we went by ferry to Santander and spent the majority of our time in Spain with as per Steve's post a stop or two in Rioja region for the wine
We then spent a few days returning via the Pyrenees and western France back to Cherbourg
This was a fantastic trip but as "the Management" absolutely hates the longer ferry crossings we are looking at trains this time to do one way!
Regards
Bryan

[Robert in Cumbria]

Re: a french marlin owner needs your help

Thank goodness we are all different Bryan! I understand completely. My ambitions are probably little more than that, I love the idea of driving abroad on the good side of the road but whether it will ever come to fruition is another matter entirely. So you can take my contribution with a little garlic, because it's probably little more than pizza in the sky! LOL

Having flown to LeMans and ferried to Holland and Germany, my Continental adventures have been limited. Have never been to Spain or any of the 'popular' destinations but I love the idea of touring, even if it never get's beyond an idea.

[bryannewell]

Re: a french marlin owner needs your help

Hi Robert
Never say never!!!
Doing a great job on the Roadster by the way,looking forward to more tales now the festivities are over
Cheers
Bryan

[Robert in Cumbria]

Re: a french marlin owner needs your help

I can always hope!

Almost there on the first phase, getting the Marlin MOT'd and registered. Getting all the paperwork together is a worry.

Spent the whole day on it today, all those little preparatory jobs like drilling the holes for the seat bolts. Have started making the doors now, will collect the metal to skin them on Monday. Then I can weld the hinges on and fit the door catches. That will be a big step forward.

Getting quit excited at the prospect of taking it to Stoneleigh. I have looked at the site on Google Earth, it looks very impressive. By then the car should be a bit more refined, with a windscreen and a roll bar perhaps?