Nice drive

[olliparr]

Just returned from a short trip with my 77' 280se - from Netherlands, via France and Spain to Portugal and back with quite a few detours in between - total 5800 kilometers, mostly on LPG except for Spain where there isn't any, so BBC (big blue car to my 3 year old son) got to do 1600 (fast) km on benzine. Not a hitch - we floated over potholed Belgian motorways, we purred over the Pyrenees easing past unfortunate types stuffed into Toyota Yaris's with nothing to smile about except fuel consumption, and rolled into Portugal just as the alleged highlights CD of Sesame Street was about to wear out. In a lesser, more plastic oriented car, this might have seemed an epic journey, requiring massage, pamphlets on deep-vein thrombosis, and  bottles of champagne on arrival, however for w116 it was a leisurely stroll to the seaside. I confess that I had to top up the oil twice. On return I attempted to drive my mothers Peugeot 206 and failed, having to stop after four hundred metres unable to master the fiddly fidgety mini controls. If anybody out there is bored of life I suggest driving along the north coast of Spain in a w116 on a sunny day with the windows down and nowhere urgent to go to. People are probably doing this in heaven. Back to trying to fix a sticky window motor in Dutch rain now.

[Denis]

olliparr and styria

If anybody out there is bored of life I suggest driving along the north coast of Spain in a w116 on a sunny day with the windows down and nowhere urgent to go to. People are probably doing this in heaven.

I agree, this is the basque territory (I happen to have a basque ancestor) and through the Asturias and Galicia which are celtic lands (!) In addition, the Asturias is a "founding" land of Spain. Dudu could explain this better 

While LPG is not available there, getting a good tune-up on your W116 is a good idea as it is much cheaper than in France for the same quality work.

IMHO, Spain is a European jewel compared to some other countries where I am likely to set foot....or tyre 

Denis

Paris, France

[robgee]

Denis I've heard that Galicia has some wonderful scenery though I haven't been there I did take a rather hurried trip to France 6 years ago I was working in the U.K and took the chunnel to Calais then drove to Paris I took my W140 S500 at the time and I thought the autoroutes were great given that the English motorways were bloody awful and fuel I found to be about 20% cheaper.I didn't get to stay long in Paris as I had my son with me and our real destination was Euro Disney needless to say we had a great time and the people were great everywhere we  went in France.Hopefully I'll be able to see more and spend more time when next I go.
Regards,
Rob.