[mjn77]

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Introduction.

Hello and welcome to my 2022 road trip to Europe! But before we start, we need a little history.

Cast your mind back to pre-Covid times of Summer 2019 and when going for a road trip was super easy. I'd just got back from my 2019 Road Trip when a member of Bimmerpost, @Dackelone, took an interest in my previous road trip write ups and invited me to join the next 1Addicts tour. Of course, i said i'd love to. Six months later, all plans were on hold due to Covid. Unfortunately, in the summer of 2020, @Dackelone passed away to illness (not Covid), thus all planned trips were shelved.

Fast forward to July 2021 when Dutch based 1Addicts member, @joao.toscano approached me and asked me if i was interested in joining a road trip he was planning for 2022. We swapped a few messages, i gave him some route ideas from my previous trips and set things in motion. Before i knew, i was part of a Whatsapp group of around a dozen driving enthusiasts doing a 2022 road trip. As to be expected, a few people dropped out, a few came in, and in the end, it was 8 cars. A nice manageable number.

joao.toscano planned the route for 8 days and then it was a mad scramble to book all the hotels and make sure we had everything we needed; covid jabs, walkie talkies, vignettes, travel insurance, channel crossings, etc.

Unfortunately, a few weeks before departure, one member had to drop out due to work commitments. It couldn't be helped, but he was certainly missed.

So, there we have it, 9 days, 7 cars and a few thousand miles of driving.

The line up;

joao.toscano and his M140i (F20)



Alexander_Sebastian and his M440i (F32)



Oliver and his M2 Competition (F87)



CruzM3 and his M3 Competition Velocity Ed.(F80)



Richard and his M6 (E63)



@bmw.pi314 and his M2



And of course, my M3 (E90)

[mjn77]

Day 1 - Thursday 19th May

As per previous years, the first day is always getting from home to somewhere in Switzerland for the starting point. Except this year, i'd be meeting up with everyone else. Home to the meeting point was 689 miles away, which is just too far to drive in one day. Instead, i decided to drive ~600 miles to Basel and complete the remaining ~89 miles on the Friday morning whilst the others were having breakfast.

A quick reset of the stats and off i go.



You know once you reach the EuroTunnel, the road trip officially starts.



Had my passport stamped entering France for the first time in a long time!





Leaving the rain behind and heading to better weather......hopefully.



Stopping in Luxembourg, noticed i'd somehow trashed another felt undertray. Going to have to replace them with the metal version.





Arriving in Basel, this was my hotel for the night.





With a handy megastore next door to the hotel



Stats for the day.



Whilst i was on the motorway, the others had gone to the Porsche museum in Stuttgart and found alcohol

[mjn77]

Day 2 - Friday 20th May

A super early start to get to Andermatt and meet the others.

The morning view from my hotel room.



A typical Swiss breakfast of meat n cheese.



Another fuelup, of which they were many!



Here we are, the group all together for the first time.



Time to tackle some mountain roads. We were due to drive the Furka Pass "loop" however, some of the passes were still closed, so we did what we could.



First up, the Susten Pass. We drove as far as we could before the road closure sign.













Next, the Furka Pass. Again, closed, but we went as far as we could.









Time for some food.



Rosti.



Then on to the San Bernardino Pass, which was open.









Including a couple of old timers.





And the hotel for the night.







Final stats.

[chassis]

Great trip! Thanks for sharing. Doing an Alps trip in September.

[mjn77]

Day 3 - Saturday 21st May

Another early start and our first stop is the Spluga Pass between Switzerland and Italy.



















A fleeting stop at the Oberalppass.



Stopped at Silvaplana for some food.









Then on to the Julierpass.







Then the Passo del Bernina.







Hotel for the night.



Food n beer at the Sunset Pizza place in Bormio.





Final stats.

[mjn77]

Day 4 - Sunday 22nd May

Day 4 sees us tackle the highest pass on the tour, the Stelvio pass. We'd been keeping an eye on the weather and traffic via the webcam, and both looked good.

















Time for some food......





Then on to the Albula Pass.









Hotel in Imst for the night.



With a parking space right outside for me.



Gathered round the laptop for the F1 with some beers.



Then food n more beer.





Final stats.

[mjn77]

Day 5 - Monday 23rd May

I was up super early on Monday morning so went for small walk around the area.





It was then decided that the cars were dirty and needed a clean, so off to the car wash.



And of course, more fuel.



Once clean and fuelled, onto the Timmelsjoch Pass. At the top, the well known museum burnt down a couple of years ago. But they're slowly building their collection again.

































We also ate at their new restaurant.



Some BMW test mules on the road as well.









A little wet n windy at the top.







Then it was the Passo Giovo / Jaufenpass for cake n coffee.







Then the weather turned. The fog got so thick we couldn't see the car in front!



To the hotel, via the Passo Sella













And our hotel for the night.



Food n beer.









Final stats so far.

[conradb58]

Originally Posted by mjn77

[SIZE="6"]Day 2 - Friday 20th May[/SIZE]

A super early start to get to Andermatt and meet the others.

The morning view from my hotel room.



A typical Swiss breakfast of meat n cheese.



Another fuelup, of which they were many!



Here we are, the group all together for the first time.



Time to tackle some mountain roads. We were due to drive the Furka Pass "loop" however, some of the passes were still closed, so we did what we could.



First up, the Susten Pass. We drove as far as we could before the road closure sign.













Next, the Furka Pass. Again, closed, but we went as far as we could.









Time for some food.



Rosti.



Then on to the San Bernardino Pass, which was open.









Including a couple of old timers.





And the hotel for the night.







Final stats.

Schnitzel mit Pommes ahhhh so so good

[Sphygmomanometer]

Thanks for the diary and the pictures. Brilliant! 👍

A little remark for those who don't know yet. On https://alpen-paesse.ch you'll find which of the Swiss alpine passes have already opened.

[anielsen71]

Looks nice 😊
Funny I'm going with 14 other cars from the danish BMW club to some of the same places starting next Sunday. A 4 day trip starting from kochelsee in Germany, touring Germany, Austria and Italy.
We are also going to both Stelio and Sella passes and to the museum at Timmelsjoch😊.

[chicagofan00]

Looks like it was a great trip. Thanks for sharing!

It's a bummer that these kinds of posts are now a bit more rare with Euro Delivery having been stopped. Hoping one day they'll decide to bring it back again.

[mjn77]

Day 6 - Tuesday 24th May

Today i broke away from the group and headed further into Italy. I wanted to stick with the group for the entire tour, but i also wanted to drive Lake Garda. So i was up early, said my goodbyes to everyone and headed to Lake Garda.

Short trip down the motorway. And then a short ferry across the lake as i didn't have time to do a full lap. The roads around the lake are typical Italian, small, narrow and not meant for two way traffic!









































































Then a reward of food n beer.





Final stats.

[T0RM3NT]

Awesome, awesome, awesome! So jealous. Would love to take a road trip like that with my good friends.

Thanks for sharing!

[dutchm2]

Thank you so much mjn77 for making this a reality! Your involvement in the tour was essential. All your experience was great and helped us a lot! We can't wait for the next trip schedule to next year my friend!. I've also a post about this same trip that you can find here https://f20.1addicts.com/forums/show...6#post28952106 Just add some more pics from the tour and what we've achieved. Thanks buddy!

[mjn77]

Day 7 - Wednesday 25th May

Day 7 was the day i start to snake my way back home

I planned to take my time and firstly head from my hotel to my accomodation in Austria, at the top of the Grossglockner. Weather reports weren't looking good; snow, 0 degrees, wind, etc.

But first, i had to head back over the Passo Sella and Passo Gardena and they were both extremly wet n foggy.



















Grossglockner looking a little wet n foggy as well.

















Up there in the clouds? That is where my hotel for the night is.







When you buy a bag of crisps at the bottom of a mountain and then take them 2544 metres up a mountain!



Food, beer and pussy.

















Final stats.

[mjn77]

Day 8 - Thursday 26th May

Not sure what to expect after yesterday's blizzard i looked out of my bedroom window but was pleasantly surprised.

























I had company for breakfast again.







The descent down the north side was lovely and sunny.









Whenever you go to the Grossglockner, you have to visit the local brewery. Turned out though that the Thursday was a Bank Holiday and they were closed. However, the owner recognised me from previous visits and let me purchase some beer









The final pass of the tour was a small scenic / toll road, the Rossfeldpanorastrasse.









And now it was a quick blast on the autobahn to the hotel. Autobahn was fairly quiet so was able to hit 170MPH.

Hotel for the night? The v8 hotel in Stuttgart.











Here, if you choose, you can purchase any number of exotic cars.




































Food and beer.







Final stats.

[Alexander_Sebastian]

Thank you Malcolm for this post. Amazing work!!!!!

This trip was awesome! HGT 23 and HGT 24 are coming!!!!

[mjn77]

Day 9 - Friday 27th May

So, last day. All motorway from Stuttgart to home.

But "cheap" fuel in Luxembourg first.



And Luxembourg's area of outstanding beauty.






Before long, i'm at the Eurotunnel which means my journey is nearly over.





Final stats for the whole tour.



Circa £890 in petrol ROFL

[mjn77]

Tagging the gang;

joao.toscano
Alexander_Sebastian
CruzM3
@bmw.pi314

[mjn77]

Many thanks again to club owner joao.toscano for inviting me along for this tour. Hopefully, it will be the first of many

[Darth One]

Thanks for posting and it looked like you had an amazing time. It's so nice to see a thread about people just going out and enjoying cars. There's been too much bickering and division about BMW for far too long

[mjn77]

Nearly forgot the stickers that joao.toscano designed and ordered for us!