The alarm went off most unwelcomely at 6.30, and we were up and packing the last of our stuff in time to get downstairs at 7am. Rich was dutifully waiting for us, as he had asked us for a lift to somewhere near Turin. We grabbed a few things to eat from the breakfast table on the way past. I also picked a bit of lavender to take with me.
We were on the road just after 7am - another beautiful day. As we drove through the Verona morning traffic on the way to the A4, we put Rich in charge of music on Spotify. He made some very interesting suggestions. Christian countered that by putting on the Dave Matthews band. I didn't mind them, though for some reason I was on edge that morning.
We stopped at a services for coffee. I stayed in the car, but Christian and Rich had to contend with a very pushy queue apparently. I was glad to miss out on that one.
Back on the road, and the Tesla was giving dire warnings about range - I guess this was the main source of my unease. I wasn't very used to how to deal with that.
We were planning to drop Rich somewhere near Turino so that he could get into the city, but Christian thought about dropping him elsewhere near a train station so that he wouldn't have to wait with us at our first charge stop at Cavaglia. We decided on Santhia as a good option, as it was on the opposite side of the motorway to Cavaglia, though the trains didn't seem very frequent (according to the website I brought up on the Tesla's screen).
From the road, we saw the amazing basilica at Novara. It would have been so nice to have had the luxury of stopping to look at interesting things, but we just couldn't. Soon after, we were at Santhia, and drove into the small town to drop Rich at the train station. We said goodbye and he was on his way.
It was a short drive back over the motorway to Cavaglia, and we had enough charge left not to have panicked. The supercharger was in the car park of a golf course. There was a nice bar there, and we sat for a while and Christian had a coffee (as usual). I ate the rest of the muffin that Christian had bought for me at the services.
Back on the road, just after all the Turino exists, we hit miles of roadworks - just with barriers up beside the road, but a bit tedious to have to go slowly (though good for charge). We drove on for some time along nondescript roads.
We stopped at another services for some food. Christian got a baguette, and I bought some ham and cheese to just snack on. Here the road started to climb into the mountains, and the charge required for this leg changed all the time.
We reached the French border, and paid quite a lot to go through the Mont Blanc tunnel. It was very long, and not very interesting. The Tesla was confused again about the tunnel - thinking it had to go over the mountains above. We didn't make up as much charge on the way back down the mountains as we thought we would, but we still made it to Chambery with a little to spare. I was totally exhausted by now - nodding off in the car.
The supercharger in Chambery was in a giant retail park. We parked up, set to charging and went to find food. We decided on sushi, but found (after some confusion due to the language barrier), that the place was closing just as we walked in. I was too tired to make decisions, so after Christian got annoyed at me, we went into KFC. They had no twisters, so we had some other chicken things, and a Caesar salad.
When charged enough, both car and people, we were on our way again. We skirted around Lyon, and had an unscheduled stop at Vienne, off the A47. There was a supercharger there, in an Ibis, and Christian wanted another coffee. There was a Tesla taxi charging at another of the points. The man helped us get the coffee from a machine, but Christian managed to put a cup that was slightly too small under the nozzle. Oops.
Back on the road, we took a good few minor roads to get to the next charger. And then the rain started. And went on and on. It was very heavy. We had our fog lights on, but people kept flashing us. It was very annoying.
Eventually we got to Clermont-Ferrand - the supercharger was in a Novotel car park. It was cold, post-rain. We decided to have dinner there, but it was very early, and so we had a short wait before they began seating people. I was tired, and despite thinking through the French I was going to speak to the waitress, I got it wrong, and she looked at me blankly, and then both she and Christian corrected me. It was a nice enough dinner (I think I had a chicken breast, and Christian had duck).
After dinner, we took the roads through town, sharing them with trams. It seemed to be a nice town, with a dramatic looking black gothic cathedral on the top of the hill. From there, we took hilly back roads back to the main route, and after a fair journey west, we joined the main road going south.
Our final charge was at Brive, which was a Mercure hotel. It was very dark by this stage. Christian was tired, and so he went into the hotel to get a coffee, while I stayed in the car. I didn't have much energy for a wander.
The drive from Brive to St Cirq was easy enough - Christian felt better after his rest. It wasn't very busy, and didn't take too long.
We finally arrived in the vicinity of St Cirq around 11.30. We took a wrong turn as we didn't have the location of the house in the satnav properly. After an extra loop, we eventually found the right turn, and drove in to the top of the property. It was cold when we got out of the car, and much later than we'd wanted.
Sandie was still cooking in the kitchen, and welcomed us to the blissfully warm house and showed us all the new work that had been done upstairs. It was very impressive.
We fell in to bed very soon after. It had been an incredibly long day.
TESLA LOG:
21:15 - 22:26 - St Cirq - 49.3Miles 386.2Wh/mi - ODO 10980
20:59 - 21:15 - Impasse de l'Étang du Griffolet, Ussac, Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes - 15.8/16.6kWh 95% eff. 339V 0A 67/100% Disconnected Tesla SuperCharger
19:43 - 20:55 - Impasse de l'Étang du Griffolet, Ussac, Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes - 85.1Miles 270.4Wh/mi - ODO 10931
18:50 - 19:40 - La Croix de Barre S, Prondines, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - 30.2Miles 421.6Wh/mi - ODO 10845
17:43 - 18:49 - Rue Georges Besse, Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - 52.4/53.8kWh 97% eff. 355V 0A 97/100% Charging Tesla SuperCharger
15:47 - 17:42 - Rue Georges Besse, Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - 114Miles 321.9Wh/mi - ODO 10815
15:34 - 15:49 - A47, Ternay, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - 10.5/11kWh 95% eff. 345V 0A 78/96% Disconnected Tesla SuperCharger
14:23 - 15:32 - A47, Ternay, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - 64.3Miles 288.1Wh/mi - ODO 10701
13:20 - 14:23 - Rue Eugène Ducretet, Chambéry, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - 57.1/58.8kWh 97% eff. 354V 0A 92/96% Disconnected Tesla SuperCharger
11:08 - 13:19 - Rue Eugène Ducretet, Chambéry, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - 121.2Miles 292.9Wh/mi - ODO 10637
10:02 - 10:59 - Via Valle, undefined, Piemonte - 40.1Miles 349.2Wh/mi - ODO 10516
09:09 - 10:03 - Strada Statale 143, Località Gerbido, Piemonte - 51.9/54.1kWh 96% eff. 351V 0A 85/90% Disconnected Tesla SuperCharger
08:59 - 09:08 - Strada Statale 143, Località Gerbido, Piemonte - 3.6Miles 349.2Wh/mi - ODO 10476
06:54 - 08:56 - Via Giacomo Puccini, undefined, Piemonte - 128.5Miles 315.4Wh/mi - ODO 10472
05:55 - 06:40 - E70, undefined, Lombardia - 31.3Miles 331.5Wh/mi - ODO 10344
We were on the road just after 7am - another beautiful day. As we drove through the Verona morning traffic on the way to the A4, we put Rich in charge of music on Spotify. He made some very interesting suggestions. Christian countered that by putting on the Dave Matthews band. I didn't mind them, though for some reason I was on edge that morning.
We stopped at a services for coffee. I stayed in the car, but Christian and Rich had to contend with a very pushy queue apparently. I was glad to miss out on that one.
Back on the road, and the Tesla was giving dire warnings about range - I guess this was the main source of my unease. I wasn't very used to how to deal with that.
We were planning to drop Rich somewhere near Turino so that he could get into the city, but Christian thought about dropping him elsewhere near a train station so that he wouldn't have to wait with us at our first charge stop at Cavaglia. We decided on Santhia as a good option, as it was on the opposite side of the motorway to Cavaglia, though the trains didn't seem very frequent (according to the website I brought up on the Tesla's screen).
From the road, we saw the amazing basilica at Novara. It would have been so nice to have had the luxury of stopping to look at interesting things, but we just couldn't. Soon after, we were at Santhia, and drove into the small town to drop Rich at the train station. We said goodbye and he was on his way.
It was a short drive back over the motorway to Cavaglia, and we had enough charge left not to have panicked. The supercharger was in the car park of a golf course. There was a nice bar there, and we sat for a while and Christian had a coffee (as usual). I ate the rest of the muffin that Christian had bought for me at the services.
Back on the road, just after all the Turino exists, we hit miles of roadworks - just with barriers up beside the road, but a bit tedious to have to go slowly (though good for charge). We drove on for some time along nondescript roads.
We stopped at another services for some food. Christian got a baguette, and I bought some ham and cheese to just snack on. Here the road started to climb into the mountains, and the charge required for this leg changed all the time.
We reached the French border, and paid quite a lot to go through the Mont Blanc tunnel. It was very long, and not very interesting. The Tesla was confused again about the tunnel - thinking it had to go over the mountains above. We didn't make up as much charge on the way back down the mountains as we thought we would, but we still made it to Chambery with a little to spare. I was totally exhausted by now - nodding off in the car.
The supercharger in Chambery was in a giant retail park. We parked up, set to charging and went to find food. We decided on sushi, but found (after some confusion due to the language barrier), that the place was closing just as we walked in. I was too tired to make decisions, so after Christian got annoyed at me, we went into KFC. They had no twisters, so we had some other chicken things, and a Caesar salad.
When charged enough, both car and people, we were on our way again. We skirted around Lyon, and had an unscheduled stop at Vienne, off the A47. There was a supercharger there, in an Ibis, and Christian wanted another coffee. There was a Tesla taxi charging at another of the points. The man helped us get the coffee from a machine, but Christian managed to put a cup that was slightly too small under the nozzle. Oops.
Back on the road, we took a good few minor roads to get to the next charger. And then the rain started. And went on and on. It was very heavy. We had our fog lights on, but people kept flashing us. It was very annoying.
Eventually we got to Clermont-Ferrand - the supercharger was in a Novotel car park. It was cold, post-rain. We decided to have dinner there, but it was very early, and so we had a short wait before they began seating people. I was tired, and despite thinking through the French I was going to speak to the waitress, I got it wrong, and she looked at me blankly, and then both she and Christian corrected me. It was a nice enough dinner (I think I had a chicken breast, and Christian had duck).
After dinner, we took the roads through town, sharing them with trams. It seemed to be a nice town, with a dramatic looking black gothic cathedral on the top of the hill. From there, we took hilly back roads back to the main route, and after a fair journey west, we joined the main road going south.
Our final charge was at Brive, which was a Mercure hotel. It was very dark by this stage. Christian was tired, and so he went into the hotel to get a coffee, while I stayed in the car. I didn't have much energy for a wander.
The drive from Brive to St Cirq was easy enough - Christian felt better after his rest. It wasn't very busy, and didn't take too long.
We finally arrived in the vicinity of St Cirq around 11.30. We took a wrong turn as we didn't have the location of the house in the satnav properly. After an extra loop, we eventually found the right turn, and drove in to the top of the property. It was cold when we got out of the car, and much later than we'd wanted.
Sandie was still cooking in the kitchen, and welcomed us to the blissfully warm house and showed us all the new work that had been done upstairs. It was very impressive.
We fell in to bed very soon after. It had been an incredibly long day.
TESLA LOG:
21:15 - 22:26 - St Cirq - 49.3Miles 386.2Wh/mi - ODO 10980
20:59 - 21:15 - Impasse de l'Étang du Griffolet, Ussac, Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes - 15.8/16.6kWh 95% eff. 339V 0A 67/100% Disconnected Tesla SuperCharger
19:43 - 20:55 - Impasse de l'Étang du Griffolet, Ussac, Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes - 85.1Miles 270.4Wh/mi - ODO 10931
18:50 - 19:40 - La Croix de Barre S, Prondines, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - 30.2Miles 421.6Wh/mi - ODO 10845
17:43 - 18:49 - Rue Georges Besse, Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - 52.4/53.8kWh 97% eff. 355V 0A 97/100% Charging Tesla SuperCharger
15:47 - 17:42 - Rue Georges Besse, Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - 114Miles 321.9Wh/mi - ODO 10815
15:34 - 15:49 - A47, Ternay, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - 10.5/11kWh 95% eff. 345V 0A 78/96% Disconnected Tesla SuperCharger
14:23 - 15:32 - A47, Ternay, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - 64.3Miles 288.1Wh/mi - ODO 10701
13:20 - 14:23 - Rue Eugène Ducretet, Chambéry, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - 57.1/58.8kWh 97% eff. 354V 0A 92/96% Disconnected Tesla SuperCharger
11:08 - 13:19 - Rue Eugène Ducretet, Chambéry, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - 121.2Miles 292.9Wh/mi - ODO 10637
10:02 - 10:59 - Via Valle, undefined, Piemonte - 40.1Miles 349.2Wh/mi - ODO 10516
09:09 - 10:03 - Strada Statale 143, Località Gerbido, Piemonte - 51.9/54.1kWh 96% eff. 351V 0A 85/90% Disconnected Tesla SuperCharger
08:59 - 09:08 - Strada Statale 143, Località Gerbido, Piemonte - 3.6Miles 349.2Wh/mi - ODO 10476
06:54 - 08:56 - Via Giacomo Puccini, undefined, Piemonte - 128.5Miles 315.4Wh/mi - ODO 10472
05:55 - 06:40 - E70, undefined, Lombardia - 31.3Miles 331.5Wh/mi - ODO 10344
No comments:
Post a Comment