Having tried the piece of equipment before the journey I was satisfied that it would be invaluable. So before the journey began I loaded all of our final destinations most of which had GPS locations that helped no end when trying to find addresses.
Confident this was all we needed our journey began from home to Dover. It was giving clear directions and should we veer from the route the woman’s voice told us she was recalculating. Happily we drove along, taking our normal route to the M11, via Newmarket and the A11 when suddenly along the M11 we realised that the sat nav had stopped working. All the usual touching, shaking, pulling wires etc, did not make any difference and the sat nav remained silent. This was a disaster!!! ………… ah I know, I will find out if there is a branch of Halfords in Dover and see if we can change it there. So I telephoned the King’s Lynn branch where I bought the machine, and they were very helpful and gave me details of the Dover branch.
Using my IPhone map we found Halfords and again a very helpful young man realised that my sat nav needed resetting. After a quick reset we were back in action breathing a sigh of relief that the journey ahead did not appear so daunting after all.
Disembarking the Ferry the next day in Dunkerque, sat nav came into its own and directed me exactly as I had anticipated towards Brussels. This was when the lane management aspect of it played its part extremely well. For anyone who has ever driven around the ring road of Brussels in heavy rain, will know what a daunting prospect this might be.
Day two started a little bit shaky as we headed out of Pirmasens, where the road layout had changed and our little nav would not stop recalculating. Some old fashioned map reading had to take over to get us back to some semblance of the right road, heading towards St Johann in Austria. The rest of the journey was straightforward and we arrived in St Johann with not so much as a recalculating to blight our journey.
Day three was not quite so successful as we were supposed to take the road for Kitzbhul but the road was closed so we had to find another way – which was in the opposite direction! Frustrated at being told to go round in a couple of circles in an attempt to get beyond the closed road I pulled into a car park and checked the map. It was torrential rain so not easy to see where we were going and at one point started to go up a one way street! After consulting with the map I decided on my route, and off we set once again. Following the road number we headed east out of St Johann and for miles and miles the sat nav was trying to get me to turn round and go back – but despite her continual request and her continual recalculating I doggedly carried on.
On this journey we had to go through a long tunnel through the mountains, and near this tunnel, sat nav gave me directions then told me to “board the train”. Low and behold, around the next corner was a mountain train. We stopped at the check point and waited until boarding. As we moved off sat nav told me to board the train! Now I was impressed. Out the other side was not so straightforward as we were directed towards Italy and not the direction I had anticipated. When this happens you have the psychological belief that you are going miles out of your way, but sat nav gives you an estimated arrival time, which seemed to appear realistic as we entered Italy and were told to take the slip road.
Taking this slip road led us up through a pass, Passo di Predil, and past a beautiful lake. Gradually the time and distance was getting shorter as I drove through some beautiful mountainside roads and villages eventually arriving at Kobarid. But again sat nav wanted me to turn left when there was no left turn, so I carried on a little unsure and turned left at the next opportunity. I pulled into a super market and jumped out of the car, point to the name of the camp site on my reservation email, to a bemused Slovenian getting into his car. He shrugged his shoulders and shouted to someone else, who beckoned me, so I followed him a short distance to an amazing bridge (Napoleon Bridge) over the most amazing river (Soca), and he pointed left and was on his way with a little horn beeping. A few meters up this road was our camp site. Once again sat nav and a little map reading had got us to our next destination without too much effort.
After a few days in this location it was time to go again. Selecting the next destination, Croatia, it was off we go. Straightforward and simple journey, we reached the port in Croatia to get to the Island of Cres and funnily enough the sat nav was leading us across the sea. We loaded onto the ferry and disembarked the other side and continued our journey arriving at our next camp site with not so much as one recalculating.After a few days, it was time to embark on our final part of the journey. Back to the ferry and then head to St Johann again. I had decided on the route I wanted to take, which was up through Slovenia to Austria towards Salzburg, and then leave the motorway towards Seefeld and on towards St Johann, thinking this would be the quickest route (and I am sure it would have been), but Sat Nav had different ideas, and took me towards Italy again. I was hoping to turn round but the road was such there was no way to turn back so it became pointless trying. The scenary was magnificent so that made up for it. So our journey took us through Croatia, towards Italy and then heading north towards Austria, before a short journey through Slovenia again. We headed through mountains to both sides and I was feeling slightly daunted by the prospect of driving through a mountain pass, but it was great fun. After what was a very long journey we finally reached Kitzhbul and headed into St Johann where we stayed the night.
Next day it was time to head to Germany and our last night away. It was a bit traumatic to get out of St Johann onto the desired road, which leads us to the Germany autobann, but eventually after a bit of a detour we got there, and this must have been the most boring journey of all which took us nearly two hours longer due to the amount of road works. But our final destination was Koblenz, a beautiful hotel in beautiful surroundings, and a fantastic restaurant. The evening complete with a walk past the deer park and then onto some wild boar enclosures up to the edge of the forest. The wild boar were amusing, and came running to the fence, expecting to be fed I think. But I would not want to mix with them - they looked pretty serious!!
Time to leave, and heading through Koblenz onto the autobann, towards Belgium, a nothing country. Nothing special or interesting, just wind turbines here and there and a boringly flat landscape. Sat nav played up as the journey to the port got closer and at one point sent me of the motorway and had I have kept following the instructions I would have been there all day going round in circles. I made the executive decision to ignore and got totally fed up with her recalculating. Soon the port signs and we were nearly to France! It is always a comfort when you see the signs for the place you want to be - Dunkerque car ferry!!!!
We arrive at our destination with a couple of hours to spare but there is absolutely nothing to do at the port, apart from walk around a bit and admire the defence systems to keep immigrant and others out of the port! The ferry was packed and nearly uncomfortable, nothing to do except go out on a very cold and windy deck, have a bit of food or look around the very small duty free shop, so we plumped for some food and then deck. Arriving in Dover two hours later, we headed home to the sound of the Sat Nav recalculating so it got switched off at this point.All in all, it was a very useful piece of kit but it is still wise to have your map handy and some idea of where you are going before hand, so that you avoid being taken to some obsure place that you really don't want to be at!
