Ricardo's Road Trip Portugal Paris & Return in a 1963 Fulvia Normale Berlina

[fay66]

Emails from Ricardo about his progress on his Epic Journey.

6th August 2015
 Subject : Roadtrip news!
 Hello Brian,

Sorry to only now give news but I had no wi-fi until now. 
The trip is going really well and the Fulvia is behaving perfectly! We have covered 1600kms so far.
Yesterday we went to Oradour-Sur-Glane, really interesting and know what you meant about the strange atmosphere there.   
Today we are at Le Mans and tomorrow we visit Saint Malo and Mont Saint Michel.   Im sending you some photos.   
Best regards,
 Ricardo 

8th August
Hello Brian, 
 I'm trying to connect to the Wi-Fi network here but it isn't working, so unfortunatly I cant send you any photographs today, the reception is very bad here.

We are now at 2249 kms, today we ran out of battery, we have been charging the mobile phones and a little fridge on the car, and maybe it was too much for the dynamo or the battery just died, i have to see if it charges tomorrow with nothing connected as we head for Paris.   
We have been keeping the speed always 105 and 110 km/h. Leaving Portugal was hard with a lot of hillclimbs, keeping it in 3rd gear many times, but after that it maintained the speed very nicely. We are 3 people with a lot of baggage so the car is quite heavy, and the rear suspension is low. 
So far the fuel consumption has been good, because of the hillclimbs the first tank was 9.1L/100. The following were better with 8,3 - 7,5- 7,8 and 7,79, very nice I think!   
The roads are absolutely fantastic! I'm really enjoying it, and I'm doing most of the driving so far. We have been camping all the way, and its been very nice, yesterday we visited Saint Malo and Mont Saint Michel. Today we visited most all the normandie beaches, exhausting day.
 
Nearly halfway now!
Best regards,
 Ricardo

10th august
Hello Brian,

Quick answer as i found some Wi-Fi, of course you can post On the fórum, then I can go there and complete with more photos as I return.
Tomorrow I'll visit Simon from the LMC at Narbonne, Mic Comber that has been helping me with the Aprilia suggested the visit.

I'll answer the rest this evening with more time, meanwhile here are some pictures!

Best regards,
Ricardo



 
11th August
 Hi Brian!
 Did you received the e-mail of the other day with pictures of the trip? I wasnt sure as I lost the wifi connection while sending it.
 We found the car problem, it is charging and the battery is good, but the Bosh starter engine died. We disassembled it but found no reason for it not to work, I even phoned my electrician but even then we couldn't figure it out, so we have been pushing the car the last days!
Also the fan bearing is in bad condition, is was very noisy in Paris as the car was hotter, but doesn't make any noise with high revs, I think it won't give any problems until I get home.

The car is charging well even with radio, gps and a little fridge, it has been very hot! 
Climbing is a little worst for me than the standard Normale, as I have the same power with a longer ratio gearbox and the car is very heavy, but I think in flat roads it's very nice and runs and runs like a dream!
Yes when climbing if we have to lift the throttle pedal it becomes to much worst! When I have to reduce to 3rd I usually can maintain it at 70 km/h (speedo reading).
 
The fuel consumption has been really nice indeed! And I've been taking a lot of pictures from the driving position!
I've been to the UK once by road (on a Triumph 1300) but I was only 14 at the time, but I recall some traffic and scary roundabouts!
Italy is very nice also, I just didn't like Torino, very very confusing!
I'm from Porto, and I think it's much better now has it was 10 years ago, all the city has evolved and the traffic is better divided. Were you in Porto with Fay? do you have any picture?

I started camping two years ago when I went to Italy on the Beta, I really enjoy it! 
Well Paris was a surprise! Not any traffic, really easy to get in and move around! Some parts were worst, without any lane indications, but much better that what I thought!   
 
Best regards,
 Ricardo
Hello again,

I forgot to tell about the visit to Simon, I don't know if you know if from the forum, very nice he and his wife and we had a very nice meal. I managed some parts for my Aprilia and had a run on the Appia, it was a great day!
Simon had a ride on the Normale as we went to a garage nearby to put a used tyre he gave me to put on my rim. We had a puncture when arriving to Paris and the tyre wasn't salvageable!

Best regards,
Ricardo


watch this space

[fay66]

Sorry I've duplicated a couple of photos
here's a few more.
Brian
8227

[stanley sweet]

Like the side on shot on the Paris cobbles - looks very period. Also the shot over the steering wheel towards the Eiffel Tower looks like a period brochure shot. Sounds a great trip. Very nice car.

[fay66]

Continued
With three not part of the trip.

12th August

Hello Brian,

Here are some more pictures as I found Wi-Fi while having lunch, including the ones from Le Mans!

We are back in Northern Spain!

Thank you for posting on the forum,
Ricardo

Brian
8227

[lancialulu]

Reminds me curiously of Amelie this car getting to all these places in no time at all

[lancialulu]

should make a good article for VL....

[fay66]

15th August

Hello Brian,

Im now in the Algarve in holidays with the family this time.

We had reserved the last two days as beach days, enjoying the north of Spain beaches, but the weather tricked us and we caught heavy rain all the way. We decided to change our planes and headed to Santiago de Compostela to visit the cathedral. The Normales wipers weren't this busy in many years, covering 552 kms in one day always on!

In the end we made 4950 kms, with no further problems, only the fan bearing had became really noisy when parking the car in the garage. If we had one more travel day we would had to remove the belt and stay out of city centers.

On more curiosity, when heading for a fuel station on Thursday, and had already covered about 400kms, the car stalled and we luckily managed to get to the station only with the car disengaged as we were really close to it. At first I thought I had missed the kms calculation, but when filling it up the tank only took 34 liters instead of the supposed 38!! Only then I recalled that the tank had a bump underneath and was taking some important 4 liters of the capacity! In all this years owning the car I never thought of fixing it (it was already this when when my father bought the car) and I think it won't be easy!

Also we lost a mud flap on the last 100kms, a pity, I'll have to look for new ones now.

I'm having problems with the mobile wifi Vodafone, I'll try to fix it tomorrow and then I'll send you some mores pictures, in the meanwhile here are 3, under heavy rain, at Santiago and already in the garage (really messy near the Flavia as I'm still fixing the brake problems!)

Best regards,
Ricardo

Just to let you know that everything went perfectly and that we arrived home today! Will write you tomorrow with more time and some pictures!

Ricardo


Brian
8227

[davidwheeler]

Ah. le Viaduc de Millau.  Been there, done that - in a 2CV.  Great fun.

[fay66]

Ah. le Viaduc de Millau.  Been there, done that - in a 2CV.  Great fun.

Last time I was there it was wind your way down one side to the bottom, over the river, then climb all the way up the other side to the top, must save a heck of a lot of time these days!

Brian
8227 

[JohnMillham]

Ah. le Viaduc de Millau.  Been there, done that - in a 2CV.  Great fun.

Me too, but in my Lambda. Regards, John

[lancialulu]

Fantastic going across in winter as you are in the middle of clouds and freezing cold. Traversed in a Delta....

[davidwheeler]

Ah. le Viaduc de Millau.  Been there, done that - in a 2CV.  Great fun.

Me too, but in my Lambda. Regards, John

Mais naturellement.
David