Marbella to England

I have no wish to be alarmist but would like to issue a general warning to be on your guard to anyone driving form UK to Roda.

We had a pleasant drive down through France in May and took the chance to visit friends and tour some of France and Spain.

When we were passing by Valencia we were persistently flashed by another car indicating we had an engine problem. Stupidly I eventually pulled over and the driver got out and suggested I open the bonnet, but we did not get out of the car.

Unfortunately just 2 minutes later we had a puncture and on inspection found a large gash in the tyre obviously made by a knife which we had not noticed was being done by the original guys accomplice.

When I had to stop again the same car pulled up in front and the driver tried to get my wife out of the car offering her a hi vis jacket.

Luckily she held her ground and pushed him away, which being in an English car meant he was very close to passing traffic.

I am convinced had they succeeded in getting us away from the car they would have taken anything they could easily lay their hands on.

We eventually had to drive carefully off the motorway in order to change the tyre.

We have heard of other friends who had passports, money etc, stolen by a smartly dressed guy whilst at a busy service station.

I know these warnings have been issued before but would just like to confirm that you should always be on your guard.

By the way the guy that stopped us was not Spanish and was driving a smart German reg Audi, prob stolen.

Having lived in Spain for about 6 years now I have heard of this before, unfortunately.  I have also heard of incidents in garages, supermarkets and airport car parks.  Similar scenario each time, you are approached by one person telling you you have a flat tyre when you get out to look  and are distracted either the car is stolen or your hand bag by another person.  I once witnessed a robbery in a garage where 2 girls were filling with petrol in front of me and another car drew up and constantly beeped his horn.  Practically everyone in the garge forecourt including myself, my son and the 2 girls were staring wondering what he was playing at.  It was a distraction because noone saw his mate creep up and steal the girls handbags from the seat!!!  Be aware!!!!

For some insane reason we are thinking of driving to Roda, we quite fancy the thought of travelling through France etc and seeing a bit of the scenery along the way, and taking things at our own pace instead of fighting our way through the airport.

I have a feeling it may be more expensive than flying though, and would welcome any more views and/or information that we may find useful including approx fuel/toll costs and approx how far we would expect to get before having a stop over???? Thanks in advance.

 www.rodagolf-privaterental.com/

 

This message was last edited by RD on 2/21/2009.

Rd

We drove down last May, a fairly quiet time and from our home in kent it was approx 1200 miles bear in mind we are only 1 hour from tunnel/ferries.

We made in into a trip and stayed with friends in France and took our time on the way down also staying in the Pyrenees, although way more expensive than flying it was a good opportunity to pack the car with various bits and tour some of France and Spain.

Our return was the most direct and we had 2 stops, Northern Spain then South of Paris at reasonably priced hotels and stopping in some lovely towns.

Basically it is a 24 hour journey so it is up to you how far you wish to drive each day and how many stops you want to make. Some do it with 1 overnight stop but I think 2 is minimum and more if you want to sightsee.

As far as overall costs are concerned it would be approx £50 single to cross the Channel, around 4 full tanks of fuel each way, France fuel prices not much below UK, hotels approx £50-60 per night plus food and tolls if you go the most direct will be up to £100 each way. So you are looking at over £500 each way, not worth it unless you stay for a while as you then save on hire car costs.

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip, apart from the one unpleasant experience previously mentioned and will do it again.

If you would like further details or ideas please let me know.

 

You can also get ferry from UK to Bilbao or Santander but I think they are fairly pricey too.