[Josco010]

Hello there, after a long while deliberating how to write and share my holiday experience with Brutus and my family, i thought well i'll just write anyways so please enjoy.

On the 23rd(monday) of August my Mrs and the little one wake up all excited about the day ahead we look out and it was just as you would imagine on a day we are driving to spain overcast and raining shed loads meanwhile i'd done a total clean Brutus spend half the day cleaning and moping the paint work just two days before and was gleaming and ready to rock, anyway back to monday we are due to depart at 4:00pm in other for us to leave home at nottinghill gate london to reach Porthsmouth for 19:45hrs for the ferry to leave by 20:30hrs, we just about manage it but not without hitch on the way ue to roads works on the motorway(diversion 20miles before Porthsmouth) Brutus did well soaking up ALL our luggage and i must admit 3 lightweights.
Brutus was able to do some decent mpg, but all in we arrived nice and fresh ready to board the pride of Bilbao which as of now does not run that route any more.

 

[Josco010]

Once we arrived all we had to do was wait Brutus behaved herself well on the motorway nice relaxed driving keeping it at 70mph or thereabouts and no drama i made sure to fill up and the car had recieved a good once over for a decent fee at least that was the impression i was given more to come later. We manage to board rthe pride of Bilbao at just after 20:00hrs and with everyone settled in and excited the ship rolls out of dock weather turns out a little more settled although slghtly fresh, we then just relax and enjoy the experience as the ship slowly sails

 

[Josco010]

And the following day consisted of us just relaxing and enjoying the ride although i am not one who particularly feels comfortable on ships from past experience and staying on deck 5 did not help matters but at least we were able to have a good nights rest and Brutus was rested below deck although i did not set the alarm because i felt the alarm might be activated due to the motion of the rocking ship.

 

[Josco010]

After 3days at sea we eventually arrive at "Santurzi" approx 20km from Bilbao. Captain goes on the loud horn to inform everyone we shall reach port shortly and for everyone to start getting ready to go to their cars we all get up have quick breakfast and pack up ready to leave all excited. once on land at about 7:30am on wednesday morning no clouds in the sky just comfortably warm. card is loaded i check the cars fluid to make sure all is fine and then with little or no delay or drama we hit the road and with big smile on our faceswroom, next port of call is Bilbao to drop of some stuff at the inlaws house and pick some bits but more importantly it is immidiately clear the difference driving in UK and Spain the quality of the roads :goldcup: incredible Brutus is just at home on this roads flat smooth and just nice we arrive in Bilbao in 30mins i guess mainly most were on holidays down south or abroad plus it was still early hence no taffic

 

[Josco010]

We did a few bit and bob in Bilbao but after about 25 mins we headed out of town to COVANERA approx 40miles from Bilbao the weather was brightening up but along the way it got a bit misty and there was a bit of traffic once we got of the motorway and headed in to the country roads equally smooth there was a little excitement while going up hill with a 14 wheeler struggling up one of the mountain passes and as their were loads of corners to deal with and about 3 cars infront of me all deisel except an audi A8 directly in fron it was difficult for us to overtake without causing grief to oncoming cars and the space you had to overtake was quite little considering the cars infront and the 14wheeler so patience was best heeded but just as we aproached one particular bend i looked ahead approaching a left bend it looked very clear and as i knew i would have to get ready and be in the right gear and any way we were going so slow 3rd gear was just fine, just as some of those gradients were between 10-13% but the torque also helps, so once opportunity came i took it but the Audi was thinking along the same line so we both gunned it loving the sound of the six as always passing the 2 cars safely and dealing with the truck was easy so no drama but later on their ws a bit of mist :crying2: at which point here we go we've brought the English weathr with us, but we should have known better it was as my mrs said usual in those parts occasionaly. Soon enough we got to SEDANO

 

[kiudog]

great pictures! isn´t the E34///M5 a gougeous thing?

 

[davidoli]

The coche looked fantastic parked up en el pueblo !

Great pics , thanks for sharing ................ p.s. Liked the Wimbledon T-Shirt !

D

 

[Josco010]

YouTube - e34 //m5 3.8ltr 6spd
A short video of our drive from Sedano to Covanera, interesting road but i could not really relay the effect of this road very well as being the only car not following other you cannot imagine how narrow and tight the corners are plus on the mountain sections there were some big drops which means no room for error "AT ALL" this road is and in some cases quite steep the other thing is this particular road is not very smooth hence the camera shake it also pays to know the route well and i've ridden this roads loads of times with my road bike.
when we arrived in COVANERA, a very cute little village in the Castellia y Leon region in the north of Spain, Brutus behaved admirably handling the roads well and proving she can be a relaxed tourer. The only downer to the journey was i later discovered a so called specialist in UK with a racing Team carried out simple oil service and did not top up after the service knowing that i had a very long journey to make hence i found out that engine oil was very low considering i had a check over and service done few days before we lefth: that mistake costed us nearly a week trying to find the nearest garage that has the required oil for Brutus, put it this way if we had proceeded on the journey down south that would have been the end of BRUTUS it was that bad. Anyway i tried to look on the brighter side and enjoy the first setion of our holiday

 

[Josco010]

Next day whilst the word was put out to try to find at least 3ltrs of oil for the car tried to take my mind of the thought of what could have happened considering where we were and how remote we were from the nearest BMW dealer as non of the local garages had anything suitable for Brutus nearest dealer was over 120km away to say i was upset was an understatement, so went to take some pictures and enjoyed the local fishing for (CANGREJO) which apparently you need licence for and one is limited to the numbers you can catch, it takes some getting used to so i did not partake in the fishing but enjoyed the atmosphere, and also enjoymy inlaws and the family and friends who did not know we were going to be comming so it was a very nice surprise for them to see us arrive from England out of the blues so whilst brutus was resting was able to savour the village

 

[Josco010]

Lovely scenery, this village (Valle de Valdenoceda) is just approx 40km from COVANERA worth visiting very tranquile. Afterwards all the Cangrejo's ended up on the platemmmmmm

 

[joeywx]

awesome trip

omg that pic of the crawfish is making me drool...not to mention the daytona violet m5...thanks for sharing!

 

[Josco010]

After about 3 days we were eventually able to get some oil from BMW courtesy of one of my mates who found out there was a BMW dealer close to where he worked in Burgos which was roughly 120km from Covanera, we got 3ltrs just to be on the safe side when i recieved the oil it was mixed emotions very happy and angry at what could have been but i was so nervous that after the get together where we all had Paela with Cangrejo and nice sweets etc plus wine i felt the need to go and fill up the car and check it was fine as the next day 2days we had a mighty 7hour drive ahead of us so it was very important the car would not give me any cause for concerns (note i had already made calls to the garage and expressed my surprise and dissapointment experienced from the service provided). It was a very beautiful day indeed and could not resist going for spin with Brutus to stretch her legs a bit and ensure all will be well for the next 1,000mile journey ahead. The road to SARGENTES a road i recomend highly you can reach it coming from Santander towards Burgos, the road is about 25kms of very fast 2nd gear tight hairpin bends to sweeping right and left hand corners to very fast straights and ups and down hills of fun. I was able to test the car reasonable whilst enjoying the scenery the road rises to about 10% in some cases and will test your cars setup to the full the roads as always are Pan Bleeding flat no pot holes nothing and no traffic as you can see in some pictures here i was able to take pictures while the car is parked on the side oof the road with no fear of comming traffic. On comin to town a local chap came to me and said was that your car i heard that drove past a while ago when i said yes he was like wow the engine sounds fantastic and he loved the car. Funny how a lot of people did not pay too much attention:applause:, love the very discreet nature of the car.

More to come in Part 2

 

[Josco010]

Herewith, the 2nd part of my travel report E34 ///M5 meeting in the Summer Holiday in Spain.

Please be patient before posting comments in this thread as it will be expanded with sucesive parts in time :typing:. Comments and questions can be added Here.

Thank you and enjoy reading.:noSMG: