Alps trip 2021

 BREATHTAKING  ALPINE ADVENTURE 

Words and pictures: Roger Wormald 

A trip to the Alps was a long-held ambition for Roger  Wormald, and 2021 was the year he fulfilled it with his modified Exige S. 

   A trip to the Alps in a  Lotus has been on the cards since I had my first Elise S1 back in 2002. Today I have a 2007 Exige S which, off the shelf, put out 220bhp and 159lb ft of torque from the  

standard air-cooled supercharger. Not satisfied  with this, a previous owner took the car to Hangar  111 near Ipswich (only an hour from Hethel) to  switch out the stock unit for a Komotec water cooled supercharger, sports exhaust, uprated  jetting and a remap to take the car to 320bhp.  With the car weighing 930kg, it has more than  340bhp per tonne – more than enough for me.  

Since buying the car in March 2019, I’ve  upgraded the Bilstein dampers to Nitron 40mm  Club Sports shock absorbers, upgraded ventilated  discs front and back and refurbished the EP  Racing four pot calipers with new seals. It  handles wonderfully on track now and, with the  suspension bounce wound down a little for the  

the roads of Europe. 

The draw now has been trying to visit some of  the iconic film locations for such timeless classics  as Goldfinger and the chase with the Mustang  through the Furka Pass in Switzerland, and the  immortal Italian Job opening scene and the oh-so careless parking of the bus at the end of the film.  The idea grew into a 12-day trip taking in some  of the best driving roads in Europe and 11 of the  best mountain passes in the Alps. 

Map data © 2021 Google

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ROAD TRIP THE ALPS 

TRIP INFO

Duration: 12 days 

Time of year: September 

Distance: 2500 miles 

Roger Wormald has long been planning an Alps trip. 

DAY 1 

With the car packed and tucked up in the garage  the night before, Sunday morning started with  a 3:30am alarm call for the two-hour drive from  Berkshire to Folkestone for a 6am Eurotunnel  check-in. An early crossing on the Eurotunnel meant that French motorways could be dispatched in a day. 

Note to self: pick a later train next time.  This first day was the one and only big motorway  day so the car is packed with a pretty eclectic  mix of CDs for the uneventful journey down.  The mountain roads later in the trip would be  accompanied by the soundtrack of the Hangar  111-tweaked Toyota 2ZZ. 

My first night’s stay was in Baden-Baden, Germany, at the top of  the Black Forest on the N500 which meanders  down through the stunning woodlands of the  Schwarzwald – a lovely start to my 12-day trip. 

DAY 2 

A relaxed breakfast in the Gasthaus Auerhahn  started day two. I had a much more leisurely  mileage set today to make the most of the famous  N500 down through the Black Forest. The sun  rose early and stayed for the entire day, hitting  27deg C as I wound my way south. From the  off, we were in to the twisting rising roads of the  Schwarzwald which were surprisingly empty, the  sun breaking through the tips of the trees as the  Exige pulled through each corner with ease on  smooth road surfaces we’d be proud of in the UK. 

The tree-lined roads of the Black Forest  gave way to open valleys and farmland as I  plotted my way south through Germany to my  next night’s stop on the Swiss shores of Lake  Konstanz at Arbon. As I dropped out of the  forest, the multitude of sawmills along the route  provided a calming waft of freshly cut pinetrees  and the beautiful L96 took me through acres of  apple orchards and maize crops through to the  delightful village of Wolfach where a rest stop  saw me being drawn to the classic late morning  refreshment of Schwarzwalder Torte and a drop  of caffeine to keep me going. 

DAY 3 

Today was a relatively easy day of 143 miles  from Switzerland across the top of Austria to  meet my brother in Germany. The destination  was Garmisch-Partenkirchen via Route 197 and  Route 171. Bearing in mind there were three  countries and two border crossings today, I was  wondering how the various coronavirus checks  might slow the day down, but both the Swiss/ Austrian and Austrian/German crossings were  both unmanned and I breezed through seamlessly.  

The early section of the day took in a number  of tunnels in the foothills of the Austrian Alps and  it reminded me of something that Scott Walker (ex  

of Bell & Colvill, now Lotus UK sales manager)  said to me when I bought my first Lotus – “The  sound of that exhaust will take the tiles off the  roof of the Dartford Tunnel” I thought just the  same thing as I was midway in a 10km tunnel and  couldn’t resist dropping the clutch and blipping  that throttle to recreate the sound – Alpine style! 

DAY 4 

A leisurely start today with a chance to continue  to our catch up with my brother. A relaxed 121  miles took in the delightful B165 Gerlos Pass  from Zell am Ziller to Mittersill. The view of the  Speicher Dulassboden lake with the snow-capped  mountains in the background on the way down  was absolutely stunning – as close to the perfect  mountain view as you could hope for! 

DAY 5 

An early breakfast today for a day of big passes  and they don’t come much bigger, better, longer  and higher than the Grossglockner Pass in Austria  and the Stelvio Pass in Italy. 

Last night’s Post Hotel in Fusch was chosen as  it sits right at the beginning of the Grossglockner  so ideal for the early start straight in to the  Route 107 taking me and the Exige up to 8200ft  (2500m) via 36 hairpin bends on the 28-mile  (46km) route. The forecast for the day was bright  sunshine and 23deg C, although the temperature  gauge at the pass top café was registering 6.5deg  C by the time I got to the top. The wide sweeping  road from Fusch up through the villages of Winkl  and Heiligenblut was a delight – smooth road  surface and plenty of stopping points and vantages  to take in the view and capture the moment on  the camera. It was worth buying the pass for the  route online the night before to save any delays  at the tollgate which you reach about 15 minutes out of Fusch. It was €37.50 well spent for a truly  amazing drive. 

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The views from the Haus Alpine Naturchau  were stunning across to the multiple snow-capped  peaks that make up the Hohe Tauern National  Park. Just about had time to drop in to the  obligatory gift shop at the top for a souvenir, then  head down for the route on to the Stelvio pass for  the afternoon. 

The Grossglockner Route 107 brings you  down to Lienz and, after a short delay with  traffic navigating round a few road works on  the outskirts of the city, Lienz was in the rear view mirror as I headed west on the B100, SS49  towards Brunico, SS12 to Bolzano and ultimately  the SS38 – the Stelvio Pass itself. Along the  route through the bottom of the valley before  we stared to climb, I was accompanied by the  babbling brooks and streams of meltwater from  the mountains that surrounded me on all sides. It  truly is breath-taking plotting with the towering  giants of the Tyrolean Alps on one side and the  Dolomites on the other. Beautiful! 

Approaching from the Merano side of the pass  takes you straight in to the tight, twisting hairpins  of which there are 46 on the 30-mile (48km) route  up to the highest point at 9051ft (2759m). The road  demands all of your concentration as one hairpin  wraps its way back on itself and the next is there  before you know it. The gradient increases as I  climb and the nose of the Exige is pointing to the  wispy clouds above and, at times, when it coincides  with the top of a straight before the next hairpin,  feels like the car would launch itself skyward. 

DAY 6 

Today’s route was to take me back into Switzerland  before dropping down in to Lake Como and the  delightful shore side town of Menagio. The opening  gambit was a hillclimb back up the Stelvio Pass for  about a third of the way I came down yesterday,  but this time with the road pretty much to myself –  amazing! The early start definitely paid off.  

The Exige felt at ease almost as if it now knows  the road. The tight hairpins on the way up were  adelight to throw the car into and I had to make  

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ROAD TRIP THE ALPS 

use of all the available glass in the cabin to see as  I arched over my left shoulder to see out of the  passenger side window on the left hand hairpins  to see if anyone was coming down the pass –  inevitably swinging out on to my side of the road!  The Bormio side of the pass is always described  as ‘the other side of Stelvio’, but on that Friday  morning with the road to myself carving my way  up and darting through the old original tunnels  hewn from the rockface, I was in my element. A  definite must if you find yourself in this area. 

About a third of the way up I bear off west on  Umbrail Pass which was an unexpected surprise.  When plotting the routes, I used TomTom’s  MyDrive which allows you to use the PC-based  app and ‘snap’ the suggest road route to your  specific roads, so this road came courtesy of  TomTom! 

The road surface was impeccable compared  with the slightly more ‘historic’ Stelvio and, as  the sun continued to rise in the early morning  and shine through the pine trees and conifers,  I couldn’t think of anywhere better to be. The  pass gave way to the SS28 at Santa Maria Val  Mustair as I head on toward the Italian/Swiss  border. This was the first time since Folkestone  

that someone actually stopped me and the car at  a border crossing. I was expecting the full

blown coronavirus shakedown, but all the chap from  the Guarda Finanza wanted to know was where  I’d been, where I was going, whether I had  enough money with me and what was in the boot.  I resisted the urge to say ‘Not a lot in the boot of  an Exige’, but even the officer was surprised to see  me produce two holdalls from the boot. 

I continued to follow the SS28 down through  the Swiss National Park to Zernez where I  continued up the SS28 to the famous Fluela  Pass up to an altitude of 7818ft (2383m).  Another stunning combination of switchbacks  only slightly interrupted by a few summer  roadworks. 

I doubled back for a few miles to Zernez to  pick up the SS27 for my onward journey to the  sublime Maloja Pass which winds its way through  the ski resort of St Moritz. The beautiful lakes  of Silvaplana were dotted with windsurfers,  kite surfers and assorted sail craft and I thought  to myself ‘The Swiss have got something right  here.’ A beautiful outdoor lifestyle, the lakes,  the mountains and Italian food on the doorstep!  The pass ends in Chiavenna where I crossed the  border again (no checks this time) back in to  Italy for the SS36 road south to the western  shores of Lake Como which would be my base for  the next three nights. 

A built-in dining table proves the Exige’s practicality.

DAY 7 

A truly momentous day today. I covered  315 miles (506km) into Switzerland for four  memorable passes. San Gottardo (6909ft or  2106m), Susten (7296ft or 2224m), Furka (7992ft  or 2436m) and Grimsel (7099ft or 2164m). The  day started early with an 83-mile (133km) dash  across the border to Switzerland from Italy then  into the San Gottardo Pass which takes you up to  the Susten Pass. The Route 2 San Gottardo Pass  is a modern new build in contrast to the older  passes I was heading for and provides a spring/ summer months alternative to the A2 motorway  and tunnel which runs parallel and remains open  all year round. 

The Stelvio Pass is as stunning to look at as it is to drive. It’s one of the most popular Alpine destinations, and you can see why. 

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Albergpasshöhe was one of many passes on a route that clocked up over 2500 miles during 12 days. The modified Exige performed faultlessly for the whole trip.

The Route 2 blends into the Susten Pass  SS11 at Wassen and the character of the road  immediately changes with the historic pass  threading its way through the delightful peaks and  the Stein Glacier to the South.  

On the way down from the peak of the Susten  Pass, the road was closed with an accident and  apparently likely to stay that way for two hours  according to the messages coming back from  bikers who stopped to tell drivers. I hoped nobody  was badly hurt but was reassured that emergency  services seemed to be there quickly. I was faced  with a bit of a dilemma as my planned route was  a circular drive. Wait or turn back? I decided to  turn back and do the route in reverse, so dropped  back down the Wassen side of the Susten pass  and round to the Furka Pass (the James Bond  pass) at Hospental. 

The Furka pass SS19 has a very old fashioned  feel on the way up with narrow stretches and  precarious passing places with nothing more than  punctuated 2ft high granite pillars between the  edge of the car and the edge of the cliff!  

A short distance from the top is the iconic  spot and location for the famous scene from the  1964 James Bond Goldfinger film where Tilly  Masterson attempts to take her revenge for her  

sister’s untimely death with her sniper’s rifle  aimed at arch villain Auric Goldfinger, missing  and unwittingly almost taking out James Bond.  The other side of the pass has wider roads and  fresh tarmac. And the view! Truly breathtaking  down the valley and with the next pass, Grimsel,  on the far side of the valley winding up and over  the next peak!  

The Furka pass blends in to the Grimsel Pass,  SS6, at Gletsch and immediately climbs steeply  back up the valley side opposite the Furka. The  views down to the Grimselsee and Totensee lakes  filled with glacial meltwater are like nothing else! 

I left the Grimsel pass at InnertKirchen and  turned East on to the Susten Pass section that  I couldn’t reach in the morning. I reached the  point where I’d been forced to turn around in the  morning and faced a second dilemma. Do I carry  on and drop back down the same side I’d been  up and down already or turn around and do the  circuit in reverse so I get the benefit of both up  and down all four passes. Option two!  

The sun was shining and they were truly  wonderful roads. The upshot was a 150-mile  (241km) double loop round all four passes, up and down and an 83-mile dash book ending  it to get there and back to Como! Brilliant. As someone much wiser than me once said: ‘Life’s  not about the number of breaths you take, more  the moments that take your breath away’. Today  certainly took my breath away from the sheer  beauty of the majestic mountains rising either  side of me, as I drove the snow-capped peaks, the  stunning vistas, the fresh crisp mountain air, the  exhilaration of braking hard into a hairpin, a side splitting tight turn then accelerating away out of  the corner. What a day! 

DAY 8 

A rest day. Having booked three days at Lake  Como, I thought that mid-trip a bit of a rest was  probably in order so today was a non-driving day  and I instead took the mid-lake passenger ferry  across the water to Bellagio for the day. 

DAY 9 

A modest mileage of 169 miles (271km) planned  today to get from Lake Como to Aosta avoiding  the motorways. It was pretty much four and a  half hours of driving along the Strada Provinciales  and Strada Statales. It was a little industrial as I  scooted around the northern outskirts of Milan  before a quick lunch at Mongando and then  dropping in to the Aosta Valley and picking up  

ROAD TRIP THE ALPS the SP419 and SS26. The slightly uninspiring  driving before the Aosta Valley was compensated  for by the absolute class and quality of some old  classics cranking out of the CD player. 

DAY 10 

The final pass for the trip today – the Great St  Bernard pass which famously featured in the  opening scene of The Italian Job with the  classic shots of the Lamborghini Miura meeting  an unceremonious end in one of the tunnels on  the pass.  

The route from Aosta was straight on to the  SS27 from the B&B the night before and almost  immediately up into the hills for the ascent to  8113ft (2473m). This was the first slightly murky  day of the trip so the view from the top was a  little overcast and there were very few people at  the one and only open café. 

The peak of the pass also signifies the crossing  point from Italy to Switzerland but, again,  there were no border guards. The Swiss side of  the pass becomes the SS21 all the way down  through to Port Valais on the shores of Lake  Geneva and the weather immediately improved.  The low cloud lifted to broken sunshine on the  cascading hairpins below. I kept my eyes open  for abandoned diggers in the middle of tunnels as  the sound of Matt Monro gently rang in my ears! 

I needed to cover a full 340 miles (547km)  today to start breaking up the homeward legs of  the trip so after a relaxed drive along the Lake  Geneva shoreline route D1055 I took to the A40  and A6 Motorways to Vezelay, a beautiful old town and historically significant as one of the  major starting points of the Route of St James to  Santiago de Compostela. 

Some classic Paul Weller, Northern Soul  anthems and the soundtrack from the Cold Feet  series kept me company in the car as the miles  clicked by on the deserted motorway which got  me to the hotel in plenty of time for dinner. I  would thoroughly recommend Le Cheval Blanc  in Vezelay – I had an excellent fillet steak, which  was just what was required after the 343 miles  racked up today. 

DAY 11 

The first sight of rain in 11 days greeted me  in the morning for the trip from Vezeley to  Bruges but I wasn’t downhearted, I’d had a  great 10 days through the Alps both in terms  

of driving experience and sunshine to boot.  Today’s route would take me on the D-roads  for 70 miles to the outskirts of Troyes where  I picked up the A5/A26/A1 motorways for  the rest of the journey to Bruges. The country  roads before the motorway were delightful  with the classic ‘tanned’ tarmac surface of the  blemish free French Provincial roads for the  drive through the picturesque small villages and  hamlets with houses and gites all fashioned from  the immaculate carved limestone of the area.  As I plotted my way through the countryside,  the acres of fields of sunflowers gave way to the  vineyards of the Bourgogne wine producers,  with vines still much ripe for the picking.  Here’s to a good year for them.

DAY 12 

The final leg of the trip was a 2:20pm crossing  on the Eurotunnel, which meant leaving Bruges  about 11am. I had time for a relaxed breakfast  and a bit of obligatory souvenir shopping for the  family – Belgian beer for my teenage son and  macaroons and chocolates for the girls in the  house. Hopefully enough to allow me to escape  again soon for another road trip. If not, at least  I’d done a recce of Bruges so perhaps a weekend  away with the wife – that should hopefully get  some brownie points for the next trip! 

As I boarded the Eurotunnel, homeward  bound, I was sad to be ending the trip but still  managed a wry smile as I recounted the fantastic  near 104,986ft (32,000m) of accent on the  mountain roads, 2687 miles (4324km) covered  with 369 litres of fuel in 12 days of travelling  across 11 mountain passes through seven different  countries – all in one 2007 Lotus Exige S which  performed and behaved itself impeccably. 

I feel grateful to have been able to undertake  the trip, something I’ve wanted to do ever since  I bought my first Lotus. Thanks have to go to  Jez and his team at Back on Track and Steve  Williams Sports Cars for keeping the car running  sweet. Thanks also to Lotus for the Exige’s  driving feel, chassis design and suspension and  performance – a car truly fit for purpose. Ultimate  thanks has to go to a higher being, whoever that is  for you in your life, for creating such a stunning,  beautiful and majestic landscape that is the Alps –  truly amazing. Here’s to many more moments to  take your breath away. 

PLANNING YOUR OWN TRIP

TOP TIPS 

1 Take two satnavs – TomTom or Garmin plus  your phone with Google Maps as a back-up.  Very helpful for alternative routes around  unexpected road works. 

2 Drop the car in to your local specialist for a  once-over before the long trip. 

3 International road rescue can usually be  bought as an add-on on to your UK cover  or insurance, but Green Flag are good as a  stand-alone. 

4 Book the sunshine well in advance! 5 Identify the key passes/locations you want  to see. 

6 TomTom MyDrive is great for planning routes. 7 Book your accommodation ahead. 8 Set a 200-mile limit per day in the mountains. 9 Have paper copy of key documents for the car. 10 Plan well and give yourself time to enjoy  the experience.