Bucket List Epic Roadtrip with our Tesla Model Y
Day 0: Packing started.Taking my Space Saver Wheel and all the charging cables including the Granny Charger and the extensions cables and the SCHUKO adapter purchased from Tesla Shop.Packing two high viz wests in the door cart and also having the BIP&GO Motorway Toll Tag, ordered weeks ago, in the Glove compartment.Going to put washing equipment like extendable brush for windscreen in the front frunk.Adding to that the spray bottle of window cleaner and bug spray which turns out to be the best two useful bottles of cleaner.Also added 5 l bottle of windscreen wash and a foldable bucket. I would recommend actually putting motorway tag on the windscreen now on the planning/packing day as not much time availed at Eurotunnel and suddenly it is needed.Also put the Air critique sticker on the drivers side windscreen now.
Booking Eurotunnel basic ticket and using Tesco vouchers to offset some of the cost.Also booking first night in Folkestone Holiday Inn and will have our first day and night driving down.Will arrive at lunchtime in Calais and are planning to drive to LeMans from there.Bordeaux next and then Burgos in Spain and South from Madrid somewhere near Toledo.Following day on Day 5 arriving in Estepona.
Day 1: Packing went all smoothly and also taking 12V coolbag with us.First stop at Grantham supercharger and trip so far going very smoothly.Coolbag working but not really tested yet as it got frozen packs in.Looks like a long journey to Folkestone.Next stop is at Dartford and quite difficult to find at the back of the service centre.Dartford crossing costs £2.50.For Southbound it is a Bridge and for Northbound/./ it is a Tunnel.We had a good night sleep at the Folkestone Holiday Inn but why is the M11 a one lane motorway when it is just used as a lorry car park and not the nearby airfield with shower facilities?
Day 2: Folkestone to Le Mans 4.5 hours. The tunnel was very uneventful and got quite quick through the passport control. In a Tesla you are heading for the “Large” cars and go into the carriage that is wide and high for vans.Never go to Freight.Also the driving on the right was ok.However we did not stick the motorway toll tag on and were scrambling for a credit card.never again!Toll Tag gets you through the 30km/h lane and much much quicker and almost becomes a game as you overtake a lot of cars.
Day 3: Le Mans to Bordeaux: Chose a privately hosted overnight stay and were a bit cramped.Only an en-suite bedroom and a toilet not in the room but next door.However the host was very friendly and booked us a restaurant in Le Mans town centre,which we found eventually up the cathedral steps and fountain in the old part of town.Very nice restaurant and meal.We’re able to park car safely in puclic free car park at the bottom of the cathedral.
Day 3 continued: After a good night sleep in Le Mans we went off to Bordeaux.Another private residence just outside Bordeaux.The photos show it like almost separate little lodges within the house.Not sure how it was constructed but there were three rooms so erstes by a room divider which was then the shower room with toilet behind.
Also we spent a few hours actually in Bordeaux and it is a very nice city.We found parking in the town centre as my wife’s ambition was to see the “mirror lake”.
Bordeaux June 2023
Day 4 Bordeaux to Burgos: Apart from having the freedom of sleeping in different places every night we also have the freedom of eating in different places every lunch time and dinner.We usually did not have breakfast in the accommodation.Just had brunch on the way.
In France every Motorway services is called “Aire de (name of region)“, so we stopped in a place that had a picnic sign up.Motorway services are only coming up every 40km,so you have to be a little patient if you just missed one.I think they alternate every 20km just a picnic spot and no fuel .So you only ever have to roughly wait 20km for a toilet.
Day 4 & 5 were spent in Burgos and Manzaranas.Not very remarkable towns but had good food and ok accomodation.
Day 5 : Finally arrived in Estepona and Forest Hills Accomodation .Swimmingpool was good and not always full and booked another week to enjoy the fruits of our long drive a bit longer.
What have we learned?
I think we would go on a longer roadtrip again with using booking.com for our Accommodation again.I think I would pack my clothes differently. I think I would just pick out if my suitcase the clothes I need for next day and just take it in my Gadget Rucksack.Also for a “summer“ holiday I packed too many long and warm clothes.The Tesla Satnav was very good and gives great information on the Tesla supercharger network.Especially on the location of superchargers and the stalls available to you.we never felt any range anxiety and felt we had enough resources around us.However use the supercharger app and Plugshare in conjunction with the Tesla Satnav to find local chargers and with the supercharger app you can check out the facilities at Superchargers regarding toilets and supermarkets or restaurants nearby!
Teslafi.com Summary of the Roadtrip
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Photos of Supercharging locations in France and Spain
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