ALFAGTV6.COM

Hello everyone, I have been on this site for a while. I have owned a 1984 GTV6 since 1998, until 2006 it was my daily driver, then the rapid arrival of two children and a lack of air conditioning made me get a Ford Escort to do the daily stuff.

Last year I moved from Portugal to France and I couldn't bring my Alfa with me because of lack of space, luckily my parents had a garage which they let me use to store it. This Summer, I visited with the family and at the end of the holiday, we decided we didn't fancy the early morning cattle class ride home and we really missed the ALfa... Time for a road trip...

Day 1- Viana do Castelo, Portugal to Viveiro, Spain via Santiago de Compostela


We left Viana on a wet afternoon after some serious packing, A family of four and all their stuff will go into a GTV6, its just not easy!



The drive up to Santiago was very wet but trouble free although it was hard to stop it steaming up. We Stopped for a look around in the rain, ate an early dinner and then pushed on up to Viveiro, arriving late at night. We had decided to keep to the coolest route possible at it was July and the Alfa has no air-con.

Day2 - Viveiro, Spain - Candas-Perlora, Spain.
We woke up to a sunny morning and a beatiful view from our hotel room

This was an easy day, driving from Galicia into Asturias, stopping for the night in a log cabin holiday village near Gijon, Spain. We even managed to have a picnic on the beach for lunch!


To be Contunued...

Nice to see you're giving your children a proper childhood.

Day 3: Candas - Perlora, Spain to Santillana del Mar, Spain
The highlight of the day for my 3 year old daughter was a visit to the Aquarium in Gijon. Another easy day driving along the North coast of Spain into Cantabria. We managed a late night visit to Santillana del Mar, a medieval village a few km from the sea despite the name.


Day 4: Santillana del Mar, Spain to Saubausse les Thermes, France via Bilbao, Spain
A quick drive around Santillana del Mar to see what it looked like in the daylight then off on a longer drive.

First to Bilbao for lunch and a quick look at the Guggenheim museum

Then on into France:



Until safely parked at the hotel, in the middle of a forest with a 30ºC heated pool

Day 5: Saubausse les Thermes, France to Bagneres de Bigorre, France

Off into the mountains! Cycling fans will know the Col d'Aspin from the TDF.

You've got a very nice original looking GTV6 . Great photos too...

Bravo! Thanks for posting!

Thanks for all the nice comments, these kinds of trips are what this car was built for, a "Grand Tour" with small children, hope they don't get too tall too quickly!

Day 6 - Bagneres de Bigorre - Carcasonne

Off to the worlds biggest medieval fortified town...
24 hr supervised car park!




Now we had to find room for a plastic sword as well!

Day 7 - Carcassonne - Nice

A hard hot day as we couldn't avoid the Mediterranean anymore, the first problems arose in the last hour and a half as the handbrake stuck on and I smoked the clutch trying to free it!

Then the steering started to get really stiff once you got a few degrees from the centre, it sounds like a UV joint (I hope!)



Home at last!

Thanks Simon , these type of posts are awesome.

fantastic!, a nice original unmolested 6 doing exactly what it was designed for..

Thanks guys!
Here is a route map of the trip...


A: Viana do Castelo
B: Santiago de Compostela
C: Viveiro
D: Gijon
E: Santillana del Mar
F: Bilbao
G:Saubusse les Thermes
H: Bagneres de Bigorre
I: Carcassonne
J: Nice

Northern Spain is a fantastic place for a road trip, good roads, quiet and beautiful scenery, not too hot either!

Simon,

Great trip, great pictures, great car.

I have just returned from a week in the Basque country, travelling between Bilbao and Birritz, and have to agree with your statements about the trip 100%. Roads are great and generally not very busy at all away from the towns. I found myself wishing that I had my car there to enjoy, unfortunately I was in a hired Citroen C5 (travelling with three women always needs a LOT of space).

I am not too sure that I would been so keen to do this trip in August. During our holiday the temperature was generally in the mid-20s and was quite comfortable if a bit humid. However on the day of our journey back to Bilbao Airport (last Saturday) the temperature monitor on the car registered 41 degrees. We were grateful for the effectiveness and reliability of modern air-conditioning.

Enjoy your car! Good to see that the younger generation appear to have enjoyed the experience as much as you did.

Grant

I forgot this one, it looks like it could be used in an old advert!

BTW Grant, the kids did enjoy it because we made sure they did something special and nice every day. My daughter still talks about the aquarium in GIjon and keeps asking to go back, its only 4 days drive! As far as air con is concerned, the last day (Carcassonne-Nice) was a nightmare because of the heat. Some GTV6s did have air con though. Most of the Spanish market ones I saw did, always made me feel jealous

Nice to see you enjoying you're car and you're family at the same time.You have a beautiful country there too.