motoring

Spectacular Holiday Road Trips

If you fancy a motoring holiday that takes in the best sights, you’d be hard pressed to do better than consider this selection.

And whilst the image of the perfect road trip might suggest the USA as a destination, due to its sheer size and the choice of vast highways, you don’t have to travel that far to see equally spectacular scenery that might even be on your British doorstep!

When you know where to look.

Luckily for us Your Parking Space has done most of the heavy lifting here (by driving their favourite European Road Trip routes (what a tough job guys) so we’re happy to mention them and feature the detail they supplied to help FOXY Lady blog readers plan their perfect road trip next summer.

Here are our favourite five for your consideration.

Stelvio Pass, Italy

Copyright Touring-Italy.net
The Stelvio Pass is one of the highest and most dramatic mountain passes in Europe.

This mountain pass shot to fame in 2008 when it was voted one of the best driving roads by Top Gear and provides stunning views of the Italian and Swiss Alps.

Approaching the Stelvio Pass from the North West side you get to drive up the Stelvio Pass’s renowned wall of 48 switchback turns. Not to be attempted by cumbersome cars and you’ll need power steering of course. Each of the turns is numbered with stones so you can count your way to the top (in case you’ve nothing better to concentrate on that is). Heading back down the pass towards Bormio provides several vantage points for photographs to mark this motoring achievement.

NB: The Stelvio Pass can become very busy during peak times, so it is advised that you drive it early in the morning and outside of the peak months of July and August.

Distance: 30.3 miles

Estimated time: 1h 17min

Points of Interest: Forte Venini di Oga, WWI Fort; Albergo Tibet Hotel, Passo dello Stelvio; Stelvio National Park, Trafoi

Old Military Road A93 & A939, Scotland

A93 at Glenshee. Copyright SabreRoads.org.uk
We’re told this is oft regarded as the best driving road in the UK – the Old Military Road A93 and A939 right through the heart of the Cairngorms National Park in Scottish Highlands.

You can enjoy endless stunning views on a road filled with twisting hair pins, rollercoaster-like ups and downs and steep gradients.

The route starts at Bridge of Cally, following the A93 into the Cairngorms National Park, driving through Braemar and past the Queen’s private residence Balmoral Castle. From there head onto the A939 for some more stunning highland views all the way to Grantown-on-Spey.

There is a wide variety of different wildlife in the Highlands so keep your eyes peeled for deer, haggis, snow rabbits and grouse.

Distance: 73.3 miles

Estimated time: 1h 53min

Points of Interest: Cairngorms National Park; Balmoral Castle; Lecht Ski School

Susten Pass, Switzerland

I’ve been driven over this myself and I can describe it as one of the most spectacular roads for drivers in the world. The Susten Pass is commonly referred to as one of the ‘Big 3’ passes which also includes Grimsel and Furka. Although not as well-known as the other two, you’ll enjoy sweeping valley roads, stunning forward views and its challenging switchbacks which take you to the summit at 2,224 meters.

The route starts in Wassen and finishes in Innertkirchen, and provides multiple places to stop and take in the spectacular mountain views. The road down to Innertkirchen takes you through forests and across fabulous stone bridges.

Due to its altitude, the Susten Pass is open seasonally usually at the start of June and closes at the end of October. The pass can get extremely busy during this time and is a favourite with bikers, so we recommend you choose to drive it mid-week to avoid the heaviest traffic flow.

Distance: 28.5 miles

Estimated time: 1 hour

Points of Interest: Gelmerbahn Funicular Railway; Sherlock Holmes Museum, Meiringen; Titlis Mountain

Black Mountain Pass, Wales

Heading back home again – the Black Mountain Pass (A4069) connects Llandovery with Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen and is regarded as one of the best roads in Wales, if not the UK. This A road twists and turns over the Black Mountain in the Brecon Beacons National Park and features sharp corners, hairpins and switchbacks.

The route begins at Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen and joins the A4069 at Brynamman. The road then winds across and over the Black Mountain range and comes out near Llangadog before continuing onto Llandovery.

The Black Mountain Pass is extremely popular with drivers after it was featured on Top Gear, but you can still expect little traffic on the road apart from on the sunniest weekends. One word of warning though, watch out for livestock (especially sheep) that have strayed onto the road particularly after blind corners.

Distance: 19.9 miles

Estimated time: 40 mins

Points of Interest: Carreg Cennen Castle; Brecon Beacons National Park; National Showcaves Centre

Route 500, the Black Forest Germany

The Black Forest region of Germany is famous for its winding roads and is a popular choice for road trips amongst the biker community.

One of the best and most accessible is the Schwarzwald Hochstrasse (route 500). This elevated road starts just outside Freudenstadt and travels north to Baden-Baden, it combines smooth and sweeping fast sections with dense forest trails and tight switchback turns.

Near its highest point, around the Hornisgrinde Mountain there are some great elevated views with plenty of place to park up, take in the scenery and take pictures.

The only downside is that Route 500 is a major road in the region so can become busy at certain times, we suggest that you plan your journey in the early morning to take advantage of the reduced traffic.

Distance: 31.1 miles

Estimated time: 53 mins

Points of Interest: Hornisgrinde Mountain; Geroldsau Waterfalls; Lichtenthal Abbey
_________________________

Well those are our clear favourites but what about yours? By all means add ones you know in an email to me via info@foxyladydrivers.com or use our Twitter @FOXYTweets or the FOXYLadyDriversClub Facebook Page.

Get that book of European road maps out over the Christmas break perhaps. Plenty to keep you busy planning next year’s touring holiday and road trip highlights. Happy motoring!

FOXY

women drivers

007 Bond Girls In Motion

Understandably, James Bond has always had his pick of cream of the crop cars.

But what about Bond girls and the cars they drove?

To remind us, the London Film Museum has installed a new display of original film cars driven by female characters starring alongside 007 in the James Bond franchise.

Also included are previously unseen costumes, props and storyboards.

The Bond in Motion exhibition has over 100 individual items on display including the Aston Martin DB5 from GoldenEye, the ‘Wet Nellie’ Lotus Esprit S1 from The Spy Who Loved Me, the Rolls-Royce Phantom III from Goldfinger, and the ‘Little Nellie’ Wallis WA-116 Agile Autogyro from You Only Live Twice.

New movie cars added to the permanent exhibition include:
+ Land Rover Defender Double Cab – as driven by Eve (Naomie Harris) in Skyfall
+ Ford Ka – as driven by Camille (Olga Kurylenko) in Quantum of Solace
+ Ford Thunderbird – as driven by Jinx (Halle Berry) in Die Another Day

Additional costumes and props on display for the first time at the London Film Museum include:
+ Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) costume including Belstaff jacket, H&M silk vest, J Brand leather trousers and a Skyfall film poster showing Naomie wearing the outfit
+ Skyfall clapperboard signed by Sam Mendes, Daniel Craig, Naomie Harris, Berenice Marlohe and Javier Bardem
Skyfall storyboard showing Eve Moneypenny chasing the train sequence by Jim Cornish
+ Camille (Olga Kurylenko) costume from Quantum of Solace created by Jasper Conran
Jinx (Halle Berry) costume from Die Another Day – Versace leather jacket and skirt, Gina leather stiletto boots
+ Japanese film poster showing Jinx from Die Another Day
+ Crossbow from For Your Eyes Only used by Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet)

Tilly Masterson (Tania Mallet) was the very first Bond actress to drive a car in the film Goldfinger, and the Mustang she drove was a pre-production car acquired from Ford especially for the film. An original production memo from January 1964 requesting driving lessons for Tania Mallet forms part of the new display.

More Information About Bond Girls In Motion

To celebrate the new exhibits, Bond in Motion is offering 2-for-1 tickets until the end of 2017 using the code GP001.

The London Film Museum is located at 45 Wellington Street, Covent Garden and is open seven days a week. Tickets are available at the box office daily or in advance from www.londonfilmmuseum.com.

marketing to women, women

It’s time to talk up the UK economy

I’m fed up with the negativity and pessimism we’re forever reading, whether it’s in the media or from self-appointed thought leaders.

With so much uncertainty about Brexit I’d rather see more of us talking up the UK economy and for each of us in business to do what we can to identify good news and steady the ship.

Instead of majoring on a scenario of doom and gloom despite knowing the exit die is cast.

Personally I relish a good challenge and I think we have the talent to respond well to this in future. I’m confident that if we all pull together (which we aren’t doing at present) and see pluses rather than minuses, we can make things better, sooner.

I want us to imagine and create a better future that puts the UK first. It can be done assuming a positive mindset. Looking on the bright side for starters, I was relieved to know we won’t be part of the EU when it ramps up its plans for more and more financial and taxation integration in future…

Brexit Fears

As I see it, those that are so negative about Brexit are acting like ostriches. They have their heads in the sand, are fans of the status quo (despite this not being nearly good enough) and blind to bright lights on the horizon.

Worst of all, many clearly feel superior to the majority of UK voters that opted for Brexit and change.

How can they (the ostriches) be wrong, they ask themselves, expecting to get their way like spoilt children crying in a sweetshop?

They seem frightened to take a step into the unknown, have depressingly little confidence in our country’s ability to succeed on our own, and don’t appear to appreciate that all our family futures depend on us all doing something positive towards the future, not wasting the UK’s collective time, resource and talent through moaning and a daily diet of scepticism.

We are where we are…

If those who don’t like where we are, instead of moaning about it, were to commit to making sure that the UK laws we inherit from now on are correctly interpreted and more robust, wouldn’t that be a more positive agenda to pursue? To lobby local MPs to make things better than they are, regardless of who’s at Number 10 Downing Street. Left, green, centre ground or right wing regardless, we all need to do the best we can for our country remembering we ARE leaving the EU in March 2019 and we’re still carrying a substantial national debt that we MUST pay back, not carry forward to our children.

There are no Brexit ‘experts’ just those masquerading as such. We are EU Exit Pioneers, going where no man (or woman) has gone before – we need to pull together, not apart and forge a new script that works. We’re also making it easier for others to follow us later of course – which is another reason the EU fear, castigate and plan to penalise us in equal measure. How dare we?…

The Good News About Brexit

There is good news for the EU, of course, in that we’ll remain close. Europe is our neighbour and we’ll happily choose to spend our holidays there as before. We’ll also contribute towards whatever agenda is in our shared best interests, maximising our comparative talents. And pay our fair share of any exit bill (whatever that might be) and for future alliances.

We’d like to carry on doing business of course but we don’t want to pay for EU bureaucracy any more. And we want to be free to trade with the rest of the world. Therein lies the challenge and opportunity!

Trading within the EU might be easy as is and future tariffs are undoubtedly a shared concern but they work both ways and there are clear deals yet to be done.

In addition there are huge new markets for us to trade with, just over the EU horizon. So let’s get to know these markets better NOW so we are prepared for when the EU’s comfort blanket is removed…

Falling off any cliff isn’t an attractive option but it has to remain on David Davis’ negotiating table until we know whether we can seriously afford to trade within the EU or we need to shop elsewhere. For now, we have EU handcuffs stopping us from doing trade deals elsewhere. But they can’t stop us from doing this for much longer.

If we can’t afford EU food or EU cars (as if France and Germany will let that happen?) we’ll need the time to source and buy these products elsewhere, address job implications and ramp up our own production of course. So let’s be sure we have Plan Bs for all industries, just in case.

This is potentially an exciting time for young entrepreneurs to add new talents to UK plc. They aren’t used to having this freedom of course but the ones we need’ll find it liberating. Yes there will be those we must support who may be adversely affected by Brexit and we’ll want to welcome those from overseas, bringing the skills and talents to help us build a new future together.

Most importantly, threats can create considerable opportunities as anyone who has done a thorough strategic TOWS analysis of their business or industry sector will appreciate.

Good News About Brexit Invited

So if anyone in the motor industry has an uplifting or optimistic Plan B/business story in this vein or wants to share good financial news with me, to benefit the UK economy through reality and perceptions, I’d be happy to help them spread the word to UK women drivers ie FOXY’s audience.

I want to put the spotlight on positivity pre and post Brexit – so no negativity, bad or fake news please.

To misquote Buzz Lightyear here’s to ‘Reality and beyond…’ in like-minded and determined company I hope.

FOXY

info@foxyladydrivers.com

Twitter: @FOXYtweets

Tyre Safety

Win A PurePotions Hamper worth up to £50

To help us create a female friendly support message for this year’s Tyre Safety Month marketing campaign, ‘Bad Air Day’ we are delighted to be partnering with PurePotions to promote their range of natural hair products as part of our #TyreSafetyMonth activities.

As everyone knows, when your hair feels and looks neglected, we feel the same and it affects our personal confidence levels.

Now imagine how your car feels when its tyres have been neglected and they don’t have enough air in them to do their job properly! They don’t perform as well and it’s definitely a ‘Bad Air Day’ in terms of your motoring safety.

Our Competition With PurePotions

Thanks to Brighton business PurePotions, we are running a competition to draw attention to this topic. One lucky winner will receive a hamper of their natural products worth up to £50 including their Natural Shampoo, Natural Conditioner, Scalp Oil with borage and rosemary, Intensive Facial Oil and Seabuckthorn hand cream.

All you have to do is enter the Facebook competition at the FOXY Lady Drivers Club Page, which we posted on 6 October, LIKING and commenting as requested.

Alternatively use our jolly video link to cheer you up with tips!

A Bad Air Day

 We’re anxious to alert women drivers to the fact that safe car tyres need taking care of, especially by checking the AIR pressure in them regularly.

This is because, when your car tyres aren’t properly inflated, they can’t grip or hold the road well enough so you feel this through your car’s bad road handling. When your tyres are over or under-inflated, your car is a harder steer, you’ll wear out expensive tyres and you’ll use more fuel BUT what matters most is the fact that your tyres will not perform well enough when you need them to brake in an emergency. And the wrong air pressure MIGHT cause an accident that could have been avoided if you’d taken better care of your tyres.

About Hair And Air Care…

Award-winning PurePotions was founded by Brighton mum Natalie Balmond in her search for an effective, safe, natural and non-steroidal moisturiser to treat her daughter’s chronic dry skin condition. All Pure Potions products are fragrance-free, paraben-free, not tested on animals and made in their UK workshop so you can be sure that you know exactly what is going on your sensitive skin.

competition terms and conditions.

Here’s how to check your tyre tread.

Here’s how to find your correct tyre pressure.

Here’s where to choose a FOXY Lady Approved tyre centre that has signed a promise to ‘never overcharge, patronise or sell you anything you don’t need.’ They will check your tyres for free, advise you about the right tyres if you need new ones AND give you a free gift membership of FOXY Lady Drivers Club in exchange for your feedback about their customer service.

If not for you, perhaps a wife, partner or daughter might be helped here? Here’s where to either join The Club yourself or buy her the gift of improved motoring knowledge.

insurance for women

Win Car Insurance Competition

Thanks to our FOXY Lady Insurance partner, Cornmarket Insurance Services, we are announcing a special insurance competition so that one UK female insurance policyholder can win up to £500 worth of car insurance at renewal time in 2018.

All you have to do is REGISTER FOR AN INSURANCE QUOTE (car, home, motorcycle or pet) – and read the Terms and Conditions on that page please.

We don’t promise that we can beat ’em all, but depending on perceived risk factors and during changeable market conditions, we are one of the only insurance services (if not the only?) to ring fence a totally female portfolio when it comes to motor, home, motorcycle and pet insurance.

Which is a good thing in most instances.

And there’s more.

An added bonus for non members

If you have yet to join FOXY Lady Drivers Club, just register for an insurance quote and enter this competition to receive a FREE Online Member gift subscription to FOXY Lady Drivers Club into the bargain. This makes you eligible for our Member Only insurance services.

If you are a member of FOXY Lady Drivers Club, please tell any female friends who aren’t.

We do this because only women can legitimately be members of a motoring club so we can then reserve our preferential insurance rates/services for female members of the Club. Who can then add partners and husbands of course. But not boy racers.

Sadly statistics confirm that it’s still young men that cause the majority of (and the most expensive) road accidents.

And being a motoring club for women drivers, our road safety advice and support services put women first and we don’t want to have to pay for these expensive male accidents.

Don’t miss out. We exist to save savvy Club members money. The more that join the Club the better the deals we can negotiate across the board. To benefit us all.

FOXY

Blogs For Women Drivers (2009-2017)