Touring the Continent by Motor Coach
Page 88
Page 89
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
MOTOR coach travel on the Continent is gaining in popularity, more and more visitors from Great Britain and America being added annually to the • numbers setting out from Continental countries. The interesting feature, from the point of view of our readers, is that the advance in vehicle design is rendering it possible for tours to be arranged embracing difficult stretches of road and including visits to spots which were, hitherto, almost inaccessible.
Developments of importance are announced by Dean and Dawson, Ltd., the administrative offices of which are at 7, Blandford Square, London, N.W.1, a prominent travel-agency concern which has dozens of branches in this and Other countries. This company's business has shown a phenomenal in crease in the past three years and, particularly in respect of Continental touring, it is expected in the future to advance on quite as big a scale. This concern does not operate its own coaches on the Continent, but has a well-organized contracting system which works admirably.
For the 1931 season an interesting new tour is one embodying 15 daye 'of motoring in northern and central Getmany and Czechoslovakia, the inclusive charge from London to London, with accommodation at good hotels, being £44 7s. 6d. For this remarkable journey the motor-coach route commences at Cologne and is by way of Bremen, Hamburg, Hanover, Magdeburg, Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Carlsbad, Weimar and Cassel. The amount of organization, and the degree of reliability which must be placed upon the vehicles themselves, for such a tour, can be well imagined.
Another new arrangement for 1931 is an eight-day holiday comprising a sixdays' motor-coach tour of Holland. The inclusive charge from London is 13 guineas, and the motor tour from Flushing is via Domburg, Veere, Rotterdam, The Hague, Amsterdam, Haarlem, Nymegen, Doom, etc.
Even one-day trips are arranged, one of the most popular being a short tour of the Somme battlefields from Amiens; the charge from Paris and back to the French capital is £2 Os. 6d.
An enjoyable eight-day holiday from London is one including four days of motoring in the Ardennes and through Luxemburg, the route, being via Namur, Han-sur-Lesse, Luxeraburg, Florenville, Coo, Malmedy and Spa.
Switzerland is catered for by a ninedays' tour from London, costing 16 guineas, and embodying four days of motor coaching from Lucerne via 4he Furka Pass, Montreux and Interlaken. The Furka Pass is at an altitude of 8,000 ft. and this, as well as the other difficult stretches of mountain Mad, demand the utmost care in the selection and maintenance of the vehicles employed.
Other tours organized by the company include a three-day's trip from Paris to' the Chateaux country, an eight-day holiday from London, inducting four days of motoring in Normand* and Brittany ; a 10-day holiday, including six days in Brittany, and one of similar length from Angers to Les Sables d'Olonne, La Rochelle, Royan, Cognac, Niort, etc. This is familiarly known as a Route de l'Ocean.
Germany is another most enjoyable country for touring, and this company's arrangements for six days' metoring in the Rhineland, six or 13 days in the Black Forest area, and five days in Bavaria are such as to afford the utmost satisfaction.
On these tours Bussing 22-seaters and Krupp 29-seater coaches are mainly employed, although large private cars of Mercedes-Benz, Minerva and other makes, seating six passengers, are available if required. On the Ardennes trip Minerva 32-seaters, and RochetSchneider 24-seaters and 28-seaters are mainly employed, Whilst the Saurer in its various sizes, from 14-seaters to 30seaters, is used on the battlefield trips as well as other of the routes.
In practically every case passengers' luggage is carried with them on the Vehicles, separate luggage compartments being arranged in the bodywork.
There is no need for the advantages Of seeing the Continent by motor coach to be stressed ; this method of travel offers splendid opportunities for appreciating the scenery, as well as enabling places to bereached which may be inaccessible by -rail. The way in which up-to-date motor vehicles are overcoming almost every difficulty of the most mountainous routes is quite remarkable.