Motoring • THE OPEN ROAD ABROAD HE is the happiest
sort of warrior who takes his car across the Channel today, landing on some foreign quay with that splendid prospect of ffie perfect escape before him. Time was when the business of transport was regarded as bordering on hazardous adventure. It was in reality always a perfectly easy if not very simple 'affair, but there was often, in the mind of the newcomer to the game, a lurking suspicion that " things " might happen, from benighting in strange lands to the =predictable behaviour Of frontier guards and the need of some repair to the car itself impossible outside its own factory. Very seldom, indeed, did any of these things happen, but the imagined or imaginary possibilities added a wonderful zest to the making of plans. You were going into the blue.
You still go into the blue if you choose the right road there. Adventure, the gods be praised, is still and will always be waiting for us round the next corner, and she will present herself in as various guises as ever she did when a non-stop run of too miles was an event to be entered in red ink in the road- book. Until a few years ago there was certainly a good deal of preliminary fuss with Customs passes, triptychs, deposits, permits and so on. Now you have only to tell your dub or association that you want to take your car abroad, supply them with particulars of its design, pay the premium on its insured value (about kt or so), and they do the rest, they and the Customs officers at all the frontiers a touring car may cross. You have a Customs-pass which is stamped each time you leave and enter a country, a handful of permits in which nobody takes any interest, and your passport. YOU land orr that foreign quay as free of the Continent as of Hampshire. If you want to go only to France or Switzerland, you need only wear the G.B. plate on the car's tail. On the other side they give you a laissez-passer for periods of from to to 90 days for frOm 20 to ioo francs.- The only papers required are your English driving licence and registration book. Motoring, from every point of view, is very well done in France, the mother of the movement The first thing you see on reaching the high road is the dividing streak you left in England, now yellow instead of white, and you will have it before you wherever you go on all highways and many byways, in at least five countries. The cautionary signs are a model of their kind, the same for every country, the corners are scientifically banked, the road surface for the most part good enough for any speed in safety and comfort, and except in some of the larger towns it is almost impossible to lose your way. Where there are no big blue direction boards the kilometre stones will tell you, once a minute, the name of the next place of any size, of the next town, with the distances to a metre, and the number of the road itself, which is also shown on your map. You can drive all over France by numbers alone and never make a mistake.
This also applies to Italy, though in a less degree. The
kilometre stones are not so informative, and, unless you carry a large-scale map of the correct kind, the numbers mean nothing to you. In Switzerland such stones as they have are generally uncommunicative, but the exits from the towns are admirably signposted. Everywhere in these three countries and in most places in Austria and Germany repair facilities are of the best kind and the charges nearly always very. moderate. When I was last in Italy I had the foul luck to burn an exhaust valve, naturally late on Saturday afternoon. The job was done, entailing lifting the cylinder head and making a special tool to cope with the most refractory cotter, by, at intervals, from one to four first-class mechanics, the time being seven hours. The bill, rather apologetically produced, -came- to 16s. Much the same sort of thing has happened to me in France and Switzerland and Austria and Spain. A breakdown is very seldom serious enough to delay you,' and the work is invariably first-rate.
Then there is the recently established chain of S.O. Service Stations, primarily petrol-depots but also repair-shops and " stockistes " (that gay word) of all necessaries. The smart shelters, all painted alike, with their neatly and cleanly overalled attendants and mechanics and their quick and civil ways, are a pleasant sight, if incongruous, in France, where appearances are seldom studied.
Far more people are motoring for pleasure now in the three
nearer countries than there have been for many years, and their numbers have a little changed driving conditions. It is well to keep a sharp look-out wherever the road is at all hidden. The standard of " safety " driving in France, Italy and Switzerland. is certainly lower than it used to be and every- body, especially in Italy, drives very fast. The roads them- selves have been brought thoroughly up to date in the matter of width and banking, but the very many new motorists do not contribute much to their safe condition. Roulez Prudent- ment is a familiar notice in France which is too often disregarded.
It is pleasant to be able to report that the Frenth country hotels and smaller inns and cafés have improved a great deal in the last year or two, and that prices are decidedly lower. The foreign traveller is received with something of the old welcome, and he can be fairly certain of being well and wholesomely fed in most parts of France and of finding. a real bed everywhere in that enlightened country. He would have to search far in the wilds to find any sort of small hotel =provided with H. and C., and at least two rooms ivith baths. The charges are moderate, the service excellent and the no per cent. on the bill in lieu of tips is, in my experience, a com- plete success. You do not depart in the morning thrown a jungle of outstretched itching palms and you get no sour looks. The same can be said of Switzerland and the other countries, and it is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the plan to your peace of mind. You do not and are not expected to tip anybody except, if you like, the man who unloads and reloads the luggage in the car.
There- is no doubt that motoring, at least in France, is a good deal cheaper for the Englishman than it has been for a long tame. If he avoids the big towns and follows the sound advice of the Michelin guide he will live really comfortably, without any difficulty, for 25s. a day, staying in country inns, and about 3os. in the more pretentious places. Petrol is normally dear, but it is sold to tourists during the period of the Paris Exhibition at reduced rates. The things you buy in Switzerland are, with the exception of petrol and motor parts, dear, but living in the smaller hotels is no higher than it was a year or two ago. In Italy the hotel-bon system gives you petrol at a little less than £3 for 35 gallons, on a sliding scale. The hotel charges in the north are decidedly. moderate. Your bolt into The blue need cost you only a moderate amount in money and nothing in trouble. The joy is beyond.price. JOHN PRIOUAU.
_Wore.—Readers' requests for advice from. our. Motoring ,Correspondent on the choice of new cars should be accompanied by ,a stamped and addressed envelope. The highest _price payable must be given, as well as the type of body required. No advice can be given on the purchase, sale or exchange of used cars.]
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