Many people ask us how fast our 2CV goes. Well, for awhile Charlie was going at 160kmh and travelled a thousand kilometers. Pretty damn impressive, huh? Well, also pretty unlikely. Charlie let the train take the strain as we motor-railed our way to Amsterdam.
To be honest we didn’t realize that motor rails still operated in Europe and had come across the service by accident – but it’s brilliant! The motor rail brings together a regular sleeper train and a car carrier and leaves Italy from Alessandria, just north of Genoa. There are other services from other places as well, so we strongly recommend you check it out. The car can remain fully loaded when it is driven on, and because Charlie has a soft top, he was loaded at the bottom and behind another vehicle for added protection. At those speeds he would have had quite a nasty face lift on the top deck! It was still a pretty tight squeeze.
We left Alessandria in the late afternoon, with a five-person carriage all to ourselves. All that was left to do was sit back and enjoy the ride.
Later in the year, with longer days, we would have seen the Alps speed by, but not long after we left Italy it was too dark for a view.
The morning dawned misty and grey, but we breakfasted with river views and Rhineland castles as we rattled toward Dusseldorf.
By 10:30 we had arrived in Dusseldorf and Charlie came rolling off, none the worse for our high speed adventure.
Another three hours and we were back home to Amsterdam, with a new-found love of motor rails!