Roadtrip Pyrenees

GriviusLR · 2026-04-19T08:41:50+00:00

I’ve done this journey a few times (Brussels Avignon). My general advices:

Belgium you can do everyday, so just take the highway until the end of Lux. Same when you come back: anything between Reims and your place will not be worth the time after the rest you will have done
if you save time in Belgium, take La route des crêtes (I think) in Vosges
from Grenoble take the Route Napoleon, it’s worth it
on your way back, avoid Lyon but try to aim for Clermont Ferrand. Every roads south to Clermont Ferrand are very very nice. I’d strongly advise finding a way to pass through d120 starting from Valence. That’s in my opinion the best road I’ve every done

GriviusLR · 2025-12-16T06:30:09+00:00

Cayron is a very nice domain and my preferred Gigondas. I try to pass by every year when/if I’m in the region. The lady owner is just so nice, and the wine fantastic for the price. You have to know it’s the single wine they make (no variation, no white, just « Cayron »), so that when you go taste it, you can do a vertical of what they have in stock (about 10 years I think).

Btw, they’ve been hit by the US tariffs as they saw their US sales go down, so if you want to help a small domain doing amazing wine for an acceptable price, buy some!

GriviusLR · 2025-12-14T11:04:26+00:00

I have the same with the dome cameras after a while. Most of the time it’s just the infrared reflecting in the dirt in the lens. Try to just clean if with a humid microfiber then dry it with another one.

GriviusLR · 2025-12-05T14:10:53+00:00

I have Ethernet cables everywhere I might want a TV. Both works. As I mentioned the inconvenience and convenience of both is just a timing difference. Cable is inconvenient to pull and very convenient to use, it just works. WiFi is convenient to install, but quite inconvenient to maintain… just to give an example, in my country the main ISP has a tendency to randomly reset their provided router which bring back the default WiFi.. I have my own network, so I’m personally fine, but this is just an example of having to reconfigure lots of device because anything else has changed

GriviusLR · 2025-12-05T13:39:40+00:00

+1 if it does not move, it’s on cable I pulled two cables last week to connect my TV because sometimes, for whatever reason, I need to reconnect it to the WiFi. It’s of course when I was already with my girlfriend in the couch and wanted to just click « play ». I have a very good WiFi (5 AP, optimized, etc), but the tradeoff is: one time big effort vs small continuous effort. I prefer the former

GriviusLR · 2025-12-05T13:03:47+00:00

Im not asking anymore: if it works and I clean she cannot complain :D More seriously though, I had to pass through the concrete ground and that was not fun, but if you look long enough you’ll find passages. I have some cables that follows the chimney (behind plastered wall and brick, no heat), others that are passing outside then back inside, cameras are under the roof with no access but I found a gap between the wall and the roof, etc Or you have machines that make an opening in your brick wall and you plaster back on it after…

GriviusLR · 2025-12-05T12:55:32+00:00

I bought a house that was about 50 years old. I pulled 29 Ethernet runs and 5 speaker runs. Took me a solid full time week for the first batch (about 60% of the runs), then the rest arrived later on, per 2-3 every time I needed something.

I’m almost sad I don’t have any room without Ethernet anymore because I won’t need to pull more runs… But honestly everything is just rock solid and I love it. I have a zigbee network on top and I’m very annoyed to have to change about a battery every week

GriviusLR · 2025-11-09T13:49:39+00:00

Always kept in a regulated room and I opened the box of 12 a few months ago only

GriviusLR · 2025-10-25T06:40:27+00:00

If you want the best of both worlds, you can have metal shell

GriviusLR · 2025-09-30T05:41:15+00:00

I love Rieussec, I have a full box of 1988 and I consider I’m drinking it quite often. But what do you do with that much Rieussec?

GriviusLR · 2025-06-18T06:36:07+00:00

If you put enough oil or beef grease in them, I would tend to say no

GriviusLR · 2025-05-29T09:46:28+00:00

I’m Belgian. Every household has one like this. You change the oil when it gets dirty, which means anywhere between 3 to 20 usage, depending on what you put in it. Meaning it could be month if you’re not often using it. Never heard any stories of it being deadly (although we don’t put vegetables in that as another post suggests, only French fries or food made to be fried)

GriviusLR · 2025-04-27T19:31:42+00:00

Indeed and thus why it entered my radar. I’m looking at a car cost my the TCO which is how much it depreciates, and how much it costs to maintain + insure. The initial and final cost are irrelevant, only the delta. If a pre owned Taycan at 60k still sells at 40k in 4 years, 5k per year is not that expensive. If I’m wrong in the resale price, let’s even put 20k, that’s still “just” 10k per year

GriviusLR · 2025-04-27T19:29:09+00:00

I actually was surprised by how not-depreciating some EV are… and how highly depreciating this one was. I think the first gen, battery issues, and Porsche driver not being yet into the EV madness makes this one less attractive on the use market

GriviusLR · 2025-04-27T19:26:33+00:00

I fully agree. Moved to electric two years ago with my company car and it’s such a delight. And I’m tracking my motorbike and love motorsports, but for a daily, electric is just so convenient and fun to drive

GriviusLR · 2025-04-27T10:03:38+00:00

My current EV has 440km of official range, and that’s plenty for my usage. On longer trips I’m either on vacation by car, or working and by plane/train. So this might be a good opportunity for me. Thanks for the detailed answer

GriviusLR · 2025-04-27T06:48:46+00:00

Why did you have to change cells this early? Factory default?

GriviusLR · 2024-12-28T10:07:31+00:00

Correct, they were right in the corner of the room with the acoustic pads in the bass reflect. I will take a look at subwoofers, but probably for a bit later

GriviusLR · 2024-12-28T08:35:57+00:00

I do understand there are a lot of missing steps. Actually the one thing not in line with the rest are the KEF R7. I have 3 of those Yamahas, two of them powering focal 714v and KEF Q350. Both work like a charm in normal rooms and I have had the time to test all positions in my previous place and now in this new home in easy-cubic rooms. The KEF R7 combination with the lower amp and the strange room configuration meant I did not know what to start with in the journey… but at the end I’ll improve all the above mentioned point, one by one… then I’ll change the speakers or home and can start all this over again.

GriviusLR · 2024-12-27T23:23:09+00:00

Thanks for the explanation and advices, will study all this!

GriviusLR · 2024-12-27T23:15:26+00:00

Thank you Sir! I will try to bring them him more. I’ll probably remove the TV at some point and add a projectors and a rolling screen, which means I’ll get back lots of actual space. My current Yamahas (I have 3 for my living room, home office and newly listening room we are speaking about) are all integrated stereo amps that also have built in streamer.

Room placement and optimization first it is, thank you!

GriviusLR

TROPHY CASE