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🟧 NIX | THE CONTINENTAL CIRCUIT — VANILLA EDITION

  • Writer: John Nickolls
    John Nickolls
  • 4 days ago
  • 3 min read

Five Nations. One Van. No Ferries.


Stafford → Europe → Stafford | March | ~2,810 miles


EXECUTIVE TRUTH

This is not a holiday.This is a designed, closed-loop continental system executed in Vanilla — an Indium Grey VW T6.1 that is no longer a project, but proven infrastructure.

The route is deliberate.The timing is expert.The rhythm is humane.

Everything here has been stress-tested against reality: mileage, fatigue, climate, terrain, borders, cities, mountains, and the psychology of living well in a moving room for three weeks.

What follows is the single, authoritative NIX Super Note — the combined record of intent, geometry, mileage, intensity, places, and meaning.


THE IDEA (WHY THIS EXISTS)

The Continental Circuit is a loop, not a line.

Loops matter because they:

  • begin with intent

  • develop through contrast

  • end with integration

You don’t abandon home to do this trip.You carry it with you, refine it, and bring it back upgraded.

This is Europe experienced as flow, not spectacle.Countries are not trophies.They are zones you pass through at the correct speed.


WHY MARCH (THE EXPERT MONTH)

March is Europe without performance.

  • Roads are calm

  • Campsites are functional

  • Cities are human

  • Mountains are dramatic, not crowded

Most importantly: systems work harder in March.The heater earns its keep.Insulation proves itself.Routine becomes reliable.

March separates touring from tourism.


THE PROTAGONIST: VANILLA

This journey is not done in a campervan.It is done in Vanilla.

Indium Grey.Black wheels.Clean silhouette.Nothing hanging off the back.

Vanilla is:

  • trusted

  • understood

  • predictable

Same bed, different country.Same kettle, different water.Same seat, different horizon.

That continuity is what makes distance expandable.


THE MASTER MAP (CANONICAL)

This journey has one authoritative cartographic artefact — the Master Map.

  • This map shows shape, not instructions

  • The GPX handles turns

  • The map handles meaning


STOP LIST (IN ORDER)

  1. Stafford (UK)

  2. Guînes (FR)

  3. Saint-Georges-lès-Baillargeaux (FR)

  4. Bruges / Bordeaux Lac (FR)

  5. San Sebastián (ES)

  6. Zaragoza (ES)

  7. Vilanova i la Geltrú (ES)

  8. Marignane (FR)

  9. Levanto (IT)

  10. Pian del Tivano (IT)

  11. Tenero (CH)

  12. Lauterbrunnen (CH)

  13. Kirchzarten (DE)

  14. Heidelberg (DE)

  15. Schwangau (DE)

  16. Munich (DE)

  17. Strasbourg (FR)

  18. Guînes (FR)

  19. Stafford (UK)

True loop.No backtracking.Correctly spaced anchors.



MILEAGE BREAKDOWN (REAL-WORLD)

Total: ~2,810 miles door to door

Key legs:

  • Stafford → Guînes: ~220

  • Guînes → Poitiers area: ~430 (longest, intentional)

  • Bordeaux → San Sebastián: ~240

  • Barcelona area → Marignane: ~300

  • Marignane → Levanto: ~205

  • Lauterbrunnen → Kirchzarten: ~135

  • Munich → Strasbourg: ~230

  • Guînes → Stafford: ~220

Average over 21 nights: ~134 miles/dayActual heavy drive days: ~15Zero-mile anchor days: 5

This is touring distance, not endurance driving.


DRIVING INTENSITY SCORE (MENTAL LOAD)

Scale: 1 = rest, 10 = brutal

  • Peak intensity: 8/10 (once, early)

  • Average: ~5.5/10

  • Back-to-back hard days: None

  • Burnout risk: Low

Hard days are front-loaded and rewarded.Easy days are frequent and confidence-building.

Vanilla is never abused.


LANDMARKS YOU WILL SEE (WITHOUT CHASING)

  • Eurotunnel terminal (the clean cut)

  • Dune du Pilat (France’s quiet flex)

  • La Concha Bay, San Sebastián

  • Sagrada Família skyline, Barcelona

  • Cinque Terre (by train, not wheel)

  • Lake Como (from the high ground)

  • Lake Maggiore (palms + Alps)

  • Lauterbrunnen Valley & Staubbach Falls

  • Black Forest corridors

  • Heidelberg Old Bridge

  • Neuschwanstein Castle

  • Munich’s English Garden

  • Strasbourg’s Petite France

  • Cap Blanc-Nez, facing home

These are sightlines, not obligations.


COUNTRY RHYTHM (WHAT EACH PLACE DOES)

France: acceleration lane, calm, geometrySpain: warmth, loosening, confidenceItaly: emotional density, managed deliberatelySwitzerland: scale, precision, recalibrationGermany: structure, myth, stabilisationFrance (return): familiarity, closure

The route is balanced so no phase overwhelms the next.


THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE LOOP

By week two:

  • the van feels like place

  • routine is automatic

  • distance no longer intimidates

By the end:

  • Europe feels navigable

  • scale is understood

  • confidence is quiet, not loud

The driveway is the same.You are not.


VANILLA AFTER THE CIRCUIT

After this journey, Vanilla is no longer “the campervan”.

She is:

  • continent-proven

  • system-validated

  • deeply trusted

Future trips will not need to be bigger — only as coherent.

This will always be remembered as:“That Europe loop in Vanilla.”


FINAL NIX VERDICT

The Continental Circuit works because it was not improvised.

It balances:

  • ambition with restraint

  • movement with stillness

  • spectacle with routine

It proves that freedom is not the absence of structure —it is structure that moves with you.


🟧 NIX | THE CONTINENTAL CIRCUIT — VANILLA EDITIONDesigned freedom. Earned miles. Proven systems. A loop that closes — and keeps working.


 
 
 

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