French Weekend (22/23 Sep)

[locost220]

Hope you all have a blast and a bed as well.

[DJ.]

I hope the weather us better over there. Have a great trip

[David T]

Thanks. Blocked roads, running repairs, GPS issues, very wet.

Just had great lunch near the Batterie museum. What an oasis. Now we just need to find Steve!

[Fury1630]

My non-France report. Mrs Fury & I were supposed to be going, but family problems meant leaving the country wasn't a good idea. I cancelled the French hotel, & postponed the Tunnel (also hoping for a trip in spring ) but couldn't cancel the Folkestone hotel, so rather than just lose it I paid a visit to CBS to try out a new fuel cap (which I bought - Mmmmmm, shiny), then headed to Folkestone for a very pleasant evening with David, Cat, Paul & Mary.

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I completely failed to convince Paul that the filler cap in my hand was the one from his car.

This morning I woke at a reasonable hour & had a filling breakfast, thinking "the others must be in France by now" (sounds like they weren't), then set off on a tour of the Kent coast as I'd never been that far east.

Who knew that just outside Sandwich was a village called Ham?

After some satnav strangeness I found myself in a long winding tunnel which came out by Ramsgate harbour, which was nice - all cafes & boats & stuff.

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It seems the people of Ramsgate had a drug problem some time ago

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By the time I got to Margate it had started drizzling & with no sign of it stopping I headed straight for my Son's house in Swanley. Just before I arrived I realised I'd left his Wife's birthday present in the hotel Fortunately (for me - less so for my Son) she decided that Folkestone was close enough to the shopping outlet centre in Ashford to make it worth them going to pick it up tomorrow, so I didn't have to go & get it.

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^^The view immortalised by Vera Lynn in the song "There'll Be Bluebirds Over The White Cliffs Of Ramsgate"

[David T]

Nice one Tony.

After a 'challenging' day in the rain, spirits have picked no end after a hot shower, dry clothes and an excellent meal with great wine.

[nelmo]

Thanks all for a great weekend, although I'm not sure I want to know about the tour virgin initiation which I don't remember but I woke up with a headache!

Sadly, the weather was a bit British but, personally, it was a great test of my new doors and there effectiveness, so silver lining and all that...

Sunday was a bit of a literal washout although I, being on my first trip, felt like I had to make the most of it, so I followed Dave's excellent route we had originally planned back to the tunnel and it was very nice (would have been awesome if the sun had been shining).



Being Sunday, everything was shut - this is Samer centre:



Finally found somewhere to get that all-important cake:



...and the rain actually stopped long enough to get out the car and take an arty pic:



The final 10 miles to the tunnel on the autoroute was Hell - torrential rain and strong winds and I made it to the tunnel with 20 minutes to spare - perfect timing.

Huge thanks to Dave for organising and particularly for giving up his suite that he had booked for his anniversary so that I could have a sofa to sleep on. Many thanks to everyone else for the friendly chat and general camaraderie - next time, we need a longer trip...

[Larkingabout]

Oh the joys of motoring in France, sun, quiet roads and good company. Well two out of three isn't too bad except the quiet roads were due to the distinct lack of the sun. Arrived at the Tunnel to find Neil already there after introducing ourselves the rest of the merry band rocked up just as the delayed sign came up on the board, power issues apparently. Waited about three hours to get away but at least it was dry We arrived in France, went to the first petrol station and on went the roof!! Poor David and Kat merely hardened up and put an extra layer on. The morning was eventful with wiper failures ( what a surprise) and the gang became divided. David and us managed to stay together and we eventually found sanctuary in a great restuarant next to the Batterie museum. Quite made us feel better with life with an ale and some hot food inside us. Paul and Mary and Neil rocked in after a while but no sight of Steve and Tim. We decided to press on to our scheduled visit stop of La Coupole to find Steve turning out as we were turning in. He did however come back. Spent a couple of hours absorbing some pretty gruesome history and David I decided on the next project trying to get the engine of a V2 to fit in a kit car!!

Then onto the hotel for a shower, meal, a drink or two and a very good meal. At dinner we made the decision that if the weather was the same we would defer departure and make our way directly to the Tunnel. Woke the next morning to find it was as bad if not worse so played the yellow stripe card . We had a good breakfast but Tim decided he was hungry so we arranged for the ritual slaughter of a local ( the six fingered kind) and he ate him in a sandwich

We then stayed drinking coffee and lounging about. Neil being keen , or he had had enough of the rest of us, decided to brave it and go the long route home to put some miles on the newly re-built engine. All credit to him as it was bad out there. We eventually left in a small deluge and got to the tunnel in a massive rainstorm

Eventually into the train to dry out and say our goodbyes. As soon as we reached dear old blighty the sun was shining and we were able to take the roof off for the run home.
A massive thank you all for a great weekend, the company was great, the banter flowed and we were already thinking about the next one on the train back. The greatest thanks goes to David for organising the trip and we can't wait for the next one.

[b33fy]

Great write up James.. I remember the Parisian Flan with fondness. Had a few slices on one of the rallies, lovely at the time.. then when the v-storm broke down, it decided to go straight through me.. Tried to ask a helpful native for some bog paper, she gave me a fooking tea towel..

[Wingco]

Great write ups from you all, its just a big shame about the weather, but like true SKCCers you came through in the end. It seemed you all had fun and that is the main thing.
So when is the next one ??

[Fury1630]

Excellent white up, also keen to hear about the "next one", before June? I already have the tunnel booked