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Southern Clubs Fathers Day..Hollycombe WANTED BY EDITOR FOR A FIVER
June's meeting was sparsely attended, maybe the lack of immediate newsletter did not jog peoples
memories. However lets hope that July will be better and that we can enjoy a balmy summers evening under the sun shades,-when it gets dark the pub even provides
light. I hope you will enjoy the rest of the news, you will certainly hear about the adventures in
Provence, sorry to bore you but lets hope that next year even more of you will go to the French National
in (IN Central France next year!) We said that we could get about 50 cars, but just over 30 was a good turnout. The weather was glorious, cars turned up and parked in the allotted display area and picnics began. When we went in to enjoy the lovely spectacular, the smell of steam and the fairground organs set the atmosphere, it was hard to know where to start, train rides(3 of them), gardens, fairground rides. Bill managed the gallopers but I tried the rest,. Chairoplanes (not the gondola though), big wheel, etc.. Just ask everyone who went...they had a wonderful day, old and young.
Everyone was amazed at what they found Bill even had time to see the bioscope while I had a rest. A REPORT FROM BILL AND GILL The best web sites this month are.. REGISTERS DAY PETERBOROUGH, A REPORT BY THE EDITOR Sat 1st/2nd July The Annual registers day is now a big event with several hundred cars attending, together with ECAS, several other trade stands, lots of activity on Saturday, camping overnight on the Saturday, and registers displays/concours etc, on the Sunday, a day for your car to be shown off...an excellent turnout, you should go if you've not been before, or at least let your car go, even if you cannot…..!!!!!!!! Madhatters go to provence...by Bill and Gill We drove down and met Dave and chaos, storms had P.O /Seafrance up the spout (a technical expression..editor_) We were booked on the 11.30 but were put on the 12.30 as that was the earliest, eventually we sailed very late on a bit of a rough crossing. Now I know why I choose Eurotunnel whenever I Can, we ate lunch and got to France about 3.30 their time. This put us behind schedule but we did meet Bob Cutler and his Ami6(pooh,that one.) who kept with us until the Paris turnoff to buy seatcover material (as you do). Motorways are boring but they do cover the miles to Paris. We went to Reims by motorway, then Chalon en Champagne, we decided on a campanile hotel because of a locked car park, more secure, and a restaurant. We had a good evening and met Nicki and Jeff in the morning, they carried on with a different route, Dave Farmers car had a flat battery (we wont say why!!!), but with me leading the way, with the map we kept to the RN roads and had petrol, coffee, etc stops. At one point a friendly Renault breakdown van waved and flashed us, little did we know until later it was Bob with a broken wheel bearing……...he phoned later to say he hoped to catch up (sorry bob..editor) For lunch that day we asked a bar for sandwiches, then they said they had run out of bread so were egg and chips OK?..well we tucked in!!! That night we found a hotel just North of Lyon. Another day ahead, we found a detour round Lyon and motored along rn roads in time for lunch in
Tournon. Bill found some steam engines to photograph and him and Dave Shove were very happy. During the afternoon we had a call from Bob with his repaired Ami,so we agreed to meet in the hotel in
Orange. He got there first and was on his second beer when we met. The last part to Sault was seriously uphill and very long, a sign at the top of the mountain with a 2CV on said ”OOF”, how true!!!! We had a picnic outside the site as it was not open quite, then registered and set up camp on our site, at last we could stop driving after 750 miles, put up the tents and rest, until it came to putting up Dave shoves gazebo, a bargain from Calais but complicated!!!!!...well hurrah for dave farmers bruvver..,it served during the meeting well however.. The meeting itself….4 days of fun, flea markets, friends Don't ask Dave Shove about wheels and tyres, it's a long story…………….. There was a lovely herb and garlic shop and on the Saturday there was a special Provencal market with fabric, pottery. herbs, clothes, etc. One evening we went out for a meal in the market square, lots of 2cvs were there. On the lovely pinewood campsite there was music every night, loud and late as usual, but we survived. Our biggest adventure was the trip up Mount Ventoux 1912m high, it was a good road with spectacular views, the climb was reasonable in 3rd/2nd gear, the last 2oom in 1st, views were superb, watch the tour de France July13th...We saw the memorial to Tommy Simpson who died on his attempt on the “Tour”, we also met a 73 year old cyclist from Bath who had cycled to the top…. Another series of spectacular views were from the Gorge de la Nesque. We went down and stopped every so often to look over the edge, we had to go through tunnels carved in rock, lots of other 2cvs were there, it was a good fun. We were looking forward to the big Saturday meal...but it was not to be, the vast marquee was ready, we took our ticket and exchanged it for our meal, an airline style meal of Aoli”, a variety of cooked fish, vegetables etc, dipped in garlic, not really inviting but we tried it. I must say this was the first french meal I have had that I have not enjoyed. We were the first to get ours, but things went wrong for the later arrivals when it was discovered that the refrigeration unit in the second lorry had broken and the food had been “cooked”Although the organisers offered a refund the evening was spoilt, we felt so sorry for the organisers, not there fault. Sunday saw many people leaving, as work on Monday called, over 900 cars from france, germany holland, uk, finland.etc... we stayed until Monday morning, then went separate ways, the off piste ducks went further south, as did Dick and Yvette (check out the pictures on the web site..editor) Dave Farmer and bruvver headed home, Dave S ,J Rooney and ourselves headed back slightly north for another week at a great campsite over the mountain at Mazan, set amongst vineyards, very restful. Next year the meeting is at North West of Vichy in the Auberge/Burgundy border at
Diou, near the Loire. I havent the dates yet but it will be the Ascension weekend. Who Does What ? CHAIRWOMAN & SOCIAL EVENTS MAN Tel 01784 453919
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