Event Coverage On The Road Again. 2500 Miles Towards the Sun.

After the fun of last years road trip 2000 miles, 7 Countries, 7 days.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=596736

We decided it was time to load up and head out again on the road. This time we decided to make it more of a holiday, so the plan was to head out into France aiming for the sun of the French Riveria and the blue seas of the Mediterranean Ocean, an area we had yet to explore.

At this point I'd like to say thanks to Ratty as most of stops on the trip are down to him. He said he'd send over some places to go and what he sent was so detailed that we followed it to the letter!

I usually put the whole trip on in one go but this trip is too big to do that so keep checking back for the next installment.

Here is the general overview of the trip.



The basic trip plan was to head down the west side of France over three days arriving on the Riveria, Hyeres to be exact, for another three days. Leave Hyeres to travel along the coast towards Monaco, a quick drive round the Monaco Grand Prix circuit in Monte Carlo. Along the Italian border into the foot hills of the Alps, over another great drving road the Col Du Turini and back north taking in the wine and champagne regions of East France.
A trip totaling 2500 miles, 500 up on the previous trip!

Theres nothing like a bad omen to make things interesting.
Morning of the first day heading towards Le Mans are first nights stop we decide to stop in Rouen on the River Seine for some lunch. Making our way through the city traffic and down into an underground car park the car is suddenly engulfed in a cloud of steam and water all over the floor!
We jump into action and find that the electric fan isn't coming on. After further testing of fuses, relays etc. its narrowed down to the sealed black box of doom. With no way of replacing or repairing it we decide to hard wire the fan into the permanent live and use the fuse in the fuse box under the dash as a on/off switch. Luckily I could remove and replace the fuse while driving!



As we left Rouen it seemed very busy with alot of people standing on the bridges. All became clear as moved along the river bank and there was a constant whine in the distance.
We had stumbled onto a round of power boat racing. These things are big and fast.





Due to the break down we was now running behind and Le mans was to far with everyone flagging from the early start that morning. We pulled into a B&B on the outskirts of Alencon for the night.

Three of the four motley crew.

Last time my friend Ashley took his nearly new hot hatch this time I got him in something old (ish). He went in his one owner from new '78 Mk2 ******. 1300cc of raw power.



That bad omen from earlier was offset by this good omen...
Our room for the night.

 

cool trip. looks like a whole lot of fun, even with the breakdown at the start.

 

Brill, looking forward to the next installment.

 

Day 2 we was off again to complete the last stint to Lemans that we didn't make the previous day.

We headed straight to the entrance of the famous track which is also where the museum is located.



The museum was a pleasant surprise and well worth a visit. Obviously full of Le mans 24hr racers up to present day there was also a lot of French oddities.

There was special exhibition running of racing Jaguars.







Horch.





Peugeot Darl'mat.
The interior in these was the inspiration for my own interior in the '36 and the first time I'd seen one in real life.





Panhard, turbine powered and Tatra behind.





Citroen DS display. I think this was something to do with the Motor show in period?



Eerrmm.. Yeh.



Great photo that was displayed on the wall.



On the off. Bonnet up again!



When you p*** through Le mans you'll more than likely be on the famous Mulsanne straight, infamous recently for the flipping Mercedes.



The straight is a main road and the kinks, kerbing and armco are permanent features.

 

From Lemans it was onto the town of Oradour-Sur-Glane.

In short on 10th of June 1944 the Nazi's surrounded the town and with no explanation rounded up every man, women, child bar 5 men and one women that managed to escape, executed them and then set fire to the town. The town has been left exactly as it was and is now a memorial to those that died. Fascinating and very sad at the same time.

More info here.

http://www.oradour.info/







There were tons of cars. These are ment to be the original cars left in garages and driveways. I'm not so sure as some were in dubious places like inside houses.









The town garage.



Model A.



And whats that behind...?



'32!

Carpenters work shop.



Another Ford. Model 62/Matford.





I don't know why but even though the buildings were empty in almost every one was a Singer sewing machine.

 

Great trip. I loved your post from last year. keep it coming!!

 

Awesome start, cant wait for the updates!!

 

A rough night was spent in Limoges, rough because I had my head down the toilet most of it! Bad batch of Carpaccio.

The accommodation was a lovely little inner city B&B but in the wrong part of town. The street walkers certainly added to the atmosphere!

From Limoges it was on to Rocamadour.
Rocamadour is a medieval town and and large church that is built into a rock face over looking the vally.

When it comes to navigation its mainly done on sat navs. They are set-up to avoid toll roads, major roads and to take the most direct routes. What this does it puts you onto narrow, minor back roads, farmers access roads, unpaved roads with no other vehicles for miles. Fun, Fun!

Up until now we had been driving on dual carriageways and main roads then the sat nav come on form and we was hurtling through empty forest roads.





Approaching Rocamadour.





The afternoon was spent in Rocamadour and from there it was onto Millau to take in the amazing feat of modern engineering that is the Millau bridge, also known as the gateway to the Riveria. The rumour is you can feel the weather change as you cross over to the South of France. Its true I felt it. Not that we went over it! We went under as it can fully viewed and roads into and out of the vally are much more twisty.





We had decided to take the camping gear last minute and Millau was a good of place as any to pitch up for the night. We chose a camp site on the river and caused quite a stir as we rolled in as the other campers were settling down for dinner.

 

Wonderful trip. Sign me up! Gary

 

Awesome,...love that road under Millau bridge, would be a lot more fun in your '36 than it was in the Astra I was in!

 

WOW, What a great trip you are on, and cruisin the countryside in a 36 Ford! Keep the updates coming...Alan

 

Amazing roadtrip, have fun, you know how to spend the holidays! i'm watching.

 

Awesome!

 

cool pics. looks like a fun trip

i bet the 36 caused quite the commotion in the campground

 

Awesome pics!

 

Up to this point the roads had been fairly empty, which was nice. We later found out it had been a Bank holiday weekend. It was now Tuesday morning and all hell had broke lose on the roads.

It was our last drive to the rented apartment in Hyeres, which would be our home for the next 3 days.
We decided to head south to get us on to the coast as quickly as possible and drive along the coastal roads to Hyeres.
What this actually did was put us through all the traffic clogged towns of the Riveria.
The worst of these being Marsielle which we hit the evening rush hour, got lost looking for petrol, lost each other twice and hit road works which diverted us through the gridlocked town centre in 35C/95F heat.

As we left the campsite we looped back around the bridge again.



Chaos ensued after meeting this herd of cattle on the road. The cow in the foreground charged the ****** shortly after this picture was taken. Much to our amu*****t. HaHa.



After lunch we decided on a little partner swapping. The girls got more toots, thumbs up and phone number requests that afternoon than all of us put together on the whole trip!



Getting accosted by the locals in Toulon.



Reaching our goal. Now to do it on the way back up.



The next few days became a short holiday consisting of sun, sea, sand and snorkling, so I won't bother with them pictures.

 

After a few days rest in Hyeres we were back on the road.
It was decided that we should visit Monaco especially for the GP circuit.
We had heard that Monaco was bad for traffic and expensive so the plan was to get in, Banzai run around the GP circuit and get back out again.

Again the route was to hug the coast all the way to Monaco. As soon as we left Hyeres we immediatly started climbing into the hills for more fun roads.







As we made our way through the coastal towns I could see that the temperature gauge was on the move again and was couldn't hear the cooling fan anymore.

Back on the side of the road.



The fan had stopped working again but after wiggling some wires around it spun back in life and worked perfect for the rest of the trip.



With the nightmare of Marsielle still fresh in our minds we were dubious of Nice, another traffic black spot.
It was looking like we were heading right for the centre of town so at the last moment we dived off and got on the toll road.
At good move as we got a clear run to the border of Monaco and also made up some time to get back on schedule.

Nice looming in the distance on an over cast day.



Getting closer.





When we arrived it was, eerrmm.. empty! We made a couple of laps of Monte Carlo taking it in but mainly looking for the Grand Hotel hairpin and the famous tunnel.
We found neither so decided to stop for lunch and work out a game plan.
After finding a cafe with wifi we watched some videos on Youtube (!) and found where we were going wrong.

It actually turned out that we were in Monaco the weekend after the Monaco Grand Prix.
Because of this much of the circuit and facilitys were still there.



The pits.



The stacked tyre walls ready for pickup. These were brand new, matching , top end Michelins!



Grand Hotel hairpin.





Tunnel.



It was time to leave Monaco as things had now got busy. We headed to Menton, the last Fench town before the Italian border, and then headed north into the Alps on our way to the Col De Turini.
It was at this point that things went sour. Sitting in stop/go traffic Ashley was rear ended by a French people carrier. The women was adament there was no damage. To hers there wasn't but she had crumpled the bumper and pushed the whole rear panel in on the ****** splitting the body seams in the process.
There was some confusion over getting the police involved and on the way to the police station she made her move and disappeared up a side road never to be seen again.





The day was finished in Sospel. This town lays between the end of the first alpine p*** from Menton and the start of the Col De Turini.

The hotel we stayed in that night had a large ba*****t that we went exploring in and rather randomly we found this boat tailed Citroen sitting in a corner in the dark!

 

Oh yes.. I'm following this one for sure! 2500 trips in a beautiful black Ford coupe. Living large.

 

Great stuff man! Your coupe is amazing.

 

I loved you're last thread. This is awesome! You are living the dream man! Drive the **** out of that '36 man!

 

Your car is absolutely perfect.

Looks like a great time.

 

Your trip is turning out so great! I've done the Monaco street GP tour also, but in a rented Vespa back in 1970... long before the swimming pool chicane in the middle of the warf. But I'd give just about anything to do it again in my 27. If I win the lottery, I'll be over next summer! Fair winds, Gary

 

i think you should make this a yearly thing as your car makes any european backdrop gorgeous

 

Great story! Thanks for the ride along. Do you have a shot of the car damage? Maybe someone on the HAMB can help with parts.

Chris Nelson
Kansas
Sent from my iPhone using TJJ.

 

Some DIY was attempted on the ****** in the hotel car park after the accident and luckily the rear panel pushed back out leaving just the rippled bumper.



Filled up and did some pre-flight checks before we hit the Col De Turini.







It was now Sunday and the Queens Diamond Jubilee, so some got a little patriotic.





The cl***ic Alpine p*** sat-nav picture.







With full concentration on driving I forgot to put the cooling fan on and boiled it... Again.



I decided now was a good enough time as any to let the car cool down. Little did I know that we was actually 1 corner from the summit! Opps.



Of course what goes up must come with hot brakes!





This made us laugh...



... And this made us feel alittle sick. Thats broken armco hanging over the side.






At the end we found were rockabillys come from.

 

After the p*** the next stop was to the Canyon Du Verdon, which involved travelling back across France.
Another multi-day stop, the area is based around the Gorge which was created by a Glacier many years and is over 1/2 mile deep, the deepest in Europe.

To get there involved travelling through the many vallys of the area.







We stopped just outside Castellane at the reservoir behind the dam that feeds the water into the gorge.



Now was a good as time as any to investigate a knocking from the rear of the car. Turned out to be issues with the anti-roll bar.
Ashley couldn't stand his tyres rubbing the arches anymore so took a Jr hacksaw and hammer to his arches and rolled the lips while he waited for me!

You'd think the '36 was unreliable?



Our home for the next 2 nights with your standard French plumbing, which still confuses me.

 

Wow man Ive done over 200,000 miles here in the US of A and Im jealous what a killer drive! Thanks for taking us along!

 

Man, what a cool trip in a very cool '36 --- thanks for sharing it with us!


Malcolm

 

I've been slacking on this but don't fear I'm back to bore you with more holiday snaps.

While at the Canyon we found flyers for a Citroen museum back down in Castellane.

This was a small private museum, the official Citroen museum being based in Paris. It turned out to a pleasant surprise. Almost all bar a couple of cars were all incredibly low mileage, unrestored. Each car had a do***ent folder with it that told the story of previous owner and how/when/where the car was found. A change of pace from the usual factory spec sheets you get in museums.





What really interested us was the graveyard out the back. Unfortunately we couldn't gain access to this portion.



At the top of the Canyon is a tourist route that loops around the edge of Canyon called the Route de Crepes.
We got word that it was a narrow winding mountain road with no run off and no barriers. It didn't disappoint.
It was decided to tackle the route in the early evening to hopefully miss the crowds. Apart from two lone bikers we didn't see a single person or vehicle the whole time.






At the summit.





Looking down into the gorge.



A lot of the road is cut right through the rock.



The next day we left the canyon and finally started heading north towards home via the foot hills of the Alps... Again.
A hard slog was completed to rack up the miles to claw back some time.



It would have been rude not to tackle some more empty, single track back roads.

 

Thank You, for sharing your wonderful trip and superb quality photos.