French Trip
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CLUB NIGHTS:
We will meet at the The Plough on the 4th Wednesday of each month commencing at approx 8:30 pm.
REGIONAL REVIEW FOR JUNE 2010
0809 St Albans & District MGOC
Review for June 2010
27 June 2010
With the GT at Swavesey to tidy up the bodywork, June was always going to be a ‘MG’ free month although this wouldn’t stop us joining the others.
The weekend following our evening pub run to Willian after some last minute re-planning when it was realised our original itinerary was a might ambitious, we left for our long French weekend organised by Howard. Without our GT we accompanied Howard and Chris in their MGB Roadster, Mike and Anne in their MGF, Terry and his daughter Chris in their MGB Roadster and Sue and Graham in their Golf Gti, their MGB having suffered starter motor maladies the night before, in our Leon FR 550 Tdi.
Our first stop was Eperney, some 200 mile south of the ferry crossing for a one night stay in the Premier Classe D Eperney with rooms the size akin to a ship’s cabin. However it was clean with a comfortable bed and we were only staying one night.
Having settled in we set off into the town centre for a few beers before deciding on a restaurant for our evening meal, in my case bulots or whelks to you.
The following morning began with a trip to the Moet and Chandon Champaign cellars. After a tour of the caves (cellars) that extend for some 28 kilometres on three levels during which our guide let us into the secrets of Champaign making, Mike came out with the quote of the weekend whilst casting a wistful look at one of the biggest bottles, ‘well it will soon be Father’s Day’.
Afterwards we took the Champaign route to Compienge for a further two night’s stay. That evening by coincidence we dined in the same restaurant we took our group meal during our previous trip to Compiegne organised by Continental Car Tours three years earlier.
The next morning we visited the medieval castle at Pierrefonds built in 1393 by Louis of Orleans, second son of Charles V, laid to waste during a siege in 1616 by Louis XIII, bought by Napoleon 1 in 1810 and restored by Napoleon 111 into an occasional residence and then a public museum. The external scenes for the TV series Merlin are shot here and we arrived during a break in the shooting of the current series. Consequently we were met with artificial village vistas complete with straw coverings and large numbers of camera and lighting stands. A visit to the Armistice, the site of the signing of documents that ended the first world war occupied the afternoon.
We broke our return journey at St-Valery-Ser-Somme where Joan of Arc was incarcerated, on the mouth of the Somme for lunch. I’m sure that members of our group enjoyed their steak much more that she!! Afterwards we retraced out steps to the ferry via the hypermarket. A great weekend accompanied by much eating and drinking. One benefit of taking the Leon. It managed the whole trip French side on one tank of diesel.
We finally got the GT back from the paint shop at MGOC HQ all nice and shiny in time for our monthly meeting at the Plough. However come the weekend a trail of petrol on the drive announced that the 30 year old rubber supply and delivery petrol pipes to the pump had finally given up. Ho Hum, such is the life of MG ownership.
Safe Motoring
The weekend following our evening pub run to Willian after some last minute re-
Our first stop was Eperney, some 200 mile south of the ferry crossing for a one night stay in the Premier Classe D Eperney with rooms the size akin to a ship’s cabin. However it was clean with a comfortable bed and we were only staying one night.
Having settled in we set off into the town centre for a few beers before deciding on a restaurant for our evening meal, in my case bulots or whelks to you.
The following morning began with a trip to the Moet and Chandon Champaign cellars. After a tour of the caves (cellars) that extend for some 28 kilometres on three levels during which our guide let us into the secrets of Champaign making, Mike came out with the quote of the weekend whilst casting a wistful look at one of the biggest bottles, ‘well it will soon be Father’s Day’.
Afterwards we took the Champaign route to Compienge for a further two night’s stay. That evening by coincidence we dined in the same restaurant we took our group meal during our previous trip to Compiegne organised by Continental Car Tours three years earlier.
The next morning we visited the medieval castle at Pierrefonds built in 1393 by Louis of Orleans, second son of Charles V, laid to waste during a siege in 1616 by Louis XIII, bought by Napoleon 1 in 1810 and restored by Napoleon 111 into an occasional residence and then a public museum. The external scenes for the TV series Merlin are shot here and we arrived during a break in the shooting of the current series. Consequently we were met with artificial village vistas complete with straw coverings and large numbers of camera and lighting stands. A visit to the Armistice, the site of the signing of documents that ended the first world war occupied the afternoon.
We broke our return journey at St-
We finally got the GT back from the paint shop at MGOC HQ all nice and shiny in time for our monthly meeting at the Plough. However come the weekend a trail of petrol on the drive announced that the 30 year old rubber supply and delivery petrol pipes to the pump had finally given up. Ho Hum, such is the life of MG ownership.
Safe Motoring
Alan Cumming
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