A first time for everything
Out of the garage
I knew something strange was afoot when I got taken from my garage on the Thursday evening ( yes, on a school night). And needless to say I wasn’t too happy about seeing Buzzbee making himself comfortable in my garage, it’s taken me three full years before my humans agreed to get me a solid, dry home, and if he thinks he can take it over, he better watch out, handsome or not, this is MY pad!
When morning came, my boot got prized open, bags were loaded on, stuff when on my back seat and Murielle asked Chris to drive and off we went, direction of the ferry for St Malo. Whilst I was waiting to be loaded on the ferry, I spotted uncle Noel, who was going for his tea break, I hooted frantically, but he must have cloth ears because he completely ignored me 😩.
Feeling a little deflated, I climbed onto the boat, right to the top, not so good as it meant I would be one of the last one to come out…. After what seemed like a very short journey, we arrive at destination, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I wasn’t the only 2cv on the boat, 6 of us left together to go to the same place, a meeting of the Britons 2cv in Lanveoc, near Crozon.
The humans agreed to take the scenic route to their destination and travel away from the dual carriage way, which made for a lovely leisurely drive through Brittany, through sleepy little villages full of character.
Our first stop, was at the bridge between St Malo and Dinard as it was lifted up, we then pondered how Millie (who had been in front behind Camille) had ended up behind me …. Oh the might of the GPS systems !!! It was also the first repair of the trip, good old cable ties held up the vent on the Charleston….
Sean and Speedy Camille then led our little convoy, at a fair pace (although still within the speed limits), and during one of our refuel stops, at St Nicolas du Belem, we met with Frank, our first fan of the week end who insisted on taking pictures of us as he liked us so much 😀.
Lanveoc
We arrived at the meet & greet point in good time, an our owners completed their registration, and boy oh boy, there were a lot of my French cousins there… about 120 of them, it was amazing.
There were a lot of shoulder clapping, hand shaking, and talking going on among the humans, whilst the cars patiently waited for them to come back. After registration, we all split in different directions, Scarlett, Millie and I went to a nearby campsite as our soft humans preferred staying in mobile homes rather than tents, Noddy and the Charleston went to the meet campsite with their hard core owners who slept in tents and Speedy Camille took Sean to a hotel that one could be forgiven for mistaking it for a retirement home….
Once settled, they all reconvened for their dinner at base camp, where chips and sausages were provided and of course a few drinks were flowing as well before they all retired to their resting place, my resting place was outside the mobile home.
The Saturday drive
First thing in the morning, I drove Chris & Murielle to the supermarket so they could get some sustenance for their picnic lunch, I had to be patient and wait for the shop to open as the humans got me there too early (bad planning on their part, can’t get the staff these days).
Whilst I was on my best behaviour, Murielle was not and couldn’t help taking a picture of a man in a kilt sorting our one of my French cousin who was feeling a little bit down… tsk, tsk….
Then I took Chris & Murielle to the the meeting point, after breakfast (kindly provided by the organisers), they collected their road book, and picked a French car to follow in convoy.
I decided to follow an Amy who sounded like a cow… what a cool horn! All the cars left in smallish group to avoid causing major tail backs on the small roads of the Crozon peninsula… But we all seemed to meet up at the stops.
The route took us through some beautiful small lanes, with really picture perfect settings, but the Britanny sun was falling down on us, drop by drop…. The views would have been worth photographing if the visibility had been present. Well I guess the humans will want to re-visit the area when the weather is nicer, another trip out for me hopefully!
On the way I saw standing stones (menhirs) and quirky little cottages, and lots and lots of people waving and taking photos of us ( I always tried to show my best profile). The road book was apparently easy to follow as my humans managed to find their way round the course after forgetting to follow the car in front… I lost my friends and found them again, it was like playing peek a boo… The entertainment for the lunchtime stop was a little unusual, and definitively not politically correct, imagine doing that in Jersey, we’d be hang drawn and quartered and taken to court…
Over 90 kilometers later, the humans reconvened at the starting point for dinner, there was a lot of cars altogether over 120, amazing, and we had no translation problems either form one car to another, it’s easy 🙃. I behaved in an impeccable manner, starting every time I was asked to, not drinking too much, looking after my humans. Murielle couldn’t believe it, mind you I like it when Chris drives me, so I better keep in his good books now that he has his own 2cv… Scarlett, however, had a little moment where she decided that her break lights and indicators would be on strike…. What an attention seeker !!! Honestly, turning herself into a man-trap!
Sunday
The Sunday drive was shorter, a morning affair only, but it was such fun, everyone left together and stayed together.
A short stop in a pretty harbour was followed by a very steep climb up a narrow street. Murielle was glad not to be driving as she still hates hill starts. We were going at a fair pace, when all of the sudden, the car in front applied its break, quick reaction from Chris, and my brakes worked well too, however, the car coming behind me was a bit slower reacting and I thought she was going to kiss the lovely shiny bumper fitted on my backside, but thankfully, its driver turned its wheel and glided alongside me. Murielle’s face was a picture, she looked so horrified, her stare must have scared the driver of the other car as it nicely started to follow me again but at a safe distance this time!
Sadly, it soon was time to take the turn leading back to base camp and say goodbye to all those going home. But we’ve been in the French Press, I am famous after all, you can see me in the background if you look hard enough!
Monday is going home time
Bright eyed and bushy tail, I was ready and leaving the camp side with my humans safely packed in inside me, en route towards Morieux where Murielle was meeting an old friend of her, I didn’t listen to the GPS and decided to take the scenic route via the new suspension bridge.
It should have taken me only an hour from Morieux to St Malo, but since Chris refused to follow the deviation arrows signposting that the road was blocked, I ended up taking a very weird and long way to St Malo, going through country lanes as narrow as Jersey’s, with an off road-ing feeling as grass was growing in the middle of the road… I had to perform an emergency stop & a reverse to let a gigantic tractor go through, phew, that was close!
We finally made it to St Malo with only an hour to spare before being due to report at the ferry so I let the human go and do a little bit of shopping it then was time to go to the boat. I waited in line with some German cars, glad I was there to bring some class to the line up 😜
Tags: 2cv, Bretonne meeting 2018, Lanveoc
