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Off to the 2016 Brittany meeting in June

20160611_103535Commentary: Eddie Noel
Photography: Peter Kinley

Peter and I attended the annual Brittany 2Cv rally in June in the village of Croisty near Pontivy

Our weekend trip started with a gentle drive from St Malo, via the new Decathlon just outside to buy a bike rack for Peter which did not fit inside his car so it was lobed in the back of my Mehari. Then on across central Brittany for a lunch stop of galettes and a small cup of local cidre.

20160610_173228We arrived at Croisty only to find out that despite paying on one cheque for both of us they only had Peter booked. A quick check of the paying in slips found our joint payment and I was entered into the rally. Peter was quite the celebrity with the organisers as we were the only no Brittany entrants and they were expecting him with open arms.

We returned to the camp site just before the clouds opened at which point I realised that I had left half of my tent in Jersey! Luckily Peter’s tent slept 3 so we got it set up just as the heavens came down on us.

Back to the Salle and we were welcomed to a galette dinner, and a glass or two, three of some vino.

It was raining hard and the local folk band huddled with us under a marquee and so the evening continued.

20160610_213501Our entrance fee was €28 each, for which we got our rally plate and goody bag complete with red triangle, pen, stickers, club de cassis catalogue etc. It also included our meal on Friday night, breakfasts Saturday and Sunday mornings and of course the grand dinner on the Saturday evening, along of course with the rally itself on the Saturday…bargain

Saturday the rain stopped so Peter and I decided to do the rally in my Mehari and leave his 2Cv behind. 90 k of tulip diagrams to guide us around the beautiful Brittany countryside route. What we did not realise it was that some 15 to 20 k was off road!

Great great fun, and the welcome from all the locals was outstanding.

20160611_134146They closed the roads around Croisty for the rally and 150 2cv’s parked up taking pride and place. Shop windows with cartoon paintings of 2cv’sand the whole village coming out to see the local dancers and enjoy an Apero. We also saw a 2cv bar driving around the village together with a car that can be completely dismantled and rebuilt within 15 minutes and driven off.

 

The return journey the heavens opened up again and soaked us just outside Dinard, OK for Peter but a challenge for me to stay dry in Noddy.

Overall a brilliant rally combined with fantastic hospitality.

We will be back next year near La Baule, come along and join us, you won’t be disappointed

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Wet August meeting

I will start by apologising for the lack of car pictures on this update and the recycling of other meeting picture for the header… The lack of sunshine and abundant flow or water coming down from the sky meant that we dashed from the cars to the watering holes without the usual chit chat and photo taking…

Lynne ready for the weather

Lynne ready for the weather

We could have been forgiven to think that it was October instead of August, the day started with a light drizzle who had become really dense by the end of our ride out.

Emmy led by Stuart and with Penny as passenger, took the lead and in Stuart true fashion took us through lanes I could only have dreamed of. The route was from Gorey to Cafe Ouen, just off Plemont. I had a relatively straight route in my head that did not match the path Stuart led us through. Considering I have been on the island for 28 years and consider myself a ‘local’ now, I should be ashamed to admit that most of the morning, I didn’t have a clue where I was. All I know is that there were lots of hills (so going up and down).

 

The places I recognised were (in no particular order):

  • Gorey village
  • The road to St Catherine
  • Rozel
  • The top of Bonne nuit bay (thank goodness we didn’t do that hill)
  • Mourier Valley
  • Devil’s hole
  • The Crabbe riffle range (although how we did get there I don’t know),
  • Greve de Lecq
  • Cafe Ouen

The little 15 miles/hour lanes we went through were very bendy, steep at times and really made out cars stand out from the back according to Eddie who was bringing up the rear in Noddy. As usual we got plenty of smiles and waves from the people walking the lanes and we were all very careful when overtaking a horse.

The long meandering drive eventually took us to our destination. Upon arrival, we all noticed that Camille had beaten us to it as Sean and his guest were already sitting in the dry and had ordered their collation. Sean did say that he had been to the start but had arrived after we had left… and he obviously took a route more direct than the one we had been onto! 🙂

The redeeming moment for me was when I heard my fellow drivers and passengers admitting that I hadn’t been the only one getting lost in the lanes this morning as it transpired that at time Stuart himself didn’t know where he was leading us too….

On the roll call today, we had Scarlet (with Helen, Ben & Debbie), Celeste (with Jo & Mark), Emmy (with Stuart & Penny), a Grey Charleston (with Lynne & Steven), Camille (with Sean and Jacki), Noddy (with Eddie) and Titinne (with Murielle).

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I must not finish without mentioning that Chris had sent an email with a picture of Little Mule to remind us that although he couldn’t be with us today, he did have a 2cv and it wasn’t a figment of his imagination :).

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