Category: Social

It’s the first of the month

Well after a very damp Saturday the sun came out for us for our October run.
Sean and Camille, Helen and Scarlett, Jo,  Mark and Celeste, Annie, Gary and their still very shiny Mehari, Eddie and his scooter (!) And finally but most welcome Clive, Liza and their now mended Gladis met at DVS and pottered out east along the coast road and round St Catherine’s.

Nowhere to park up so we continued up to Haie Fleurie. Yes up that very steep lane with a tight turn at the top. Thankfully we managed to get round the junction with no cars coming the other way. Murielle will be glad she missed that Hill start!
Continuing on through the leafy lanes we arrived to the Royal at St Martin where we parked up in line poised for the pub to open.  The usual chit chat in the car park until the church bell signalled it was time for coffee. Usual banter over drinks then we slowly departed to various parishes to for fill our weekend duties.

Here’s to next month.

Write up and photos: Jo Thorpe

Commentary: 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.

We 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.

Our 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.

They 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

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

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).

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 :).

Let’s organise a club’s  summer BBQ said Sean in May, so we did, we decided that July would be the month for it. The lunchtime BBQ turned to evening BBQ to allow some members that would have been busy in the day time with work and other obligations.   It worked in our favour though as the weather this morning was pants…

As per usual, we had dry weather, and after the morning deluge, the sun even made a short appearance for an hour or so.

I was disorganised to day so arrived slightly late as Celeste Cassis and a red 2cv were already in the car park. I still beat our Chairman to it though. In the end 4 cars and their hardy owners had braved the elements and gathered together this month. It was Sally & Michael’s second meet with their red 2cv that they’ve had for 35 years. Always nice to see new people joining us.

Soon the BBQs were lit (except mine which had been left behind in the hallway so Chris had to go back and get it) and smoke signal could soon be seen going across the bay. We were treated by a display of aerobatic flying from the seagulls who tried to take our cars as target practice (but thankfully missed), whilst eying up all the goodies that were slapped on the hot coals…

A lot of laughter and banter as per usual and even a few giant marshmallows were roasted on the BBQs, no kids around, but I think that because we are getting older doesn’t mean we have to grow up !

Unfortunately, by 7 the clouds started gathering in the West and we started to pack up camp as we wanted the cars to stay dry, all BBQ safely watered down, rubbish packed up, some of us watched the fog rolling in ….

Another BBQ for august? Why not, it’s summer time after all, even if someone has forgotten to let the weather gods know!

June’s usual monthly meeting was a little bit different to our usual potter out and cuppa.
We were part of the Festival of Motoring! Eddie facilitated our involvement with the organisers and we were set.

Unfortunately Murielle and Titinne were awol in the UK at the national meet but brought exciting news back of the possibility of the meet coming over to little ole’ Jersey in 2018. How wonderful that would be!
So back to Sunday. …. A select few pitched up at El Tico ready for the drive to our debut in the Jersey automotive world.
Eddie, his friend and Noddy, Sean and Camille, Chris, his boys and the elusive Little Mule (she does exist after all!), a newcomer (sorry didn’t catch you or your car’s name!) And the highly polished, Helen, Debbie and Scarlet and Jo, Mark and an equally shiny Celeste.Helen and Jo had been comparing valeting results all week!
Hang on……who’s this? It’s only Peter (our Chairman) more or less on time and actually in a Citroën!😜
Off we went up the hill and across to descend into the valley, briefly loosing our new red friend as he went the wrong way but a quick reverse and he was back on track. Down into the valley and along the inner road ready to line up to go into the show ring for our cavalcade.
Slight confusion as to what was going on with various mixed messages regarding turning round and going the other way then turning back again from a bloke on a bike with a high viz and a walkie talkie (must be important) and then we were ready to do our laps.  There were some very loud cars flying round the circuit like complete lunatics before us and Jo heard a little boy asking his dad if the 2cv were racing next. RACING?! How very dare he?
Well Eddie decided we should put our pedals to the metal and we reached the top speeds on the ‘straights’.  I feel out of all the cars racing on Sunday we were probably the only ones that reached full speed!

After a few laps of the ‘race’ circuit with commentary we entered the park to settle and rest our pistons in the sun shine.
Our beautiful tin snails had a lot of admirers during the afternoon. Someone even asked if Jo would be interested in selling Celeste!  No price can be put on the happiness she brings so NO she is not for sale!
After all the excitement picnics were in order.  It was lovely to see we all had picnic rugs to match our cars!!!
What a wonderful day and brilliant to be part of such a great island event. Here’s to next year.

Author: Jo Thorpe

Apologies for the late summary of the club run but life got in the way and it took me the whole week before being able to get to the laptop and type it, so apologies for the briefness as the memory is starting to be a bit hazy….

The start

The day started well with sunshine out to play with us, a total of 9 cars came to the party. Camille was there first and Sean had brought a friend with him and the lovely Jack (friend of the 4 legged kind). Titinne came second, with Murielle and Murielle’s parents who were on holiday and came along for the ride. The rest of the pack arrived shortly after, Celeste with Jo & Mark, Noddy & Eddie, Cassis with Annie & Gary, The grey Charleston with Lynne, Steven & grandson , Emmy with Peter (the lovely Lynne was otherwise engaged) and last but not lease a white & green Dolly with Clive and his granddaughter.  All congregated in the car park outside St Clement Parish hall, and, as there was no watering hole open nearby, we managed to set off on time at 10:15.

The ride

We all snaked along the coast road, past the beaches and up Month Bingham, following our day’s leader Sean. Sean kindly stopped outside the fishermen’s hut of the old harbour to make sure everyone was there by doing a quick count of cars. Reassured that his flock was following he headed towards the West once more and led us through the avenue, though St Aubin at a snail pace and through to the Poplars tea room via Red Houses. We seemed to pick up our Chairman in the way in an old Fiat (odd one out in the picture) by the hamburger bar at Bel Royal….  Need to set up your alarm clock Peter 🙂 !!!!

The arrival

We quickly parked our vehicles and started to sit down in the lovely garden of the Poplars, unfortunately, they have a no dog allowed in the garden and Sean & his friends had to leave, I will ensure to check such policies in future as a few of our members have 4 legged companions. This put a bit of the dampener on the atmosphere but we soon settled down in front of coffees, yummy cakes and pastries or bacon sandwiches before heading in all directions for another month.

Next month

It’s the festival of motoring so please contact Eddie who is taking charge of our unruly bunch of miscreants for the June gathering ….

A grey start of the day

The day didn’t look too promising as the sky was very very grey that morning, and it had been raining around 9am. The meeting point was the car park of the aviator cafe by the Aeroclub. The first ones to report on the car park and sample the teas of the cafe were Phil Rondel and his grandson James with their gleaming white 2cv.

A bit of cleaning

Titinne and Murielle were a close second, soon to be joined by a newcomer to the runs, John who had brought his Mehari out in the cold(ish) weather; number 4 was Sean driving Camille. Emmy carrying Peter and Lynne, Jo & Mark with their grey Charleston Celeste, Anne and Gary with Cassis. The wooden spoon of arrival went to Scarlett, driven by Helen.

In her defense, Helen had taken Scarlet out from her cosy garage on Friday and taken her with her whilst enjoying the delight of the Corbiere Radio station so she could attend the meeting. We were all please to see them but couldn’t help giving them a bit of ribbing as Scarlett had been a dirty stop out, Helen quickly got a duster out to give her a quick dust around whilst moaning about the seagull poop that been dotted on the roof….

Spring is in the air.

The theme of the run was spring time and participants had been ask to decorate their vehicles, only Titinne and Celeste had made the effort to put on their finery. After a cold wait for any potential stragglers, Murielle picked Emmy as the convoy lead to take the group to the east of the Island where a table had been booked at Ransom Garden Centre for refreshments.

Peter did take us through some roads I didn’t know existed, we had a lovely drive through the green lanes, pushing 15 mph. going up and down the daffodils speckled green fields, very pleasant indeed !  I think I spotted a grey Heron in St Peter’s Valley too. Our little cortege of fine cars drew lots of admiring glances from the cows looking for a distraction from their grazing, oh and from the few humans we encountered too.

The arrival line

We passed trinity and quickly found ourselves careening thought St Martin at a speedy 25 mph to finally reach the car park of the garden centre, unfortunately, not enough spaces to park together so Titinne & Celeste decided to have a private chat about their new outfits and left the riff raff park together opposite them.

All drivers and passengers quickly piled in the cafe to find the big table reserved for them and ordered hot drinks, and breakfast. A lot of stories being exchange, and good natured banter could be heard. Not too sure what the staff was making of us lot though.

It was nice to see Gary and Annie again now that Cassis is back on the road, we were very glad that Phil had been able to join us as well as he was unwell last month. Of course our missing members were mentioned, and we hope to see them on the 1st May for our next outing.

A run not for the faint hearted….

Well what can I say? With a weather warning in place for the islands and winds battering our coasts, we dared go ahead with our monthly club run.

Our meeting place was the car park at Le Braye, I arrived in Titinne, blown in by the rain and gales and narrowly missing a couple of runners who had decided to stop bang in the middle of the road… Strange place if you ask me! Quickly spotted Penny and Stuart in their green peril, and Celeste who had been abandoned there by Jo and Mark who were treating themselves to a bit of breakkie in the cafe.

I was shortly followed by Phil Rondel who came with his grand children, Eddie in Noddy who appeared to be relatively frozen and in serious need of a wet suit… whilst they grabbed themselves a hot drink to take away, I took a walk to the slipway for  and got my face sandblasted to take a sneaky shot at the Rocco tower then returned tothe car park and waited for stragglers. Said hello to a new green and white dolly owned by Polly and Paul, who unfortunately couldn’t join in the convoy today but wanted to meet some club members. And, just as everyone was getting ready to go, Scarlett arrived, carrying Helen and Ben, who kindly agreed to lead the convoy.

So off we went, as we were slowly but surely climbing up the hill to reach St Peter, who do see going downhill? a beautiful black and burgundy Charleston, but hang on, this is our chairman’s car. Peter, dashing to reach the meeting place (late) to participate in our antics.  After a quick U-turn and race up the hill, he managed to catch up with us. We then meandered through the country lanes of St Peter, St Mary, St John, Trinity and St Martin, clogging the narrow roads with our tin snails. Helen took us through a lovely trail and I discovered places i’d never been before. Pushed by the wind, I think we reached a top speed of may be 30mph downhill!

Final destination – Cafe firefly

We arrived at destination and parked safely in a huddle, Titinne and Scarlet next to each other so they could discuss having their picture sent to the 2cvGB magazine…  As the showers had passed, it gave us an opportunity to congregate around the cars for a quick chat.

Peter seemed to disappear in the boot of the green 2cv at one stage and that gave me the giggles… well enough of standing around and getting cold feet, we finally queued in the cafe for our hot beverages for what seemed like ages, we congregated to the end area where we could all stand and chat together; arrange the next run and discuss who is going to the national and who is not.

And finally …

A few of our members coudn’t join in today for a lot of different reasons (away, weather, car in the workshop or in bits) but I was tickled to find an email from Chris in my inbox when I came back, assuring me that yes he did have a car but was still waiting for some parts to arrive… See you on the road at the next run then Chris 🙂