Italian Lakes - Day 10 - Pont a Mousson - Calais

An early start this morning as it is a long drive to Calais with two stops on the way.

All the cars packed up for the last time before starting todays journey, everyone with the roof down on their car - for those who could, even though it was a little chilly - through country roads and villages to Butte de Montsec.  This is a an American War Memorial, the highest point in the area and can be see from miles around.  There are many WW1 cemeteries etc. in this area.

It was quite eerie  driving to this monument as from some distance away it was the only place that the sun was shining on.

Everyone was quite quiet and thoughtful here, and there were no other visitors this early on a Saturday morning.

Before leaving this was the last opportunity for a group photo of people together with their cars.

Need to get this photo from Martin.




Back in car convoy we continued on country roads before joining the motorway, with a service station stop for fuel and also to grab a sandwich to eat later as there was no scheduled lunch stop today.

A clear journey on the french toll roads to the outskirts of Riems, where we left the motorway for Gueux.  Here there is an old race circuit that used the public roads.  The circuit was used from 1926 to 1972 and all the old race buildings still line the road.

We drove the actual old race circuit in convoy before parking up "Le Mans" style in front of the buildings.

Mark got permission for us to walk through the underpass and into the old grandstand to take more photos

 Views in both directionss of the long strait.












Mark explained that you could go for a "blast" along the strait, but after a few cars doing this, the local police then do a "drive past" this is the signal to stop, and return to correct speed limits. If you don't take notice of the warning they then take action.







Needless to say, when you at an old race track, then it just has to be done !!!

What a superb place for the last stop of the holiday, and this is where we sat on the grass, eating our sandwiches watching the cars "playing".




Reluctantly we had to get back on to the motorway and head for Calais.  Our last services stop was 15 miles from Calais, were Mark & Alison collected all the radios and sat navs, and people said their good byes.  Thats it as far as the group tour, we were now on our own again :(  however we still stayed in convey to the Le Shuttle terminal at Calais.  We were free to get on an earlier train if offered the option as we were booked on the 16.36.  No chance, there was a 90 minute delay - thats all you need.  Time for a coffee in the terminal and to exchange phone numbers with a few people, and watch for our letter "W" to be called.  As soon as "W" came up on the board we went to the car , and to the embarkation point as soon as we could.  Several of us were there, but others were behind.  loaded onto the 17.20 train, but only two of our party on that train, the rest were on another train, as we found out by texts.

Driving back on the correct side of the road, I think we were the first home at just after 6pm.

318 miles today to Calais
84 miles Folkestone to home

A total of 2085 miles for the holiday.

What a fantastic holiday - want to do another one NOW !!!

Made some great friends, and the leadership and organisation of Mark & Alison was superb - thank you.