A MINI WEEKEND

Any excuse to give the Mini a good run always seems like a good idea, so when I saw that CAR magazine were having a long weekend in France running their Tour de France promising a gentle tour through Northern France, with its traffic-free roads, timeless villages and wonderful eateries - all in the company of fellow car enthusiasts it all seemed like a very good idea. So just before Christmas a cheque went off to CAR magazine.

Michael, was shipped off to his Granny on Thursday evening for the weekend and we made our preparations to leave home to catch the 8.45 ferry from Dover on Friday morning. Apart from the roadworks on the M25 and a red Lamborghini Diablo passing us on the M20 at a somewhat illegal speed the journey down was pretty uneventful.

We had been sent a sticker to place in the windscreen to identify us, in the queue at Dover I saw a Jaguar XJS, Porsche 911 and new Mazda 323 V6 all with the same sticker, Phil Llewellin, one of CAR's contributing writers introduced himself and handed us the roadbook for the Tour. This contained full details of the route, places to visit, places to eat and details of the hotels where we would be staying.

Whilst crossing the channel we studied the road book - the first point to visit was Cap Blanc Nez on the coast just about ten miles down the coast from Calais. This was one of the most fortified sections of Hitler's defensive sea wall against the allied invasion during the second world war. Here we met the rest of the people and cars taking part in the tour. These cars included some Porsche's (various models), TVR's, Morgan, Jaguar's, Mercedes, an Aston Martin amongst others.

The next stop on the route was lunch, this was at Montreuil. A buffet lunch had been arranged at a restaurant dating back to 16th century which had on offer some wine at £2500 a bottle and some liqueur dating back to 1779 for £350!.

On leaving Montreuil we headed towards Crecy, having turned off a main road we headed along a D road which ran parallel to the river Authie. The river was in flood, as a result of heavy rain the previous month. Making a turn off this road we encountered a Route Barre sign, we were at the time following a TVR and a Lexus, then we discovered why the Rue Barre signs were there - the road was flooded! The TVR went through followed by the Lexus, seemingly with no problems. One of the organisers was one the bridge just before the water advised us to keep well to the right going through the water I reckoned that as the TVR had got across then we should be able to through. The Mini passed through the water with no difficultly. It did turn out that whilst all the cars got through safely one of the organisers managed to fall in the water!!

We arrived at Crecy where some 650 years ago the first battle between England and France took place, today it is just grain and vegetable fields. The English forces were considerably outnumbered, but the key to English victory was due to the skill of the English archers. They were again key in the next place on the route, Agincourt.

Agincourt is only 24 miles from Crecy, here we stopped at the car park in the centre of the village. Adjoining the car park was a small museum, here we paid 10 francs to look round, they even managed to show a video in English about the battle of Agincourt. In both cases the battles were won by the English but the French perception was that they came second but didn't lose!

From Agincourt we had a 30 mile drive to Gosnay, where we would stay for the night. The last mile was along one of the most uneven French roads I have even driven on - along this stretch of road I was followed by a Healey 3000 who equally attempting to avoid the bumps. The hotel dated from 1320 when it was a monastery. We had a huge room over the main entrance! As with all the nights accommodation evening meals including wine was included in the price.

Having had a typical French breakfast of croissant, fruit juice and coffee we were ready for the off. People left in dribs and drabs to head for Vimy ridge . Vimy ridge dominates the very flat plains of Douai and Lens and hence was of significant importance during the first World War. We were able to visit the trenches, the sight of the Canadian frontline being no more than 20 or 30 feet from the German lines brought back the history lessons of what a bloody battle this was.

On leaving the ridge we headed for the autoroute for a 60 mile drive south to Laon. The Mini was quite happy to cruise at 85 mph. We were passed by a number of cars on the Tour, these cars were running together a couple of Porsche 968's, a Saab and a Peugeot. Once off the autoroute we had just a 20 mile run onto Laon along some really quiet and picturesque roads. Arriving in the centre of Loan we parked up in front of the Hotel de Ville to go off and find some lunch!

Having found somewhere to eat we wandered round the town. Whilst doing so the heavens opened and we were in the midst of a heavy downpour. Laon is an old town which is set on a hill surrounded by miles of relatively flat country, the town itself is dominated by the huge cathedral which dates back to 1160. On leaving the town we had the usual search for a petrol station, the Mini is a little thirsty and does not have the luxury of twin tanks which original Cooper S's had! Once refuelled we headed for our next destination of the Caves Du Dragon.

On our route there we passed the remains of a Cistercian monastery, which was in fact reminiscent of the remains of Waverley Abbey near Farnham in Surrey. At the Caves we were on the French Front line in 1917, the caves and tunnels formed an integral part of the allies defence barrier. The caves were originally dug by hand for stone masons, the stone was used in the building of many local churches. In typical French style when we arrived there the place was locked up! It turned out that there was only one guide and he was taking a party round.

We decided to drive onto our hotel, which was no more than 5 miles away and check in for the night. The hotel was modern and overlooked a large lake in quite idyllic surroundings. Some the more keen participants on the tour started washing their cars, seemed a bit excessive even to me! After a good meal and nights sleep we were ready for breakfast and the start of the next day.

For Sunday we needed to be on the road for 9.30 to head to Reims where we were to visit the Motor Museum in the town. After a good run from the hotel we got to the outskirts of Reims only to be confused by some road works, we and a Triumph TR3 saw some parts of the town which where not intended! but we eventually found some signs for the Motor Museum. This privately owned museum had a number examples of most makes of French car, but not a definitive collection! Having "done" the museum we drove into the centre of Reims to explore the town and have some lunch. Most people visited the Cathedral here, which dominates the town and contains impressive stained glass windows. The cathedral dates from the 13th century and is ranked as one for France's six most important cathedrals. Incidentally it was in Reims where the German surrender took place effectively ending World War two.

Our next scheduled visit in the afternoon was a trip round the Mumm Champagne Caves! We were fortunate to have an English speaking guide who despite her accent explained the processes involved in production. On our trip round we saw bottles dating back to the early 1900's. At the end of visit we were given a sample glass, and the opportunity to buy a few bottles! It was back on the road again to head out on the road to Soissons.

Just outside Reims on this road you actually drive on part of the Reims Grand Prix circuit, following the road book actually complete a full lap. Towards the end of the circuit you reach the original pits and grandstands. The track was last used in 1969, and for a Grand Prix in 1966, which was won by Jack Brabham. Most people parked up and took some photographs. Then most people took their cars for a run either round the complete circuit several times or up and down the pits straight - at somewhat illegal speeds on public roads! For some this was quite obviously the highlight of the trip.

Our Mini at rest at the old pits of the Reims Grand Prix circuit.

It was time to move on, another 80 mile run across country to our final nights stop at Ermenonville. We passed through a very picturesque village of Pierrefonds, it is dwarfed by the impressive royal château. This served as both as fortress and palace. Unfortunately, time really prevented us from stopping here to take a look around. We had to push on to the Château we were staying at. Once at the Château we parked in the forecourt in a neat pattern for a photo call!

The evening meal was a formal affair, with an excellent menu! We were fortunate here to have a large room which extended into a turret of the Château. The château was built in 1783, and among its noted residents were Marie-Antoinette, Robespierre and Napoleon Bonaparte. But of more interest to us was the fact that Ettore Bugatti owned the Château from 1945, until the mid 1960's, the drawing room and other areas were crammed full of Bugatti road and racing cars!

Next morning we were up fairly early to head home. Guess what, having been dry but overcast for the other days it was raining. We had breakfast and checked out of the hotel and started our drive north. On our way north we stopped in Compiegne, here there is a large museum known as Le Palais Musee, it incorporates a state sponsored transport museum. This particular museum concentrated on the earlier forms of transport, there was even an example of a Roman chariot whose metal work dated from when it was new! Having toured the museum we walked into the town is search of a cup of coffee, being Monday most places are shut in France but we did find one.

Leaving Compiegne we joined the autoroute north to Calais. This was going to take us about 2 1/2 hours and it was still raining. During the journey the rain turned to hail, sleet and snow. Most of the time it was being blown horizontally by a very strong wind. By the time we reached Calais the rain had eased off but was still blowing a gale. Our ferry was not due for another four hours. So we decided to throw caution to the wind and take the train through the Channel Tunnel. Having just missed a train we had about 40 or so minutes to wait before we moved forward to join the train. We passed through customs and then were pulled to one side for a random check to see if we were carrying explosives and that wasn't all. Now the Mini being a little on the low side and consequently not having much ground clearance we failed another of their tests!. We were put in a separate queue of cars with low ground clearance - this included a Ford Mondeo and an Astra with four rather large ladies in it! Our queue was the last to board and the Le Shuttle staff put down some special ramps so we could move forward into the next carriage. We stopped and we were informed we would have to reverse off!

The journey from starting off took its estimated 35 minutes, and the time in the tunnel was best described as boring! On our arrival, the cars behind us reversed off but of course we had problems, the Mini even snagged on their special ramps! I had to drive forward a slight distance and then reversed out half on the walkway, but managed to get off without any further snags. Once off the train we were able to drive out onto the M20 without any further delays. We were back home in good time despite roadworks on the M25 and A3.

In all we covered about 650 miles in the four days - it was an excellent time and very good value for money - so when is the next one!

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