Car vs Plane, the race home. part deux.

3 Feb07
The goal, the 1941 Piper is sitting in a hanger on a small airstrip just outside Niort.

The weather is good so the jaunt is on, the plan is for Jem, Martin and Adrian to meet up at Martins in Suffolk. Then to set off round 8.00am, drive down to the Eurotunnel and see what progress they can make.

This time they are doing the trip in style, Jem won't be using his own car, he'll be battling the roads of France in a 1993 Bentley.

8.00am Saturday morning A venerable Bentley crunches the gravel driveway of Martins place. Adrian has thoughtfully emptied the CD autochanger for Jems own choice of music. That said he was a little disappointed he couldn't bring the 112 CDs he preselected for the journey. If you've ever met Jem you'd know he wasn't the tallest of people, so his next comment was surprising, he didn't think there was much room. Oh well the agony of choice...!

Save time at the Eurotunnel terminal - book on-line! say the adverts. "But computer says no" as the systems at check in crash, so no one's going anywhere. The guys follow the directions which take them through passport control before being issued with tickets to travel. So back they go to the terminal, only to have to go through passport control yet again, only this time they decide to search them - just out of revenge for trying to get through twice in the same day perhaps.

In fact it's not going well, by 12.30, after having stood around in an airless aluminium tube for an hour - the trains broken! They are being moved to a ramp, sparse information has been delivered by a surly youth with more acne than IQ.

They Found an amazing auberge somewhere outside Poitiers. Tiny nameless French village. The rooms are small, cosy and pleasant, with comfy armchairs and soft bed. Jem remarked that he opened what he took to be the bathroom door and found the rest of the suite...a bed the size of a tennis court, the whole neuf metres.

The hotel's called Le Centre de Poitou in Coulombieres. Next time you're passing, don't miss it. Lovely friendly service and food to die for, even for les vegetablistes among us. Adriam's lamb and foies gras folded inside a caabage leaf almost converted me to eating things with a face.

As for food, vegetarians? pas de probleme m'sieur! the starter is a delicately herbed dish of scrambled eggs with fresh local truffles. Adrian has made an enemy of the chef by demanding tabasco on his oysters. English Peasant. All this with a distinguished Sancerre from a wine list that boasts an 83 Mouton Rothschild. Did we ever stop at the right place! The bill may be daunting. They've spotted the Bentley haven't they?

4 Feb07
Mart and Adrian go off to get the meteo. It's bitterly cold on the airfield. A small engineering company offering alloy welding services is surrounded by an unruly queue of distressed brass monkeys.

Robert hasn't just hangared the plane for us, he's refused any payment, AND serviced it, rerouted cables checked everything... this man is an absolute hero, un vrai gentilhomme

Exactly as we found at Berdoues, the cub is an old lady who, being of pensionable age, doesn't like to get up on a cold morning. After 2 hours of cranking, Adrian (alias Monsieur Vrai) concludes that fuel doesn't flow uphill. He removes the inlet manifold from one cylinder and squirts fuel up the pipe. She starts second pull.

The cub beats Jem to Le Mans. Moving on now to Bernay. Unfortunately he programmed the sat nav with Bernais (like the sauce) and end up doing a 20km detour. This Bentley is lovely. Trying to catch up Jem maintains an undisclosed speed, needless to say he's in Clerkson mode - POWER!!!. He describes the Bentley as so safe and civilised. Like a perfect butler "more power sir? Certainly, I'll have it available to you directly"

There's no stopping Martin and Adrian now. Having refueled at Alencon they're now heading for Dieppe. Jem's getting left in the dust.

Tom Tom doesn't have the airfield in the database. Ica find St. Martin Eglise but no one can guide me in either. But when I finally find it they have no trouble directing us to...St Martin Eglise. The boys refuse to acknowledge the inconsistency in this.

Yet againt luck was in and they find another amazing auberge. This one on the riverbank with rooms set on a long outside gallery. Jem got the room with the gigantic corner bath. Sadly the hotel has only enough hot water to fill one ordinary sized bath. And Martin used that at 7.00!!!!!

Flying is out of the question for today, so a few tweaks to the aeroplane and then it's time for a spot of dejeuner.

Since travel is now out of the question, there's time for a l-o-n-g and leisurely lunch. Found a great restaurant in Dieppe harbour and did some serious vegging out.

5 Feb07
No flying yet again today - the weather in Dieppe just won't allow us to even consider it.

6 Feb07Once again the weather gods have farted upon the Shaw's trip. The visibility at Dieppe just got steadily worse and finally they finally had to admit defeat.

Once again they had to give the lie to the French not liking the British. They happily found us hangar space for the cub, warmed us up with coffee and were generally lovely. We've tucked the plane away and got ourselves back to Eurotunnel. This time the train works!

So with part deux over for another day, part tois is being planned. Obviously the weather will be a huge part of the trip, but this time, because Dieppe to the UK can be done without refueling, the thoughts are to fly over in another plane and fly the two bay in formation. This should give us some good shots of the cub in flight for the concluding part.