Luxembourg - Outwards

Getting there is often an adventure, but we had an easy time of it, leaving June's house near Salisbury at 5:30 in the morning to catch the 8:30 Newhaven to Dieppe Seacat. I noticed that we weren't the only classic car outward bound that morning, several big Healeys and E-type Jaguars were also on board, but heading for Le Mans.

We followed our route from the previous year (See the Rheims 2001 event in the forums section), this time without getting lost in the country roads south of Dieppe, arriving at Rheims just before 17:00. Our plan was to head through the northern part of the town and pick up a national road that ran to Luxembourg, but at a roundabout a sign for "All other directions" sent us back out the way we had come in and even worse, onto a toll road.

We left the toll road at the first sensible oppurtunity. While fumbling around trying to find a way north I got us lost in a small town, and did a quick dive into a gravel car park to avoid entering a one-way system. I remember thinking "I'm just going to hit that large concrete planter", but missed it. I should know I'll never hit things, I always lose at pool. June had closed her eyes, she has far more faith in my aim than I have. We sorted ourselves out and and started to pick our way north again, crossing the high ground of the Ardennes. These were some of the most spectacular driving roads I have come across, long undulating straights with sharp bends to give you something to wake up for every few kilometres.

We finally entered Luxembourg at 19:30m and called into the services at Pontpierre to fill up, stick the beam deflectors on the headlights, phone Robert to check about the hotel, and plot a route through darkened Luxembourg to Direndal.

We made it to the hotel without a single wrong turn, introduced ourselves to the staff, said hello briefly to Robert who turned up to greet us, and settled down to recover from 16 hours of travelling.

The hotel owner collects tractors, one of which was parked outside the next morning to remind us that there are some vehicles even more unusual than Reliant sportscars.

What we thought to be a summerhouse turned out to be a smokehouse and outdoor barbecue.

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