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Amanda Hazlett tells us all about her trip to the South of France in her black custom cabriolet.
Part One.
Earlier in the year my friends in France asked if I wanted to join them for two weeks in the South of France. Chris and Mary moved to the Lot Valley in 1990 and have run the French Morris Minor Club for 30 years. Before moving to France, they were on the committee of the Morris Minor Owners Club and organised the first Minors Overseas Trips after John Frye and Bryan Gostling had led trips to France and Holland. We can thank the Iceni Branch for the birth of the Minors Overseas Trips. I have known Chris and Mary since 1984 when we were competing against each other in Concours at the Eastern Regional Rally.
It was going to be a long trip, 720 miles to Duravel then another leg to our final destination La Caunette, making a total of 897 miles. I weighed up which car to take as I was going to be travelling on my own. The modern Ford, the BMW Z3 or my show winning Minor Cabriolet, Alfie. Chris convinced me to take the Minor because we would be meeting some car enthusiasts and he thought they would love to see my car. My route was via Newhaven to Dieppe, a route I have taken on many occasions, and I would be on the overnight ferry sleeping in a cabin. I always seem to bump into at least one classic car owner on this route and this time it was a couple from northern Scotland in their convertible Singer. They were travelling to the Swiss Classic British Car Meet in Geneva. We disembarked the ferry in Dieppe at 5am French time and I travelled via Rouen to my first stop for breakfast at Dreux. It was 7-50am and still dark! I was 103 miles into my journey. At this point I should mention my Minor is my pride and joy. I have owned it for 31 years, a very shiny black custom cabriolet, powered by a 1.6 Fiat Twin Cam. Originally built by Chris Street and then recreated by myself and the talented Steve Cooks Minor Restorations. The Fiat engine was rebuilt by my clever brother. The car may be very special to me and a show winner, but I built it to be used.
140 miles further I felt it was time for lunch and a fuel top up. My Minor has the 10-gallon tank, so I do not have to stop as much on long journeys. I was using the Autoroutes as I can happily sit at 65-70 all day long and for the tolls, I have a Bip and Go and it is fun trying to see how fast you can approach the barrier. They say 30kph, but I wasn’t brave enough! After resisting the urge to buy a nodding dog at the services I continued on. This part of the journey is a 228-mile drive on the super A20 with long ascents and descents through the National Park in the Limousin region. Leaving the A20 at Cahours it was then a beautiful drive along the Lot River valley in the Autumn sun to Duravel where Chris and Mary live. Alfie had preformed beautifully and deserved a well-earned rest and I headed to the local bar with Chris and Mary to meet some other local Morris Minor friends.
The next day was a rest day before we headed further south, but I felt I should give Alfie a well-deserved wash. I then took Alfie to a local garage/workshop where they had a super assortment of vehicles they were working on and restoring. The market was full of seasonal produce which was new to me as I am normally in France during June; the colours were beautiful. The next stage of my journey was driving 150 miles in convoy behind Chris and Mary’s Limeflower Traveller. We used small roads taking in some super small hamlets and winding roads to the Languedoc National Park. We stopped at a high viewpoint where we could see the Pyrenees and Mediterranean and the sun was beautifully warm. We arrived at our gite based in a village owned by a family who have a vast vineyard, so plenty of red wind literally en tap from the barrels. We spent a friendly fun evening in the local bar where Chris and Mary are known to the locals. It was beginning to look like a good couple of weeks was in store.
Part Two.
Our first day was Sunday and everything closes at 1pm in France, so it was shopping for supplies and a walk round the vineyards. The area we were stating in is very dry and wild looking with vineyards everywhere. There were many dried up riverbeds and settlements either perched on cliffs above a river or in a gorge next to a river. Either way, it’s really stunning scenery. We dined out at a super family run restaurant Chez Jeanette. Three courses of wonderful home cooked food, aperitif, wine and coffee for 20 Euros. Bargain. We made many returns over the two weeks.
We visited a French market in Olonzac, full of autumn colour and produce. I don’t normally visit France in the autumn, so it was lovely to see different seasonal food for sale. The settlement next to where we were staying is Minerve, built on rocks where two rivers meet. The weather was glorious and the views stunning at every corner. One morning I was woken by the grape harvesting machine. The machine actually sucks the grapes off the vines. Harvesting was late last year due to the weather. The rose wine would normally be in the vats by October, but alas the grapes were still on the vines. We would have to drink red at 1 Euro a bottle straight from the vats instead.
We went for coffee and a wander around the old town of Bize-Minorvois. Small streets with planters and window boxes everywhere. After lunch we visited a 5000-year-old burial tomb. The stones that made up the tomb were enormous, so heaven knows how they moved them to the top of the burial mound! I celebrated by birthday while away and had a super meal and lay in the sun, something I wouldn’t have done back home. Another day we drove out to the heights of Canyon de La Cresse for the stunning views and then had a play on La curiosite de Lauriole where I could roll my Minor backwards up a hill. It is an optical illusion and was great fun to video. That evening, I took my Minor to the local bar and got quite a lot of attention from the locals.
We visited Oppidum d’Enserune, a Celtic settlement occupied between 575BC and 200AD. From the top you could see an amazing 13th century drainage system. See picture in the photo album, as it is too hard to explain how impressive it was. The whole site amazed me with the ingenuity of the settlers who lived there. Lunch was by the river at Colombiers port which reminded me of the Norfolk Broads.
The antique and Bric a Brach market at Pezenas was great. The prices were a bit steep, 500 Euros for a pedal car and 60 Euros for a French men at work sign. But we did find a lovely tin from a spark plug business, now part of Federal Mogul group. The bonus was that there were lots of small tins inside containing unused ignition contact. We visited a Gin Micro Distillery, pure gin 47%, OMG, never tasted before and never again I am afraid.
We had a desert storm one night and I had to wash my black Minor as it was covered in sand and didn’t want the paint to get scratched. My friends’ Limeflower Traveller was fine, being the perfect colour for to disguise the sand. The highlight of our weeks was a visit to a man’s personal collection of Automotive items at Musee Chapy. Based in a residential garage, he has cars, bikes and the biggest collection of oil cans I have ever seen, 540 altogether. The collection is displayed in a beautiful way with related items grouped together. There was a mezzanine floor with toys and pedal cars too. There were so many unusual items and his personal guide helped me to take it all in. Entry is free but he accepts donations.
Our holiday had come to an end and there had been so many things to remember. Markets, museums, mediaeval buildings, but for me it was driving around the wild stunning landscapes that I will remember the most.
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