By Tom
I had to agree, 20 MX-5s parked almost nose to tail was a pretty impressive sight, even in the dark.
My wife, Jodie, was bestowing the virtues of the MX-5 owners club to a couple who had just driven their MK1 into the embarkation car park at Plymouth Docks. The couple had chosen to travel to Roscoff on the same overnight ferry trip as the combined South Wales and Wessex area club members trip to Brittany.
Mike and Michelle Paddick's plan was simple, an overnight ferry to Roscoff on the Wednesday, three nights in Treguier followed by an evening sailing back to Plymouth on the Sunday.
The journey to Plymouth and the ferry crossing itself proved uneventful, and all the cars rolled safely off the ferry in Roscoff early Thursday morning. The convoy headed east towards Treguier in search of petrol and, more importantly, breakfast. Driving on the wrong side of the road was an interesting first for a lot of the drivers and it was good to concentrate on this while following other cars and not have to worry about directions.
The rest of the day was spent exploring the town, including a couple of the cafes and bars, and local area, booking into the hotel and catching up on sleep lost during the ferry crossing.
The evening meal had been pre-booked by Mike and allowed the group to try out the local delicacies, crepes (pancakes) and cider (falling down apple juice), in a small local restaurant. With the menu all in French (what were they thinking?) not everyone was entirely sure what they had ordered, this coupled with a slightly overwhelmed kitchen, led to an interesting and drawn out meal – much to the shock of John who ended up a raw egg on his minced beef! Fortunately, the cider and wine were both excellent and plentiful.
With nothing formal planned for the Friday everybody, either as single cars or in small groups, explored the local countryside with most cars choosing to follow the “Routes du Cote de Granit Rose” or the route round the pink granite coast. The weather was warm and dry allowing everyone to enjoy a leisurely and unhurried top down drive with spectacular scenery and excellent photo opportunities round every corner.
After discovering that French restaurants are generally only open from 1200 to 1400 (when all the other shops shut for lunch!) the local supermarkets were visited to acquire baguettes, fresh cheese, meat, pastries and drinks for lunch. A few of the group decided that the local shops would provide better options for lunch and a chance to practice the language. Jodie was excited that not only did the locals understand her schoolgirl French, but she also actually ended up with the lunch that she wanted!
Most of the cars then met up to eat their picnic lunches on the seafront at Point Blanc before heading on to explore more of the countryside. Most of the little towns and villages in the area, such as Plaumanac’h are well worth a visit and the local coffee shops are excellent.
For Saturday Mike had arranged a trip on “la vapour du trieux” which is a steam train running from Paimpol to Pontrieux. Worth the trip just for the gourmet snack of yet more crepes and cider at a little station about half way. Pontrieux is a quiet picturesque town that lent itself very nicely to sitting on a coffee shop terrace and watching the world go by, probably because there was nothing else to do.
The ferry didn’t sail till 1630 on the Sunday evening and that left lots of time for more exploration of the countryside and the coffee shops. Some of the members also found the cheap booze outlets and displayed incredible initiative by cramming vast amounts of wine into very small cars without having to leave any of the luggage or passengers behind. Charlotte and John were both strong contenders for awards from the Guinness Book of Records!
Sadly for Graham, Marina and their Bronze MK2, the weekend came to a slippery end. The verdict is still out on whether or not the car will make a recovery. Fortunately, both driver and passenger were unharmed.
On the return ferry trip the topic of conversation was firmly centred on what a great weekend everyone had just had. The praises of Mike and Michelle were loudly sung, without their organisation the weekend would not have happened or been as enjoyable for all concerned. So Mike and Michelle, from all of us, “thank you for such a great weekend and where are we going next year?”
