Captains log, entry #3...Banging heads…
With slightly tender heads we arose in the familiar surroundings of our Etap hotel rooms. Brookesy’ and Sonic’s room was definitely bigger. The late night had taken it’s toll on the team, but we swore to soldier on!! With no Swiss francs left (thanks to Jock’s steaks and wine) we couldn’t afford breakfast in the hotel, so we went to the start line of today’s trek in a hotel down the road. We got the task for the day; post a postcard to yourselves in Madrid! Easy, we thought and went off to buy and post 10!!
We met Sam and Dan from team 5 (another coincidence for all you ex-Tandberg-ers reading) Sporadic Nomadics and decided to find some breakfast and a post office before setting off! Much meandering around Geneva, and spotting some GREAT classic cars at another rally, lead us to a lovely little bar whose idea of breakfast was very different to ours… We got coffee(s) tho so we were happy. 10 postcards (and stamps) later we set off (using team 5’s GPS) to find a post office. With the cards posted and the time, a lazy, 10.30 we were ready for the trip to the 10 mile long tunnel under Mount Blanc.
With road signs contradicting the GPS we took a couple of wrong turns. After deciding to trust the nice lady in the Tom Tom we followed her intructions. It took us to the EXACT point where we left the post office 10 mins earlier. Not bad!?! With a combination of the nice lady, some advice from the Scally organizers and Sporadic’s GPS we were on the motorway by 11.30!!! And we narrowly avoided a big smash with little French Nova. A late start for the most demanding day.
A winding trip up the mountain led us (with team 5 in convoy) onto the first of the serious snakey roads. The Audi gripped like a one armed girl to the roads that turned back onto themselves! Once the terrain opened up we came across a lovely little restaurant in the middle of nowhere. To the amazement of everone there was an Audi Quattro owners club meeting. A swift stop and the sounding of the horn brought out a few owners to take some pictures of Teamrado Audi while we took photos of theirs! Check out the photo section for some pics. The highlights were some short wheelbase Audi Sport's, lots of UR Quattros and some 100 Avants.
We set off up the mountain again. More twists and turns until we bumped into a large group of other Scally-ers who'd stopped to look at a particularily nice view over the valley down into Val D'Isierre! (see photo section)We popped into Val for lunch to find that out of season all there is in this hot bed of ski and boarding fun is builders and decorators!! Moving off tired and hungry we vowed to find somewhere to eat, and quick. Winkle was feeling it most, but we all tucked into the chocs that came in our goodie bag. With our route leading us higher into the mountains altitude sickness became a worry... For us and the cars! Sporadic Nomadics Bee-mer started to wheeze as the Audi's oil light started to make more regular appearances.We hit the snow line and decided that we shouldn't REALLY be wearing shorts and sandles.Two hours of harsh turns and descending led us into a tiny restaurant for some well earned scran!
The first domestic of the trip started with Winkle and Petemate "discussing" the GPS. With food and some rest this tiny dust up was forgotten... Or that's what they said... Whatever! Winkle took the wheel and the Audi started to now show the oil light after some nifty overtaking... Some concern now took the edge of the fun as we were hours away from Monaco, in the middle of nowhere with two limping scally motors...Thankfully the Scally fairies fixed the Bee-mers wheeze and seemed to have stolen the Audi's LED from the binacle! A great descent ensued thru some wonderful scenery until we got stuck behind 7 1/2 ton lorry. He must have been local as he hardly held us up. A frustrated day and miles to go, forced Dan to appear out of the top of the 530's sunroof shouting "MOVE OVER!" Heard over the five pot thrum and the thumping tunes.Now in Italy we re-fueled, re-calculated the GPS and did some Italian driving of our own...The miles and the sun disappeared and tolls racked up.
Now pitch black we went thru another tunnel and to reappear at the top of an exciting and very dark descent into Monaco. Determined to get to our destination before midnight Brookesy got his PROPER rally head on! Winkle, now co-driver, was using the display on the GPS to predict the oncoming turns... Calls of "Right four" and "Left SEVEN" meant that the quattro came into it's own! The five pot was grunting and the oil light was no more. Hardly touching the brakes, using the FULL range of revs and road we sped down the hill. We were also impressed that Sporadics were keeping touch! A local in an SLK was let past (to our annoyance) before we started the "curve-calling".A Berlingo and a smart car meant that we caught and followed this SLK for some time. Suddenly an ambulance appeared from nowhere. Teamrado pulled over to let him passed until someone said "use it!" Brookesy dropped a cog and sped after the blue lights and followed it thru beyond the SLK. Very satifying as he flashed us immediately.The smart and Berlingo pulled off eventually to leave open road for the emergency vehicle to exploit. So there we were, crawling all over the back of an amblance who was speeding at "riduculous" speed with Brookesy shouting "He's holding me up!!" There was much enjoyment, so much so we hardly noticed the speed camera going off!! We'll have to watch the post for that... Naughty boys ;)The rest of the journey went fairly smoothly... The first squealing of the tyres for the entire weekend was heard tho! Mind you, we were doing 50 round a right 6 whilst changing gear! Not bad for a 22 year old motor!!
We went straight to the Utopia bar (in Menton 2 miles up the road from Monaco and much cheaper) just to check in with the other Scally-ers. 3 hours and many beers later we regretted not getting any food! Predictably Sonic and Brooksey got the best room (view this time) and some well earned zzz's were caught! the end of a demanding Saturday!! Roll on Monte Carlo!
For more Pictures of Day 2 Visit....
Geneva
Mont Blanc
Audi Quattro's
Pass Through Val D'lsere
AutoStrada
Menton
A winding trip up the mountain led us (with team 5 in convoy) onto the first of the serious snakey roads. The Audi gripped like a one armed girl to the roads that turned back onto themselves! Once the terrain opened up we came across a lovely little restaurant in the middle of nowhere. To the amazement of everone there was an Audi Quattro owners club meeting. A swift stop and the sounding of the horn brought out a few owners to take some pictures of Teamrado Audi while we took photos of theirs! Check out the photo section for some pics. The highlights were some short wheelbase Audi Sport's, lots of UR Quattros and some 100 Avants.
We set off up the mountain again. More twists and turns until we bumped into a large group of other Scally-ers who'd stopped to look at a particularily nice view over the valley down into Val D'Isierre! (see photo section)We popped into Val for lunch to find that out of season all there is in this hot bed of ski and boarding fun is builders and decorators!! Moving off tired and hungry we vowed to find somewhere to eat, and quick. Winkle was feeling it most, but we all tucked into the chocs that came in our goodie bag. With our route leading us higher into the mountains altitude sickness became a worry... For us and the cars! Sporadic Nomadics Bee-mer started to wheeze as the Audi's oil light started to make more regular appearances.We hit the snow line and decided that we shouldn't REALLY be wearing shorts and sandles.Two hours of harsh turns and descending led us into a tiny restaurant for some well earned scran!
The first domestic of the trip started with Winkle and Petemate "discussing" the GPS. With food and some rest this tiny dust up was forgotten... Or that's what they said... Whatever! Winkle took the wheel and the Audi started to now show the oil light after some nifty overtaking... Some concern now took the edge of the fun as we were hours away from Monaco, in the middle of nowhere with two limping scally motors...Thankfully the Scally fairies fixed the Bee-mers wheeze and seemed to have stolen the Audi's LED from the binacle! A great descent ensued thru some wonderful scenery until we got stuck behind 7 1/2 ton lorry. He must have been local as he hardly held us up. A frustrated day and miles to go, forced Dan to appear out of the top of the 530's sunroof shouting "MOVE OVER!" Heard over the five pot thrum and the thumping tunes.Now in Italy we re-fueled, re-calculated the GPS and did some Italian driving of our own...The miles and the sun disappeared and tolls racked up.
Now pitch black we went thru another tunnel and to reappear at the top of an exciting and very dark descent into Monaco. Determined to get to our destination before midnight Brookesy got his PROPER rally head on! Winkle, now co-driver, was using the display on the GPS to predict the oncoming turns... Calls of "Right four" and "Left SEVEN" meant that the quattro came into it's own! The five pot was grunting and the oil light was no more. Hardly touching the brakes, using the FULL range of revs and road we sped down the hill. We were also impressed that Sporadics were keeping touch! A local in an SLK was let past (to our annoyance) before we started the "curve-calling".A Berlingo and a smart car meant that we caught and followed this SLK for some time. Suddenly an ambulance appeared from nowhere. Teamrado pulled over to let him passed until someone said "use it!" Brookesy dropped a cog and sped after the blue lights and followed it thru beyond the SLK. Very satifying as he flashed us immediately.The smart and Berlingo pulled off eventually to leave open road for the emergency vehicle to exploit. So there we were, crawling all over the back of an amblance who was speeding at "riduculous" speed with Brookesy shouting "He's holding me up!!" There was much enjoyment, so much so we hardly noticed the speed camera going off!! We'll have to watch the post for that... Naughty boys ;)The rest of the journey went fairly smoothly... The first squealing of the tyres for the entire weekend was heard tho! Mind you, we were doing 50 round a right 6 whilst changing gear! Not bad for a 22 year old motor!!
We went straight to the Utopia bar (in Menton 2 miles up the road from Monaco and much cheaper) just to check in with the other Scally-ers. 3 hours and many beers later we regretted not getting any food! Predictably Sonic and Brooksey got the best room (view this time) and some well earned zzz's were caught! the end of a demanding Saturday!! Roll on Monte Carlo!
For more Pictures of Day 2 Visit....Geneva
Mont Blanc
Audi Quattro's
Pass Through Val D'lsere
AutoStrada
Menton
posted by Brookesy @ 9:00 pm
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