In which Sid and Doris have a better day than the weather forecast predicted to finish in lavender country.
Here is the weather forecast. Note the time of day.
Here is a view of the hotel crazy golf course or fish pond.
Sid has already looked up man and van hire. But as some of you know: A driver ain’t afraid of a drop o’rain. When S and D set out it is only raining. The main road is the feasible route for some way, and the good news is there are road works with lights. Either we are trickling down the inside of the queue or are, a lot of the time, on our own. And the rain is intermittent, though the truck tyres move so much water that they are by far the greatest source of soaking.
There is nothing to report until Doris says the steering has gone funny. Perhaps there is more than usual in the bar bag? No, says Sid, it is a front puncture.
All that is needful hath been and soon we are puffing up the new tube on the rim. And when the pump is removed from the valve it has brought the insert with it and the tube goes flat. The villain is wound in hard and the pump applied lightly, full pressure is achieved and off we go.
Just 35 years ago Sid and Doris took their honeymoon tour around France in the Group N Peugeot 205 GTi rally car. Given Sid’s childhood that meant a stay at Les Terrasses in Laragne. It does not feature in Bride magazine but Doris felt a visit was called for.
From Laragne to Orpierre and then to the hotel at Begues, which (spoiler alert) is on the road to Col de Perty.
Not only pretty but a motorsport Mecca on roads used by all these events.
Other pictures show how the country was. This below was taken in 1955, recording deliveries to the hotel. France counts the years from 1945 to 1975 as Les Trentes Glorieuses when the country just grew and modernised. Concorde’s first flight was 1969, the first TGV in 1981. But by 1955 not much of this had reached Hautes Alpes.
But it does all join up. Here is a car first produced in 1955, a Triumph TR3 in the car park at Logis Hotel Ceans (say seance) along with two Morgans, a Healey and a TR4.
So the day ends well.