Brittany and Normandy trip
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 9:01 pm
This post isn't really about the thrill of driving as the roads weren't that great if I'm honest... just pockets of fun here and there. As a bit of an adventure and a challenge it was just amazing though. Apologies too for some dirt on the lens of the phone cameras, we were camping 
Brittany and Normandy trip
A few years back I tried to go on a foreign road trip to Spain in the 7, but unfortunately a piston cracked 2 weeks before. The engine needed a full rebuild so any road trips in it went very much on the back burner.
So much so I wrote this on Pistonheads in 2011:
Devil's advocate on Seven trips:
By God you'll need a missus with a good sense of humour if you want to do thousands of miles round Europe in a Seven. Packing up takes ages (it is surprising how much you can fit in/on a Seven, but it's far from easy) Getting wet is a nightmare if it stays wet, and breakdowns would certainly worry me given my cars track record. Driving in Europe can be difficult in the best circumstances if you're not used to it, an unreliable, uncomfortable car that takes an age to pack watertight could be even more fun!
My actual view: One day I'm going to do it anyway. Without the missus
PS doesn't help that I've never seen a standard size boot on a Seven - both my cars have had 50 litre fuel tanks fitted for racing! I'd guess the boot depth is about five inches...
I found that when I was looking for Caterham touring tips this time round... thankfully I'd got most of my ideas sorted, and a missus with a sense of humour
I did a previous post on the old forum about some of the prep, so to sum up the space I had, here are the first of a few photos:
In the end I added a picnic table on the back behind the suitcase. We managed to put the rucksack we were going to carry in the footwell on the back of the car too:
Spares and tool kit went under the bonnet along with bulb kits. Throttle, clutch cable, alternator belt, fuses, tyre foam, fire extinguisher got carried in the bottom of the boot as normal.
A couple of lightweight fold up stools (£4ea from Amazon and honestly comfortable
) went behind the passenger seat as did waterproofs and food.
Waterproof stuff sacks, microfibre towels, I got geeky and researched all about these lightweight space saving things, and loved it
The canny among you will notice that the tent got swapped too, the yellow and orange is indeed lovely, but quite expensive, and after once reading about a couple who had all their kit nicked off their Seven when touring Europe... discretion is the better part of valour.
We took the ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo and of course we saw a Seven in the queue... He had a RE bag too http://www.softbitsforsevens.co.uk/page40aa.html which I would've bought if I was richer
Always a pleasure leaving on a boat at sunset
First camp was at Dinan which was beautiful, thankfully the weather was awesome too (it was the whole holiday) However it appears we had forgotten how to put up the tent since last year:
Dinan on a stolen image:
The next couple of days was spent at Goulien, on the Crozon peninsula (just South of Brest) on the way we happened to follow a Mercedes 300, admittedly a little older than mine and around 5 Bentley Continental convertibles, bizarrely headed by a Panther Kallista. It was fun at first, but 35mph did get a bit wearing and we blasted past, hoping a wave was enough to placate our elders...
When we arrived and took a walk down the lane from our campsite, this was 100 metres away. Unfortunately we never did go surfing, watching the kiteboarders and windsurfers made me very jealous.
Stopping somewhere of course meant that we could take all the crap off the car:
... and my long suffering missus had a clear footwell instead of this to contend with (Ste look away now, there are several extremely ugly fastenings here!!)
We toured around the peninsula and saw a few sights, mainly involving me photographing the car...
Although the views often lived up to the 'like Cornwall, but empty' description I'd had of Brittany off a few friends:
This bridge was pretty impressive...
Here's a stolen image:
After that we had a hotel to stay in in Le Croisic. It was a nice area, shame about the hotel. Anyway, round the corner was pleasant:
And Guerande, a medieval walled town was stunning. We also managed to go for a meal (having put the hood on after hearing thunder as we were walking away from the car), watch the rain from inside the restaurant and come out to a lovely cloudless evening. Result
Anyway, back to the cars, saw this in Le Baule Escoublac the next day, it was mint... I think I'm back to liking them again as I'm not sure I'd care as much about how they handle/scuttle shake etc aged 38
La Baule was just like a South of France resort, amazing beach, far too many hotels, far too expensive and a bit soulless. Cruising the front in my bitsa 7 that I was sure was going to have some issue or other by this point (it hadn't had any) felt like I really was on holiday though
Sadly I didn't race the joker biker that pulled alongside at one of the myriad sets of lights, must be getting old.
From the sublime to the practical, I needed to buy some new headphones as I'd snapped off a piece of plastic inside my Shures while cleaning them
Music and podcasts were an essential on this trip, thanks to Radio 4 and Pugrallye for his essential mix downloads 
From La Croisic we went North to Mont St Michel, which was the start of us using autoroutes, to use backroads as we had been would've just taken too long in rather hot weather. The 9eu headphones were pretty awful, thanks for asking, but the 4200rpm cruise of correctness actually not too bad, bar some impressive heatsoak from the footwellls.
After Mont St Michel we saw some D Day sights, not exactly a happy holiday destination but I always feel a kind of duty to go whenever I'm near such places.
Arromanches - the remnants of the temporary Mulberry harbour are everywhere here, one of the few places you can gauge the scale of D Day. The Musee du Debarquement is very good (make sure you see the pathe news footage in their small cinema)
http://www.arromanches-museum.com/accue ... hp?lang=uk
We also stopped at the American Cemetery at Colleville Sur Mer, always a bit sobering when you stop at one of the larger war graves, this one holds ~10,000 American war dead and is directly above Omaha beach.
https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memoria ... xGKu9QrKt8
After camping nearby, we went to the Utah beach museum. I really did find this one moving. The Roosevelt cafe walls opposite the museum are covered in notes and dedications from D Day veterans to their friends and comrades along with lots of photos.
The museum itself had a very large investment via a coincidence:
With an interest in the Second World War, David and Gene Dewhurst visit the Utah Beach D-Day Museum on a family trip. In an exhibit, they recognize a photo of their father, Major David Dewhurst, posing at the foot of his B-26 Marauder with his crew and learn that he was a decorated squadron commander, who courageously led the final bombing run on the German stronghold WN5, moments before the Allied landing at Utah Beach.
The two brothers are stunned by their discovery, as their father, Major David Dewhurst, had died when they were very young, and they knew very little about him.
Inspired by their visit, the brothers decide to spearhead the major renovation and expansion project that had been under review for several years. They go on to finance over a third of this ambitious project.
http://www.utah-beach.com/museum/key-dates/?lang=en
The aircraft above wasn't actually Dewhurst's, but his sons actually managed to get it shipped over from the states. Quite a task I'd imagine...
More impressive than any of this of course, was the XM V6 auto parked outside I never did see an XM estate though 
We then headed up to Le Havre to catch the ferry to Portsmouth on the millpond known as the Channel:
As mentioned on the fleet reports thread, I was rather pleased to see the new QE aircraft carrier up close:
After that I showed the missus just how uncomfortable the motorcycle pillion wives were in comparison to our luxury vehicle as we were leaving the ferry hold...
Then it was a small matter of dodging the thunderstorms on the way up the A34. First time we'd driven with the hood on all holiday
Hope you enjoyed that. Pleased to contribute some content for the first time in a while. Still enjoy putting a post together about a road trip
As a bit of an addendum - upgraditis has set in! The main issue was how much 'er indoors wants to drive the Caterham now! Luckily this means a new seat, and the MOG racing seat from Westermann is the only one that ever fitted me. Apparently you can still use the standard runners to enable a shorter person to drive. Shame it's 800eu.... but the savings fund has already been started
Last photo, the missus liked the way the car looked in the light and took this one
Brittany and Normandy trip
A few years back I tried to go on a foreign road trip to Spain in the 7, but unfortunately a piston cracked 2 weeks before. The engine needed a full rebuild so any road trips in it went very much on the back burner.
So much so I wrote this on Pistonheads in 2011:
Devil's advocate on Seven trips:
By God you'll need a missus with a good sense of humour if you want to do thousands of miles round Europe in a Seven. Packing up takes ages (it is surprising how much you can fit in/on a Seven, but it's far from easy) Getting wet is a nightmare if it stays wet, and breakdowns would certainly worry me given my cars track record. Driving in Europe can be difficult in the best circumstances if you're not used to it, an unreliable, uncomfortable car that takes an age to pack watertight could be even more fun!
My actual view: One day I'm going to do it anyway. Without the missus
PS doesn't help that I've never seen a standard size boot on a Seven - both my cars have had 50 litre fuel tanks fitted for racing! I'd guess the boot depth is about five inches...
I found that when I was looking for Caterham touring tips this time round... thankfully I'd got most of my ideas sorted, and a missus with a sense of humour
I did a previous post on the old forum about some of the prep, so to sum up the space I had, here are the first of a few photos:
In the end I added a picnic table on the back behind the suitcase. We managed to put the rucksack we were going to carry in the footwell on the back of the car too:
Spares and tool kit went under the bonnet along with bulb kits. Throttle, clutch cable, alternator belt, fuses, tyre foam, fire extinguisher got carried in the bottom of the boot as normal.
A couple of lightweight fold up stools (£4ea from Amazon and honestly comfortable
) went behind the passenger seat as did waterproofs and food.Waterproof stuff sacks, microfibre towels, I got geeky and researched all about these lightweight space saving things, and loved it
The canny among you will notice that the tent got swapped too, the yellow and orange is indeed lovely, but quite expensive, and after once reading about a couple who had all their kit nicked off their Seven when touring Europe... discretion is the better part of valour.
We took the ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo and of course we saw a Seven in the queue... He had a RE bag too http://www.softbitsforsevens.co.uk/page40aa.html which I would've bought if I was richer
Always a pleasure leaving on a boat at sunset
First camp was at Dinan which was beautiful, thankfully the weather was awesome too (it was the whole holiday) However it appears we had forgotten how to put up the tent since last year:
Dinan on a stolen image:
The next couple of days was spent at Goulien, on the Crozon peninsula (just South of Brest) on the way we happened to follow a Mercedes 300, admittedly a little older than mine and around 5 Bentley Continental convertibles, bizarrely headed by a Panther Kallista. It was fun at first, but 35mph did get a bit wearing and we blasted past, hoping a wave was enough to placate our elders...
When we arrived and took a walk down the lane from our campsite, this was 100 metres away. Unfortunately we never did go surfing, watching the kiteboarders and windsurfers made me very jealous.
Stopping somewhere of course meant that we could take all the crap off the car:
... and my long suffering missus had a clear footwell instead of this to contend with (Ste look away now, there are several extremely ugly fastenings here!!)
We toured around the peninsula and saw a few sights, mainly involving me photographing the car...
Although the views often lived up to the 'like Cornwall, but empty' description I'd had of Brittany off a few friends:
This bridge was pretty impressive...
Here's a stolen image:
After that we had a hotel to stay in in Le Croisic. It was a nice area, shame about the hotel. Anyway, round the corner was pleasant:
And Guerande, a medieval walled town was stunning. We also managed to go for a meal (having put the hood on after hearing thunder as we were walking away from the car), watch the rain from inside the restaurant and come out to a lovely cloudless evening. Result
Anyway, back to the cars, saw this in Le Baule Escoublac the next day, it was mint... I think I'm back to liking them again as I'm not sure I'd care as much about how they handle/scuttle shake etc aged 38
La Baule was just like a South of France resort, amazing beach, far too many hotels, far too expensive and a bit soulless. Cruising the front in my bitsa 7 that I was sure was going to have some issue or other by this point (it hadn't had any) felt like I really was on holiday though
Sadly I didn't race the joker biker that pulled alongside at one of the myriad sets of lights, must be getting old.
From the sublime to the practical, I needed to buy some new headphones as I'd snapped off a piece of plastic inside my Shures while cleaning them
Music and podcasts were an essential on this trip, thanks to Radio 4 and Pugrallye for his essential mix downloads From La Croisic we went North to Mont St Michel, which was the start of us using autoroutes, to use backroads as we had been would've just taken too long in rather hot weather. The 9eu headphones were pretty awful, thanks for asking, but the 4200rpm cruise of correctness actually not too bad, bar some impressive heatsoak from the footwellls.
After Mont St Michel we saw some D Day sights, not exactly a happy holiday destination but I always feel a kind of duty to go whenever I'm near such places.
Arromanches - the remnants of the temporary Mulberry harbour are everywhere here, one of the few places you can gauge the scale of D Day. The Musee du Debarquement is very good (make sure you see the pathe news footage in their small cinema)
http://www.arromanches-museum.com/accue ... hp?lang=uk
We also stopped at the American Cemetery at Colleville Sur Mer, always a bit sobering when you stop at one of the larger war graves, this one holds ~10,000 American war dead and is directly above Omaha beach.
https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memoria ... xGKu9QrKt8
After camping nearby, we went to the Utah beach museum. I really did find this one moving. The Roosevelt cafe walls opposite the museum are covered in notes and dedications from D Day veterans to their friends and comrades along with lots of photos.
The museum itself had a very large investment via a coincidence:
With an interest in the Second World War, David and Gene Dewhurst visit the Utah Beach D-Day Museum on a family trip. In an exhibit, they recognize a photo of their father, Major David Dewhurst, posing at the foot of his B-26 Marauder with his crew and learn that he was a decorated squadron commander, who courageously led the final bombing run on the German stronghold WN5, moments before the Allied landing at Utah Beach.
The two brothers are stunned by their discovery, as their father, Major David Dewhurst, had died when they were very young, and they knew very little about him.
Inspired by their visit, the brothers decide to spearhead the major renovation and expansion project that had been under review for several years. They go on to finance over a third of this ambitious project.
http://www.utah-beach.com/museum/key-dates/?lang=en
The aircraft above wasn't actually Dewhurst's, but his sons actually managed to get it shipped over from the states. Quite a task I'd imagine...
More impressive than any of this of course, was the XM V6 auto parked outside
I never did see an XM estate though We then headed up to Le Havre to catch the ferry to Portsmouth on the millpond known as the Channel:
As mentioned on the fleet reports thread, I was rather pleased to see the new QE aircraft carrier up close:
After that I showed the missus just how uncomfortable the motorcycle pillion wives were in comparison to our luxury vehicle as we were leaving the ferry hold...
Then it was a small matter of dodging the thunderstorms on the way up the A34. First time we'd driven with the hood on all holiday
Hope you enjoyed that. Pleased to contribute some content for the first time in a while. Still enjoy putting a post together about a road trip
As a bit of an addendum - upgraditis has set in! The main issue was how much 'er indoors wants to drive the Caterham now! Luckily this means a new seat, and the MOG racing seat from Westermann is the only one that ever fitted me. Apparently you can still use the standard runners to enable a shorter person to drive. Shame it's 800eu.... but the savings fund has already been started
Last photo, the missus liked the way the car looked in the light and took this one
Luckily we took it out and it was fine 
Tres cool! That really does sound appealing.
I'm too old to even consider being that tough.
