Esprit D'Aventure - France 2021 - Burgundy region

[Chillidoggy]

Hugues Bigot, in association with Club Lotus France, has arranged another ‘Esprit D’Aventure’ event for 2021, this time in Burgundy, in the beautiful Morvan national park region of France.

 The dates are 16^th – 19^th September, the event is open solely to Esprit owners, the number is capped at 20. There are now three places left out of the 20, with Sparky and I already signed-up.

 There is a choice of either two, or three, nights half-board accommodation in the well-appointed 3-Star ‘Hotel de Trois Maures’ in Couches, with planned excursions each day to local places of interest, including a wine-tasting, a technical museum and a castle visit, all the while taking in the scenic routes.

 Prices:    3 nights: €790 for 2 persons, €470 single person.

               2 nights: 560 for 2 persons, €340 for one person.

               A ‘per car’ €15 supplement is payable for non-members of Club Lotus France.

 Pre-registration is the first step, please e-mail Hugues at bigot.hugues@orange.fr and he will send you full details, and the registration forms. Please note there is no obligation at this stage.

 Bearing in mind Covid and the current travel issues, it is advised that if you pre-register, you monitor the regulations regarding travel to and from France. The deadline for event confirmation is 15th August, no exceptions.

 

 

[Chillidoggy]

Last call for this event, another week before it closes. I’m really looking forward to this one!

[Giniw]

Hi, I suspect you all are aware of this already but in France you will need to be vaccinated to do pretty much anything starting from tomorrow (august 9th), including restaurants, visits, and so on.

[paulbrown22]

Sounds great, look forward to seeing some pictures of the event! I sadly won't be able to make it this time, but will definitely try in the future if it takes place again.

[Giniw]

 

[Sparky]

Shocking to see a rough old S4s dumped by that lovely medieval building.

[Chillidoggy]

Arrived back in Blighty yesterday to find you lot have been hoovering up all the petrol everywhere. 

So, on to the Esprit d'Aventure report, which I will be adding to as time permits.

Took the car ferry to Calais, which, like the traffic lanes, was pretty much empty.

After an uneventful crossing, we drove to Chalons-en-Champagne where we stayed for the night before moving on to the event hotel in Couches. For those who think British lane discipline is the worst, I can reliably inform you that it most certainly is not. Middle-lane hoggers abound on 3-lane Autoroutes which, whilst being smooth and the fastest route point to point, do seem to attract them. We were the first to arrive at the hotel, and were directed to the private car park solely for the event, which was behind electric doors. Retiring for drinks, we could hear Esprit's arriving from time to time.

[Bling]

Sounds like a fab trip. Looking forward to more details and photos Ian.

[C8RKH]

Your Esprit looks lovely in that colour scheme. very nice @Chillidoggy.

[Giniw]

2 hours ago, Chillidoggy said:

Middle-lane hoggers abound on 3-lane Autoroutes

I think there are more near Paris because I reckon they are used to drive in the middle lane on the Paris ring road to avoid incoming traffic from the right, but indeed it's extremely annoying.

[Chillidoggy]

Evening meal with those taking part on the Friday's jaunt (you could choose between 2 or 3 days), it became clear everyone was really enthusiastic. There were arrivals from Luxemburg, Switzerland, Belgium and even one chap from Quebec, and I believe Guadeloupe, with Esprit's of all different flavours.

The first real photo opportunity came pre-departure. 

 

 

Organiser Hugues Bigot dished out the instructions, which took the form of 'tulips' and other instructions as used in navigational rallies. We were instructed to leave in small groups, as one big crocodile of Esprit's could disrupt local traffic. My navigator gets lost on her way to the bottom of the garden so we were at a bit of a disadvantage, thus we decided to follow another S4s driven by expats. Little did we know that the instructions were more difficult than we thought, and both of us got lost halfway to the first stopping point. We eventually got there, though.

 

 

[Chillidoggy]

Arriving at Bibracte archeological site for lunch, we were treated to a meal which would have been served up in medieval times on wooden benches. It's fair to say that whilst the fare was interesting, we were relieved not to have lived during those times. The afternoon included a drive up the top of the hill to see the continuing excavations of what was a town of 20,000 inhabitants back in the day, followed by a spirited drive to visit the spectacular Chateau de Sully, where we were treated to a tour, and back to the hotel again.

 

[Chillidoggy]

Lunch on Saturday was al-fresco, at a nice little restaurant overlooking a lake.

 

 

[Chillidoggy]

Moving on after lunch, we also stopped for a visit to a place in the middle of nowhere at which a guy only restores pre-war Citroens. Never seen so many old starter motors in my life, and a fascinating workshop, stuff everywhere but somehow (just like Sparky's magic garage), you felt he would be able to lay his hands on whatever part he needed.

 

[tomcattom]

Don't want to go starting anything in there... 🤐

[Chillidoggy]

Some more photos from the time warp garage.

 

 

 

Love the workmanship on the fuel and oil tank!

 

Anyone know what this is?

[pete]

Looks like something from wacky races

[Giniw]

6 hours ago, Chillidoggy said:

Anyone know what this is?

Apparently a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenard-Walcker

 

[TAR]

Odd that it's right hand drive from a French manufacturer.  

[Chillidoggy]

10 hours ago, TAR said:

Odd that it's right hand drive from a French manufacturer.  

 

And a Chenard & Walcker car was the winner of the first ever 24 Heures du Mans, in 1923.

[Chillidoggy]

Sunday morning, saw drizzly weather. The last port of call for the tour was the Chateau de Savigny-les-Beaune, which boasts the largest collection of Abarth race cars, and a collection of jet fighters in the garden. After battling with legions of 911's which had turned up at the same time, we finally got parked and went for a browse around the cars located on the first floor. I don't know much about Abarth, but from what I saw, they might have beaten Colin Chapman to the draw when it comes to lightweight, small-engined racers.

 

[Chillidoggy]

Moving outside into the drizzle, the back yard contained quite a collection of jet fighters from all nations. There was also a large hanger which contained various front bits of jets, and a collection of aero engines. The other half of the hall was dedicated to types of machines designed solely for picking grapes.

 

[Giniw]

13 hours ago, TAR said:

Odd that it's right hand drive from a French manufacturer.  

I think most veteran cars were RHD anyway

[Chillidoggy]

Having departed the chateau, we headed for a week in Sarlat-le-Caneda in the Dordogne, but I won’t be boring anyone with those photos.

To sum up, Esprit d’Aventure was brilliant, and our sincere thanks to Hugues Bigot for carrying out what must have been a vast amount of work in organising the event. The clientele were friendly, and it was fun to exercise our Franglais once more. Prior to leaving, we were all presented with a big rally plaque, poster and a personalised, limited edition, signed print of a cutaway copper fire FYEO Esprit. 

 

There follows gratuitous Esprit photos taken during the visit.

[Chillidoggy]