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1st Sep 2006
Day 1 - Calais to Annecy
So we woke up with sore heads and Damian was pretty ill having been up all night making regular trips to the Bathroom. Matt drove the first stretch but didnt fill us with confidence when he almost drove head-on into a car as he forgot that he should be driving on the right hand side of the road - and this was before we even left the hotel car park. We got to Auchens car park, all the other cars were there ready for the "off" so we stocked up on snacks and drinks, got our Walkie Talkies and our challenge sheet and set off at 9am. Day 1`s challenge was to choose a letter of the alphabet and take pictures of as many things we could find on the journey. We chose "M" and managed to find 51 (some very dubious ones like... Matt, Mickey Mouse - on a poster, and Monkey - a toy in a petrol station). As soon as we got on the Motorway we were off it again filling up with petrol - an idea it seems everyone else on the rally also had so this immediately broke up what convoy there might have been but we did spend all day passing, and being passed by other teams in cars such as Senators, a Jaguar, Volvos, a Golf, Escort, Sierra, a Mercedes, a Jetta and even a Citreon 1CV! The drive through France is pretty uninspiring unless you like fields because that is all there is! We drove past Reims and Dijon and headed towards Annecy and when it starts getting mountainous, the drive became more enjoyable. The Carlton encountered no problems at all and it was eating up the motorway miles for fun. As we headed into Annecy we had a slight scare when we almost had a collision with a low-flying Heron. It was lucky no-one was able to witness the noise that 4 "grown men" made when presented with the possibility of smashing into a massive bird! Our hotel for the night - The Rochers Blancs was at the top of a mountain overlooking Mont Blanc. We got a little lost and we started to drive up the wrong mountain but managed to turn around before we lost too much time. This was where Matt almost drove into a second car - again, driving on the wrong side of the road. The day was a long one so we all took it in turns with the driving but when we found the right road, it was so steep that the temperature rose quite quickly and before we knew it, we had steam belching out from under the bonnet. 30 minutes later, it had cooled down sufficiently to carry on again but - 5 minutes later, more steam. 30 more minutes later and we were back on our way and reached the hotel at 8pm! Long day! In the evening, we had a meal, shared a few stories with the other teams and went to bed worried about the impending Simplon Pass in Switzerland with a car that is overheating on steep hills.
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Diary Photos
| 1st Sep 2006 |
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| Day 1 - The start |
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| 1st Sep 2006 |
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| One of many refuelling stops |
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| 1st Sep 2006 |
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| Our first bit of trouble, Annecy |
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| 1st Sep 2006 |
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| Mont Blanc from Day 1 Hotel |
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