IMOC trip to the Le Mans 24 hour - All MR2's Invited

[Ekona]

Okay, that's me & Jo and Mark & Chris all booked in the chateau, and I've sent you an e-mail too Mike for the group mailshot. Apologies for the slight delay

[AW11 Forever..!]

Dan,

No email received, can you resend to

[email protected]

If I caould have Marks email too I'll add you both to the mailshot

[Ekona]

Resent with Mark's address too.

[unowho]

Well that's us and BSK all booked up with Dominique aswell

The Bench live's on

[Ekona]

Okay Ladies and Gentlemen, time for a bit of an announcement!


Given that Pete hasn't been able to arrange the bolt-on this year (which everyone obviously understands), myself and Mark have taken it upon ourselves to try and sort something out, and this is what we've come up with. Due to the distances involved it has meant adjusting the dates somewhat, but bear with me and I'll explain more at the end.


Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th June
Race day don't ya know

Monday 15th June
Leave campsite and head south for... Millau! Not a particularly exciting day this as it'll be a straight motorway blat, but it'll be more than worth the trip. It sets us up nicely for...

Tuesday 16th June
A nice drive out today, the idea being to drive the famous Millau Viaduct in the morning along with exploring the beautiful National Park next to Millau, and then a drive to Montpellier on the coast for some lunch. There'll be plenty of free time here for people to do whatever they want, so if you want to go drive some more nice roads you can do so, or you could simply walk the old streets of the town itself and soak up some culture (and hopefully some sunshine!)

Wednesday 17th June
Another long slog unfortunately, so we'll be leaving Millau and making good progress to Caen.

Thursday 18th June
Bit of a free day of choice, this one. My personal plan is to re-visit the WW2 landing beaches of Utah, Omaha and Gold again as time didn't let us fully explore last year, as well as the stopping at the cemetery again. For those that didn't do the beaches last year you now get the chance to visit some of the most moving places I've ever been, or for those that did and don't want to go back there you could head over to Bayeaux and see the tapestry, something I may well try and fit in myself if time allows.

Friday 19th June
Still two beaches to visit so Juno and Sword can be done today, but again there's free choice to do whatever you want. We'll be heading to Amiens late this evening to put us in a sensible place for catching the ferries.

Saturday 20th June
Hometime We're getting the 13:10 P&O ferry from Calais to Dover, gets us back in the UK for 13:40.




At this point I'm well aware that this isn't going to be a trip for everyone, as some people don't want to go back to where they've been and some won't want to extend their trip into the weekend etc. That's fine, I don't honestly expect too many people to join myself, Jo, Mark and Chris for all of it although you're more than welcome to! The idea is that you can pick and choose what you want, and disappear at your own convenience. Who wouldn't want to drive this though:



Check out the road below too, supposed to be awesome! If you don't want to do the beaches after this then you're free to head back up to catch the ferries, or maybe you don't want to spend the two days in and around Caen and would rather get home on the Friday? Again, not a problem, just leave whenever suits you, and that will probably suit our friends in the north who already have a huge drive ahead of them when they get back in the UK. Of course, you may just hate the whole idea and not want to do any of it, and I appreciate that we all have a different idea of what a holiday should be. I promise not to be too offended if everyone just buggers off and does their own thing A decision had to be made at some point though so that's why we've gone ahead and planned this without too much debate as no-one really knew where they wanted to go.

As for hotels, we're staying in these ones:
Millau for two nights, 15th & 16th
Caen for two nights, 17th & 18th
Amiens for one night, 19th

It works out at approx. £100 per room per night per hotel, but that's if you go for the Flex option which gives you a full refund if you cancel or otherwise can't make it; if you do without this option you can save yourself a good £75-80 over the five nights. There's obviously other hotels available, but I've picked these three for the quality, the price and off-road parking. If you wanted to go cheaper/more expensive then there's plenty of hotels around in the areas, we didn't all stay in the one hotel last year and it wasn't a huge issue.



So, there you go. Anyone interested can either go right ahead and book their hotels and possibly alter ferry crossings, or start looking for alternative accommodation in the towns and booking that instead. Shout up if you're planning on joining us, should be a fantastic end to an already exciting trip!

[Kieran Williams]

Hi folks,

I will Lynn and I will no longer be coming on the bolt on trip, it is just too expensive staying in Hotels etc!

I have amended the travelling list accordingly.

Still be at the white Rabbit on the 8th though

Ki

Ki+Lynn- 9th Jun@0700 Dover-Bolougne (LdLines)
15th Jun@1045 Bolougne-Dover (Ld Lines)

John+Josh - 9th Jun@06:45 Dover-Calais (Seafrance)
15th Jun@10:00 Calais-Dover (Seafrance)

Jinxy+Deb - 9th [email protected] Dover-Calais (SeaFrance)
19th [email protected] Calais-Dover (SeaFrance)

Steve+1? - 9th [email protected] Dover-Calais (SeaFrance)
15th [email protected] Calais-Dover (SeaFrance)

Michael+Joanne - 9th [email protected] Dover-Calais (SeaFrance)
19th [email protected] Calais-Dover (SeaFrance)

[AW11 Forever..!]

Aston Martin testing at Paul Ricard last weekend





I'm really looking forward to seeing that in the flesh!

[AW11 Forever..!]

Dan,

The trip looks amazing mate! count us in although we have to be back in the UK Friday morning as we are attending a wedding in Stoke.

Saw a documentary about the building of that bridge, was amazing!

Can you give me the names of the hotels please so I can check them out.

Ok so the bolt on trip is officially in both yours and Marks hands, thanks for stepping up.

Cheers
Michael

[Ekona]

God that Aston is beautiful

Dan,

The trip looks amazing mate! count us in although we have to be back in the UK Friday morning as we are attending a wedding in Stoke.

Saw a documentary about the building of that bridge, was amazing!

Can you give me the names of the hotels please so I can check them out.

Ok so the bolt on trip is officially in both yours and Marks hands, thanks for stepping up.

Cheers
Michael

No worries Mike, just glad you can join us! Hotels are in the links above, but just for you I'll put the names down here as well

Millau = Mercure Millau
Caen = Hotel Novotel Caen Côte de Nacre
Amiens = Hotel Novotel Amiens Est

I know you won't be using them all on the same dates as us, but even if you use them as place markers to get timescales right then you won't be a million miles off.

[AW11 Forever..!]

Woooo there!

Just had a look on the map at Millau, it's almost in Spain, gulp! didn't realise how far South it was. Myself and Jo have to be on the 10am ferry on the Friday as we have a wedding and have to be in Stoke Friday afternoon. Looking at how far away Millau is I'm not sure we are going to be able to make this one. Millau to Calais is 563 miles so I'd need 2 days just to travel back so would need to leave Wednesday night and drive throught the night as its 9 hours, probably not worth it for me for a day or 2 down there.

Petrol £100
Hotel £200

I might just zip up to Brugges on the Tuesday and see if we can get 3 night there, we went there a few years ago and its kinda on the way back, via a further 2 hours each way from Calais.

Mmmmm wondering what to do now guys, need to look at this a little deeper.

[unowho]

Ooohhhh That bridge looks awesome , BUT not for me, I don't do heights, I get sick going over the QEII on the M25 ........ Maybe one day

Michael, Brugges does sounds good, I've been before and loved it, although didn't tell Jinx we found a lovely restaurant serving Rabbit

Will keep watching......

[Kieran Williams]

Myself and Lynn are looking at nipping across to eurodisney for the 16th and leaving for the ferry on the morning of the 17th, costs are resonable and it looks like a laugh

[AW11 Forever..!]

Thats an awesome idea! say hi to Mickey for me....

[RoadsterBoy]

Howdy guys,

Been hugely busy with work lately, so i've not been around much, but i've sent my email to dominque tonight!

Now I've just gotta decide about the bolt on - the bridge does look cool, but not sure about the extra cost - plus is the p&o ferry crossing already booked a flexible one Dan?

If not, then maybe I could join Kieran at eurodisney - i've always wanted to see how it compares to florida since i went 5 years ago..

[Kieran Williams]

i have never been to eurodisney either, more the marrier as far as i am concerned

[toxo]

I went when I was at college, you will have a great time And lots of tequila...

[Ekona]

Now I've jsut gotta decide on the bol on - the bridge does look cool, but not sure about the extra cost - plus is the p&o ferry crossing already booked a flexible one Dan?

Cost an extra £25, peanuts compared to the cost of the rest of the holiday

[AW11 Forever..!]

The AUDI R15 has just won the opening round of the American Le Mans Series ( AMLS ) at Sebring.

The new Mazda LM1 car looks amazing, looking forward to see that in the flesh in June.

Still plenty more places left, in fact its unlimited if you want to attend this trip with us. Don't worry about getting things organised you can have your ferry booked, and camping at the chateau booked in less than 5 minutes.

Live the dream with us and come to Le Mans with IMOC, ROC and the MR2 MK1 Club.

[AW11 Forever..!]

i have never been to eurodisney either, more the marrier as far as i am concerned

Ki,

Can you post more info about Disneyland, I think its a great idea, we thought about this last year but it never materialised. I'm thinking about a few days here and then maybe a trip up to Reems to see the old, historic GP track, visit the museum, etc. If you could give me as much info that would be magical, are you planning on staying in a hotel at the resort.

Cheers
Michael
10 weeks to go!!!!

[markiii]

not wishing to rain on teh plan but did Euro disney a few years back and it was awful.

half teh restaurants weren't open andteh French lack the happy factor makeit work

I had to armwrestle micky mouse in to saying hello to teh girls even though we'd paid for teh privilige

the resort hotels will be full of screaming kids so unless thats your thing plan on dining outside teh resort