Fotos von Panthertreffen 2016

6th - 19th June 2016
St Severin Charente France trip 2016

St Severin Charente France trip 2016

This year one of the tours as you may know was to St Severin Charente. I’ve been told not to write too many pages so here is the concise version:
Val & Ray broke down on the way, I came back on a transporter. It rained a lot but we had a good time.
Or how about a bit more detail…

June 6- 10 We all went to St Severin by a variety of routes. We went over to St Malo, and stayed for a few days on Ile de Re-,the lighthouse staircase was impressive.
The main group went over via Calais. Unfortunately north of Paris the brakes failed on Val’s J72 & had to go to a garage, so Val & Ray continued in a hire car

However it did rain a lot on the way. My Lima is not the best at keeping rain out (is anyone’s), at one point I had water dripping on my knee. Perhaps I ought to rename it Leaky McLeakface…

On the Friday we arrived at Grand Toutvent near St Severin- Val & Ray, Colin & Di and Bob & June already there. The others are staying in a B&B in the town owned by Colin & Julie who many know from Panthering in Essex. Mogens & Vibeke arrived shortly afterwards although not in Mogens’ Panther as he has had problems registering it in Spain.
Grand Toutvent is impressive, sleeps up to 19!
Mogens and Ray started on aperitifs, drinking Romanian beer to show their support in that evening’s France v Romania match! We met the others at Colin & Julie’s, then a short walk to a local restaurant.

But they had a local ceilidh band and being the Panther Car Club some joining in was expected- June singing ‘Fields of Athelraye’ …and of course Jim yodelling.

Saturday June 11- Aubeterre
We drove to Aubeterre where we were joined by some French Panthers bringing us up to 11.We visited an underground church there, very impressive.

Just about to set off when Bev noticed his fuel was really low, we hadn’t gone that far and it certainly didn’t need half a tank. Turned out to be a split fuel pipe. Jim the mechanic to the rescue who had some spare pipe. Then that group set off only for Colin’s car to develop the same fault! (You wait ages for a split pipe then two come at once…)
Meanwhile the other half set off for a picnic by a lake. The plan was to swim in the lake but it was not permitted today. So we tried to walk round the lake but got a bit lost then found it wasn’t possible so ended up coming back the same way!
Later Val organised a wonderful evening in a local restaurant with live music. The guitarist played a succession of classic hits that we all knew the words to- Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Elvis, Queen

Sunday June 12- What, à Pillac
An early start as it was the annual Fete in the local village of Pillac. We gathered at the local golf club along with members of the local classic car club, now up to 13 Panthers with the arrivals of Dave and Mike, then drove in procession to Pillac. A marquee had been set up outside the town hall in Pillac where a band was playing.

They even played ‘God save the Queen’, followed by The Marseillaise. The food was barbecued wild boar and steak washed down with red wine- all before 11am!
At one point it started to rain prompting a Le Mans style dash for the cars to cover them up! When it finished, as the weather was not too good, (again) plans for the afternoon were changed to go back to the house at Grand Toutvent for tea and cake then just crash out for the afternoon.
Then on to the next event, a bbq hosted by Colin & Julie. It should have been at their place, but Grand Toutvent was more suited to being under cover for a large number

It was of course followed by the inevitable yodelling from Jim. Then farewells from our French friends

Monday June- 13 Caves and horses
The two groups staying in the two places each needed fuel so decided to meet at the petrol station. Unfortunately due to a misunderstanding it was not the same one… When we did get together it started to rain so wimped out and roofs up so of course then the sun came out. Arrived at Brantome where there is a very picturesque Abbey and caves. But while we were there it started raining constantly.

Then we went to Brantome Horse Sanctuary, where they take in retired police horses although we got lost a few times on the way.
Followed by dinner at a local restaurant in the evening.

Tuesday June 14- St Emilion
We said goodbye to Dave which left us with 9 cars and drove down to St Emilion, just about in convoy with a couple of hiccups. Some with roof up and some down, with the odd shower on the way. It was a scenic route past many vineyards.

Unfortunately no reserved parking for pretty photos this time we just fitted in where we could. In St Emilion there are more wine shops than you can shake a stick at.

We went up the main bell tower. Unusual way to get in- buy ticket at Tourist Office who gave us the key to open the door and asked that we lock it behind us! But we did get a great view from the top. Set off back with the roof down, but then got caught in yet another shower.
In the evening we had traditional French(!) fish and chips from a mobile van at the local golf club.

Wednesday June 15- Bergerac
An early start meeting at 8.30am (on holiday?) to drive to Bergerac.

We stopped on this bridge which was built by M Eiffel (as in Tower). Unfortunately the Frenchman behind us on his way to work was not impressed at us holding him up.

We passed many vineyards before arriving at Chateau de Sanxet, where the owner makes wine and has a small motor museum.

The cars are an eclectic mix of some the owner has raced such as a vintage Bugatti and cars he has found, many of which are original and unrestored

Then we went to the centre of Bergerac, where they celebrate Cyrano de Bergerac

Quiet evening tonight, or so we thought. Jim & Lin joined the group at Toutvent to help mop up the mountains of food that Val bought.

But we repaired the pool table for a competition later. The pool table had a slope, so we came up with the hi tec solution of jacking up one side with pieces of cardboard to level it!

Thursday June 16- 2016 - At leisure
Geoff and Roz visited a local market, Judy & I went to the Cité du Vin in Bordeaux only opened since 1st June. It is very impressive and interactive with lots of videos etc, even smellovision!

Then in the evening our last night dinner with speeches from Val and Mogens, with his rendition of ‘My Way’ And finally some piano playing from Mogens- is there no end to his talents?

A fond farewell to those who are going separate ways in the morning as we make our way back home. Particular thanks to Val, Colin and Julie for their organisation helping to make a great holiday.

Friday June 17- The long way home
Everyone was leaving this morning, and in all directions. Mogens and Vibeke south to Spain. Val and Ray off to north of Paris to collect their Panther J72 which has had it’s braking system replaced. The main group is staying in Amboise this evening about 3 to 4 hours away. Meanwhile Mike, Judy and I had a 350 mile drive to Coudeville near St Malo. Fairly uneventful just long and of course it rained a lot. My car was once more Leaky McLeakface with water dripping everywhere. Even Mike’s Kallista was leaking it was that heavy.

Anyway arrived at Coudeville sur Mer in glorious sunshine. Our hotel faces the sea and we were upgraded to sea view rooms.
Meanwhile Val & Ray arrived in Paris safely after a slow journey. On arrival at the garage, they were still finishing the replacement braking system as the parts only arrived today. But seems the car is going well and they will meet the others at Caen tomorrow. The main group reached Amboise …and the bar

Saturday June 18- Another day, another breakdown- quel dommage!
Nice relaxing start, in the car at 9am to set off for the Cherbourg ferry and thunk! the accelerator cable snapped. That’s one spare I don’t carry. At least it happened outside the hotel. And we do have Breakdown cover. So missed the ferry but a breakdown truck took us to Caen for a later ferry. Which by coincidence was the ferry that the main group were on.The truck pulled up in the queue at Caen, I jumped out and knocked on Val’s car window which did surprise her a bit! After a bit of discussion and a £52 surcharge from Britanny Ferries to change crossing the truck took us to the ferry and (gratefully for the driver) dropped us off.

The Brittany Ferries manager suggested we start the car to get it on board. After a push start it got going but I was driving it on full choke at 3500 rpm with the only control being the clutch. The Lima has a quirk that as the choke goes in it needs a blip on the accelerator to bring the revs down, which of course I couldn’t do. So when I was put at the back of the lorries and switched off all the unburnt fuel backfired with a huge bang! Not what you want with terrorist alerts…
Getting off the boat that evening around 10pm, we were left to the end, started the Panther on choke but this time had a clear run and a breakdown truck was waiting for us 100 yards from the boat then took us to a local hotel.

Meanwhile Steve and Irene arrived in Calais early after a seven and a half hour drive non motorway and 57 roundabouts, Irene stayed awake to count them.

Sunday June 19- Home at last
Long day travelling up on the back of various breakdown trucks from Portsmouth arriving early evening.

On the bright side my mpg was pretty good on the return trip…. Now just need to find a replacement throttle cable.

Andy Stobbie

Here are the pictures:

Please, click on the photo to see them in larger size.