OK – my take on the Raid Asterix !! (And note this is solely my opinion, and I have my wife's permission to say so!!)
The trip can be broken into two aspects:
1. The Organisation
2. The trip itself
In terms of the trip itself, Jon has it pretty much covered – great tracks, stunning scenery, some interesting villages, nice camp-sites, and mostly great weather – we had a little rain and some chilly days due to altitude.
All the LCs performed flawlessly, although Steve might have had a slight over-heating problem on the run down to Clermont-Ferrand on the AutoRoutes at speed and in the heat – he and Jon suspect an air-flow problem due to suspension lift etc. – investigations continue! In contrast, the only vehicle to pack up was the BOAB LR90, which experienced a front drive issue, and had to be recovered by Jon and Ray and reduced to a 2-wheel-drive vehicle for the rest of the trip – making the promised support and back-up non-existent! Good thing we didn’t need any of that, then. Hope he doesn’t have to recover anyone on the current trip!
Steve lost a running board on Day 2 – my Wildsmith sliders did what the manufacturer promised, and kept me well protected
The organisation side of things I’m afraid was not what I was led to believe. It didn’t start well, with a moan about having to now try and remember all our names, having ‘just got rid of the last lot’ – how to make your clients feel welcome! Other comments about ‘this is work for me’ and ‘having to deal with @rseholes when at work’ didn’t help.
Nor did the instructions to arrive at the gite on Tuesday evening AFTER 18h30 go down well, when we did so, only to find everyone else hadn’t bothered, the guide was nowhere to be found, and we were left to flounder for 40 minutes trying to find out where he was, where our rooms were and what else we were supposed to do. The guide finally appeared, all freshly showered, and made it out to be our fault for arriving at the stated time, saying ‘we were about to come look for you!’. Not professional – especially when he did the same thing at the hotel, and then at the end of the final stage, when he wasn’t where he was supposed to be, and nor did he supply the final farewell drinks!
Also – if the site and adverts say:
A 9.00am start each day is preceded by the days briefing at 8.45am, where you will be given your road book for the day. It would be useful if we actually had the briefing at the stated time, and not some arbitrary time thereafter!
And -
even though the driving is diverse, from rocky and boulder strewn tracks, to crawling up mountains, crossing rivers, navigating through dense forest and worst of all French roundabouts!! We would still anticipate that everyone will have plenty of time for sightseeing, photography and picnics during the day. You can only do this if you drive like the Stig, and the navigator will see squat as they won’t be able to get their heads out the road book to look around! We tried to resolve this by driving in tandem with Jon and Ray, swapping the lead each day so that one navigator at least could take it a bit easier – that seemed to help - but 120km a day is just too much, really, to be able to enjoy the trip vs just drive ...
Then:
camp sites are paid for and a few impromptu aperitif's, as well as an odd evening meal, and farewell drinks on the Saturday
So – the few aperitifs never really materialised, nor did the odd evening meal, nor the Saturday farewell drinks. If you’re going to advertise it – then damn well do it!
Lots of comments about prizes etc on previous trips – none of these materialised, and the one road-book that we had to complete sections of on our own for marking and comment weren’t collected ….
Any criticism / suggestions for improvement was soundly ignored – in fact, certain very competent members of our group were practically called ‘idiots’ much to my amazement!!
So – whinge over – here are some of our pics to share with you …
At Le Grange Fort campsite (€40 for all 6 of us and 3 vehicles for the night, and you could buy fresh farm bread in the morning, which was delicious!):
The indoor pool:
The original fort:
The Doctor and the the FoxWing:
Comtois Horses
The little river crossing – enter the river, turn right and 70 metres later exit left …
The damn bell in the monastery
Took much more effort to get it to toll than I anticipated – accompanied by the quotes of ‘for whom the bell tolls - it tolls for thee’ etc.
Climbing the Massif – stunning views
Dodging the timber lorries – Jon and I were stopped on a bridge because this guy came around a corner towards us. Some local yokel in his puggy wagon decided to hurtle around Jon’s truck – and very nearly had to change his skivvies when he discovered why we were pulled over – quite hilarious – his eyes almost bounced off his windscreen!
The obligatory coffee stop!
Windy little streets
The fireplace in the dining room in the gite:
Says 1657 on the metalwork !!
Some pics of the gite:
Some of the Gorge du Tarn
The obligatory coffee stop
Incredible chateau’s
Asterix’ tomb – nearly my tomb !!
The ‘must have a picture of’ water splash:
And again…
One way to wash the truck!!
Lots of BJ40 and LJ70 cruisers everywhere – this one begging for a home
The Last Supper
Incredible fields of cultivated dandelions
More stunning vistas
Another obligatory coffee stop!!
More views
The farewell shot!!
The Loire River campsite at Ile d’Or in Amboise