A ROADSTER 100 GOES TO FRANCE
After various family commitments during the early part of the year, Glyn and I found ourselves able to plan a few weeks holiday and decided to take our Roadster 100, number 002, or Merlin, as he is better known to our family, to France. We have been to this beautiful country many times but not for some years.
We had a great holiday and really enjoyed being back in La Belle France after so many years. The trip down went very well, the ferry crossing was calm, the ship was half empty and after disembarking at Ouistreham just outside Caen we found our way to the first stop at Avranches very easily. Unfortunately it had started raining within the first couple of miles so it was hood up for the first time. Next morning the sky was blue and the sun was hot as we packed our bags back into Merlin ready for the next leg down to La Rochelle, hood down of course!
First stop, in the village of Le Val-Saint-Pere
Our Sat Nav took us straight to our hotel after a very pleasant drive via Rennes, Nantes and La Roche sur Yon. We spent two nights in La Rochelle giving us a long day to relax just sitting by the old port and doing a little shopping in the ancient walled city. We have been here many times but it is still one of our favorite places in France.
The Old Port of La Rochelle
The Clock Tower, Entrance to the city.
When we left La Rochelle it was misty and a little overcast but warm. Hood down we headed cross country for the Dordogne via Saintes, Cognac, Angouleme, Bergerac and then followed the river valley to Sarlat-la-Caneda, our next two night stop. The day had brightened and we arrived in sunshine again, our Sat Nav guiding us directly to the hotel. We have been to Sarlat a few times too but had never stayed overnight. We enjoyed our day exploring and finding whole areas we had not seen before. We had lunch at a little restaurant near the Medieval centre, outside in the street so that we could watch all the comings and goings of life in the town.
There were buskers playing and singing anything from ancient French folk songs to blues and even a cellist playing classical music. Later in the day one of the guys playing guitar and singing traditional French songs joined the cellist and they played and sung together for an hour. There were also acrobats, jugglers and many other entertainers all through the tiny, flower lined streets making for a very enjoyable day.
Sarlat
Sarlat Buskers
The next leg took us South in hot sunshine through Gourdon, Figeac, Albi, Castres and Mazamet where we took the pass over the top of the Black Mountains, then down to the tiny village of Montolieu where we had rented a villa for the next two weeks. The villa was lovely, it was situated in a tiny lane on the edge of the village but only a short walk from the centre where there was a small well stocked food shop. It had four restaurants and many second hand/antique book shops. The village has been described as the French Hay on Wye. It was situated on a rocky outcrop with a gorge on two sides, both with fast flowing rivers in the bottom and could only be accessed via two bridges.
Crossing the Black Mountains
Route finding stop
The Village of Montolieu
Merlin at the Villa Rosier
The villa had a swimming pool so we spent our first few days sitting in the sun with a bottle of wine and plates of the local cheese, tomatoes and huge spring onions just chilling out.
We had chosen to stay in this area again because we had both not long read Kate Mosse's trilogy, Labyrinth, Sepulcher, and Citadel which all have stories, linked in time, about the ancient city of Carcassonne and the tiny towns and villages in the Aude valley.
The Ancient City of Carcassonne
We decided that we would like to visit the places that are key parts of those stories. We also wanted to drive around the foothills of the Pyrenees to see the Cathar castles perched high on the mountain tops. We managed to cover about 500 miles during our stay, Merlin proving to be an excellent match for the narrow, twisting, mountain roads, his 3 litre, V6 engine barely breaking into a sweat in temperatures hovering around 80 degrees. We visited ancient towns and villages including the ancient spa town of Rennes les Bains, Rennes les Chateau perched high on a mountain top, the tiny village of Couiza built into the rock face high above the Aude valley, all places figuring in the books. We also spent a great day in the old medieval city of Carcassonne itself, just wandering the tiny lanes, visiting the Chateau Comtal and enjoying a wonderful bowl of Cassoulet, one of my favorite French dishes.
Carcassonne
Cliff face Village and Castle of Couiza
The Tower, Rene les Chateau
Ancient Hilltop Windmill
One of the many Cathar Castle ruins
We had planned our route home before we left, taking a week to reach Caen and the ferry port and booked hotels ahead via the internet. As usual we had picked a winding scenic route well away from the motorways using D roads as much as we could. We left Montolieu to head back North over the Black Mountains to Mazamet and Castres before turning `North East via LaCaune, St Affrique and Millau with its amazing viaduct, heading for the Gorge du Tarn and Florac, our first nights stop.
Unfortunately, things didn't go to plan. As we followed the pass over the Black Mountains we suddenly found the route barred and a deviation sign pointing down into a gorge. We followed the signs for miles through some amazing gorges and fantastic scenery finally arriving in Mazamet an hour later. When we had reached the deviation sign we had only been 10 minutes out of Mazamet!
Mazamet
We navigated our way through town and headed for Castres before turning East and heading across country to Millau. We passed through huge forested areas on some wonderful empty roads until the amazing viaduct at Millau came into view. We had planned to go beneath it and down towards the town passing the view point where the whole of the bridge can be seen plus the stunning views of the valley it spans. We navigated our way around Millau and headed out into the valley leading to the Gorge du Tarn. We were following a motorhome when we became entangled with a road walking race. We had to drive several miles at walking pace until we reached the Gorge entrance only to find a Police road block. The gorge had been shut to traffic for the road race. We were directed into the Gorges de la Jonte which wasn't too much of a problem as they too wound their way towards Florac and our hotel.
We drove into the stunning scenery of the deep gorge and stopped for some lunch at the foot of the cliffs that are home to Europe's only flock of Vultures. We watched these huge birds circling in the thermals rising up the face of the cliffs, their huge wings making their flight effortless. After lunch, we drove on through the stunning scenery of the gorge until we arrived at a small village where I spotted a garage and drove in to fill up as we were getting low on fuel. The pumps were unmanned and only took cards, unfortunately not any of the ones I had! I was not too worried as I knew there would be petrol in Florac and we should be able to make it there on what we had. I drove out of the garage and joined a queue of traffic waiting to negotiate an island where we should have joined the road to Florac. The queue wasn't moving so Glyn got out and went to investigate. She came back looking exasperated, the road had been closed off for an international cycle race! The police at the roundabout had told her it would be shut for four hours and it was now three o'clock in the afternoon.
Our only option was to turn around and drive back down the gorge to the village at the start of the Gorge du Tarn and find a way around to Florac without going through the gorges. By the time we reached Le Rozier I was getting a bit tired and our fuel situation wasn't getting any better so we decided to cut our losses and find an hotel in the village. This turned out to be a good move and we found a room in the only hotel with a view of the Mountains and the river Jonte running just below our window. We had a superb meal that night washed down with a bottle of wine and retired to bed early after a rather long day. Around two in the morning we were awoken by huge flashes of lightning and the sound of thunder rolling down the gorges. The storm was spectacular, lighting up the mountains and the rest of the village nestled in the valley. Luckily it didn't last long and we awoke to sunshine the following morning.
Le Rozier
Because we had not reached Florac, our route to our next stop at Le Theil, just outside St Martin Valmeroux was a good few miles shorter and so would be an easy days drive. Luckily on leaving Le Rozier we saw signs for petrol only a few Kilometres along our route and even luckier was the fact that they were open, this being a Sunday, France closes on Sunday and Monday, especially away from the main city areas. We drove cross country again heading North West this time passing through mountainous, densely wooded countryside, through tiny isolated communities and the odd small town with it's crowning Chateau standing proud against the skyline. We skirted the city of Aurillac and ran into some heavy downpours which we had watched from a distance as we headed North. I had stopped and put the hood up, for only the second time in about a thousand miles of driving, as we had approached Aurillac so avoided a soaking. We reached St Martin as the sun broke through again and dropped the hood for a last few miles into the valley of Le Marrone to the tiny hamlet of Le Theil where our next hotel was situated. The scenery was breathtaking, the river running in a steep sided valley, heavily wooded but with grassy meadows flanking the river banks. In these meadows were herds of cows, each one with a bell around it's neck, the sound of which echoed along the valley.
The hotel was lovely, tucked away in this beautiful valley that we could see from the window of our room. We had elected to stay for two nights to give us a rest day on our long journey back to the coast. The hotel itself dated back to the 18th century and was very French, high ceilings, cornicing and much dark wood, polished by the hands of all the people passing through it's doors over time. It was set in forty acres of hillside and woodland but had a large manicured garden with ponds and pathways dotted with bits of modern sculpture to explore. The weather was alternating between light rain and bright sunshine the next day so we donned our waterproofs and went for a walk in the valley. The cloud hung like smoke in the trees while the sun lit up the high mountain tops, stunning. The food in the hotel was superb too, we enjoyed the best fillet of beef I have had anywhere, without exception. We asked the owner about the beef and he told us it had come from the cows we could see from the hotel, approximately 1 food kilometer! He also said they lived long, happy lives which was why the meat was so tender.
We left Le Theil in sunshine, hood down heading northwards through the Auvergne towards our next overnight near Montlucon. All started well, filled up the tank in St Martin and headed up to Mauriac where we would turn across country, traversing the deep gorges and woodlands characteristic of this volcanic region. We followed very narrow roads deep into the gorge through which the Dordogne flows, crossed the river by a long, single track, iron bridge and started our ascent of the other side. The roads were very rough, single track with hairpin bends and we were loving it, so was Merlin, taking it all in his stride, the big old V6 purring away without even breaking into a sweat! As we approached the lip of the gorge things changed quite suddenly. While checking my rear view mirror I notice a haze behind us but thought it was just dust coming up from the car. I checked again shortly after only to see a big white cloud following us. Luckily we had just reached the top and the road widened considerably and became flat. I stopped by the roadside and steaming hot water was blown back by the fan out through the louvers in the bonnet. I turned the engine off immediately and Merlin dumped all his coolant on the road.
I donned my hi-vis Gillet and put out the warning triangle, then lifted both bonnet wings hoping to see a blown hose. I had made a point of checking under the bonnet every day before we set off and had not spotted any signs of a problem. Bad news, the water was very definitely coming from the radiator and all hoses looked to be intact. My first thought was that the rad had been holed by a stone although I could not see where. A car pulled up and a very helpful Frenchman conveyed to us that we were only 1K from a garage in the town of Neuvic, the first houses of which I could see a few hundred meters away. He took Glyn to the Garage in his car, she speaks more French than I do, where a recovery truck was organised for us. By the time the truck arrived an English couple, living a few Kilometers away had stopped, luckily, Janet spoke good French and was able to communicate with the recovery driver. Merlin was loaded onto the truck with some drama due to his low ground clearance and trundled off to the garage. In the mean time, Janet had nipped home with my AA European cover details and rung them, there was very little mobile signal here. The AA had already rung the garage, a largish Citroen dealership, before we arrived and left a number for us to ring.
We spoke to a French operative with faultless English, I explained what had happened and where we were before he asked to speak to the garage manager. He told them to investigate the problem, get back to him and he would relay the information to us. Meanwhile our English 'Good Samaritans' had offered a bed and food for the night so we arranged for the AA to ring them on their land line. Sure enough at 4.30 the phone rang and it was confirmed that we would need a new radiator. As you can imagine, these are not available in France and one would have to be ordered from the factory in England, shipped out to a major city, couriered to us out in the wilds and then fitted. All of this could take up to 10 days or longer. The AA offered to find us an hotel to extend our stay or repatriate Merlin and arrange alternative transport to get us home. We chose the latter so we were told things would be put into motion and we would get a phone call the next morning to tell us what had been put in place for us.
Sure enough the phone rang at 9.30 the next day and we were told what had been arranged. A taxi would pick us up at 11 am to take us sixty miles South, back the way we had come, to Aurillac where we could pick up a one way hire to the ferry port. We would then board the ferry as walk on passengers and a further one way hire car had been booked in Portsmouth to get us home. Merlin would then be picked up by a recovery lorry and brought back to a Morgan dealership of my choice. Janet took me back to the Garage to put the hood up and collect the last small bits and pieces we would need on the road back. The garage promised to keep the Morgan under cover until it was picked up.
The taxi arrived on time and took us as far as Mauriac where we got into another taxi waiting for us for the rest of the journey down to Aurillac. The driver took us to the hire company, who were then closed for lunch, 12 to 2pm, but showed us where we could get a very nice lunch before picking the car up at 2pm. This we did, arriving back at the Europcar office as the door was unlocked. By 2.20 we were on our way again. By now we were a day or so out of our schedule and would not make it to our pre booked hotels. We tried ringing them to say we would not be coming but with little success. This also meant that we would have to abandon our planned visit to friends in Brittany and change our route in an effort to make up some time and miles so that we would reach the coast in time for our ferry. I chose to use the route across from Aurillac towards Limoges, the first few miles followed beautiful scenic roads passing through towns and villages before we joined the much faster dual carriageway E9 heading North. We skirted the big city of Limoges and headed for Poitiers hoping to find an hotel when I got fed up with driving the Ford Focus Econoboost that we had been allocated. After spending so many miles driving a Morgan, the Ford felt like a jelly on wheels with absolutely no feedback from the road or pulling power for that matter!
Late afternoon found us in a small village twenty miles or so from Poitiers, the name of which I have forgotten, where we decided to stop and look for somewhere to stay. We parked in the village square and walked around trying to find an hotel we had seen advertised by the roadside a few miles back. By following road signs around the village we eventually discovered the rear entrance guarded by a huge set of ornate, cast iron, electrically operated gates with a few cars parked beyond but no sign of the hotel itself. We followed the road around to the front where there was still no obvious sign, just a big wall with some huge wooden doors and a few shuttered windows. Eventually we went into a nearby shop to ask and were shown a large door in the wall along the style of an English Georgian house with a bell push. On pushing the bell, the door opened and we found ourselves in the huge entrance hall of the hotel.
Way back in it's history it had been a very wealthy merchants house and was huge inside and very old. It had been bought by a couple, one half of which was an architect, and they had renovated the whole building leaving it much as it was in it's hey day. Lots of exposed Oak panelling, huge Oak doors, winding wooden staircases leading to the upper floors. They had also joined the main building to the adjacent huge barn with the biggest open fire place I have ever seen. Walking into the barn area was just like walking into a cathedral, the huge roof timbers seeming to be impossibly high above you. They used this room for weddings and village events throughout the year. Passing through the huge doors at the end of the barn, we found ourselves in an open courtyard, cleverly covered over with a glass ceiling between the barn wall and the huge wall along the roadside. This was where we sat and had our evening meal which was superb. We have since discovered that the hotel is famous for it's organic food and wine and well known internationally. What an amazing find after another long, eventful day!
Next morning saw us on our way again heading North, across the much flatter farm lands, for Poitiers, Rennes and back to our first hotel just outside Avranches. We had finally caught up with ourselves and were back on track. We were only an hour or so from the ferry port of Ouistraham so opted for a late breakfast and an easy start to the day as the ferry didn't leave until 2 pm. We took the quick route to the port, passing through the Normandy countryside which, although less dramatic, has a charm of it's own, with lovely ancient villages and Chateaus dotted about amongst the acres of farmland and forests. We dropped off the hire car at the Hotel Ibis, just a hundred yards from the passenger terminal and went to wait for boarding time.
The sun was still shining as we stood on the stern watching France gradually disappear into the haze, it felt odd to be on the ferry as a foot passenger and our thoughts turned to Merlin sitting in the back of the garage in Neuvic, wondering wether we would ever see him again.
We had a room booked at the Travel Lodge just across from the ferry terminal in Portsmouth so it was just a short walk there on arrival at 8 pm. In the morning a taxi picked us up and took us to the car hire company where we picked up another one way hire car back to Ipswich, where our friend JV picked us up and took us home.
All of our return journey from where we had to leave Merlin was organised by the AA and worked like clockwork, I can't praise them enough for the help and peace of mind they gave us. Roughly a week later, Merlin arrived back at Melvyn Rutter's, our designated Morgan dealer, where Martin, their technician, discovered that the spigot on the radiator to which the bottom hose is attached had just sheared off. It appears that the tanks that run on either side of the standard radiator are made of some kind of structural plastic, as are the spigots to which the coolant hoses attach.
There seems to be some kind of inherent weakness in the design as mine is not unique in failing. Melvyn told me that the Plus 4 that he uses as a hire car had the same thing happen but to the top hose.
Long story short, I elected to have a Mulfab aluminum radiator installed instead of another factory one, both for it's superior strength and the fact that it has a 40% bigger cooling area than the standard one. This was something we could well have done with in the high temperatures we encountered while in the Pyrenees.
So, an eventful, if expensive, but enormously enjoyable holiday. Merlin, disregarding the radiator failing, which could have happened anywhere, proved to be a great touring car, coping with every kind of terrain we encountered admirably.
Driving the tiny, precipitous roads of the Pyrenees and the gorges of the Cevenes and Auverne proving to be great fun, the Roadster being ideally suited to this territory. We carried more than enough clothes for a month away with a case on the luggage rack and a pair of Morgan’s leather holdalls behind the seats. We also had room for some tools, first aid kit, spare bulbs, maps, a Tom Tom Sat Nav and a full size, lightweight car cover.
I think this probably goes to prove to those who think there isn’t room for enough luggage for more than a week away that there is and maybe this account might encourage them to go touring too. We can’t wait for the spring and the next adventure, whatever it may bring!
John & Glyn Leonard
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