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French Connection 2013
A long weekend in France, just the two of us and the TR6. Four glorious days, sunshine, warmth and beautiful roads to drive on, well one out of three not bad, saying that, having arrived early Friday morning at Roscoff the sun was out and the sky was blue. We made our way to the pink granite coast, stopping at picturesque spots and enjoying the view. Photo 1 and 2 Then inland along quiet winding roads, mile after mile and the only surprise was to see an odd oncoming car or an occasional tractor. We stopped for lunch to enjoy a crepe in a typical French creperie before continuing on to the attractive village of Melrand where we stayed in a typical Breton farm house with converted attached barn. Fortunately owned by my daughters in laws. Photo 3 Then an evening at the local pizzeria for a seafood pizza and a glass of red house wine, why does it always taste better when abroad? Saturday morning a quick phone call to Pierre Le Foll of the Triumph Club de France, I needed help with a trip I was planning. Due to my excellent French we had a complete discussion in perfect English (fortunately he worked in Scotland for an oil company) which culminated in making arrangements to get together. Then off for the day before meeting up. First Concarneau a walk around the town and port before returning to the car and spying an old fort, fancy a brief view before heading off I asked my wife. Breif what did I know, not a lot, a complete 15th century town within ramparts. Picturesque paved streets, and a square with a mixture of half-timber and granite properties, like something from Harry Potter, and shops, and what shops! a sweetshop to die for, French designer clothes as well as the usual tourist trinkets plus a host of cafés and restaurants, even a well maintained garden. Photo 4 5and 6 Then a quick coastal drive that turned out to be less quick than I thought. The only quick bit was accelerating onto a roundabout, bang, one of the bolts retaining the diff to the chassis broke away. The fortunate bit was I happened to be only 500 yards away from Pierre’s home. Having slowly and carefully limped to his house on arrival I was introduced to Marcel Chavaroc who had been invited to join us with his very nice TR4a IRS. I explained what had happened and asked if there was anywhere I could get a repair. I don’t know much about the French resistance but what I got was a lot of French assistance. He told me to “put it in the garage we will look at it, I have a threaded rod with nylocks and washers”, out came the jack, car stands, blocks of wood, spanner, drill, drill bits, tin snips and overalls. I stripped the boot of everything which unfortunately did not include threaded rod. With the help of Marcel we removed the interior of the boot and rear parcel shelf cover, Marcel, Pierre and I removed the tank. With holes drilled, tin snips used, threaded rods and nylocks fitted, we refitted the trim, filled the boot and sat down to enjoy a glass of wine. Many thanks too Marcel, Pierre and Pierre’s wife Christiane, who kindly looked after my wife Janet. Sunday saw a quiet day at Erdeven, with a walk on the beach followed by a traditional French meal at a local hotel. In the afternoon at a French Antique fair we found a fabulous oak bed for 50 euros that sadly, wouldn’t fit in the TR. Maybe it was not such a bad thing. Monday was an uneventful day with a lovely drive back to Roscoff where we enjoyed a coffee in a restaurant overlooking the harbour before the ferry journey home. Derek & Janet Hurford